Reverbose Records Workbook Studio 25 Hour Grand Prix

I've been trying to stay away from stuff that I've been directly involved in, but I would be remiss not to mention as part of the compilation album coverage the 2004 release Workbook Studio 25 Hour Grand Prix released on Reverbose Records.

From what I recall, this was the brainchild of Neal Schmitt and Jon Chinn at Workbook, and we at Reverbose were looking for release opportunities other than just our own bands. The experience itself was quite exciting - being a part of a process where each band received one hour to record and mix their songs. For the bands, they could move in and out, but for the Workbook crew, that was a long twenty-five hours.

We ended up with a pretty eclectic and interesting batch of tunes from plenty of new and lesser-known bands, as well as more established local artists like Pretty Mighty Mighty, House Of Heroes, Greenlawn Abbey, A Planet For Texas and El Jesus de Magico.

Video: The Patsys cover Scrawl @ Little Brothers (Columbus Coverup)

Riverfront Times: Critic's Pick The Patsys (2004)

Back in 2004 The Patsys hit the road with a pair of singles and played the midwest, including a stop in St. Louis, which prompted a write-up in the Riverfront Times. Here's some of that:

Like most garage bands worth their grease, the Patsys dig their vintage gear and vintage yelps and yeahs, but they also attack songs like time-warped double A-sides -- two years together and they've only released singles -- or taunts to Neighborhood Watch to shut their shit down. With a Yardbirdsy guitar snarl and a hellacious drummer, this Columbus, Ohio, foursome cuts trashy go-go grooves with hooks too shiny for punk and too violent for power pop.

New Additions: Both Sides Never album by The Patsys

Thanks to me being a) not from Columbus, b) busy with my own band, and c) generally ill-informed, I didn't know the lineage of The Patsys when they started playing out in the early 2000s. With former members (at that time) of Action Family, Gaunt, and New Bomb Turks, the current version of me would be psyched to check them out. Sadly, I came to them late after picking up their 2007 album "Both Sides Never" at one of the local record stores late last year, which is chock full of Nuggets-esque garage rock.

Know Yer Band: The Patsys

Band: The Patsys

Members
Bass, Vocals – Tutti Jackson
Drums – Jeff Regensberger
Guitar – Stewart Nicol / Jim Weber
Guitar, Vocals – John Stickley

Releases
2004 - Beneath You/Gone 7" single (Umbrella Records)
2004 - In And Out With You/Teenage Kicks 7" single (Umbrella Records)
2005 - On The Thirteenth Kick album (Anyway Records)
2007 - Split w/Magic City 7" single (Umbrella Records)
2007 - Both Sides Never album (Umbrella Records)

The Agit Reader: That Summertime Sound by Matthew Specktor

In 2009 Matthew Specktor published the novel That Summertime Sound, which is set in the music scene of 1980s Columbus, Ohio. Some of it is fiction, some it is based on real bands and folks from the city. Stephen Slaybaugh of The Agit Reader discussed the book with the author, here is some of that article:

For those of us who had our first experiences with rock & roll crammed into the clubs and scouring the record stores that populated the strip of Columbus, Ohio’s High Street between Blake and King, the setting of the new novel from Los Angeles–based writer Matthew Specktor will seem immediately familiar. Set amongst the record bins of “School Daze” records, at the booths of “Perry’s” bar, and the dance floor of “Crazy Lady’s,” That Summertime Sound, as the title indicates, is a search through those dilapidated confines for a sense of place and meaning. 

The book follows an unnamed narrator who is convinced by a friend, Marcus, to spend the summer of 1986 in Columbus on a quest to find the Lords of Oblivion and their singer Nic Devine. The band and the few 7-inches they self-released have become something of an obsession, and our hero makes it his mission to see the band play live at least once before the summer ends. While the Lords and the city of Columbus itself take on mythic qualities before the college chums even make it past the outerbelt, the narrator, and in a larger sense, the book itself, continues to propagate, rather than dispel, such urban mythology as further cultural heritage is revealed. 

”My thought would be hopefully it’s not puncturing a mythology,” Specktor told me when I spoke to him on the phone. ”In the end, the idea behind the book is it’s necessary to mythologize a place to want to live there, that on some level we all create mythologies about the cities that we’re living in. Sometimes they’re exciting and invigorating mythologies, and sometimes they’re deadening mythologies. There’s no shortage of horrible, dulling mythologies about LA, for example. My feeling is that when one’s life is interesting or successful, you have one foot in that enlivening mythology all the time.”

Video: BOYS FROM NOWHERE - JUNGLE BOY

Burnin' Flames From Under The Ashes on Boys From Nowhere

From the blog Burnin' Flames From Under Ashes back in 2013, Digger revisited their 1989 compilation Cyclone Death Machine. Here's some of the article:

The various versions of Mick Divven's great band, the Boys From Nowhere, have all managed to show that he's one of those rare people who can put together a group that burns with that kind of flame...one listen to a few of their records will make that obvious. Divven's approach blends a sixties garage sound that will remind some people of bands like the Lyres or Stems with a harder, nastier element that owes a debt to the Stooges or even late 70s punk bands. It's a sound that hasn't won him or his band a lot of success in his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, despite the fact that Boys From Nowhere have records out in four different countries and are generally adored everywhere anyone has heard of them. Like fellow Ohio natives Sister Ray, the Boys From Nowhere find themselves struggling to get gigs and draw people at home and unable to assemble a tour away from home. But Mick has an even bigger problem than Sister Ray, because he barely has a band together behind him... 

The Boys From Nowhere have been going since about 1984. The first three Boys From Nowhere records were singles; "Beg"/"@@@@@", "Jungle Boy"/"1966" and "Goin' Too Far"/"I Don't Bother". All three are a blast of garage punk with a real hard edge to them...much tougher than almost any band you can think of in this kind of thing. Top of the stack is "Goin' Too Far", which has a feeling like the hardest edge of the British invasion with a terrific tune and irresistible chorus. 

If you can't find the singles, you can get most of the tracks through the three import eps. I asked Mick how these came to be. He started by discussing the origins of the German ep Cyclone Death Machine.

New Additions: The Bridal Album by Boys From Nowhere (1990)

Initially, I was confused about the trajectory of Boys From Nowhere. Where they a Columbus band or a Boston band? Turns out there was a documentary about Boston punk called The Boys From Nowhere, hence my confusion. But then it turns out at some point, most of the line-up (except for leader Mick Divvens) was replaced by musicians from Youngstown, so... Anyway, there were a few BFN records floating around Columbus record stores, and I grabbed a few seven-inch singles as well as The Bridal Album, which is probably as good a place as any to start with the band, even though it looks to be the last thing they released. Loud, guitar-driven garage rock, plenty of fuzz and attitude, as the Lord intended. Good stuff, too band they aren't better recognized.

Know Yer Band: Boys From Nowhere

Band: Boys From Nowhere

Members
Vocals, Organ, Guitar - Mick Divvens
Guitar, Vocals - Charlie McNeil / Mark Poole / Matt Newman
Bass - Ted Nagel / Todd Burge / Joe Maple / Ted Pridgeon / Doug Edwards
Drums - Johnny Bernardo / Wes Poole / James Castoe

Releases
1984 - Beg 7" single (Young Lion Records)
1986 - Jungle Boy / 1966 7" single (Young Lion Records)
1986 - Indefinite Inhibition 7" single (Young Lion Records)
1987 - Goin' Too Far / I Don't Bother 7" single (Young Lion Records)
1989 - No Reason To Live 7" single (Rubber Records)
1989 - Split w/Two Hour Trip 7" single (Datapanik Records)
1989 - Jungle Boys 12" Minialbum (Romilar-D Records)
1989 - Cyclone Death Machine 12" Minialbum (Glitterhouse Records)
1990 - The Bridal Album (Skyclad Records)
Unknown - Hired & Fired compilation (Rubber Records)

Top 10 Columbus Albums of 2019 by Joel and Andy at the Columbus Alive

A little late, but better late than never. Joel Oliphant and Andy Downing of the Columbus Alive both put together top ten lists for their favorite Columbus albums released in 2019. There is not much crossover, and many of the albums are available to check out at places like Spotify and Bandcamp.

Video: GIRLY MACHINE

Allmusic review of Girl Machine 1994 album

Karen Graves reviewed the self-titled 1994 album by Girly Machine for Allmusic.com, here's some of that:

Unlike Ohio's other favorite group of Brit rockers, Dayton's Guided by Voices, the English accent heard on songs by Columbus' Girly Machine is the genuine article (sorry, Bob) as frontman Andy Spencer hails from across the pond. However, rather than fully embracing his potential as a Brit popper, Spencer opts for a vocal style that generally leans more toward singspeak and an overall air of at least mild creepiness. Rounded out by phenomenal guitarist Robert Petric (later the metal-riffing axeman for Ron House-fronted noise punk icons Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments), drummer Dana Marshall (most well known for his time in superb Scrawl), and bassist Jeff Plavcan, Girly Machine buzzes, rattles, and chugs their way through songs that strike a balance between ominous and poppy, bringing to mind acts like Bauhaus and the Psychedelic Furs.

New Additions: Girl Machine 1994 self-titled album

Having picked up the two seven inch singles by Girly Machine at record stores in town, getting my hands on their lone full length from 1994 took a bit more time. While in the same vein as their single releases, the fidelity on their brand of brash indie rock is elevated on the full-length, and all the parts mesh just a bit better.

Know Yer Band: Girly Machine

Band: Girly Machine

Members
Vocals - Andy Spencer
Guitar - Bob Petric
Bass - Bob Plavcan
Drums - Dana Marshall

Releases
1989 - Split w/Pica Huss 7" single (Datapanik)
1993 - 65 Seconds 7" single (Datapanik)
1994 - Girl Machine album (Burnt Sienna Records)

Lost Weekend Records 17th Anniversary

Lost Weekend Records is celebrating their 17th anniversary on 02/22/20 with a show at Ace Of Cups. The line includes Bribed FUZZ, SEGA GENOCIDE, Thee Thees, Hydrone, and DANA.

Robert Loss on Ugly Stick

Robert Loss, writer, educator, cultural critic, and musician, wrote up a piece in 2011 for Ghettoblaster which he reposted to his website in 2014 on Ugly Stick. Here's a bit, worth the whole read:

When you're ambivalent about the "cowpunk" label, being a band from a city referred to as "Cow Town" doesn't help you avoid the tag. Of course, Ugly Stick is not from Columbus, Ohio, per se, but a rural college town just to the north, Delaware, known for its annual Little Brown Jug (the second leg of the Triple Crown of Harness Racing) and for birthing Rutherford B. Hayes. Neither of which helps much, either. 

Twenty years down the road, Ugly Stick is still making music, and it still has mixed feelings about the "cowpunk" label. With a hint of exasperation, bassist Ed Mann says, "The whole description bothers me because I don't get the 'cow' part. We thought we were punk rock. 'Look, X does these interesting things with their songwriting where they drop down a half-step. Or the Minutemen have these weird parts that don't seem like they should fit together, but who cares, that's the song.'" 

Ugly Stick's best bet for shedding the label is simply that you listen to their wild and idiosyncratic music. On their first two recordings—a self-titled debut in 1989, and the 1991 follow-up Shaved, both recently reissued by Hovercraft Records as the two-disc set Pick Up the Hatchet—what you'll hear are yelping cries of dissent and freedom from four late-teen friends hearing themselves for the first time. Ugly Stick crossed the boundaries between Delaware's farmland, diners, and night-time philosophy classes, borrowing the language of country and punk, yes, but adding in early R.E.M., the Minutemen and the Pixies. Nothing else sounds like it.

Columbus Dispatch on 2008 Ugly Stick

Back in 2008 when Ugly Stick put out their sophomore album Still Glistening, the Columbus Dispatch wrote up their album release show at Cafe Bourbon Street and included an interview with Al Huckabee. Here is some of that:

Ugly Stick, a Delaware-bred “cow-punk” quartet, is back with Still Glistening, its first album in 14 years. 

What is “cow punk”? Allow guitarist Al Huckabee to shine some light on the matter: 

Q What does the music on Still Glistening sound like? 

A It has a lot of story songs -- one about a two-legged love triangle in an unnamed Southwestern city. One follows the decline and ruin of a good-timing couple set in a marina bar. There’s a creepy, ’50s-infused murder ballad and a short rocker about not finding the parts one needs at the junkyard. 

There’s one party song narrated by a goat -- which kind of touches on two universal themes: parties and goats. Who can’t relate?

New Additions: Absinthe by Ugly Stick

Dave Holm is a busy guy, and it was only a matter of time before I ran into one of his projects. In this case, it's Ugly Stick. The band formed in the early 90s and put out an album in 1993 and 7" in 1994 before he turned his attention to other bands like Bigfoot and The Townsmen. The band would occasionally play out, and another album was released in 2008, but it took me a while to track down the '93 debut Absinthe. I'm glad I did because this sort of country-rock crossover is solidly up my alley with my appreciation for bands like Uncle Tupelo.

Know Yer Band: Ugly Stick

Band: Ugly Stick

Members
Jeff Clowdus - drums/vocals/guitar
Ed Mann - bass/vocals
David Holm - vocals/guitar/piano
Al Huckabee - guitar/vocals

Releases
1993 - Absinthe album (Bluehouse Records)
1994 - Dine Under The Birds 7" single (Lizard Family Music)
2008 - Still Glistening album (Hovercraft)
2011 - Pick Up The Hatchet compilation album (Hovercraft)