Know Yer Band: Econothugs

Band Name: Econothugs

Members
Vocals - Jake Label
Guitar - Moby Peters
Bass - Fuzzy Knubber
Drums - Humpy Wheeler

Releases
1993 - Sludge 7" (Centsless Productions)
1994 - Beer Run 7" (Centsless Productions)
1994 - Donny's High 7" (Anyway Records)
1995 - 7" Split w/My White Bread Mom (Burnt Sienna Records)

Know Yer Band: New Bomb Turks

Band: New Bomb Turks

Members
Vocals - Eric Davidson
Guitar - Jim Weber
Bass - Matt Reber
Drums - Bill Randt/Sam Brown

Releases
1991 - Split w/Gaunt 7" single (Datapanik)
1992 - So Cool, So Clean, So Sparkling Clear 7" single (Datapanik)
1992 - Trying To Get By 7" single (Sympathy For The Record Industry)
1993 - Split w/The Sinister Six 7" single (Bag Of Hammers)
1993 - Sharpen-Up Time 7" single (Bag Of Hammers)
1993 - So Young, So Fair, So Debonair 7" single (Empty Records)
1993 - Drunk On Cock EP (Engine)
1993 - Bottle Island 7" single (Damaged Goods)
1993 - Split w/The Devil Dogs 7" single (Helter Skelter Records)
1993 - I Wanna Sleep 7" single (Demolition Derby)
1993 - Dragstrip Riot 7" single (Munster Records)
1993 - I'm Weak 7" single (Get Hip Recordings)
1993 - !!Destroy-Oh-Boy!! album (Crypt Records)
1994 - Information Highway Revisited album (Crypt Records)
1995 - Live At Cas Rock, Edinburgh, Wed. 26th Oct. '94 video (Barn End Productions)
1995 - Live '93 album (Anyway Records)
1995 - Split w/Entombed 7" single (Earache)
1995 - (Gotta Gotta) Sinking Feeling 7" single (Sympathy For The Record Industry)
1995 - My Hopes Are Copacetic 7" single (Rise Records)
1995 - Pissing Out The Poison (Singles & Other Swill '90-'94) compilation album (Crypt Records)
1996 - Stick It Out 7" single (Fat Wreck Chords)
1996 - Professional Againster 7' single (Wallabies Records)
1996 - Split w/Red Aunts 7" single (Epitaph)
1996 - Scared Straight album (Epitaph)
1998 - Veronica Lake EP (Epitaph)
1998 - Raw Law 7" single (Epitaph)
1998 - Snap Decision 7" single (Sympathy For The Record Industry)
1998 - At Rope's End album (Epitaph)
1999 - Berühren Meiner Affe EP (Overcoat Recordings)
1999 - Split w/The Hellacopters 7" single (Anyway Records)
1999 - Split w/Onyas 7" single (Full Toss)
1999 - The Big Combo compilation album (Dropkick)
2000 - Spanish Fly By Night/Chip Away The Stone 7" single (Safety Pin Records)
2000 - The Blind Run EP (Epitaph)
2000 - Nightmare Scenario album (Epitaph)
2002 - The Night Before The Day The Earth Stood Still album (Gearhead Records)
2002 - Pression Live! EP (Pression Live)
2003 - Pretty Lightning 7" single (Sweet Nothing Records)
2003 - Switchblade Tongues, Butterknife Brains compilation album (Gearhead Records)
2013 - Tapeworm Blues: The 1992 Demos EP (Crypt Records)

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)

Columbus Alive: Fatherhood Inspires New Whiles Album ‘Mercury Ghost’

Lots of bands come together and burn out in short periods. Luckily The Whiles, while only four albums deep, have managed to stay loosely together and put out material every few years. Here is an article from the Columbus Alive regarding their 2013 album Mercury Ghost.

When Whiles singer Joe Peppercorn and his wife had their first child seven years ago, it changed the way he viewed his role in the universe. 

“I describe being a parent to people as that ‘Back to the Future’ photo, where Marty McFly sees himself start to disappear,” said Peppercorn, clad in a Brian Wilson T-shirt at a Downtown coffee shop. “I think that’s a good thing, realizing how small I am and how many billion people [there are]. I never understood that until I had children and realized how much bigger the world is than myself.” 

That change of perspective worked its way into the Whiles’ excellent new album, Mercury Ghost, which the band will celebrate with a release show at Ace of Cups on Friday, Nov. 4. The lush, melodic pop record is the band’s fourth release on Anyway Records in a nearly 20-year career that has seen the Whiles flirt with major-label success and play alongside many national acts, especially early in its career. 

2012′s Somber Honey ushered in the second phase of the Whiles, in which Peppercorn and his bandmates accepted that mainstream success may never come, and that live performances and releases may be few and far between. But the chemistry and friendship among the members - singer/guitarist/pianist Peppercorn and his brother, lead guitarist Matt Peppercorn, plus bassist Chris Bolognese, guitarist/engineer Jake Remley and Cleveland-based drummer Paul Headley - glue the Whiles together. 

“It’s a very intense connection,” Peppercorn said. “That’s the only reason we’re able to still be a band. We can get together and it clicks. I think there’s an implicit agreement that if we get together and it doesn’t work, that’s when we should probably stop.”

Know Yer Band: The Whiles

Band: The Whiles

Members
Chris Bolognese - Bass, Vocals
Paul Headley - Drums
Joe Peppercorn - Guitar, Piano, Vocals
Jake Remley - Guitar
Matt Peppercorn - Guitar
Zack Prout - Vocals, Percussion

Releases
2004 - Colors Of The Year album (Anyway Records)
2007 - Sleepers Wake (Anyway Records)
2012 - Somber Honey (Anyway Records)
2013 - Mercury Ghost (Anyway Records)

Know Yer Band: Gaunt

Band: Gaunt

Members
Vocals/Guitar - Jerry Wick
Guitar - Jovan Karcic
Bass - Eric Barth/Brett "Falcon" Lewis
Drums - Jeff Regensberger/Sam Brown

Releases
1991 - Split Ep w/New Bomb Turks (Datapanik Records)
1992 - Fielder's Choice 7" single (Datapanik Records)
1992 - Jim Motherfucker 7" single (Anyway/Datapanik Records)
1992 - Cowtown Vol. 1 7" compilation (Anyway/Datapanik Records)
1992 - Whitey The Man album (Thrill Jockey)
1993 - Good Bad Happy Sad 7" single (Bag Of Hammers)
1993 - Solution 7" single (Snap! Crackle! Punk!)
1993 - Split 7" single w/The Beavers (Demolition Derby)
1993 - Pop Song ? 7" single (Thrill Jockey)
1994 - 1¢ USA 7" single (Potential Ashtray)
1994 - Sob Story album (Thrill Jockey)
1994 - I Can See Your Mom From Here (Thrill Jockey)
1995 - Yeah, Me Too (Amphetamine Reptile Records)
1996 - Kryptonite (Thrill Jockey)
1996 - 2¢ USA 7" single (Super 8 Records)
1997 - Bricks And Blackouts (Warner Bros. Records)

New Additions: Waste 7" single by Moviola

Moviola are one of a handful of bands included in the research for the book that I actually had some familiarity with from years back. Back when I first started playing in a band, Moviola were already well established, and their album The Durable Dream (1999), Rumors Of The Faithful (2001) and East Of Eager (2004) were all on my record buying radar. I never caught the band live, but when future releases popped up, I would give a listen, and usually enjoyed what I heard. What I didn't do is go backwards and check out their early/mid-90s era, at least not until now. I decided to start by picking up their very first release - the 7" single Waste released jointly on Anyway and Eardrop Productions. It's interesting to hear the bands evolution, which started much louder and noisier, to the 2000s and their mellowed indie rock sound.

Know Yer Band: Moviola

Band: Moviola

Members
Guitars/Vocals/Keyboards - Jake Housh
Guitars/Vocals - Jerry Dannemiller
Keys/Guitar - Scotty Tabachnik
Bass - Sam Demkee/Ted Hattemer
Drums - Ted Hattemer/Greg Bonnell

Releases
1993 - Waste 7" single (Anyway)
1994 - All By Myself 7" single (Ratfish Records)
1994 - Lookin' In 7" EP (Anyway)
1995 - Split w/Cobra Verde 7" single (Wabana Ore Limited)
1995 - Frantic 10" EP (Spirit Of Orr)
1995 - Cowtown Vol. IV split 7" single (Anyway)
1996 - Split w/Eric's Trip 7" single (Me Too! Records)
1996 - Next Door 7" EP (Ata-Glance)
1996 - The Year You Were Born album (Anyway)
1997 - Brainhole 7" single (Wabana Ore Limited)
1997 - Crowding The Sky 7" single (Home Base Music)
1998 - Kitchen Waltz Preabmle 7" single (Kim Will Kill Me)
1998 - Glen Echo Autoharp album (Spirit Of Orr)
1999 - The Durable Dream album (Spirit Of Orr)
2001 - Split w/Eyesinweasel 7" single (Spirit Of Orr)
2001 - Rumors Of The Faithful album (Spirit Of Orr)
2002 - Split w/Handsome Family 7" single (Spirit Of Orr)
2004 - East Of Eager album (Anyway)
2007 - Dead Knowledge album (Catbird Records)
2012 - Split w/Hiss Golden Messenger 7" single (Pale Rider)

Know Yer Band: Log

Band: Log

Members
Guitar/Vocals - Paul Nini
Guitar - Kevin Dimoff
Bass/Vocals - Shirley Tobias
Drums - Kelly Knuth/Greg Bonnell
Keyboards - Mark Wyatt/Chris Nini

Releases
1993 - 4 Song EP (Anyway Records)
1994 - Light The Fuse And Get Away album (Anyway Records)
1996 - My Evil Friend EP (Anyway Records)
1999 - Auto Fire Life album (Old 3C Records)
2004 - Log Almighty album (Old 3C Records)
2005 - The Early Years compilation album (Old 3C Records)
2005 - Logjammin' album (Old 3C Records)

Know Yer Band: Bassholes

Band: Bassholes

Members
Guitars/Vocals - Don Howland
Drums - Rick Lilash/Lamont "Bim" Thomas

Releases
1992 - Blues Roots (Archive Series - Volume One) album (In The Red Recordings)
1993 - Cowtown EP Vol. II 7" single (Anyway Records)
1992 - John Henry 7" single (Sympathy For The Record Industry)
1992 - 98 degrees In The Shade 7" single (In The Red Recordings)
1994 - Baby Go / Hell Blues 7" single (Honeyman Records)
1995 - Hey O.J. 7" single (In The Red Recordings)
1995 - Lion's Share / Jesus Book 7" single (In The Red Recordings)
1995 - (She Said I Had A) Problem / Change Had To Come 7" single (Bag Of Hammers)
1995 - Haunted Hill! (Archive Series - Volume 2) album (In The Red Recordings)
1996 - Interzone 7" single (Seldom Scene Records)
1997 - Moody/Microscope Feeling 7" single (Sympathy For The Record Industry)
1997 - Deaf Mix Vol. 3 album (In The Red Recordings)
1998 - Long Way Blues/1996-1998 album (Matador)
1998 - When My Blue Moon Turns Red Again album (In The Red Recordings)
2000 - The Secret Strength Of Depression (Live At KSPC, Claremont) album (Sympathy For The Record Industry)
2003 - Out In The Treetops 2x7" ep (Dead Canary Records)
2004 - Broken Chamber Music compilation album (Secret Keeper Records)
2005 - Bassholes (Dead Canary Records)
2006 - Jack At Night 7" single (Solid Sex Love Doll Records)
2009 - Archive Series - Vol. 7 ...And Without A Name album (Columbus Discount Records)
2010 - I Feel Like Sleeping 12" EP (Columbus Discount Records)
2013 - Boogieman Stew album (Columbus Discount Records)
2015 - In The Dumps album (Not On Label)

Know Yer Band: V-3

Band: V-3

Members
Vocals/Guitar - Jim Shepard
Vocals/Guitar - Roxanne Newman
Bass/Keys - Nudge Squidfish / Leland Cain
Drums - Rudy Smith / Dave Mikula / Sam Brown

Releases
1991 - Psychic Dance Hall album (Ropeburn)
1991 - Monsters Of Hollywood 7" ep (Iron Press)
1991 - The Earth Muffin 7" ep (Siltbreeze)
1992 - Negotiate Nothing album (Ropeburn)
1995 - Evil Love Deeper (w/Jim Shepard, V-3, Lacquer, etc.) album (Thrill Jockey)
1995 - W.N.U.R. Chicago Radio Show album (Iron Press)
1995 - American Face / Son Of Sam Donaldson 7" single (Anyway Records)
1995 - Russian Roulette (Chinese Style) 7" ep (Birdman Records)
1996 - Photograph Burns album (Onion Records)
1996 - Elevator To The Gas Chamber ‎7" ep (Spirit of Orr)
1997 - Live '97 album (Old Age / No Age)
1997 - Launchpad Explosion 2x7" single (Spare Me Records)
1997 - The Other Side Of Darkness ‎compilation album (Not On Label)
1998 - Pimping In The 90's (Action Painting #Ninety-Eight) ‎album (Iron Press)
2014 - Live At Bernie's '97 album (Not On Label)

Bela Blog: Monster Truck Five & Jack Taylor

Because of the short existence of Monster Truck Five (or 005), there is hardly anything written about the band, and coming up with articles was a tough get this week. However, Bela of Anyway Records has an eloquent and stark recollection of High Street in the 1990s, and wrote several times on the band, including the short life or Richard "Jack Taylor" Violet. Here's a bit of that:

A great deal of the decorating was done on several spastic afternoons by Jack Taylor (birth name Richard Violet), who was fired and rehired by Dan Dow. Jack, like the décor of Used Kids was a living example of a life half finished, this is not just for the fact that Ritchie (as I first knew him as) died young in an unremarkable fashion. While giving up the lures of the city, Richie moved home to lonesome Urbana, Ohio and got a job at a local United Dairy Farmers convenient store. A long drop from the coolness of playing CBGB’s and getting name checked on an Unsane record. It was there in the vast flatness of western Ohio that Richie took a shot of dope too deep for his veins and died behind the UDF store, proving that heroin can be found everywhere.  Richie, was a cross between  Bluto from “Animal House” and a tarnished flannel shirt, he could be devastatingly charming and brilliant on one hand and on the other he could stab you with an insult that could bring the worst of high school back in a flutter of embarrassed red cheeks. He was the first member of Monster Truck 005 to die.

Know Yer Band: Monster Truck Five

Band Name: Monster Truck Five

Members
Vocals - Christopher Wilson
Guitar - Christopher Wilson, Vince Falcone, Jack Taylor
Bass - Pat Humphrey
Drums - Michael Dermody, Mark Deane

Releases
1990 - Split 7" w/Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments (Datapanik Records)
1993 - Aintneverbeen 7" (Anyway Records)
1993 - S.F. Sister 7" (Chrome Frog Records)
1994 - Gimme Five 10" (Chrome Frog Records)
1994 - Vandal-X 7" (Sympathy For The Record Industry)
1995 - Columbus Ohio album (Sympathy For The Record Industry)
1996 - Dry Leaves...Hot Wire (Sympathy For The Record Industry)

614 Magazine: Where Did the Punk Rockers Go?

Interesting question posed by Chris Gaitten of 614 Magazine back in 2015:

In 2008, CDR released the first of the unheard stash, Tommy Jay’s Tall Tales of Trauma, from Tommy Jay, a member of the Quotas. Jay and Rep hailed from a tiny hamlet just south of Grove City called Harrisburg, where Jay had created a practice space and studio in his home. For decades, a rotating cast of musicians known as The Harrisburg Players rehearsed and recorded there, influencing and often comprising Columbus’s underground bands. 

CDR hit overdrive in 2009, starting a singles club in addition to the new releases, reissues, and previously unheard music. They distributed 16 records that year, often at the expense of relationships and showering, Smith said. Over time, they put out releases from lo-fi luminaries like Cheater Slicks, as well as the next generation of bands like Psychedelic Horseshit 

Their production levels decreased in subsequent years, as bands like Bassholes and Cheater Slicks only recorded new music every so often, and the unreleased Harrisburg stash was eventually tapped. Koe-Krompecher had revived Anyway, and other local labels like Superdreamer Records had begun popping up.

New Additions: Straight To Video by Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments

While music formats have changed consistently, the 1990s were dominated by the compact disc. For some, this was a step backwards in sound quality. However, with the resurgence of vinyl in the past decade, many albums released exclusively on CD have been getting re-releases on vinyl. That includes Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartment's sophomore release Straight To Video, originally released by Anyway Records in 1997 after their brief stint on a major label. In 2015, the band reissued the album on vinyl via Straight To Video Records, which I picked up recently from Used Kids. To my ears, TJSA is band better heard on vinyl, their raw energy and sharp edges properly captured and reproduced by analog.

Know Yer Band: Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments

Band: Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments

Members
Vocals - Ron House
Guitar - Bob Petric
Bass - Keith Baker, Craig Dunson, Philip Park
Drums - Nora Malone, Bruce Saltmarsh, Elliot Dicks, Ted Hattemer

Releases
1990 - 7" split single w/Monster Truck Five (Datapanik Records)
1991 - 7" single Career Interruption Code (Datapanik Records)
1992 - 12" single You Can't Kill Stupid (Datapanik Records)
1994 - 7" single Negative Guest List (Siltbreeze Records)
1995 - 7" single Punk Rock Secret (Bag Of Hammers)
1995 - 7" split single w/Monster Truck Five, Moviola and Gunshy Ministers (Anyway Records)
1995 - Bait And Switch album (Onion Records)
1997 - Straight To Video album (Anyway Records)
1997 - 7" split single w/Fat Day (Ratfish Records)
1997 - You Lookin' For Treble? compilation album (Year Zero)
2000 - No Old Guy Lo-Fi Cry (Rockathon Records)
2011 - 7" single Burning Trash (Negative Guest List Records)

New Additions: Through The Thick Of It 7" single by Greenhorn

At some point in the heyday of Donewaiting.com, someone was putting together compilations of 80s and 90s Columbus bands and distributing them via CD-R, and one of those volumes was Greenhorn. I was a fan instantly, as the sludgy, thick guitars and plaintive vocals reminded me of early Dinosaur Jr. It was until recently for this project I actually started pickup on Greenhorn releases because, not shockingly, most of their music isn't available to stream online anywhere, like this seven inch single released on Anyway Records in 1994.

Know Yer Band: Greenhorn

Band: Greenhorn

Members
Vocals/Guitar/Keys - Dan Spurgeon
Guitar - Mark Spurgeon
Bass - Steve McGann
Drums - Pat McGann

Releases
1992 - 7" single Conversations With Myself (Anyway Records)
1992 - 7" single The Progress (Datapanik Records)
1992 - 7" split single w/V-3, Belreve and Gaunt (Anyway Records)
1994 - 7" single Through The Thick Of It (Anyway Records)
1994 - 7" Liars' Song (3 Beads Of Sweat)
2005 - Self-Titled album (Lord Baltimore)

Know Yer Band: Tiara

Band: Tiara

Members
Vocals/Guitar - Eric Rottmayer, Matt Leaver
Bass - Brian Freshour
Drums - Brian Moore
Guitar/Pedal Steel - Eric Kang
Jessica Faller - Keyboards

Releases
1996 - Split 7" w/Preston Furman (Seldom Scene Records)
1996 - Find The Time 7" (Lizard Family Music)
1998 - Split 7" w/Silver Scooter (Voice Of The Sky)
1998 - Calling The Whales album (Hub City)
1999 - It's A Message 7" (Glazed Records)
2000 - Again Cast In (Anyway Records)
2002 - Titletron (Grand Theft Autumn)
2004 - Summer Of The Lion, Summer Of The Lamb (We Want Action)
2005 - Chained To The Crown (We Want Action)
2005 - Donewaiting.com split 12" w/Miranda Sound (Donewaiting.com)

Know Yer Band: Belreve

Band: Belreve

Members
Vocals/Guitar - Matt Reber
Bass - Elizabeth Young
Drums - Jenny Mullin

Releases
1992 - 7" split single w/V-3, Greenhorn and Gaunt (Anyway Records)
1993 - 7" single Nothing (Anyway Records)
1994 - 7" split single w/Guided By Voices (Anyway Records)
1995 - 7" single Ron (Slumberland Records)
1995 - Belreve album (Slumberland Records)