Columbus Alive: Local Music - Grafton (2011)

Columbus Alive, May 30th, 2011:

A decade ago, Grafton’s early career as barebones garage punk hellraisers culminated in the self-titled debut Lou Poster had always imagined. 

“This first record, that’s the one I started envisioning from the time I was 19,” said Poster, Grafton’s guitarist, singer and mastermind. 

Two lineup changes and three records later, Poster and drummer Jason McKiernan will reunite with original bassist Donovan Roth on Friday to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the debut, 15 years as a band and Poster’s 35th birthday. 

They’ll play the entire LP on Friday, hearkening to when they were young guns of Columbus rock. 

“It’s more a celebration that we’re still alive,” McKiernan said. 

Poster relocated to Columbus in 1995 and moved in with McKiernan the following year. Soon they were bashing out bluesy punk rock inspired by Columbus duo The Hairy Patt Band. Gaunt’s searing pop-punk, Gibson Bros.′ howlin’ stomp and Monster Truck Five’s churlish noise-mongering were in the mix too. 

“All those bands that we were into were the guys that we were afraid of at the bar,” Poster said.

Video: The Hairy Patt Band at Bernie's 1993

Magnet: From The Desk Of Battleme's Matt Drenik - The Hairy Patt Band

Jason Drenik's brother Matt of Austin, TX stoner-rock band Lions and country/folk outfit Battleme guest edited at Magnet Magazine back in 2014 and talked about his brother Jason and The Hairy Patt Band:

“Oh, you know Matty, I just can’t handle the way he sings. He sounds like a hillbilly,” my mom said late one night. 

She was referring to my older brother and, more importantly, his seminal cow punk band, the Hairy Patt Band. Now he may be rolling his eyes when I say seminal, but to me his guttural howl was just as important as any of the shit that was crowding the FM radio at the time. And this was the early ’90s, back when you might actually turn on the radio and hear something you liked. There was something about my brother’s songs that was demonic and fearless. He didn’t just sing about Richard Ramirez; he channeled that psycho into the forefront of my teenage brain in crusty waves of garage rock, bullets and blood.

New Additions: Buford's Last Pusser by The Hairy Patt Band

Two-member bands were the rage in the early 2000s thanks to The White Stripes and The Black Keys, but garage/punk/lo-fi duos have been around long before that, and Columbus has had a few. The Hairy Patt Band, featuring Joe Patt (later of Them Wranch) and Jason Drenik made a disjointed and dirty ruckus in the 90s, and I recently grabbed their first album Buford's Last Pusser off Amazon. It's loud, weird, jarring and occasionally melodic, far less song oriented than the aforementioned Stripes or Keys, but equally engrossing.

Know Yer Band: The Hairy Patt Band

Band: The Hairy Patt Band

Members
Joe Patt - Vocals/Drums
Jason Drenik - Vocals/Guitar

Releases
1993 - I'm So Angry, You're Going To Die 7" EP (The Belly FU oh Happy Whale / Chrome Frog Records)
1994 - Buford's Last Pusser ‎album (Choke)
1995 - Brown Sounds Of The Hairy Patt Band 7" single (Chrome Frog Records)
1996 - Marc The Narc ‎7" single (In The Red Recordings)
1997 - Hairy Patt Band Music album (Burnt Sienna Records)
1997 - Split Single w/The White-Outs (Burnt Sienna Records)

It's Psychedelic Baby: Royal Pines interview with Joe Patt

Joe Patt has been in a variety of bands for the past several decades, most recently Royal Pines, but also The Hairy Patt band and Them Wranch. Here's an interview with Joe from It's Psychedelic Baby back in 2015:

Do you have any funny or interesting stories from live shows or performances that you’d like to share here with our readers? 

JP: Oh my God, there have been many sad and funny stories over the years with the many bands I’ve been in.  One of my favorites to tell is when Them Wranch was playing in Morgantown, West Virginia back around 2000.  Right before we went on I had an emergency bathroom break because of some awful West Virginia food we’d eaten.  I’m sure it was excellent, but maybe I had too much or it simply didn’t agree with me.  Anyway, I used the backstage bathroom which was actually upstairs and quite a walk from the stage.  I clogged it up and there was no plunger, so it overflowed.  This is all happening while I’m hearing the guys in the band impatiently making noise on stage, waiting for me.  I run down to the bar and ask for a plunger.  They have one and I run back in front of the stage and wave the plunger at the guys telling them I’ll be ready in a minute.  I plunge the toilet and clean up the mess and I don’t really remember playing that night.  We actually ended up spending the night in that apartment above the bar which was great, but unfortunately some meth head lived next door and he was cranking cassettes of 1970’s Pittsburgh Steelers radio broadcasts all night.  We didn’t get much sleep that night!  That’s another thing about the road…  You don’t get much sleep.  “Bradshaw, back in the pocket…”