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Home > Blogs > Battle of the Band > Archives > 2008 > January
January 2008
Urbana’s Small Town Sleeper at McGuffy’s
Urbana power-pop-rock group Small Town Sleeper can hardly be called ‘small’ anymore.
The band spent last Summer/Fall on tour with Platinum-Selling artist Daughtry, and now has fan clubs and street teams in every region of the country. Small Town Sleeper’s website (www.smalltownsleeper.com) even links to a few fan-run websites where enthusiastic fans gossip and gloat about the band.
This is quite a lot of buzz for a band that has yet to even release a record.
“The CD is done, but we are still waiting for the label to finish up negotiations on our distribution deal,” said front man Troy Brown. “I did just get an e-mail today letting us know that we will be going to CHR and Hot A/C radio formats ASAP, so look out.”
The band’s up-coming debut is called Conversations and was recorded at Electric Lady Studio in New York with producer Ken Lewis (Fall Out Boy, Lenny Kravitiz). The band and their label, Upper 11 records, are expecting big things from the album.
“Conversations was built from the very things that make it’s title; the communications that comprise our lives,” said Brown. “A lot of the songs we write are stories, mostly stories from small towns. Some are written in letter form or inspired by conversations I have had. So the title was a simple way to sum up the record and what it is about.”
The band is a true rock/pop band with roots in bands like Bon Jovi and 90’s grunge. Their new single, entitled Backseat was recently posted on the band’s Myspace page and is quite catchy for a hard rocker.
Small Town Sleeper will be at McGuffy’s this Saturday, February 2nd for a rare hometown appearance. Doors open at 8 p.m. and the show starts at 9 p.m.. Also performing is 650 North, Billy Carri, and Chamber Rain.
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Why Hawthorne Heights will prevail
Hawthorne Heights will continue making music, and they can thank their fans for the motivation to move past their recent tragedy.
Forums on the Hawthorne Heights website (www.hawthorneheights.com) are filled with fans from coast to coast who miss the late Casey Calvert, the Hawthorne Heights guitarist who passed away in November.
One fan from Rhode Island writes “Dear Casey, you changed me so much and you will always be in my heart.”
Another fan from Ohio wrote “Casey had a huge impact on mine and my friends lives, thank you.”
Other fans have wrote songs remembering the guitarist and one fan created a tribute page to Calvert on myspace.com.
There are nearly 700 posts from fans inspiring the band to move forward and continue in Calvert’s shadow.
Calvert passed in his sleep while the band was on tour in Washington DC. The coroner said the cause of death was accidental drug interaction.
The band has made brief statements about his passing, but none was more personal than the blog the band posted a month ago on myspace.com entitled “Happy Holidays.”
Drummer Eron Bucciarelli wrote “No one should ever have to go through losing anyone prematurely, but sadly, it happens and its something we’ve had to deal with on more than one occasion. It hasn’t been easy, but witnessing people come together, putting aside their differences, sharing their stories and uniting under their love of Casey has been extremely uplifting. I’ve cried and laughed at all of the stories and in every instance I can remember the exact situation (or similar one) being described in near vivid detail. Its unfortunate that it takes a tragedy to put everything into perspective and even more unfortunate that we let trivial matters run our daily lives to the extent that we forget how precious and fragile life really is.”
It sounds as though the band knows their fan’s support has been the band-aid they have needed to begin healing.
Eron finishes his blog by saying “On behalf of our whole band, I want to send a big thank you to all of our loved ones, families, friends, fans, management, for being so supportive while we deal with our loss and figure everything out in the wake. To say we’re grateful for everything would be an understatement.”
The band has also managed to post a brand new song on myspace. The song, called Come Back Home New, begins with the line “come back home/you’re all alone and everybody’s waiting.”
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Dayton Local Music
The Sailing finish new record
Dayton epic-rock band, The Sailing, have (finally) finished their long awaited and anticipated new record.
The band specifically explained in a recent press release that “as of 11 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 20th, our album The Infinity Gate was finished.”
The Sailing, who spent most of last year writing and recording the record, is finally ready to release it to the public.
“We’re very happy with the way the record turned out, which is very rare for us,” said Sailing drummer Gus. “The final product is a casserole of attempted recordings we did on our own in Dayton and the recordings we did in West Virginia with Brian Spragg.”
The Infinity Gate, which is sure to blur the line between reality and fanasty, is set for release on Dayton-based Squid’s Eye Records early this Spring.
Aside from finishing up their debut LP the band is set to spend February and March playing shows in Dayton, Cincinnati, and Columbus.
“We’re busy little sailors,” said Gus, “we have handful of exciting shows coming up including February 16th at the Madison Theater, February 23rd at the Southgate House, and Squids Eye’s Birthday extravaganza at the Nite Owl on March 14th.”
Visit www.squidseyerecords.com for more about the band and their fellow Squid’s Eye artists.
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Frontier Folk Nebraska coming back to Canal Street Tavern
They are not from Nebraska, but the northern Kentucky americana/folk rock band Frontier Folk Nebraska have successfully harnessed the heartache of the heartland. So much so that even the Boss would be a little jealous.
Frontier Folk Nebraska have created a very raw folky-american sound utilizing muti-traditional instruments including an accordion, a harp, a slide, and a violin.
“We’re a bunch of misfits playing folk rock. Think Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska meets Grateful Dead’s folk rock side. I dig Slayer too, but it hasn’t come out in influences yet,” said FFN front-man Michael Hensley.
The band thrives on crowd participation. Often the band invites musicians and fans in the audience to join them onstage and add to their music collective.
“On good nights we bring up anyone who wants to jam. If you can play tambourine, your in the band. If you can do good yells and hollers, your in the band,” said Hensley.
Join the band on-stage at Canal Street Tavern on Thursday, January 24th.
Besides FFN, the show Thursday is a must see. Fellow Cinci folk-rockers The Hiders, and one of my favorites, local singer/songwriter Joe Anderl will also be performing.
Visit www.myspace.com/frontierfolknebraska to hear songs from FFN’s 2007 debut EP entitled the Devils Tree. The band is working on the follow-up album due out in the spring called ‘Mercy Bells A Ringing, Hell Hounds A Barkin’.
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Ruetschle heading back in the studio
Good news for Ruetschle (pronounced Richley) fans; the local kings of Euro-indie-pop are heading back to the studio.
The pop-tastic 4-piece announced last week through a myspace.com bulletin that they were ready to record the follow-up to their 2006 Poptek records release entitled Exotic Destinations.
“We have had three writing sessions so far and already have 11 good ideas to work with. There is still a lot of drafting, tweaking, and fine tuning to do, but I think we are satisfied with what we have to start with,” said the band.
The new Ruetschle album, tentatively titled Color Theory, will be the band’s fourth full-length studio album.
“We are still fasting from live shows to concentrate on writing songs for the new album, but we plan to try out the songs live in February and then record in February and March,” said Ruetschle drummer Andy Ingram.
Visit http://www.myspace.com/ruetschle to sample the band’s music.
Permalink | | Categories: Dayton Local Music
Goody Two Shoes to play the OE
You want punk rock with style; You want the Goody Two Shoes.
With songs like Allergic to You and Shank the Skank, these Dayton rockers sure are fun.
The Goody Two Shoes have been playing loud rough-a-round the edges punk rock since June of ‘06.
Catch this five-piece at the Oregon Express this Saturday, January 19th, for the clubs weekly Indie-Rock Night. The Lions Rampant from Cincinnati (Garage/Punk), The Turnbull A.C.’s from Cincinnati (Indie), and The Give-Ups from Dayton (Punk) are also performing.
The band, who spent ‘07 on the road and rocking last Fall’s Dayton Music Festival, is set to enter the studio in February.
“We released a split EP with Atomic Johnny last summer,” wrote the band through e-mail. “Soon we will hopefully be a rocking vinyl 7” EP worthy of being the second item in our discography.”
Visit www.myspace.com/thegoodytwoshoes to hear a sample of the band.
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New Year resolutions from Dayton bands
2008 is upon us and I thought it would be interesting to hear what some local bands and musicians resolve to accomplish in the new year.
So I polled a few of them and here is what they said.
The Story Changes (pop-punk-rock) - “To see our amazing friends that we have made all over from this band as many times and as much as we can this year.”
Accidently On Purpose (hard rock-metal) - “We are aiming for a record label this year.”
Sleepybird (experimental-folk-indie) - “As a group, we resolve to finish our third album tentatively titled The Sadness Will Last Forever.”
Joe Anderl (singer/songwriter-indie) - “Keep moving.”
XL427 (singer/songwriter-pop) - “To get my debut album done, four years after I started it.”
Romance of Young Tigers (experimental-noise-rock) - “We made no resolutions for the new year.”
Hear samples and learn more about each of these bands on Myspace.com.
Permalink | | Categories: Dayton Local Music
Halos Were Found at the Landing Site post CMJ
Dayton-based sonic rock group Halos Were Found at the Landing Site spent a weekend last October in New York City as part of the annual CMJ Magazine Music Festival.
The band, who is the perfect mix of Minus the Bear and Hum, landed the gig with low-expectations. However, they humbly underestimated their talent and floored the audiences and agents that had converged on the big apple for the city’s largest music festival.
“CMJ was a pretty amazing experience for us. We didn’t go in with the expectations that we were going to get signed by some major label, but instead we just went in with the mindframe to make some connections and meet some new friends,” said Halos front-man Marus Pulkas.
Since CMJ the band has gained national attention. Many internet radio stations, including SomaFM and Crawdaddy, have added the band to their playlists. Halos have also been asked to come back to New York, specifically to the world famous Knitting Factory.
“It turned out to be a pretty beneficial trip for us,” said Pulkas. “We were able to turn a few heads at least enough to secure a couple more shows at the end of this month in New York.”
In preparation for their next jaunt to the city the band is playing Canal Street Tavern this Friday January 11th.
They are also in the process of recording a new cd and follow-up to their self-titled debut.
“We’ve got a good handful of songs for the majority of the next disc. We’re looking to start finalizing the length, production values, framework and overall feel of the songs still and I am not sure when we can get it out,” Pulkas said.
Visit www.myspace.com/haloswerefoundatthelandingsite to hear a sample of the bands tunes and get more info on the four-piece.
Permalink | | Categories: Dayton Local Music
Wheeling’s Fox Japan to play the OE
I spent most of this afternoon listening to Fox Japan songs on myspace. Catchy indie-pop songs that are as addicting as they are interesting.
The band, who hails from Wheeling, West Virgina, will be hitting the Oregon Express stage with Dayton sonic rockers the Sailing this Saturday, January 5th.
Fox Japan has spent much of this year touring the East coast and the Midwest, but this is their first trip to the Valley.
Hit their website at www.foxjapan.net to hear a sample of the band’s music, which some have called “Built to Spill meets Weezer.”
Then check them out live on Saturday.
Permalink | | Categories: Dayton Local Music
