How to go
Who: New Regrets with The Gizmos, The Give-Ups, Apache Dropout and Deezen
Where: Blind Bob’s, 430 E. Fifth St., Dayton
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Cost: $10
More info: 937-938-6405 or www.blindbobs.com
Artist info: www.newregrets.bandcamp.com
In the late 1970s and early ’80s, Ed Pittman was The Man when it came to local punk rock singers. As the frontman for Dayton’s first significant punk act Toxic Reasons, he spewed gravely political diatribes and social commentary with a faux British accent and a significant chip on his shoulder.
There have been plenty of imitators since but few matched Pittman’s seething energy, which prompted James Downing-Groth to enlist the singer for his new punk band New Regrets. The group performs with reformed ’70s punks The Gizmos at Blind Bob’s on Saturday.
Pittman (vocals) and Downing-Groth (guitar) recently shared their thoughts on New Regrets, which also includes Matt Clark (guitar), Jayson Hartings (bass) and Todd Bridges (drums).
The take-off
Downing-Groth: “Matt, Todd and I started playing stuff in November. We didn’t start playing with the full band until a few months later. I was listening to Toxic Reasons and I thought it’d be great if we found somebody like Ed to sing. I was like, ‘That’s stupid, I’ll just ask Ed to sing.’ We sent him songs.”
Pittman: “The timing was right. I was ready to bust out. I was doing the solo thing and I wanted to do something different. I was tired of the safety net and wanted to rage again. I went over and checked it out and here we are. It’s coming together pretty good. I like just singing and writing the lyrics. James and Matt handle most of the music and then we all have our say when it comes to a bridge.”
Test driving punks
Downing-Groth: “We played our first show in March at South Park Tavern with The Give-Ups and Everyday Objects from Cincinnati. We’ve played at Blind Bob’s and Canal (Public House) since then.”
Pittman: “We’re taking a test drive around all the clubs in town before we take it on the road.”
Downing-Groth: “That was the first time I ever played at Canal. I got away with 16 years of being in Dayton bands without playing there. This is my first accessible band, apparently.”
Wake-up call
Pittman: “We haven’t been going out actively looking for shows. We’ve been asked to play. Now we’re starting to be conscious of not wearing it out and playing too much but it’s going well. The band is really powerful and no disrespect to anybody but something needs to happen. Somebody needs to kick a door in here because things are kind of sleepy. We want to make some noise and wake Dayton up a little bit.”
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