On Final Approach to Record Store Day 2012 in Southwest Ohio

by Jonathan Goolsby

CINCINNATI — The boss looked at me quizzically.  “Why do you need off Saturday again?”

I was tempted to say shomer Shabbos.  I feel that strongly about it.  “Record Store Day,” I said.  “It’s basically a holiday.”

“Never heard of it.”  Her eyebrow arched.

“Obviously, you’re not a vinylhead.”

“But you wanted off Friday, too.”

“I know.  I have a show to go to that night.  That’s Record Store Day Eve.  It’s kind of like midnight Mass for rock and roll.”

“Uh huh.  You do want to keep working, right?”

“It only comes once a year.”  And it’s a full lineup for Record Store Day 2012.

Stealing Time with The Minor Leagues

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by Jonathan Goolsby

DAYTON, OHIO – It’s an early evening at South Park Tavern.  Next table over is some sort of family birthday party.  Whoever the birthday girl is, she has an inordinately large number of grandparents – of the twenty or so attendees, the average age must be 64.  And I’m here for . . . a rock show?  Wait.  A CD release!  No way.

Yet that’s exactly what I’m here for.  This is The Minor Leagues‘ night and I’m ready for the opener.  North College Hill – the band’s long-awaited sixth album – is out and I can’t wait to hear them play it live.

Co-front Ben Walpole and his songwriting partner, guitarist Patrick Helmes, are the first to arrive.  We pull up a booth and wait for the band’s free pizza pie.  You would never picture the two of them in the same band; Walpole’s sandy shag cut and preppy outfit seem diametrically opposed to Helmes’ circa-1978 Iron Maiden basement show taper.  Not the co-founder I expect for a bright poppy, mutli-faceted twee combo.  I ask Helmes to stand and identify.

“Megadeth!”  He’s enthusiastic about it, too.  “Drive-By Truckers are my favorite band by far, and stuff in that same genre like Loose Arrow, Hold Steady.  But I like metal.  My closet love is death metal, like Dark Tranquility, In Flames, any of that stuff from the mid-Nineties is awesome.  It’s completely irrelevant to what we do,” he laughs.  “I don’t even think I’m capable of doing anything like that.”

Walpole chuckles.

Photos: Rock at The Galaxy 3/12/12

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Last Monday, we had an exciting night of rock music at Galaxy CDs.  HamiltonTV came out to broadcast and record the show!  The Albrights came to town from Buffalo, NY; Place Position from Dayton, OH (we’d been rocking their demo online for months); Cincinnati’s Mad Anthony joined the party for another visit to Galaxy, and Duke of Owls from Dayton came to rock out as well.  Check out the photos by Jared Bowers below and plan to come hang with us tomorrow (March 18) for another EPIC night of rock.

Links to full-size images after the jump:

Oh Condor – Ohio Band to Know

“We’re like the senior class of the Dayton scene,” says Oh Condor bassist Alan Baker.  An accurate description, I think.  With ten years, 180+ shows, three albums, two EPs, and one name change under their belts, Oh Condor has more than earned the respect they deserve as Dayton’s alt-rock elder statesmen.

Read on for our interview and a giveaway!

Putting Faces to Names and Weekend Update

Good morning, people!  TGIF!  Some news and info for you all:

If you’ve been wondering who the people behind The Lonely House are, we’ve put up a new bio page where you can see our b-e-a-u-tiful faces and learn a little bit more about us: (not)Lonely People.

There’s a lot going on this weekend and into Monday, so here’s a quick rundown:

• Tomorrow (Sat. Feb 25) is another BFD at Galaxy in Hamilton.  It’s A Night of Art and Music with 3 local artists displaying their artwork and 3 bands playing.  Just $5 to get in and join the party.  Full details available here.
• If you’re from a more northerly direction, I (Alicia) will be heading to South Park Tavern in Dayton tomorrow night to hang out at Dayton band Oh Condor‘s EP Release party.  I’ll be snagging interviews with those guys and Roley Yuma, so stay tuned for that later next week.
• On Sunday, the guys from Shoot The Glass Podcast will be broadcasting live from Galaxy at 6PM.  These guys are hilarious and it’s going to be a good time, so come hang!  Afterwards, head over to Wings on Brookwood for the best wings in Hamilton and some cold beer (or soda, if that’s more your thing).
• On Monday, we’ve got another awesome show lined up at Galaxy.  Honah Lee will be stopping by from Trenton, NJ as well as Emily & The Complexes from Columbus, Mad Anthony from Cincinnati, and Hamilton’s own Yankee Go Home.  This is one you don’t want to miss.  Full details here.
• Also on Monday, I (Alicia again) will be a guest on the Salina Underground radio show, playing some tunes I’m into, talking about The Lonely House and music in Southwest Ohio.  The new General Manager of Bogart’s will be there as well, and I’m excited to meet her and find out what they’re cooking up with all the renovations the venue’s undergone.  Show starts at 7, and you can tune in online here.  If you’re going to be at the Galaxy show or otherwise occupied during that time, it will also be available as a podcast later on.

So that’s what’s going down.  We hope to see you sometime in the next few days!  And as always, hit us up if you want to chat about anything!

Why I Love Southwest Ohio

Have I ever told you how much I love Southwest Ohio? No? Well, allow me to.

When I first came here in January of 2004 as a Pennsylvania resident and potential student at Cedarville University, I thought, “God this place is cold and brown and flat. I don’t know if I can take this for four years.”  One graduation, two apartments, three jobs, eight years, and God-only-knows-how-many shows later, I’ve met a ton of awesome people, tapped into a music community that puts out legitimately quality stuff that will be talked about in generations to come, eaten food from top-notch restaurants, and become a part of a growing craft beer loving fandom. I also found a home.

… my only sincere plague.

by jaysen brockman

Releases like this really make me start to question myself and everything I know as “true.” I say that, because I know I shouldn’t like it. It’s a genre that has become quite laughable in recent years, and may as well be called “Fat-Kid-Hot-Topic-Mall-Metal.” The funny thing is that I said the exact same thing when the Zombies EP was released. Perhaps, it’s just the new direction that this Dayton, Ohio-based sextet are taking. If that IS the case, I’m perfectly fine with it. Don’t expect anything groundbreaking, because it’s not here. In fact, it’s far from it. But, what they do (very well, I might add) is breathe life back in to what could have been a “2 full-length” career… And they do it with an exclamation point. It seems this record was built on the foundation of what made the Zombies EP a great release. Which is remove any trace of the awful pop-punk infused pseudo-metal they were purveying previously.

#OhioTakeover Tour Artists Talk Rap in The Midwest

If you’re not from Ohio, when you think about its music scene, rap is not necessarily the first genre that comes to mind.  But the fact is, there’s a growing hip hop community with talented emcees and producers putting out albums and playing some sick shows.  This past Tuesday I had the opportunity to catch up with some respected names in Ohio hip hop at the Dayton stop of the #OhioTakeover tour they were on.  They gave some insight into what the scene in Ohio is like, a glimpse at its past, and what they hope their legacy is in the future.