MUSIC ISSUE // DOUBLE FEATURE
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CONTENTS F E B R UA RY / M A R C H 2 0 1 8
08
06 A Conversation with Lucius’ Holly Laessig
From Fairview Park to touring the world.
28
08 City of Blinding Lights
Indoor music festival ‘Radiate’ illuminates Cleveland dance culture.
24
10 Dr. Z: The Mad Scientist of Guitar Amps
The evolution of Cleveland's lounge pianists.
14 The Splice Cream Man
Quality Time Records determined to make music great again.
24 Next in Line
Celebrating local music programs for Music in Our Schools Month.
26 Tech Trends
Technology trends to watch in 2018.
28 Different Strokes
06
ARE YOU GOING TO BELIEVE YOU AREN’T GOING TO GET OUT OF THERE? I TOLD YOU 2 YEARS AGO. WHEN WE SET’EM UP, THEY STAY UP. DON’T YOU LISTEN AT ALL?” — The Writer
"NOW WHEN
10
After a suspect is found too close to home
Meet the man behind a recording studio/ice cream truck hybrid.
18 The Band's All Here
An Ohio artist spotlight: Keith Ten Eyck.
Letters of a love affair lead to fear, paranoia, and death in a small town Adam Dodd
Dr. Z keeps Cleveland’s legacy of rock alive.
12 Behind the Tip Jar
Yours Truly: Part II
After controversial secrets are brought to light After the trial is held and the verdict read
12
14 16
After the accused are behind bars and a town exhales The letters keep coming… Featured last issue, part one of “Yours Truly,” centered on a series of anonymous letters that besieged the residents of Circleville, Ohio. Focused primarily on an alleged affair between Mary Gillispie and the local school superintendent, it was not long before The Writer’s harassment led to the indirect death of Mary’s husband, Ron. Several years and thousands of letters later, a booby trap with a loaded gun was crafted so Mary could join her late husband. The only thing more shocking than the owner of the gun was everything that happened next.
30 Skitter’s Quest to Save Rock and Roll
Stripped down simple songs to scream along to. Read the chilling conclusion the Circleville Letter Writer in “Yours Truly: Part II” at pressurelife.com/circleville2
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Waters asked the festival organizers if they knew where he could find some female backup singers. Lucius was their first call and Laessig and Wolfe said yes. They were told to learn two songs, but they learned all five just in case. During the one rehearsal before the show, the girls backed off the mic in the beginning of the second song under the impression they were not to sing on that specific track. Waters stopped the song halfway through, looked at Laessig and Wolfe, brushed his silver hair out of his face, and motioned them back to the mic along with the simple phrase, “Man up.”
A Conversation with
LUCIUS’ HOLLY LAESSIG The Lucius co-founder discusses her band, touring with Roger Waters, and missing Cleveland. Dave Sebille // Photography: Chris Velasco
I don't
think that anyone has ever called me from Los Angeles, so getting a call from Holly Laessig of Lucius was a very pleasant first. Lucius, a female-fronted folk-pop group, is taking a well-earned break from a crazy year of touring to record their new album, Nudes. Much to my appreciation, Laessig took time out of her busy schedule to talk to me about where she’s been and where the band is going.
The band, comprised of Laessig and Jess Wolfe on lead vocals, as well as drummer Dan Molad and guitarist Peter Lalish, has been together since 2005. Before then, Laessig grew up in Fairview Park. She moved to Boston for college and later to Brooklyn, New York to pursue her passion of music. Since then, she and the rest of Lucius have made Los Angeles their home. Well, it’s home when they aren’t traveling the world as the backup singers for Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters, that is. So how did Lucius end up on a world tour with Roger Waters? It all started at the Newport Folk Festival. Lucius played the festival a few years ago and, while rubbing elbows with superstars backstage, ended up singing backing vocals for a lot of very big sets, earning them the nickname “The Newport Darlings.” One year, Roger Waters was a secret headliner, interrupting My Morning Jacket’s Photo Credit: Steve Thrasher performance with a five-song set of Pink Floyd classics.
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Waters provides politically-charged performances, including a particularly memorable event in Mexico City. “We played a free concert for 350,000 people in the public square of Mexico City, which is basically in the backyard of the mayor and the president who don’t get along with each other at all,” Laessig recalled. “Roger directly gave a speech in Spanish to the president of Mexico about his corrupt ways. There were snipers all around and Roger is saying these things while his face was 50-feet tall on the screen. The crowd was cheering louder than I’ve ever heard any crowd cheer. I had chills.” Although Laessig and Wolfe toured with Waters, Lucius is much more than a pair of backup singers. The band is currently working on its third full-length studio album, Nudes, with producer Shawn Everett. Everett, who has worked with The Alabama Shakes, Weezer, and Kurt Vile, also produced Lucius’ last record, Good Grief. While on tour Something about with Waters, the girls are bringing that scene made fellow bandmates Lalish and Molad even a California girl along with them and playing shows in Australia, Europe, and South miss Cleveland. America over the next few months. Laessig discussed landmark events in the band's career, which led me to ask her what the moment that she realized that her dreams were coming true felt like. “I don’t know if that moment ever arrived really,” she responded. “You always think it’s going to, but everything just keeps moving so fast and it’s hard to realize that moment is happening.” Even though Laessig is thankful for everything that has happened in the 15 years since she left Cleveland, she still looks forward to coming home and enjoying a brat sandwich from the West Side Market and seeing old friends around the city. She told me that a friend sent her a video of the Browns perfect season parade. She reflected on the video saying, “Something about that scene made even a California girl miss Cleveland.”
Pressure Picks Upcoming Events to See
AWOLNATION
Feb. 17 // House of Blues
Portugal. The Man
Feb. 18 // Agora Theatre
The Mowgli’s
Feb. 20 // Grog Shop
Brite Winter
Feb. 24 // West Bank of the Flats
Jim Tews
Feb. 25 // Hilarities
Carlos Jones and the P.L.U.S. Band March 2 // Grog Shop
Miguel
March 10 // Agora Theatre
Senses Fail
March 20 // Agora Ballroom
For the latest on Lucius and to check out their new album Nudes, visit ilovelucius.com or rogerwaters.com
Buckethead
March 31 // Beachland Ballroom
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FM 91.5 WKHR Cleveland The great American songbook is still cooking in Cleveland.
City of
Gennifer Harding-Gosnell
D
“We book a pretty wide range of artists that all tend to attract their own unique crowds,” Malone says. “People at our shows are very open-minded, welcoming, and are typically far more concerned about having a good time or conversation than anything else. That leaves a lot of room for diversity, which is exactly what we hope to see.”
ance music has long stayed under the radar in Cleveland, This year’s event will include trap artists Botnek and LOUDa music city built heavily on classic rock and R&B. But as PVCK, Canadian EDM star ill.GATES, and multi-instrumenCleveland’s tourism industry continues growing and younger talist Kill Paris. Local and regional DJs and bands are all over generations and hip empty nesters conthe line up as well. tinue moving into rejuvenated urban areas downtown, dance music culture is earning more Though the music and crowd vary, dance attention and drawing larger, more diverse music is the prevailing soundtrack of the event. People at our shows crowds than ever. “We’re very lucky to have such a strong grassare very openroots dance culture here in Cleveland,” Malone Radiate is an indoor music festival and multi-facsays. “From warehouse parties to Jacobs Pavilminded, welcoming, eted light show that seeks to draw the fun and ion, there is almost always something going on, and are typically unique among us to the Agora for a final send-off and often multiple events to choose from on far more concerned to the dark hours of winter and last bit of “light the same night.” about having a good therapy.” The event runs from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. Friday, March 9. Malone credits the current camaraderie time or conversation between different musical genres for keeping than anything else. “We have one room that’s all DJs and one room the whole Cleveland music scene alive and that’s all bands,” explains Shaun Malone, the says we should be cultivating those relationpresident and operations manager of Cumuships even more. “I think if we all made a point lus Entertainment, which is putting on the to support local independent musicians, artists, event. “We do our best to have a very eclectic mix of music.” and promoters who operate in a credible manner, whether or not their musical taste aligns with ours, we will quickly see an The massive black-light party taking over the main ballroom is even more prosperous community of independent and alternathe main visual prop, but attendees are encouraged to bring their tive lifestyles grow around us.” own glow-in-the-dark materials. Elaborately-costumed performers known as “flow artists” will be out in the event rooms. These individuals will use a wide range of illuminated tools way more sophisticated than just glow sticks and flags to create images with light Tickets for Radiate 2018 are available at ticketweb.com. through movement. Face and body painting gets taken to a whole For more information on Radiate and other events, head to new level with airbrush experts spraying artwork and designs on facebook.com/CumulusEntertainment attendees’ skin. The audience tends to get quite clever with their outfits. For people-watchers, it’s endless stimulation.
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STICKERS! 500 VINYL
DIE CUT STICKERS $
Lex Watson
Blinding Lights Indoor music festival Radiate illuminates Cleveland dance culture.
GET HYPED ON CUSTOM
When you think non-profit radio, you envision either NPR or a college station with kids playing what they think is great to a niche audience of campus eclectics and peers. FM 91.5 WKHR is different with its set format and international appeal: a noncommercial big band, swing, jazz, and early R&B station based in Bainbridge. I sat down with station general manager director Chris Kofron to discuss what makes WKHR a success both in the Cleveland area and worldwide.
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3 DAZZLING FINISHES
FULL COLOR LINERS
PressureLife: How does WKHR stack up ratings-wise in Cleveland?
ANY SIZE, ANY SHAPE
CK: “We get better ratings than the college radio stations and we actually compete with the commercial stations. It's a style of music you can't get anywhere else. The closest format to us is WCLV, which used to be a classical music station, but we beat them in ratings, And we don't have commercials and we're not trying to be all slick; we're just playing great music for good people.” PL: What does FM 91.5’s web presence power?
Call 216.622.6360 Click jakprints.com
Pressure Life - JAN 2018_v02.indd 1
1/24/18 9:15 AM
CK: “We are broadcasting from WKHR.org so you can stream us on any device anywhere in the world and we have a strong listener base worldwide. I've get emails from England, Scotland, South Africa, a judge in Mexico City. PL: What is the key to the station’s success? CK: “The depths of our programing is so substantial vs any other radio station that I have to actually build my own automation system because no commercial automation system would allow for the amount of music we use. Benny Goodman’s got hundreds of tracks, Frank Sinatra, you're looking at over a hundred albums each one of those songs is viable. I want all that in our database. I don't want to just play what was popular at the time.” PL: What does the future hold for FM 91.5? CK: “The station’s future is fine. We’re looking to get away from regular radio logic because that hasn't worked for anybody and start scaling up generations of music. I want to play more of the Harlem operators, stuff that was only played on small rural stations from artists that played in big bands. Stuff like early R&B artists like Joe Liggins, Wynonie Harris, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson. Music that wasn’t played to a mass audience then, but deserves the audience we provide.”
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“VOX” that stood behind the Liverpool quartet and projected their gorgeous, jangling chords and melodies. Zaite remembers taking the bus to Higbee’s department store in downtown Cleveland to get a glimpse of The Beatles’ signature Vox amps. He would bask in their monolithic presence, soaking up every detail: the diamond-grill cloth, the gold and white trim against their black tolex wrap.
Dr. Z The Mad Scientist of Guitar Amps How W iHeights m Hof method un Howthe Maple becamecan home your superpoguitar wers amps. to 30latent yearshuof man high-profile Ben Diamond
M
ichael Dominic Zaite used sign his name with his initials, “M.D.” and it wasn’t long before people were calling him “doctor.” Today, it seems like his given name has all but disappeared from use. As the founder of Dr. Z Amplification, a boutique guitar amp manufacturer in Maple Heights, Ohio, most people, including some of the world’s most iconic guitarists like Joe Walsh and Brad Paisley, know him as Doc, Dr. Z, or simply Z. This year marks Dr. Z’s 30th anniversary, a testament to brilliant design, some fortuitous relationships, and the dream of a boy from Cleveland who wanted to rock. Zaite’s musical heritage, as with so many others, began with The Beatles. In his parent’s front room, he watched them perform on The Ed Sullivan Show and realized his calling. He wanted to do that, too. But there was something else he fixated on: the boxes marked
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Zaite was a teenager in the ‘60s, so he played drums in a “basement band.” When amps were left at Zaite’s place, he would open them up and peak around. They all used vacuum tube technology for power and tonal characteristics. This was something very familiar to Zaite—there were boxes of Zenith brand tubes lying around his house, which bore a conspicuous lightning bolt “Z.” His father was a TV Zaite never did repairman and needed extra tubes become the rock for his repairs. He would become an instrumental figure for the young star he dreamed of Zaite, providing a wealth of knowlin his youth, but his edge on esoteric tube technology and contribution to the electronics while fostering his early sound of visionary creativity and inventive spirit.
artists is no less
Zaite’s young music career reached impressive. its zenith when his band came in second to Joe Walsh’s band, The James Gang, at the 1968 Teen Fair in Cleveland. While Walsh went on to have a successful music career, most notably with the Eagles, Zaite set his eyes on studying electronics at Kent State University. “It just goes to show you that coming in second doesn't get you very much,” Zaite recalled with a laugh. Zaite would work in medical electronics for 15 years before starting Dr. Z Amps in 1988. While working on a new amp, Zaite thought of Walsh and decided to send one to him. After a year of radio silence, Zaite got a call from Walsh’s manager. Joe dug the amp. In fact, he dug it so much that he wanted to use it for the Eagle’s 1994 Hell Freezes Over Tour. It was the biggest grossing tour at the time; a tour that united the Eagles after a 14-year hiatus and gave Zaite his first big break. While Joe Walsh played solos to stadiums of frenzied fans, a Dr. Z Amp sat behind him, giving the brand instant credibility and immeasurable exposure. “No one had ever heard of me until then,” Zaite said. “And then all of a sudden, everyone kind of heard of me.” From there, Dr. Z started to attract a bevy of new artists. Some “Patients of Dr. Z” are legendary clients such as Steely Dan’s Walter Becker and ZZ Top, but also modern artists such as Tegan and Sara and Cleveland’s own Cloud Nothings. But perhaps none were more unexpected or influential to Dr. Z’s success than country music megastar Brad Paisley. “I've met a lot of artists in my life,” Zaite said, “but there's nobody like Brad.” When Paisley bought his first Dr. Z amp, Zaite had never heard of him. But Paisley seemed magnetically attracted to Dr. Z’s sound and the artist and engineer would soon become inexorably tied. On Sept. 11, 2001, Paisley happened to be touring in Ohio. But after the tragic events of that infamous day unfolded, Paisley’s next two shows were
cancelled. Paisley called Zaite, explained the situation, and asked if he might meet him at his shop. “There's time's in your life that you meet someone and there's just an attraction,” Zaite said. The two connected instantly. As respective masters of their craft, they developed an open dialogue about the nuances guitar tone and amp technology. Soon, they were bouncing ideas off each other and began developing amps together. Their latest collaboration, the DB4, marks the fourth time that “Doc and Brad” have collaborated on an amp. Paisley has been an unabashed cheerleader for Dr. Z every step of the way. The cover art for his latest album, Love and War, might as well be a billboard: It shows Brad, Brad's cowboy hat, and a bright red Dr. Z amp, all seeming to jump at once, suspended in musical ecstasy. Apart from the intangible value of the superstar’s endorsement, Zaite’s relationship with Paisley has pushed him to hone his craft to the highest level. “There's something about the original-ness of a true artist,” he said. “[There’s] the sound that's in their head and the sound that they want. And if you can help them achieve that, you become something more than just a manufacturer.” Zaite continues to be inspired by the past, but isn’t bound to it. Dr. Z carries on the legacy of rock n’ roll by providing “Vintage Tone for Today” while a maintaining a uniqueness all their own. Zaite never did become the rock star he dreamed of in his youth, but his contribution to the sound of visionary artists is no less impressive. Even with digital music technology gaining more ubiquity, Zaite believes his “heirloom” amps offer something for future generations of musicians to come. “There's something about musicians. There's something about that Stratocaster. There's something about a Stradivarius violin. There's something about those vintage instruments that make music, that make a sound that's just so unique and so original and so sought after that they will always be [desired]. They're never going to go away. No matter what.”
For more information on Dr. Z Amps, visit drzamps.com
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While some of these jobs will list openings on Craigslist or Facebook, landing a gig can be a matter of talking to the right person at the right time. “Most of this stuff is word of mouth and hustling to contact the places you play,” Kovacs says. “Society Lounge was similar. I just walked in on a Thursday and asked ‘Can I play the piano?’” It can be hard to tell just how many freelance pianists are working in Cleveland, although Kovacs estimates that it may be somewhere in the range of 30 to 50. For them, lounge jobs tend to be short-term affairs, arrangements that last a few months to a few years. While Kovacs’ career path is more typical for lounge pianists in Cleveland, Mike Petrone is a throwback to a different time.
Behind the Tip Jar
Petrone has been a pianist for Johnny’s Downtown since the restaurant opened in 1993. He came from a musical family and began performing professionally when he was 14, playing at establishments like Swingos, The Keg and Quarter, and Nighttown. Back in the ‘80s Every bar is just trying and ‘90s, it wasn’t uncommon for pianists to have full-time jobs playto find a way to sell ing piano in downtown Cleveland more drinks. If you can establishments. As time passed, prove that you’re worth that changed.
How W i mtoHof meth Whatthe it takes make it uraslatent hu man superpo wers a lounge pianist in Cleveland.
Alex Bieler
L
ounge pianists provide a certain atmosphere to an establishment, pairing pieces of music with patron’s food and drink of choice. Lobster bisque and Beethoven. Chicken satay and Erik Satie. Bloody Mary and Mariah Carey. The list can go on as long as the song queue implanted in the pianist’s memory banks.
Hotels, restaurants, and bars are all common environments where lounge pianists practice their craft, as are the bars in hotel restaurants. There are also the dueling pianists, restless performers who accept ongoing requests and entertain large, often inebriated groups. Of course, a piano is no good without the fingers floating above the keys. For many of these performers, lounge gigs are often a part of a wide range of musical jobs that allow them to make a living through their creative gifts. Rob Kovacs is one example of what it takes to be a paid pianist in Cleveland. He made the move to full-time musician in 2008 after joining Howl at the Moon Saloon, the now-defunct dueling pianos establishment that was located in The Flats. Kovacs eventually left Howl at the Moon to move to New York City with his band Return of Simple. While there, he held another dueling pianos job and took on various musical projects with different singers, high schools, and theaters. These days, Kovacs is back in Cleveland and juggling a few different roles. He teaches aspiring students three days a week, one day at home, one day at a student’s home, and one day at Laurel School in Shaker Heights. He’s been a musician-in-residence for the Cleveland Clinic Arts & Medicine Institute’s Performing Arts Program, where he and other musicians will play for patients, for around five years. There are also plenty of one-off gigs, such as private parties, weddings, and other events that can pay out anything from $75 to $1,000 depending
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on how long he plays and what’s being asked of him. Even after all of those, he has personal undertakings like his band and 88 Bit Music, a project in which Kovacs creates and plays piano arrangements of original Nintendo music. “Being freelance is a matter of finding everything that comes your way,” Kovacs says. “You have good months and not-so-good months.” Each job is part of a big juggling act for a full-time pianist in Cleveland, which includes figuring out which equipment is necessary for a performance. Some places have pianos on location, but Kovacs has a few keyboards that he’ll use for shows. He also has 300-pound upright piano that requires a van and some additional help to transport to certain shows. Outside of all his other jobs and projects, he’s maintained a regular lounge gig in Cleveland. He spent time at Society Lounge before his current gig at WXYZ Bar in Aloft Cleveland Downtown, where he plays every Tuesday from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. during happy hour.
it, they’ll have you back.
“By 2000, those places sort of dried up and the people who did it dried up as well to a certain degree,” Petrone says. “Downtown used to have a lot of piano players and spots with steady jobs for a lot of different people. It’s a different entertainment concept now.” While the steady jobs started disappearing, Petrone found his place. He became the full-time pianist at Johnny’s in 1999 and played his 5,000th performance at the restaurant in November of 2017. These days, he may be the only true full-time lounge pianist left in Cleveland. “I’m not sure that there’s anyone else who has a gig with that many nights a week,” Petrone says. “I was lucky; I made a good bet.” The lounge piano profession may have shifted in the last few decades, but both Petrone and Kovacs know that there is still an appreciation for the craft, both in terms of the audience and the people who pay the pianists. “Every bar is just trying to find a way to sell more drinks,” Kovacs explains. “If you can prove that you’re worth it, they’ll have you back.” Money isn’t the only beneficial part of a lounge gig. The response from the crowd is another reward. Sure, the occasional patron will make an outlandish request or get short with them for not knowing every single song in existence. Even lounge pianists get calls for “Freebird.” But there’s always something special about seeing joyful reactions from the crowd when they recognize a piece of music or hear a song that’s meant for them. “I like interacting with people and trying to guess what kind of music they like,” Kovacs says. “If you see someone playing and like what they’re doing, let them know. It definitely makes it worth it.”
MLT-PL-print-ad-2018-02.indd 1
Issue 17
1/29/18 | PRESSURELIFE.com 136:20 PM
DOUBLE FEATURE
SPLICE CREAM TRUCK | QUALITY TIME RECORDS
Kevin Naughton Portrait Photography // Anthony Franchino
BRINGING VINYL AND ICE CREAM TOGETHER AT LAST
On the surface of it, the idea of retrofitting an 1980s mail truck into a vehicle that’s both an ice cream truck and an analog recording studio sounds like something out of a ‘90s Nickelodeon cartoon. Who could come up with it in the first place, let alone actually pull it off? The creator would have to be someone of talent, vision, and motivation, along with an ability to think so far outside of the box that they scoff at the concept of a box in the first place. Enter Ben Smith, a composer/producer from California who more than meets those prerequisites. Bearded with a head full of very long dreads, Ben speaks with a perpetual grin that both welcomes and hints that he’s got quite a few tricks up his sleeve. One of those tricks is that he designed and built the Splice Cream Truck, a mobile recording studio where visitors can press their own vinyl and have a cold, refreshing dessert at the same time. Since creating the truck in 2016, he’s taken the colorfully painted vehicle all over the country, recording live concerts and, most importantly, oral histories of the people he encounters, the vinyl recordings of which he donates to libraries and community centers.
You’re probably scratching your head and asking and “How in the hell did he come up with that idea?” Fair question, and the answer is as interesting as the idea.
The
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“I’ve always wanted an ice cream truck,” he grins. “That was going to be my vehicle one way or another.” Smith was born in Long Beach, Calif., but he’s never been in one place for long. His father was in the Marines and subsequently a pastor, and his large family of thirteen moved several times a year. “It was hard in two ways because we would come into the school year in the middle of the school year, not know anybody—everybody’s already formed their relationships and their little cliques and stuff—and then I come in the middle of the year,” Smith explains. “And then when I finally get acclimated to the situation, we move.” To pass time when friends were scarce, Smith immersed himself in reading and electronics, teaching himself the basics of computer programming on a Commodore 64 his father brought him. “I was just always into electronics,” he recalls. “My dad recognized that
and he would just bring computers home and just let me take them apart or let me do whatever.” Smith’s father was an interesting figure. With double doctoral degrees in theology and language, he spoke five different languages and had studied the religions of the world extensively before becoming a Pentecostal pastor. “I don’t know if you know about Pentecostal, but it’s like the strictest one,” he explains, adding, “He once told my mother that saints don’t chew gum.” The colorful stories Smith told about his father could constitute their own article; for the sake of brevity, the man was a strong provider and protector of the family, and in spite of the strict manner in which he ran the household, he constantly and enthusiastically encouraged his children to pursue their passions. "I HAVE A LOT “You can be whatever you want to be in life,” Smith OF ENERGY. I smiles, quoting his father.
DON’T DO MUCH
Smith’s early exposure to music came from video SLEEPING." games. “I would turn the game on and I wouldn’t play,” he explains. “I would just let the theme song roll over and over.” He also remembers the theme song to the 1980s TV show Airwolf, citing it as an early music-related memory. He began to notice that music affected him in strange ways, often leaving him entranced. Later in life he would come to understand the sensations as symptoms of synesthesia, a phenomenon where an individual experiences the automatic, involuntary association of sounds, colors, smell, etc., but as a child it was rather confusing. “I had no idea what it was as a kid,” he recalls. “I just thought something was wrong all the time.” He kept the experiences to himself, largely, for fear of how his religious community would receive it. “When people have a certain mindset, everything is of the devil,” he explains. “I couldn’t really discuss it with too many people because if I bring it up, ‘Oh, that’s a demon!’” Nonetheless, he remained fascinated with music and continued to explore it.
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he enrolled in the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, where he learned classical composition and piano. After receiving a scholarship from the prestigious Musician’s Institute in California, Smith got his big break when he was discovered after just two months in the school by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, producers for Janet Jackson and members of Prince’s original band. Smith went on to work with recognizable artists Killer Mike, Big Boi, Missy Elliot; he even did music for MTV’s Wildboyz. So what brought him to Cleveland in the midst of such success? Smith cites several reasons, but the biggest draw was the city’s embracing of the arts, which a friend told him about. “He was like, ‘You’re a musical dude, you’ll love how it’s centered around the arts up here. You should come up.’” Smith took his friend’s advice and doesn’t regret it, attesting, “He was absolutely right.” Again, his father noticed how his son perked up when music played, and brought him an acoustic guitar one day. “I had no idea how to hold the guitar,” he laughs, recalling that he used it as drum instead. Smith’s mother passed away around this time, which greatly affected his father. “It kind of went into a spiral, because my dad hadn’t been without my mom ever,” he explains, “so then that’s when we really started bouncing around.” The family began to move all around the country in a refurbished Greyhound bus, to the delight of Smith, who exclaims, “As a kid it was awesome. I’m in a freaking bus!” Through the patronage of his father and his musical older brother Fred, who eventually became a touring jazz pianist, Smith got his hands on a vast array of musical instruments and production software. From making beats on drum machines to splicing audio from VHS tapes into loop tracks, he was becoming quite a capable music producer. After graduating high school a year early—“I hated high school,” he recalls—
Smith found the truck that became the Splice Cream Truck after an
FEAR + LOATHING IN HELENA, MONTANA
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exhaustive internet search; the fact that he found it in Helena, Mont., a remote Gold Rush town of fewer than 30,000 people, is indicative of how deep the search went. He had to take several buses and then ride in a stranger’s RV just to get to the town. The journey there was difficult enough. He describes a terrible bus ride where he got no sleep, getting gawked at—a black man with 2-foot dreadlocks stood out like a sore thumb in the predominantly white, rural Midwest—and a dingy motel
"I ’VE ALWAYS WANTED AN ICE CREAM TRUCK. THAT WAS GOING TO BE MY VEHICLE ONE WAY OR ANOTHER."
The idea for the Splice Cream Truck came to Smith while he was daydreaming at his day job as a computer programmer. “Oh, I got a degree in IT, by the way,” he comments casually, adding one more accomplishment to his already impressive stack. “I drew the truck,” he recalls. “I came up with the name at the same time.” What might have been a silly, idle doodle for someone less determined was all but a reality for Smith. “I knew it was going to happen,” he grins.
Smith obtained support and funding for the Splice Cream Truck through a city art grant, made possible by Cleveland’s patronage of the arts. Smith found out about the grant with very little notice and had to campaign aggressively to win the grant. “I did it in two days,” he proudly stated. By the way, Smith is incredibly humble, especially for someone with such an interesting and accomplished life. The only time he beamed with pride, and deservedly so, was when he explained how hard he worked to get the grant for the truck.
where a prostitute working next door kept him up all night. The lack of sleep would affect his trip home dramatically. Getting the truck to Cleveland is Smith’s own version of Homer’s The Odyssey. First of all, the vehicle was a 1984 mail truck with a right-side steering wheel, patched tires, and just an 8-gallon tank; Smith had to drive it nearly 2,000 miles to get it home. Second, he had been up for three days at this point, and the terrible experience of the first part of the journey made him want to get home
as quickly as possible, so he decided to drive straight back with no sleep. There was a blood moon that night, which could be seen as an ill-portent of things to come. Immediately, a blizzard struck. A tire popped. The engine overheated. He ran out of gas far more quickly than he anticipated. As soon as the blizzard lifted, he found himself surrounded by fog so dense that when it lifted, it revealed an already-risen sun. “Now I’m like, ‘I’m gonna die. I know I’m gonna die.’”
His love for vinyl—“I’ve got a ridiculous collection of vinyl records, like 3,000.”—led him to install an analog tape system and a vinyl lathe into the truck. Bearing in mind his love for music, the fact that he’s primarily used the truck to capture oral histories of people he meets might come as a surprise. “I usually have trouble talking to people,” he explains, “so I thought it would be good idea to compile stories without necessarily having to be there.” “From that drawing to now, it was like a whirlwind,” Smith concludes, smiling. “It feels surreal. I’m relatively young and so much stuff has happened that it feels like this was decades and decades ago, but it wasn’t.” When asked how feels about having led such a unique and accomplished life for such a young person—he asked that we not reveal his exact age—he simply shrugs, “It’s kind of normal for me. The stuff that I do is so ridiculous, it’s just normal.” He also suggests that the early passing of several of his family members— his mother passed when he was nine; his older brother Chris, whom he looked up to greatly, before he was 30; and his father in the mid-2000s—has kept him from taking life for granted. “I think we all kind of felt like we had limited time on Earth,” he explains, adding with a grin, “I have a lot of energy. I don’t do much sleeping.” Space constraints have forced us to omit many more of Smith’s accomplishments; if you heard his whole story, you’d understand that you’d need a whole book to tell it. Perhaps his greatest accomplishment, however, is leading a life that is decidedly one of a kind, which Ben Smith and his Splice Cream Truck most certainly are.
Keep track of the Splice Cream Truck's travels on Facebook @splicecream
By this point, his lack of sleep was causing him to hallucinate. While Smith has never done drugs in his life, his trip home was as psychedelic as The Electric Koolaid Acid Test. He describes tree spirits, various drivers and passengers—the truck has one seat, mind you—and an abyss into which a character from Game of Thrones warned him not to look where a sinister version of Dopey from Snow White stared menacingly back at him. “Someone asked me to hand them my shoe,” he claims, and he obliged. To this day he has no idea what happened to the shoe.
Finally, he got home safely, if a bit shaken. The trip must have taken quite a physical toll on him because his roommate gasped, “What the fuck happened to you?” as soon as he walked in the door. He got it home, though, and he was finally able to create the Splice Cream Truck. “I’ve taken it way across the U.S.: I’ve taken it to New York, I’ve taken it to Seattle. I didn’t drive it that time,” he laughs.
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DOUBLE FEATURE
SPLICE CREAM TRUCK
| QUALITY TIME RECORDS
QUALI T Y TIME RECORDS’ DEEP ROSTER TAKES CLEVELAND BY ST ORM
Adam Dodd Photography // Anthony Franchino
"I just wanted to do it the best, cheapest, and coolest way I could.”
The
BAND'S ALL HERE
Ricky Hamilton is not one to mince words. His relentless ambition and brass-tacks approach has seen Quality Time Records, the record label he formed in 2013, garner an impressive roster of talent that is on the precipice of becoming Cleveland’s premier showcase for sound in 2018. “I was on the road from 2012 to 2014 and I saw there were no real labels from Cleveland,” Hamilton speaks on the impetus of the label’s creation as a sense of duty, fueled as much by passion as practicality. “There was this void. I got back in town in 2014 and I kept running into old friends. They said things like, ‘No one’s putting out good music. People are making cool music, but no one’s actually putting it out.’ I asked why and they were like, ‘Because everyone’s just high
and don’t know what they’re doing.’ So I figured, 'I’ve got experience, I guess I’ll fill the void.'” Forged from the most modest of means, Hamilton’s quest began with a fateful hand-me-down. “Basically, this dude Chris was like, ‘Hey, man, have this tape dubber’ and I was like, ‘Oh, sick’. I took it home and dubbed, like, twenty of my own tapes and was ready for more bands so I just made some calls and the first thing I did was put out five tapes in 2012 including Joyframe, Nico Missile, Andrew Pitrone’s Best Wishes, Bad Vibes, and Dionysian Mystery.”
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"I ’VE NEVER ACTUALLY INKED A CONTRACT. EVERYTHING IS ON A HANDSHAKE.”
BANDING TOGETHER WITH QTR SPEND SOME QUALIT Y TIME WITH THE LABEL’S ALL STARS.
MA HOLOS
SHAGG
PACK WOLF
Robert Joyce, Marty Brass, Pat Richie, Joey Nix
Nat Cherry, Marty Brass, Ricky Hamilton
Kevin Roche, Matt Yormick, Nate Eberhardt
“The scene in Cleveland goes in waves, but it seems to be in a pretty good place right now. We’ve got a lot of friends that are playing music right now that I feel are some of the best in the city.” – Robert
“The lyrics are a lot about violence in the world and what’s going, sexuality and being young.” – Nat
CHECK OUT: Self described
Recording on cassette tapes in a digital age that increasingly prides itself in non-physical streaming platforms may seem counterintuitive, but they have proven a valuable cornerstone to Quality Time that belies the immediacy of their projects and the DIY ethos that runs throughout the label in addition to their other format releases. “I felt like everyone I knew had 1995 to 2005 cars, and they all had tape decks. It just made the most sense. And on tour, all we ever did was just jam tapes.” Part of Quality Time’s success rests in Hamilton’s ability to assemble a diverse retinue of acts like Ma Holos, Bad Vibes, Shagg, Venus Flytraps, Pig Flayer, Fascinating, Another Mother’s Milk, and more that present a wide array of genres and styles while maintaining core sensibilities to what Hamilton describes as “gutter pop.” “The idea behind gutter pop is that the people making it understand the right mix of street rock, city rock, power pop, punk music. It’s not one thing,” he explains. “There are punk labels that just do punk or indie labels that just do shoegazer or whatever. I like anything that’s tough and has a good melody. It’s made from kids who grew up in the Bush years with the AIDS epidemic and everything that was terrible.” The style of music produced is, of course, critical, but no less fundamental to Quality Time is a sensibility shared among the acts. “It’s in the personalities too. If anyone comes at me and they’re too corporate or not trusting, I get freaked out and I don’t want to work with them. Everyone I do work with, I’m lucky, because they’re all very true to themselves. They’re true lifers in music. They’re working at bars trying to tour all the time. They’re not corporate shills pretending to make music and be part of something on the side.” This principled
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as “Cleveland’s finest gutter garage glam freaks” their Fast Money EP absolutely lives up to the hype.
approach is a two-way street that sees Hamilton paying that faith forward towards the bands he represents.
“I see being young as an advantage as people generally gravitate toward newer stuff.” – Kevin
CHECK OUT: An unflinching,
CHECK OUT: Quality Time’s
lo-fi battering ram, Shagg’s self-titled debut is a brilliant take-no-prisoners full length album that expertly blends heavy with heart.
resident wunderkinds, Pack Wolf’s latest release, Sonic Pressure, takes everything great about rock n' roll and makes it even better.
Speaking to Hamilton’s transparency, Robert Joyce from garage glam act, Ma Holos, adds, “He instantly made his intentions known. His whole business plan, it treats the artists well and everyone gets a fair cut. He also obviously has good taste.” “I’ve never actually inked a contract,” admits Hamilton. “Everything is on a handshake. Anybody who is on the label is free to go to another label at any time. I don’t want to hold my friends back. If Warner Brothers wants you to put out a record, you should go do that.” “It helps to be part of a community,” adds Quality Time alumni Aubrey O’Brien of The Venus Flytraps. “You can rep each other’s shit and show up to each other’s shows. It’s good because you can usually expect a certain number of people to show up and support you. Booking shows is easier because you always have someone else who can hop on and wants to play.”
THE VENUS FLYTRAPS
FASCINATING
COTTON PONYS
PIG FLAYER
Marty Brass, Ricky Hamilton
Aubrey O’Brien, Kelly Venus, Alfred Hood, Mike Hood
“We try to capture the current underground scene as much as we can; to be able to push as much music out as we can in a smart way and still have fun.” – Marty
Bae B Jenna, Kiah Seoul, Nat Cherry, Miss Macy
Ricky Hamilton, Carter Luckfield, Marty Brass
“I don’t feel like we’re in line with anything that’s happening anywhere. We’re complete outsiders. We’re like a Clockwork Orange gang in rock n' roll.” – Alfred CHECK OUT: Everything
MA HOLOS
you want out of rock n' roll, their Clamp Down EP is an honest to God tour-de-force to behold.
CHECK OUT: Fused from
an alchemy of Quality Time’s all-stars, Fascinating’s Dice Game is a love letter to garage punk and pop that is sheer fun from beginning to end.
“It’s music through the eyes of someone who lives here, in this post-industrial weirdo place.” – Nat CHECK OUT: Their self-titled
full length debut release has just dropped to local acclaim. With innovative sound and unflinching material, the Ponys should be on everyone’s radar.
“As for Pig Flayer? I torture my guitar.” – Marty CHECK OUT: It’s harder to
find anything that flies from 0 to 60 faster than Pig Flayer. If you’re looking for an allout sonic assault, do yourself a favor and pick up their Life Alert EP and thank us later.
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VENUS FLYTRAPS
Marty Brass, who serves as Quality Time’s utility player and features in Shagg, Ma Holos, Fascinating, and Pig Flayer, underscores this sense of community. “We have enough bands to fill up an entire bill, and if Pig Flayer can’t play, then Shagg probably could. So we’re always ready to go and want to play as much as we can with whatever act possible.” He adds, “The thing about Quality Time, it’s just open to such a diverse and eclectic sound.” What makes the label so appealing to such a wide retinue of acts is the freedom to experiment and maintain their own identities while still part of a larger collective. Venus Flytraps bassist, Kelly Venus, underscores the importance, “We have complete control over everything we put out. There’s no one trying to tell us to do something different. We oversee everything that we put out, which is really important to us. We don’t need someone whispering in our ears telling us what to do. Ricky has always let us do anything we wanted.”
SHAGG
Hamilton, and to a larger extent, Quality Time, seeks to facilitate rather than capitalize on the bands under their banner. “What I can do is work as a producer, make sure the record sounds good, connect people to the right people and then they have to take it from there. There’s a huge DIY aspect and I always tell the bands that,” remarks Hamilton. Joyce considers Quality Time a "vehicle for the music." Hamilton elaborates further on his analogy, “You have to hop in the car and take it where you want to go. You gotta make a sick record, book a tour, make sure you’re making cool artwork.”
"I FEEL LIKE THERE’S A HUGE DISCONNECT BETWEEN WHAT THE SHOPS ARE DOING AND WHAT THE PRESS IS COVERING.”
Hamilton’s ear for innovative acts serves him not only as curator of the label, but a loyal mentor for up-and-coming bands. Nat Cherry of Shagg and Cotton Ponys explains, “What’s cool is if there’s a newer band, he gives them an opportunity to put out stuff for the first time. He’s willing to bring people on board and help release stuff for the first time that they might not be able to otherwise.” An aspect that encouraged the band, Pack Wolf, to initially reach out to Quality Time over other potential labels. Their guitarist Kevin Roche details, “[Hamilton] was really accepting because we were young and didn’t really know that much but he really liked us because we were young. He thought he could help us out and he really did.”
The vested interest between label and band are indicative of the collaborative nature of Quality Time, which sees individual successes of musicians and bands as barometers to the success of the entire label. Hamilton beams like a proud parent when charting the continued evolution of Pack Wolf since joining the label. “They’re ambitious. They played like 50 shows last year and went on a big West Coast tour. They really came into their own. I’ve really seen them follow the path I’d hoped. When they started they were just eighteen with a seventeen year old manager and now they’re kind of adults, I guess. I’ve seen them grow up on the label,” he reflects.
PIG FLAYER
Even with the label’s prolific output, Hamilton laments certain efforts becoming lost in translation. “I feel like there’s a huge disconnect between what the bands and record shops are doing and what the press is covering.” Adding, “I feel that street culture has taken a hit. People live so much on their own, isolated. You can be in contact all the time, but you’re not getting new stuff. One of the coolest things ever is when you see a flyer and it looks sick and you just check it out and it’s awesome and there’s no technology there, outside of a printer.” Despite realistic concerns, Hamilton refuses to succumb to cynicism. “I just want Cleveland to keep growing and I don’t want it to look like L.A. or Austin, but I want to have our own niche that people look at and know, ‘Oh, that was Cleveland’s style in 2018. They had the look, they had the bands, they were working together.’” To that end, Hamilton has big plans for Quality Time in 2018. In addition to a bevy of acts releasing new material, the label’s growth won’t just be limited to the studio. “I’m working with a booking agent so I can get more bands on the road. I’d like to see every band, at the very least, do ten to fifteen dates next year, if not more.” Hamilton explains. Cleveland remains the heart and soul of Quality Time, but that doesn’t mean Hamilton is shy about expanding their scope. “I would love to get a couple international bands on the label. I think that would be so cool to bring through some bands from Glasgow or Shanghai, some cool bands that want to check out the Rustbelt.” Comprised of some of the most creative and dynamically engaging acts around, the immensely supportive inter-dependency shared throughout the Quality Time roster is unmistakable. The unflinching positivity shared among the bands sees the label’s collaborative output firing on all cylinders. The spotlight they share is on an ever-expanding stage, proving the label exponentially greater than the sum of its parts. Aided by Ricky Hamilton’s deft blend of zen and practicality the motley legion gathered under Quality Time’s banner know no half measures and settle for nothing short of excellence; and in return, provide Cleveland exactly that.
Find out more about Quality Time Records and the rest of the bands on Bandcamp and Facebook:
WOLF PACK
@qualitytimerecords
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In the 2017-2018 season, girls and boys from 62 area school districts are participating in the Contemporary Youth Orchestra. Watch out for CYO’s rising stars breaking down every door into the recording industry. Their works and shows, along with the other area student orchestras and choruses, are featured and reviewed on ClevelandClassical.com. The website, as Grossman puts it, is “a vital part of the scene to go to see what’s happening with acoustic music in Cleveland.”
Next in Line
St. Edward’s Trash Talkers Speaking of acoustics, the St. Edward Trash Talkers offer a more theatrical, street level approach. Spawned from the likes the Broadway smash hit of Stomp, the St. Edward Trash Talkers unleash an internal fury of musical sound using ordinary household items: trash cans. “We were founded in the fall of 2002. My son, Brendan, and I decided to form the group after seeing a stage show at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania. That show had percussionists playing various items such as washers and dryers, pots and pans, wash tubs, etc.,” says John Goers, group coordinator and Technical Director for the theatre productions at St. Ed’s.
Celebrating local music programs for Music in Our Schools Month.
Juliet Abram + Lex Watson
In
case you're not aware, March is officially designated by the National Association for Music Education as Music In Our Schools Month®. Our region’s young virtuosos train alongside master musicians from the Cleveland Orchestra, one of the “Big 5” symphony orchestras along with Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Since we’re also the home of rock n’ roll, we also have our share of budding musicians who kicked off the year at Tri-C’s annual High School Rock Off held at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Biopics and documentaries of famous groups and solo artists tend to gloss over the hours of classroom instruction and practice at home that go into developing professional musical abilities. Although we all can dream to be that one magical exception—the classic rock star/ prodigy trope of the kid who can pick up a guitar and shred the very first time—the reality is we learn from great teachers and Cleveland students have some of the greatest music instructors in the world.
Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra Under the guidance of Severance Hall’s finest, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO) was established to provide talented young musicians a pre-professional orchestral experience in the highest artistic standard. This program creates an environment of talented youngsters receiving master-level tutelage under the banner of a world-renowned orchestra. The result is a stream of world-class musicians helping students learn the best in classical, jazz, folk, Great American Songbook standards, and modern compositions. Students perform three concerts per school year at Severance Hall, often sharing the stage with the Cleveland Youth Chorus. Working together gives members of each group a chance to broaden their craft. This an incredible opportunity for standouts in our community to shine and is undoubtedly a springboard to future success. Our talented area youth, from middle school through high school, can also be found in equally-impressive youth orchestras for Baldwin Wallace University, the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra at
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the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and the Contemporary Youth Orchestra anchored with Cleveland State University.
Contemporary Youth Orchestra The Contemporary Youth Orchestra (CYO) is the only youth orchestra in America to ever record the title theme song for a video game, Sunborn Rising, a composition by Columbus-area-based video game composer, Sean Beeson. The recording has a glowing five-star customer review on Amazon and can be streamed from Soundcloud. Their trademark annual series is “Music and its Industry,” which pairs the students with platinum-selling artists like Pat Benatar, Yes vocalist Jon Anderson, and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Graham Nash. Founder and Conductor Liza Grossman lists Melissa Etheridge, Ben Folds, and Panic! at the Disco as other highlight artists who have performed with the students. Since 1995, CYO has prepared students for future careers in the entertainment industry, whether it’s composing for video games or a film score, there are plenty of occupations relying on musical expertise. “Making sure the students see everything around them creates more opportunity for them in the entertainment industry,” emphasizes Grossman. “That can include being a production manager or a sound engineer.”
The student club is all-volunteer, with some gigs going toward service credit required for graduation. Freshmen start out in the Green Team playing mostly basketball games and audition to move up to the event-performing Gold Team. You may have seen them during impressive performances at several nationally-televised Cleveland Cavaliers games, the Burning River Festival, Lakewood events, The Berea Arts Festival, and the Republican National Convention. Chaotic yet structured, the music is resonating with audiences and the kids are only getting better.
The Ohio State University Marching Band For the first time since 1924, the OSU Marching Band will appear in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2018. Month’s before then, March 4 marks National Marching Band Day, a date in which we recognize the young men and women taking the field for our high school and college football game halftime shows. Cleveland’s teenage band geeks look up to and aspire to be as great as the best damn band in the land! The Ohio State Marching Band is a wonder to behold. The performances are legendary to behold and the envy of every other school in the country. Let’s not forget to give a shout out to 2016 Drum Corps International World Champions, the Canton-based Bluecoats. In addition to the hard work done by the instructors, tutors, conductors and students themselves, let’s not forget the tireless support and dedication—not to mention rides to practice—of all the parents and guardians out there. This March, let’s put Cleveland music education programs center stage and in the spotlight.
For more information about these organizations, head to pressurelife.com/clemusicprograms
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Local Somebodies
Tech Trends
Here are some Clevelanders with the talent to become real somebodies.
Five technology trends to pay attention to in 2018.
Dave Skorepa, Keith Rowe, + Anna Yunker
A
nother year and still no flying cars. But hey, technology still marches on in other ways. You can even buy a flamethrower from Elon Musk—what a time to be alive! Here are a few trends we think are worth paying attention to in 2018.
_______________________________________________
A Race to Reserve the Best Alexa Skill Names Remember when everyone was scrambling to buy a good domain name back in the day? Well, Alexa Skills are similar in that they require a unique name. This past holiday season solidified that Alexa is here to stay and you can expect brands (and squatters) to try and reserve the best Alexa Skill names.
Website Personalization Everywhere At this point, the internet has collected so much data on nearly everyone who uses it. We should expect to see even more personalization when we interact with any internet-enabled device. We’re talking about measures far beyond those creepy ads of the thing you looked at one time that now follow you around online. Expect companies to change the entire content and navigation of a website based on what they know about you.
James Earl Brassfield Cleveland has produced legends in every bailiwick, perpetual people who’ve turned their work or hobby into fame. All over town, you hear stories about a close call with fame. Let’s give you a chance at a brush with notoriety. It’s time to learn about some locals on the rise to the top of their field, as well as others who are already sitting quietly atop their profession. Here is one of Cleveland’s future somebodies that you should know.
Changing Shopping Habits Look out for more tech-savvy fashion startups and businesses that can provide you with a temporary wardrobe. Companies like Rent the Runway & Le Tote use data to suggest outfits and then ship clothes and accessories to your residence. You can then use these outfits and ship them back at your leisure without having to worry about dry cleaning, if the clothes will go out of style, or not having enough space in your closet. I think this model is changing the game of how women (and especially millennials) shop.
Cryptocurrency—End of Bitcoin? 2018 could be the beginning of the end for Bitcoin. Numerous challenges have arisen over its nearly 10-year existence, with one of the largest issues being at the heart of its design. Every transaction, no matter how large or small, is recorded to every computer in the Bitcoin network. Burgeoning popularity has put an enormous strain on the system, resulting in slow, and even failed, transactions. In addition, high fees are charged to all transactions. These costs were as low as $1 earlier in 2017, but have ranged between $7 and $55 on average throughout the rest of the year. Several improvements have been proposed to the Bitcoin system that may correct these issues. One proposed change, dubbed The Lighting Network, promises near instant payments, low cost fees, and scalability. If successful, it might change the Bitcoin landscape dramatically.
Drone Terror Attacks It’s a bit of a downer, but a drone carrying a bomb is only a matter of time. Terrorists are nothing if not creative and motivated and a drone bomb could allow a terror attack in previously unreachable locations. The American intelligence community is already bracing for it, and we probably should too.
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This article is sponsored by Aztek, a web design, development, and digital marketing agency located in downtown Cleveland. aztekweb.com
Andy Martin Bar
Music Man, Funny Crooner, Friend Of Billy Corgan
Andy Martin Bar generates laughter from a guitar case. His act is more than guitar and tongue-in-cheek lyrics. His music softens laborious subject matter. Andy’s “Lakisha” is about interracial unrequited love. “Land Before Time” is a hilarious coded message to beware the trappings of corporate greed and film franchises. It’s also a great synopsis of The Land Before Time. Andy studied at the Art Institute Of Chicago, and by 2003 he was in the music underground. His project at the time, The Children’s Hour, was nearing its conclusion. The group was comprised of Andy and Josephine Foster, who were friends from older projects. Andy’s guitar style, a postmodern flamenco, joined the fragile beauty of Foster’s voice. They booked a farewell gig at their favorite club. Right on cue, a small record label offered up a contract after the show. Andy couldn't wait to sign. Foster wisely recommended they get lawyers to look everything over. According to Andy, there were no deals with the devil, no millions, just more gigs. One night, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan caught a Children's Hour show. As Andy played his riffs onstage, Billy Corgan materialized in the front row. After the set, Corgan finds Andy and hugs him. What happens after that? A rock n’ roll version of space camp. Private recording sessions, Courtney Love interrupting Andy via telephone, and Corgan’s birthday party. The band was under Corgan’s wing. They were the opening act on Zwan’s North American tour. You should know the opening act does not get a Corgan-level bus. The opening act gets a borrowed Ford Expedition and a gross Ramada Inn room. After finishing the tour, the label dropped The Children’s Hour. Andy and Foster parted ways, but they plan to work on music together again. In the end, Cleveland wins. We get a Smashing Pumpkins-approved funny crooner.
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national, and obscure cinema has given him a unique perspective on the art of film, which helps fuel his work as a custom movie and gig poster practitioner.
Different Strokes Dan Bernardi
W
Keith Ten Eyck
hen it comes to the art of Keith Ten Eyck and the productions of his company Eleven X Seventeen Poster Co., it’s hard to describe them better than his own words: “geometrical and minimalist with retro undertones.” They can also be described as totally rad, evident in a series of striking custom movie and music posters on his website, keithist.com. Keith applies his vibrant digital stylings to re-imagine many of our pop culture favorites in sleek wall-hanging renditions of everything from The Beatles to Beetlejuice. But this is only one of the awesome elements that make up Keith's multimedia portfolio.
ing before eventually shifting back to digital art for his band's website, logos, and merchandise. He discovered his knack for design and began doing work for other musicians. Currently working for the U.S. Army as a multimedia illustrator, Keith's day job helps further his digital skills while he pursues a number of other creative ventures on the side.
A poster child for sleek digital art.
Raised by a family of artists who fueled his creative side, Keith has always explored a variety of artistic outlets. His first form was drawing, but soon Keith became infatuated with music. As the frontman for a few hardcore and metal bands, he began writ-
One of his greatest passions is filmmaking. Keith showed up in the first issue of PressureLife back in 2015 showcasing his cycling documentary, Kickstand. With three independent features under his belt, Keith has recently finished a feature-length screenplay and is looking to pitch it to an investor willing to take a risk. He finds directing to be one of the most rewarding experiences as an artist, and one of his proudest accomplishments is as art director on the documentary A Murder in the Park. Keith's love for popular, inter-
In 2013, Keith founded Eleven X Seventeen Poster Co. in Cleveland. As the sole artist for the company, he has created over a hundred unique posters, inspired in part by Polish poster interpretations of American films. Keith shines new light on popular bands and cult films in elegant, colorful fashion by capturing iconic aspects of a subject with specific people and props in simple, recognizable shapes. The Barbasol can from Keith applies his Jurassic Park. The Dude's apparel from The Big Lebowski. Stallone's vibrant digital stylings sunglasses in Cobra. These fun to re-imagine many poster variants dodge the trapof our pop culture pings of mainstream poster fare, favorites in sleek wallimmediately striking home for hanging renditions of fans of pop nostalgia and earning Keith a published spot in the book everything from The Alternative Movie Posters II: More Beatles to Beetlejuice. Film Art from the Underground, available on Amazon.
we have the power to help ClevelanD stuDents A ShoeS And ClotheS for KidS progrAm
A ShoeS And ClotheS for KidS progrAm
reappear
This year, Keith plans on expanding his network into Ohio's neighboring states and has expressed an interest in compiling a book of his poster designs. Between his array of posters and filmmaking goals, Keith still finds time to try new formats. Lately he's gotten into the lapel pin game. Despite his view that they're as trendy as Pogs were in the '90s, Keith hopes to be proven wrong when his Married With Children enamel pin kills when it goes up for sale.
To check out Keith Ten Eyck's work or to commission him for a project, check out keithist.com Or on Instagram at @Keithist and @Elevenbyseventeen.
When Cleveland’s neediest kids don’t have proper clothes and supplies for school – many of them just don’t go. And by 6th grade, chronic school absence becomes a leading indicator that a child will drop out of high school. Shoes and Clothes for Kids is committed to eliminating the lack of clothes and shoes supplies as a barrier to attendance and helping more kids reach graduation day.
Do something powerful for ClevelanD kiDs at sC4k.org/give
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At its core, Skitter is a simple adrenaline-run punk band. It's the perfect band to play a beer-drenched basement show or to listen to while you skate. Their debut album, Through the Dirt, features short songs featuring absolutely no bullshit. It’s awesome. If you don’t believe me, you can talk to Joan Jett and ask her why she decided to sign them to her own Blackheart Records. Cuda, previously of the Zapguns, and Crooked, formerly of the Vacancies, formed Skitter in 2015. Crooked, the band’s primary writer, had taken a few years off of music to focus on his family and regain sanity after years of constant touring. After the hiatus, he decided to ask Cuda to play on a few songs he had written over the years. Crooked was shooting for, and totally nailed, a stripped down version of pure rock n' roll. Crooked pulls his hair back from his forehead very tightly and sighs, “I’m really fucking glad I’m getting back into this.”
Skitter’s Quest to
Barrett adds, “It’s really nice to be in a band that’s just fun to be in.”
Save Rock and Roll Stripped down simple songs to scream along to. Dave Sebille
"M
onday is D&D night. After this I’m going to DM a campaign with Billy,” Barrett Cuda says as I sit with him and Billy Crooked, the founding members of the band Skitter.
The boys have also concocted an evil marketing plan of making a music video for every song they record with help from Blackheart Records and local directors such as Leland James. “The point is to get the music out to as many people as possible,” Crooked says as he’s carrying out another round of drinks. What a guy. These young men are obviously having fun and re-exploring their roots as “ If you don’t believe musicians. Just a few good-hearted kids setting me you can ask aside time to do what they love, and I love that.
Joan Jett."
“We like all the same shit: nerding out, punk rock, and good beer,” Crooked adds as we share our most epic adventures in the fantasy role playing realm. Skitter’s name even comes from a sound a fellow Warhammer player would make when advancing his rat army when playing against Crooked. “Skitter, skitter, skitter,” we say as we all make the same motion miming moving a small pewter figurine across a game table. One of the best ways to deal with the impending shit storm that is life in general is to hold true to the details that actually make you happy. Not learned behaviors like saving money or being promoted to lower-tier middle management, but what actually makes you happy. That’s what members of Skitter do. They play Dungeons & Dragons and they play rock n' roll.
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When talking about the evolution of Skitter after Through the Dirt, they light up like a holographic Charizard. They gush like new parents about their full-length album currently being recorded at Golden Ox Studios. The album will still capture Skitter’s raw energy due to it’s being recorded all live and within three takes. Let’s face it, that’s really the only way to make and honest rock n' roll record.
You can listen to Through the Dirt on Spotify or blackheart.com. I however suggest getting an intimate look at these hunks in person or by watching one or all of their many videos on YouTube. Put it on, and go be that old guy at the skatepark in full pads doing bonelesses and talking about the first time you saw the Circle Jerks or listen as you play some Magic the Gathering and chug Mountain Dew. However you get rad, get rad to this album.
For more on Skitter and to listen to Through the Dirt, head to blackheart.com
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