Best Coast, Male Bonding
The Summit I Columbus, OH
Sept. 22, 2010
Tag Archives: the summit
Photos: Best Coast, Male Bonding in Columbus
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Tagged Best Coast, Male Bonding, the summit
Interview: Male Bonding
MP3: Male Bonding- Year’s Not Long
London-based DIY rockers Male Bonding have been signed to Sup Pop for over a year now. If you’ve heard them, then I bet you’re looking forward to their return to Columbus next week. If you haven’t, consider this your fair warning to work in multiple listens to their record Nothing Hurts (clocking in just under thirty minutes) before then.
Last week I caught up with singer/guitarist John Webb, who discussed the record, the band’s recent collaboration with Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo and life as Male Bonding.
Everyone has influences when they start making music, but what kind of bands/artists continue to inspire you guys when coming up with new material?
Well, we recently recorded a song with Rivers Cuomo from Weezer. He got in contact with us a few months back and asked if we wanted to have a songwriting session when he was in London for the Reading Festival. We love Weezer, so we jumped at the chance. Anyway, watching Rivers work was very inspiring. That guy is a songwriting machine. He’s the king of melody. That whole experience was a dream come true.
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Posted in Interviews, MP3, Music
Tagged benco, Male Bonding, Sup Pop, the summit, Tin Armor, weezer
Tonight: Mondo Drag @ The Summit
A gap in the tour schedule led to a last minute booking for Mondo Drag and The Main Street Gospel tonight at The Summit. Back when I was a kid in the ’70s, we called Mondo Drag’s style of music “acid rock” – it scared those of us who listened to pop music on AM radio stations – and it was made by guys with long hair, tank tops, and mustaches … sweet, sweet mustaches.
Mondo Drag’s latest, New Rituals, is full of spacey, psychedelic epic jams and if there is one CD that I listened to more than any other during the summer of 2010, it was this one.
Smoke ’em if you got ’em and then head to The Summit to give our homeboys The Main Street Gospel some love and show their out-of-town friends in Mondo Drag some hospitality.
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Posted in Columbus
Tagged Main Street Gospel, mondo drag, the summit
This weekend in Columbus: CDR VII
It’s that time of year again, when grilling meat, arm wrestling, and indie rock somehow end up together in awkward sentences (like this one). This weekend is the seventh annual Columbus Discount Records BBQ, where the local label shares the wealth and gives you a wealth of local/international talent to gaze upon for as free as possible. This year’s version of the tradition entails two star-studded rock shows (Friday night at The Summit and Saturday night at Carabar) as well as a multi-faceted get-together Saturday afternoon at CDR HQ (corner of Oak and Parsons, just up the street from Carabar). Highlights:
Friday night at Summit: Sets from local Uggs-rock veterans the Guinea Worms and the most-successful, longest-lasting Rock Potluck band ever, Sandwitch (featuring Ron House), are those most likely to slay. Omaha’s Yuppies will play the part of the noisy visitors from out of town, and the night will be rounded out by intergalactic party Mormons Outer Spacist and the sheer spectacle of the Unholy Two. You will probably leave this show wearing beer.
Saturday afternoon BBQ: Obviously, free PBR and grilled eats would be a highlight of any day. However, this party also includes your chance for eternal glory with an arm-wrestling tournament! The male and female brackets are both sure to be tough, but you still have a couple days to train. If all of this is not enough, local legends the Cheater Slicks will play a set in the CDR studio around 5:30.
Saturday night at Carabar: This is where the big guns come out, so hopefully you are not drunk enough or drunk enough to enjoy it. Local wonders (and musical inspirations to Beck) Times New Viking will headline and close the festivities. I am excited for another visit from the prolific globetrotter Dan Melchior, who will surely entertain with whoever might be backing him up, and a set from Harrisburg, Ohio’s favorite sons, Mike Rep and Tommy Jay, will lend some tuneful and grizzled character to the proceedings.
More information, conspiracy theories, and conjecture here.
Tonight @ The Summit: Fool’s Gold
MP3: Nadine
Tonight at the Summit, ex-Columbusite Brad Caulkins (The Sun, Jive Turkeys, etc.) brings his sax back to town as a member of Fool’s Gold, a Los Angeles Afropop-inspired collective. The band’s self-titled debut is eight tracks of meditative and mostly joyous tunes led by the vocals of Luke Top, who sings predominantly in Hebrew. This unique combination provides for a sound that is much more reverent and humble than other current bands of their ilk. They share the stage with Brooklyn’s Tony Castles and locals You’re So Bossy, led by Sam Brown, Caulkins’ ex-bandmate in The Sun.
Also July 10: Oblivians, Bassholes, Cheater Slicks, Dex Romweber Duo
So there’s that Ted Leo Benco show at Skully’s after the much-posted-about Parking Lot Blowout on July 10 (Gibson Bros, Scrawl, Turks). And now there’s also this, after the Blowout ends, at the Summit:
THE OBLIVIANS
CHEATER SLICKS
BASSHOLES
DEXTER ROMWEBER DUO (OF FLAT DUO JETS)
My, oh my… Tickets go on sale June 10 at Cafe Bourbon St.
(As always, the hype section of the message board is a good place to keep tabs on upcoming shows and get details like set times, start times, etc.)
Posted in Columbus
Tagged Bassholes, Cafe Bourbon St., Cheater Slicks, Dex Romweber Duo, The Oblivians, the summit
Interview: Surfer Blood
MP3: Swim
After stopping in Columbus in November, Surfer Blood returns Sunday night for a Benco Presents show with Turbo Fruits (ex-Be Your Own Pet) and locals Tin Armor at the Summit. Oddly, I spent all of last week in the West Palm Beach area, which is the Surfer dudes’ hometown. So instead of previewing the show by attempting to describe their debut using adjectives like “anthemic” (see “Swim,” above) and “youthful” (“Close contact on the couch was fine/Tell me where to draw the line”), I decided to ask singer JP Pitts a few ignorant questions about the Atlantic side of south Florida and what it’s like to play music down there:
Was it tough for a band like Surfer Blood to gig in the West Palm area? To completely stereotype after spending only a few weeks down here in the past three years, it seems like most of the bars are filled with Margaritaville bands, and the “arts and culture” spots are for upper-class, dress-up types?
A lot of the stereotypes associated with West Palm Beach are true. There is a lot of affluence and Jimmy Buffet pride and there are not a lot of young people in bands. However, like anywhere else there is a group of talented and creative young people that are doing cool stuff, you just have to look a little harder for them. Most bands down in South Florida end up playing a lot of house shows and DIY spaces because there is a serious lack of small venues for up and coming bands.
(More about Florida’s lame waves, Willem Dafoe, Robert Kennedy and the awesomeness of Columbus after the jump…) Continue reading
Posted in Columbus, Interviews, MP3
Tagged surfer blood, the summit, Tin Armor, Turbo Fruits, West Palm Beach
Saturday in Columbus: Ben Hamilton Benefit/Lou Poster’s (Grafton) B-day
From the horses mouth–
In order to help out our friend Ben Hamilton we are making this saturday’s show a benefit. The show at Summit is also a birthday party for the salty old helmsman of the bar (yrs truly) with “performances” by some Ohio favorites… Guinea Worms, Unholy Two, We March, and Grafton. Strongest Man Alive, Righteous Buck and the Skull Scorchers, and Washington Beach Bums will be at Bobo. 5 bucks for both shows, pay at either door. the set times will be staggered out so you can stagger between them.
Also, just so you know, the kitchen at Cafe Bourbon Street is back in action, with tacos (yep, Dave was a ninja), hot dogs, empanandas, hamburgers, pepperoni rolls, and a whole lot more to keep you fueled up for beer fueling. Menu and schedule of Dollar specials to follow.
ps i hate when people call it CBS. anyone else?
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Tagged Benco Presents, Bourbon Street, Grafton, Guinea Worms, Righteous Buck and the Skull Scorchers, Strongest Man Alive, the summit, unholy two, Washington Beach Bums, We March
SXSW 2010 Video Countdown: The Morning Benders
MP3: The Morning Benders – Promises
Ever wondered what it would be like if EVERYONE from the Rock Potluck worked on just one song? That’s what The Morning Benders did in their most recent video, congregating friends in San Francisco to record this track (“Excuses”) Phil Spector-style. Keep your eyes peeled for Chris Owens of Girls and John Vanderslice. Morning Benders will play the Rough Trade showcase in Austin along with Warpaint (who’ll be at The Summit March 6th).
Posted in SXSW Blog
Tagged Girls, John Vanderslice, Rock Potluck, Rough Trade, SXSW Blog, The Morning Benders, the summit, warpaint