namelessnumberheadman

New Schwervon! single to be released on Too Much Rock

It’s been nearly a year since my last post, so I guess you can consider this a second coming. Or third … or fourth. I lost count long ago.

Since my last post, there’s been a sea change of bands come and go, many artists have moved away for college and/or adulthood, well-respected musicians have been lost, various live music fundraisers have occurred, up-and-coming area music festivals have been executed, another music festival was unceremoniously canceled, a few old crows found some success in getting the band back together, a trio of young brothers have found their own success across the pond, and a great new record store has opened just a few drunken stumbles from the center of the music nightlife in Westport. In addition to that, a fucking slew of incredible releases have come out on one format or another from the hard-working and talented folks who call Kansas City and Lawrence their home. I’ll get to those in another post.

Unlike the artists who left us in their rear-view mirrors, Schwervon! packed up and made the move from New York City to KC on April 5 of last year. The date is important because they played their inaugural local show as the first band at that year’s Middle of the Map Fest the very same day. Prior to jumping time zones, Matt Roth and Nan Turner had been recording and releasing their stripped down drums and guitar weirdo pop for over a decade, often self-releasing the tunes through Matt’s Olive Juice Music collective. Brief nerd moment: Matt is originally from the area, and was in the band Dracomagnet back in the early ’90s with Darren Welch (The Hearers and In the Pines).

Local music critic Sid Sowder is even more peripatetic than the band, having lived in Indianapolis, Boston, Chicago, and Kansas City over the last 20 years while not only documenting the local music culture through his website Too Much Rock, but at times participating himself by heading up Urinine Records. The label would go on to release nearly two dozen titles, including music from The Hillary Step, The Believe It or Nots, The Capsules, and Namelessnumberheadman. I fondly recall the days from my youth as an (even more) awkward high schooler in the early ’00s, just discovering local music. I would spend hours reading through and gawking at his immense list of show recounts dating back to 1997. By proxy, he is at least partly responsible for my love of the Kansas City and Lawrence music scenes, and possibly the reason this very blog even exists. Credit where credit is due, brother.

Using the TMR moniker as a label name, Sid has decided to inject himself back into the cycle of perpetually losing money by formulating an idea whereby he presses 500 limited edition singles for a band and gives every single copy to them for disposal at their will. The details are this:

1) Sid chooses local act. Band picks A-side (original), Sid picks B-side (cover)
2) Label covers licensing and manufacturing for 500 copies of a 45rpm single
3) ????
4) No profit. All copies go to the band. Repeat.

The first single in the series is from Schwervon!, and features their song “Landlocked” on the A-side, and a cover the The Raincoats’ “Off Duty Trip” on the B-side. “Landlocked” is the first song the band recorded after moving to the area, and a fitting submission with which to kick off the series. “Off Duty Trip” captures a similar minimalist, post-punk feel that the 1979 original had, with a little anti-folk spin. You can stream the A-side here, but you’ll have to wait to hear the B-side until the single gets released this Tuesday, Nov. 12.

The band is scheduled to play an in-store release show at Mills Record Company once they return from their Euro tour late this month. Keep an eye out for the next two singles in the series, coming early next year and on Record Store Day. Each single will be a one time press, so once they’re gone … they’re gone for good.

Early Reflections: Another New KC Supergroup

Earlier this year, local media outlets were beside themselves with the arrival of the new band Minden. The band, composed of members of Kelpie, the Button Band, Buffalo Saints, and other Lawrence acts from the last 5-8 years, was consistently being labeled as a supergroup. I really had no idea why they received this label, but the members have all been a part of musical projects I respect, so I took the term with a grain of salt. I’ve just learned of a new local band that encompasses the term “supergroup” in its truest form.

Christopher Tolle has been active in the Lawrence and Kansas City music scenes for nearly 18 years, from his work in Rise, a high school band that is better off staying in the past (though the lineup also featured a young J.D. Warnock), and Action Man (a band that, if I can remember my history right, started as an offshoot of Five-0 called The Hayseeds, and even had John Harper in the lineup for the earliest days), to the locally seminal Creature Comforts and his primary project for the better part of the last decade, The Belles. Tolle has been a wellspring of great music output for half of his life, and is sure to continue this trend with his newest band, Early Reflections.

Joining Tolle in his newest endeavor is Andrew Sallee of Namelessnumberheadman on guitar, vocals, and wurlitzer. Sallee and the rest of NNHM formed the band when they were living in Shawnee, OK, a small town about 45 minutes east of Oklahoma City, and though the band went through a few different names (Hipster Dufus, The Fauves) before settling on the one that stuck, they essentially found their name when they found a new home in Kansas City a little over a decade ago. NNHM have been dormant for the last few years, but popped up this past winter to play an anniversary show at Recordbar.

Next up in Early Reflections is guitarist/vocalist Bill Latas, best known as one of the founding members of iconic Kansas City grunge/rock band Outhouse. Outhouse played a reunion show at Recordbar earlier this year, but Latas has been staying musically active in a funk/rock and occasional tribute group known as Perpetual Change. Coincidentally, Outhouse co-founders Brad Gaddy and Shawn Poores, as well as Go Kart‘s Larry Groce have been active in their new wave/’80s tribute band called The Zeros.

Brian Everard is the resident bass player in the band. He is currently known as a member of both The Belles and Blackpool Lights, but was in The Creature Comforts as well, meaning all four of his most recognized bands have either been with Tolle, or a member of The Creature Comforts (drummer Billy Brimblecom is in BPL, as well as a range of tribute bands with CC guitarist Warnock).

Rounding out the lineup and further proving the incestuous nature of local music, we have drummer and audio engineer extraordinaire Chris Cosgrove. The list of bands he has been in is dwarfed in comparison to the amount of artists he has worked with in the studio, but the most notable act he was in was the early ’90s math rock quartet Zoom, who themselves played a reunion (or four) earlier this year, one of which was at Recordbar (I see a growing trend here, no?), as part of the previously mentioned NNHM anniversary gig.

Early Reflections will be playing their first official show as a band on June 30th, opening for Meat Puppets at Recordbar. They have been playing unofficially as a more or less “Chris Tolle and Friends” band for a few months, though. One of their public performances worth mentioning is their participation in the recent Replacements tribute show, the lineup only a four piece of Tolle, Everard, Latas, and Shawn Poores. The Dead Girls, Chad Rex, John Velghe & His Prodigal Sons, and a cast of other area musicians appeared on the bill that night as well. Appearing with Early Reflections and Meat Puppets is a Belgian garage revival band called The Black Box Revelation, for fans of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. It will be a night that should not be missed.