the hearers

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.

02/10/12: Katy and Go-Go / John Velghe + More @ RecordBar

Entering the RecordBar around 10:00 last Friday, one could not walk through the narrows without rubbing shoulders amid those throughout. The venue was particularly crowded for an all-local lineup, though as the night raged on, the audience noticeably waned from a college-aged demographic to a weekend warrior vibe. As though it were filled with drunken Cinderellas, the place all but cleared by midnight, save for some table or booth clusters and a pack of patrons standing near the patio door.The night opened at 10:05, as The Sawyers launched into a 40 minute set of No Depression alt-country lifted from the altar of Tweedy and Farrar, with some elements of honky-tonk thrown in for good measure. The band is led by local songwriter John Greiner, and is backed by Chad Rex on guitar. Rex fronts The Victorstands and previously played in Colorado’s own No Depression purveyors Armchair Martian with St. Joseph, MO, natives Jon Snodgrass and Steven Garcia, the latter of whom now plays in KC powerpop trio Deco Auto. Betse Ellis of The Wilders played the fiddle at stage right, and Chris Wagner (most recently of punk trio Hipshot Killer) filled in for the group’s recently departed bassist. Jonathan Kraft, a sound engineer who has spent time with SSION, and in another life, played with Florida screamo band Kite Flying Society served as the drummer. That was a mouthful, but I thought it necessary to document how varied the backgrounds are of the five members that shared the stage.

Over the duration of the band’s time on stage there was very little audience interaction. I don’t require a story when watching a band play live — and there are many artists that don’t really know when to shut up and play — but at the close, I was left wondering if there exists a tangible album that could be purchased, and remained without answer as nothing of the kind was mentioned.

Author note: I’d like to apologize to those reading this as a casual music follower. What you are about to see in the next two paragraphs is nothing short of conspiratorial six degrees of Kevin Bacon nerding out. If you can’t keep up, feel free to skip through it. I won’t take offense.

John Velghe (née Evans, as the man took his matrilineal surname for the stage to stand apart from the other musically inclined Evans’ in the area, of which there are apparently many) was joined on stage by the full-band form of The Prodigal Sons. Tonight, this included Mike Alexander, who as of this writing plays punk with Hipshot Killer, country with Starhaven Rounders, and Irish rock with Blarney Stoned. Alexander has done everything short of playing the part of Neil Schon in a Journey tribute band. Wait, what’s that? Oh, he has totally done that as well, and will undoubtedly be forming a new band by the time you finish reading this sentence. Chris Wagner pulled a double shift on bass, and in addition to playing with Alexander in a band now mentioned twice (not to mention the Revolvers), provided the rhythm section for Velghe in The Mendoza Lie, a post-Famous FM/Saint Jude band that had a backbone provided by Dan Dumit, who is still billed as a drummer for the Sons, though he did not make an appearance on this night. “Go-Go Ray” Pollard sat behind the kit, and is a nationally recognized performer who has served as the touring drummer for a few major label bands which, if mentioned, would sully the anticipation that you as a reader have surely built about this lineup.

But wait, there’s more. On trombone was Mike Walker, who played in the well-received, though tragically defunct Olympic Size (with Wade Williamson and Kirsten Paludan, both of whom play in Alexander’s Starhaven Rounders) as well as The Maytags, a “neo-dub explosion” led by Zach Phillips of the Architects and The Gadjits, of which Alexander was also a part for some time. On saxophone was the illustrious Sam Hughes, also seen as part of the seven-piece horn ensemble in Afrobeat jazz sensation Hearts of Darkness. Additionally, Hughes was in good company with Walker as a five-piece horn section on the most recent release by The Hearers, a country-spanning membership whose horn section can also be seen in various pairings in the jumpin’ and swingin’ Grand Marquis, roots reggae group The New Riddim, soul revival band The Good Foot, and almost any other act in town requiring some brass. Last, but certainly not least was the talented Hermon Mehari on trumpet, who moonlights in the Diverse trio, playing compositions that pay homage to the 18th & Vine sound that put Kansas City on the proverbial jazz map long ago.

Whew. Now that I have that out of the way, let us continue with the live performance. The band played an hour-long set that alternated from the full lineup that I made a passing reference to above, to an electric four-piece with the addition of Betse Ellis lending her fiddle and vocals. I spoke with Velghe briefly before they began hauling their gear up on stage, at which point he acknowledged his twenty year musical crush on Ms. Ellis, so for her to contribute those talents to a few songs (“Assume the Ground”) from his upcoming full-length, Don’t Let Me Stay (to be released on Lakeshore Records, the label that brought us The Belles‘ Omertà), must be a thrill. The set meandered very little from a full-bodied country-tinged Americana rock with strong horn presence (“Blood Line”), but the instrument changes were plenty.

Acoustic guitars and mandolins replaced electric Telecasters and hollow-bodies for portions of the set (“Stage Inside the Main”), and near the end, the full band took the stage once again for what Velghe referred to as a part of the set in which they will be playing some songs in the key of Paul. Following this, he plucked the opening notes to The Replacements’ “Can’t Hardly Wait,” which they played at the Sonic Spectrum tribute series for the ‘Mats at the same venue nearly a year ago. The lone song that saw Velghe without a guitar around his shoulder was a set closer of The Jam’s “Town Called Malice,” which brought a little less excitement from the crowd than one would think, but it was a fitting end to a very energetic, if instrumentally attention deficit set.

Whether by choice or by chance, the lineup thus far had built up to a swelling climax that could have potentially come crashing down if someone closed the night and was not prepared to hand the crowd their asses on a plate of rock (don’t let that imagery slip past you). Lucky for the audience, Katy Guillen (of The B’Dinas) took the stage and dished out a three-course meal of ass (already regretting that metaphor) and Go-Go Ray was there to serve as the second musician of the night to pull in some overtime. Taking a look at the two of them on stage, an obvious reaction would be to assume you are about to hear something of the White Stripes or Black Keys variety, both two-piece bands who built their reputation out of playing stripped-down blues rock in their own, weird ways. Well, you would have been wrong to assume that, and should be ashamed of yourself.

The reality is that the assumption is not a complete fallacy, but the sheer force with which Katy and Go-Go exerted sound as a two-piece, with Ray given the chance to show off on extended drum fills, and Guillen slinging out fast-paced blues riffs while the two kept in perfect stride with one another was something impressive. The two jammed a full 45 minutes until the house lights came up and the bar was ready to start kicking people out into the cold, and then they played one more song even after that. The two-piece is expected to release an album in late March, and a new one from Guillen’s full rock band is due out in the near future as well.