local bands

Since 1979, musician Mickey Foellger of the band Wheels has been in possession of tapes from the band’s performances at Shipley’s in Clifton. Now, with the help of his bandmates, they’ve mastered these tapes into a double album that’s scheduled for release on August 1. Elaine Diehl talks with Mickey and Jeffrey Seeman about the Wheels days, and the story behind Wheels Backstage: LIVE 11.3.79. 

The local band Acarya celebrates the release of their new cd, The Way Home, at the Cliftonfest main stage on October 5.  Band members Liz Wu and Hannah MacNeal are in the studio with Ron Esposito to discuss their new cd.

A classic Cincinnati band of the 1960's will be celebrated at an upcoming fundraiser for the Play It Forward foundation, supporting local musicians in need. 

Comprador returns with their second full-length release - a massive 19-track double album called Downstream that full of insightful and explosive music. The band also has an all-new lineup that includes Jon Delvaux, Brianna Kelly & Corey Waddell joining primary songwriter Charlie D'Ardenne. 

Since I saw them perform live at our Tiny Desk Showcase in July, I have been eager to sit down with the members of Soften to talk about their music. In speaking with them, I was pleased to find very talented musicians who, not only play very well together, but who genuinely seem to care about and for each other.

In 2001, Northern KY’s Pike 27 released their first album “Falling Down Hard” which gathered a lot of attention for the then fledgling local band. Then, in 2014 “Calling Out,” with its catchy pop melodies and infectious rhythms, solidified their reputation as one of the best live acts in the area.

Moonbeau, a band that started out as a synth-pop solo project by Christian Gough of The Yugos has quickly grown into one of the most popular bands in town. Recently joined by Alex Murphy-White on drums and Claire Muenchen on keyboards, Moonbeau has expanded their throwback pop sound and, in doing so, has expanded their audience exponentially.

I don’t think it is hyperbole to say that Mad Anthony is the hardest working band in Greater Cincinnati. When you combine a regular schedule of touring - both in the US and internationally - with a massive recording project that involves releasing one song every week for a year -- plus elaborate video production - the three members of this band give their heart and soul into producing some great hard-hitting music.

Root Cellar Xtract is a country-rock band deeply connected with the Laurel Canyon, California sound of the 1970’s that produced such bands as Buffalo Springfield, Little Feat, Poco, The Eagles and Pure Prairie League.

Wonder Lust is the third album by local band New Sincerity Works and, though it feels like it might be the conclusion of a trilogy, lead singer Mike Tittel tells me how that’s not quite the case.

We’ll talk about the new album, the all-star band that created it, the beautiful cover art and the album release party that’s coming up. And we’ll also discuss the super cool El Camino that appears in the band’s new video.

As the local Oktoberfest season kicks off, some of the busiest people will be the members of the Klaberheads band. 

Local band Wussy has been together for 10 years and has just released its sixth album, Forever Sounds.

On this episode of Local Exposure, we discuss New Beginnings.

Introduction: A re-evaluation of the 'P-Word'

Part 1: Meet Belinda Cai, the newest contributor to Local Exposure

Part 2: Get a preview of the Cincinnati Cyclones 2015-2016 season  from Kristin Ropp, VP and GM for the Cyclones and US Bank Arena.

Part 3: Belinda speaks with Rachelle Caplan, the head organizer of LadyFest Cincinnati and talks about the schedule of events. Belinda also wrote an article about LadyFest for this week's CityBeat.

MusicLi, an online music licensing service that focuses on local and regional music, will officially launch during the 2015 MidPoint Music Festival.

Local musician Brad Schnittger began MusicLi with help from a grant from People's Liberty and has partnered with producer Dave Davis to build a library of local talent and to make it available for public licensing.

Jim Nolan has a review of the new CD Pollinator by local band Comprador.

Jim Nolan provides a preview of the 2015 Northside Rock 'N Roll Carnival, July 2-4 at Hoffner Park.

Jim Nolan reviews the second album from Cincinnati band Leggy called Nice Try.

There's a video going around lately, created by Nashville songwriter Greg Todd, in which six current hit county music songs are all played simultaneously. If you watch the video, what you quickly realize is how shockingly and painfully similar each of the songs are.  

One could easily argue the case that the majority of current popular music is equally formulaic, regardless of genre, and that given most of the songs you might find in today's "Top 40," it is the producer, not the artist, who is the driving force behind the industry. Look at the work of Max Martin or Calvin Harris and you'll see title after title performed by various, insipid Johnny Bravos who worked the assembly line, played the game and achieved their fifteen minutes.

Knowing this makes me want to scream "Thank goodness!" that there are still true musical craftspeople out there like Mark Utley. 

Every once in a while, you find a group that sounds less like a band and more like a few good friends getting together to have a good time. Such is the case with Mike Fair (guitar), Dave Killen (drums), Dave Purcell (guitar, vocals) and Sean Rhiney (bass) who collectively call themselves Pike 27.

The band's name is an obvious reference to Alexandria Pike - Northern KY's Route 27 - that winds through Cold Spring and Ft. Thomas...and finally exhausts itself somewhere outside Paris, KY. However, Pike 27's true roots can be found about 500 miles south of there in Athens, GA -- 583 miles to be precise, if you detour through Nashville, as this band has certainly done.

44 is a very difficult number to deal with. I know because I'm there.

At 44 you're closer to 50 than you are to 30 and yet you still feel like 30 is old. Sure, you may have the kind of job where you don't have to mop up before you go home; but you also can't party until 3 am because you have to get up at 7 to get the kids on the school bus. So what do you do when you find yourself saying, 'Who am I - and how did I get here?'

If you're Mike Tittel, the creative force behind the band New Sincerity Works, you sit down and write a painfully honest album that feels like a musical version of therapy and you call it 44.

Grab your favorite tattered flannel and strap on your 10-hole steel-toed Doc Martens, because Subsets are bringing back the eighties with their new album twothousandfourteen.

For sixteen and a half minutes, every note of twothousandfourteen is a relentless assault of viking fury, packaged to sound like the best of underground bands from labels like SST and Epitaph Records.

Ohio Knife always gives you more than you expect, yet you still want seconds. If there is a real-life personification of the "this one goes to eleven" mentality, you can find it in this Cincinnati band made up of Scotty Wood [bass], Andrew Higley [keyboards], Joe Suer [drums] and Jason Snell [guitar, vocals].

Everything about Ohio Knife is big, bold, loud and full of serious in-your-face attitude. The same can be said for everything about their latest release Our Neighborhood.

Cincinnati's favorite bearded, bohemian brethren, Buffalo Killers are back and are producing cool rocking music at a speed that would made Bob Pollard blush.

Their newest release from Sun Pedal Recordings is called Fireball of Sulk and is a 6-track bookend-like follow-up to their album Heavy Reverie which just came out this past Spring.