Thursday, December 10, 2009

2 locally based bands, 2 different stories

EDM1
farewell_show_1
Before snow freezes traffic and students vacate in post-finals relief, Bloomington is bustling with holiday (and nonholiday) activity. As always, time and print space only goes so far. However, two local music groups have been creating a buzz in their own way, so I wanted to share their stories. One has taken the way of indie rock label/touring. The other has made headway via the underground scene/basement shows. Both perform in town this weekend at the Bishop. Meet the Early Day Miners and Horribly Wrong in these brief courtesy tidbits, or via their shows here and here.

Early Day Miners
On Saturday’s show will be the homecoming party after Early Day Miners’ winter European tour. “Early Day Miners are a prime example of what the Bloomington music scene is about: originality juxtaposed with familiarity. Their down tempo, laid-back songwriting could earn them the title of shoegazers, while their organic sound is ever inviting of porches and camping retreats. The group’s latest release, The Treatment, is poppy and less sprawling than previous efforts. The band’s label Secretly Canadian says the newest record, “resolutely ditches the slide guitar in favor of overlapping layers of loops, tight motorik rhythms, and guitar and bass processed to resemble cello or brass.” Epitonic music blog claims, “The music just is — warm, calm, unvarnished, as simple and lovely as the stretch of sky and land to the horizon’s hinge.” The group calls Bloomington home, but is currently on tour with various dates in England and Ireland.”

Horribly Wrong
“On the surface of Midwestern underground rock and roll, you’ve got The Stooges and The MC5 from Michigan. You’ve got The Dead Boys and Cramps from Ohio. They got out, but not everyone does. Go under the surface, you’ll find The Pagans or Rocket From the Tombs. Let’s leave Ohio. What about Indiana? You hear names like The Gizmos, The Zero Boys, Dow Jones and the Industrials, Sloppy Seconds. Keep going, south of Indianapolis, down Route 37, 45 miles or so, you’ll come to Bloomington.
“…Bloomington is home of a thriving punk/indie rock scene. Aside from the regular bars and clubs bands can play, there’s always been an informal network of basement shows. You might see a band play the Bluebird one night and in someone’s tiny, musty basement the next. You might be friends with these people. If not, you can become friends with these people. The beautiful thing about Bloomington’s underground music scene is that it lacks barriers; you can have a beer with the guys and gals that just rocked your socks off.
“Although the members all came from someplace else, eventually all moved someplace else, Bloomington is the birthplace of The Horribly Wrong. Formed in late 2002 when Bloomington residents Cody Leitholt (a recent IU grad) and Seth Murray (then an IU freshman) met and bonded over bands such as The Mummies, The Misfits and one-man super-no-star Hasil Adkins. They worked out some songs in the vein of the aforementioned bands: catchy and energetic tunes with off-kilter lyrics. The original line-up of The Horribly Wrong included a keyboardist (Kristin Peach, who would leave the band before their first show.) Seth asked Dustin Wessel to play drums for a song the trio had been working on. They recorded the song at Dustin’s parents’ house and he began drumming full-time.
“The Horribly Wrong never technically broke up but went on indefinite hiatus in August 2005 when Cody moved to Austin, Texas, with the idea that the band could play whenever Cody made his way back to Bloomington. In between, band members estimate they played only about 20 live shows but fans attest to their manic, drunken rock and roll fury. The band’s biggest show happened to be a reunion show, at Bloomington’s (late) Second Story nightclub on 6/06/06 (fitting with their horror imagery.)
“Ah, that drinking thing. There was the time in Milwaukee where Cody and Seth drank a bottle of Thunderbird – each – before a show. Seth didn’t quite make it through the set. Actually, he fell down and a well-intentioned fan picked up Seth’s bass and tried to help The Horribly Wrong finish their set. Then there was the 2005 “Battle of the Bands” that Dustin notes for The Horribly Wrong’s sobriety.
“C’mon and Bleed With was recorded in early 2004 but was never officially released. Only about 70 CDRs of the album were made, either given to close friends or sold at live shows. According to Cody, the band spent a lot of time in the studio recording the album. ‘After the tracking,’ he said, ‘we did a really hurried mix so we could have CDRs to sell at an upcoming show.
“’We took the rushed mix and ran it through an old tape deck,’ he continued. ‘I buried the needle in the red and spit it back out to a CD burner. Seth made some creepy sound effects to put between songs. We broke some bottles and recorded that. And that was the album. CDR copies of 18 songs that were painstakingly recorded, hurriedly mixed and mastered by blowing them out through a five dollar Goodwill tape deck.’
“Eradicator Records is an independent record label started in 1997 by Bobb Easterbrook, originally an outlet for his bands. Mutual friends introduced Bobb to The Horribly Wrong. After coming out a little worse for the wear, physically, at a particularly chaotic basement show, he knew The Horribly Wrong’s music had to be heard by the world. A 7” EP was released in 2005 (a split between Eradicator Records and Spin the Bottle Records) and quickly sold through two pressings (the first in three days, the second in five) reaching even Europe. Yet the album never saw the light of day.
“C’mon and Bleed With will be a split release between Bloomington’s Eradicator Records and S*** in Can Records, from Annecy, France. It’s limited to 500 copies on 180-gram vinyl (100 on blood red vinyl, 400 on black vinyl), with silk-screened covers. Red vinyl is only available through mail order or at one of the band’s few area shows. For the technologically advanced, there will be a digital download card included with the record.
“Members of The Horribly Wrong are still active today. Cody plays guitar and sings in the Austin, Texas band Lost Controls. Seth is a member of the Nashville, Tennessee-based Natural Children. Dustin plays drums for the Bloomington-based Country Death and is married; he and his wife recently celebrated the birth of their son.
“The Horribly Wrong will be playing several area reunion shows to promote the release. You can catch them in Bloomington at The Bishop on Friday. Ask them about their secret recipe for blood.”

• posted by Kristina   |   filed under music   |  
Back to top

Comments are closed.


© 1997 - 2010 the bloomington scene | HeraldTimesOnline.com. No commercial reproduction without prior written consent.
theme by brian gardner | spawned by wordPress.