Arthur Killroad

CD review: The Things You Should Know How To Do

After three years and many small battles to get it released, Arthur Killroad’s debut full-length album,The Things You Should Know How To Do, is finally here.

And it was worth the wait. If the acoustic musicians of Athens were the ensemble cast of the TV showFriends, then Ohio University senior Mike Petruccelli as Arthur Killroad would be Chandler Bing. For as he said himself in the track “Starving Artist Convention,” he is “the one with the guitar and half-smiled grin/ the smartass comments and judgmental quips.”

Most college students use this attitude as a coping mechanism though, and the way that Killroad describes the early-twenties mentality is dead on, in terms of relationships, family and college life.

The self-degradation and judgment that constantly roam through young people’s heads is woefully described in “Watch It Sink”, as he sings “The people were walking and I was watching all of them as they moved/ as they all marched down the streets/ moving just like ants/ I couldn’t help but judge them all by their shoes, T-shirts and pants.”

The music complements these lyrics as well with Killroad sounding similar to his acoustic contemporaries Dashboard Confessional and Ben Lee. Though this is not a unique sound, it will continue in the future, but if one of those future artists is Arthur Killroad, no one would mind.

No matter how original or typical his sound is, Killroad makes no apologies in “This Is Something Witty” as he directly croons, “And as for every critic/ who has something to say/ I’m not apologizing, I’m only describing things/ and saying how I feel about them.”

His closing track, “Harvard on the Hocking,” is the most delightful of all as an ode to OU. It is catchy, introspective and encompassing of all things college — just like Arthur Killroad.

agrabah|media

My friend Mike and I have started our own CD reviewing blog at agrabahmedia.blogspot.com

I'm not sure yet how frequently we are going to update this but hopefully we will bad-assedly review things on a regular basis. Check it out!

Andrew WK

Published June 5, 2008

When picturing Andrew W.K., most Ohio University students see a partier with a bloody nose, an image plastered on posters promoting ACRN’s annual three-day concert Lobsterfest that starts tonight.

Despite this illustration, Andrew W.K. whose real name is Andrew Wilkes-Krier, now balances being a motivational speaker and a rocker.

“I used to be unsure (about becoming a motivational speaker) but I thought, wait a minute, being happy is the best feeling in the world, so I set aside people thinking I would be corny,” Wilkes-Krier said.

Wilkes-Krier said he enjoys being able to work with people as a motivational speaker, exciting them about life the same way he tries to excite people through his music. He said he believes his songs stand alone well, regardless of being a part of products such as Bud Light, Madden NFL 2003 and Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

“I really love TV, advertising and large corporate products,” Wilkes-Krier said. “I grew up with a lot of friends that hated mainstream culture, so a way for me to find my own path was to contradict those sensibilities. People would write to me for putting my songs on beer commercials saying I shouldn’t support it, but I don’t, they gave me their money.”

Regardless of earning money for advertisements, Wilkes-Krier said performing is the biggest thrill for him. He said he is happy about playing Athens’ Lobsterfest this year and his parents are even coming down from his native Michigan to see him perform.

As a teenager, Wilkes-Krier expressed an interest in music, participating in jazz band at school and taking piano lessons at the University of Michigan where his father taught. However, he wasn’t fond of the rigorous schedules of school and lessons.

“(My father) spent a lot of years in the academic climate, but once I seriously started thinking about college I always got excited about something else,” Wilkes-Krier said.

The “something else” Wilkes-Krier was more excited about was music — a passion that he said was greatly influenced by his high school friends Nate Young and James “Twig” Harper.

After high school, he worked any job that would fund his desires until I Get Wet was released in 2001. Out of necessity, Wilkes-Krier plays all the instruments for all of his albums for the studio recording and then brings in various friends and artists to play with him when he goes on tour.

“I wanted the music to have a certain energy, even without words,” Wilkes-Krier said. “I wanted the words to be singing about the feeling I hope people have when they hear the music, especially on the first album.”

Wilkes-Krier took this energy from his studio album to his live performances, playing all across Europe, Ozzfest and Warped Tour, and now he’ll bring it to Lobsterfest on Saturday.

This year, Lobsterfest will hold today and tomorrow’s performances at The Union and the third day will take place on the South Green lawn. Other headlining acts besides Andrew W.K., include The High Strung, Mouth of the Architect and Defiance Ohio.

Dead Will Rise

Dead Will Rise, an Athens metal/grind band, holds the same anti-corporate mentality as Fight Club's Tyler Durden, but instead of running an underground boxing club to release its aggression, it writes and performs music.

Band members, including guitarists Doug Cherryholmes and Thomas Owens, drummer Jim Watson, bassist Al Etoll and former vocalist Jordan Holland, released the album Entrepreneur on Jan. 8. The band’s current vocalist is Matt Bowling.

“We decided we wanted (an album title that is) short and to the point,” Owens said. “It has a duel meaning because while we dislike (corporations), we put a lot of work and time into turning Dead Will Rise into what is kind of like a business.”

Having a business work ethic has paid off for the band, as it was signed in early 2007 to Twelve Gauge Records, which released Entrepreneur.

“The owner of the label is a very cool guy and very stubborn with his ethics, which is good for us,” Owens said.

“Recently he was dealing with one of his bands trying to go to a bigger label, and he didn’t accept the buy out … we all feel strongly about our beliefs and we like to be on a label that does that as well.”

Aside from its Entrepreneur, Dead Will Rise released an EP, Rest Assured The End Is Upon Us, in 2005.

“We started recording that two weeks after I joined so that was a learning process for me,” Owens said. “It was the first time in a studio for all of us.”

Although the band knows how to put forth serious effort as a business, it also knows how to have a good time, listing Pabst Blue Ribbon beer as one of its “Influences” on its MySpace page.

“We always seem to have more fun than everyone else,” Owens said. “We played in Detroit last weekend at a roller rink, and I was excited because they told me because I was in the band I got some skates for free and we were skating around like crazy.”

The band’s attitude has sparked some tension from some of the Christian and straight edge bands they play with when they tour in the South, Owens said.

“We have had some Christian venues not allow us to sell our merch, but we just sell it out of the back of our truck like M.C. Hammer,” Owens said. “We haven’t (had a lot of problems) being rowdy … even if you’re straight edge you can hang out with us.”

The band has not been able to play shows and tour as much as it would like because Owens is an audio production major at Ohio University. However, if its upcoming summer tour goes well he might drop out of school and finish classes online, he said.

“I have found more possible job opportunities through the band than with being an audio production major,” Owens said.

“I fully intend to move back in with my mom and live off her so I can be in the band.”

Hayden, opening act for Feist tour

Published April 22, 2008

Acoustic singer/songwriter Hayden will open for Feist tonight. Hayden, a Toronto native, has released seven albums, the first being Everything I Long For in 1995 and most recently 2008’s In Field & Town.  He spoke with The Post’s Kelly Kettering about his start in music, touring with Feist, and whom he would like to tour with in the future. 

The Post: How did you first start to get into music? 
Hayden: I played rhythm guitar in a band in high school and my initial sort of writing my own songs kind of happened over a span of a couple of years. I borrowed a friend’s four-track, had some of my friends sing my song, and then I entered the song to a radio contest, and I started doing shows.  

Post: What is going on in the Canadian music scene, where you are from, right now? 
Hayden: It’s a very healthy music scene right now in Canada and people are recognizing it around the world, which is nice. Years ago, you had to leave Canada to get recognition, so it’s nice that we can stay. … And the number one genre is indie rock, that’s a big one now for sure … Canada is a good place for musicality and comedy. 

Post: What made you decide to make music your career? 
Hayden: Well, it was sort of a dream in high school that I would be in a band like R.E.M. or something, but it died away after high school and I went to college and stopped playing music for a little bit. But when I put that four-track together, I had hopes I would have a career in the back of my mind, but I didn’t think it was realistic. However, one thing led to another, and suddenly I was on the road. I quit my last part-time job in 1995. 

Post: What inspires your music? 
Hayden: It’s definitely things that happen to me or things that happen to someone close to me. Or it’s just something that is interesting or strong enough for me to want to sit down and write. ... That is generally the force that affects me. 

Post: You released your first official album in 1995. How has your music changed since then? 
Hayden: Fundamentally it hasn’t changed that much. I don’t generally write with other people so, just being inspired to write. I usually write on guitar or piano — on this last record, it was piano. 

Post: What has been your favorite music to listen to lately? 
Hayden: I haven’t been listening to music actually. … I’m listening to Feist every night which is pretty nice. 

Post: What do you like about being Feist’s opening act? 
Hayden: It’s great because she is one of the special ones, you know? She has all the ingredients that make up a classic artist that the world won’t forget any time soon. It’s a pleasure to be a part of what she is doing; I have been listing to her voice for years. 

Post: Have you hung out with Feist or gotten to know her at all? 
Hayden: Yeah, I’m not allowed to look her in the eye, haha … No, we’ve known each other for years, everyone hangs out with each other, it’s a very friendly atmosphere. 

Post: Who would be another major performer you would like to tour with? 
Hayden: Well, there are a few artists that I respect that are recording right now; for example, Wilco. That would be nice.

Blueprint For Murder

Published April 10, 2008

Southern Comfort might be a 100 proof whiskey blend, but it’s a way of life for Nelsonville’s death metal thrashers Blueprint For Murder.

“We get drunk and fight each other at night, but in the end, we’re still a band,” said guitarist Justin Roman.

This petulant and rowdy group of metal heads certainly likes to embrace the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle whenever possible.

“Anyone that can out-shotgun a beer with Jim (Foley, guitarist) at a show, we will give them a free CD,” said Mike Lannan, bassist.

Self-proclaimed “trailer thrash,” Blueprint For Murder’s members are all from Southeast Ohio and most of them went to high school together in Nelsonville. The band, formed in September 2005, includes Roman, Lannan, Foley, Brian Saxton on drums and Brandon Bohlen as the lead vocalist.

Even at its first practice in 2005, the band was easily able to come together creatively and write its first song. The band members said they usually start writing based upon a cool guitar riff that someone comes up with.

“We’re fast, we have breakdowns, and we all have very different influences when we come in to write,” Lannan said. “Guys that come to our shows said they think it’s pretty brutal and like to get in fights to it … but it’s really all about sex, drugs, rock and roll … and Satan.”

Blueprint for Murder released its first album under Disjoined Records, an Athens recording company. TitledClosed Casket, the album never had an official release date but can now be purchased at any of their shows or from their Web site. The album’s cover art was created by artists from the Athens tattoo parlor Decorative Injections. The same artists are also coming up with T-shirt designs for the band.

With an album under its belt, the band is now eager to tour anywhere and everywhere.

“It’s a goal to get signed, but if we don’t we will still just play,” Saxton said.

Everyone else in the band wholeheartedly agrees.

“We will bring metal where it’s unwanted,” Lannan said.

In the past, Blueprint For Murder has enjoyed playing with bands like Mushroomhead and Skeletonwitch. This weekend the band will be playing in Nelsonville at Nelsonville Eagles, 67 ½ W. Washington St.

Skeletonwitch

Published April 3, 2008

Skeletonwitch, Athens’ well-known black metal band, will soon be packing up its gear and leaving for its first European excursion to showcase face-melting guitars and thrashing vocals.

The band started five years ago, stemming from a love of metal that started with bands like Iron Maiden and Slayer.“I got the albums Metal Health by Quiet Riot and Twisted Sister’s Stay Hungry and from then on out, I figured that’s what I wanted to do for a living,” said lead singer Chance Garnette.

Skeletonwitch was formed when Garnette’s brother, Nate Garnette, met Scott Hedrick in 2003. Both are now guitarists for the band and share a love of metal.

“Nate played in a band that broke up and he had a demo tape of songs, and I ended up meeting him,” Hedrick said. “We both loved metal and hanging out, and he couldn’t find anyone else to play, and I showed up with my guitar and a case of beer and we started playing.”

Once Hedrick and Nate started to play together, the rest of the band fell into place with Chance as singer, Derrick Nau on drums and Eric Harris on bass.

After honing their talent in Athens, the band’s members released their first EP, Worship The Witch, in 2005. The band sent this release to many record labels and went on its first small tour before being picked up by Prosthetic Records, a metal label that has also signed Lamb Of God, All That Remains and Through the Eyes of the Dead.

“The label puts our stuff out all over Europe and the U.S. and in stores like Best Buy — major distributors,” Hedrick said.Once signed to Prosthetic in early 2007, the band wrote and recorded its first full-length album, Beyond The Permafrost, which was released in October and sold out after one day at Haffa’s record store in Athens. After gaining experience playing and writing, the band said its album benefited from their EP experience.

“Nate is the main songwriter. We don’t really write stuff together,” Hedrick said. “Nate will record stuff on a four-track with a drum machine, and Eric and I will do the same thing with different parts and riffs. It’s kind of like tape trading, but Nate will show up with an entire song sometimes and we’ll pitch in and throw in some dynamics.”

Once the music is complete, Chance comes in to write the lyrics for all the songs. He said that with more experience, he has been able to make his words clearer without having to sing or sacrifice his raw, screaming vocals.

With the release of an EP and a LP, the band has had the opportunity to tour across the country with bands like The Red Chord, Arsis and Dying Fetus.

It was apparent that the members were becoming experts at being on the road this winter when driving to a show in a snowstorm.

“Nate was driving us to the show and Job For A Cowboy, a younger band on the tour, whizzes by us on the highway,”

Hedrick said. “So I mentioned to Nate that maybe we should speed up too. But he said no, we were wise to drive slowly … 10 more miles down the road, Job For A Cowboy wrecks their van … and we helped fix it.” Hedrick said.

Band members intend to take that experience on their European tour. The band will be performing with Hate Eternal, Cephalic Carnage and Deadborn.

Skeletonwitch will begin the tour early next month in Germany.

“I don’t know what to look forward to in Europe, but I want to French kiss a French girl,” Nau said.