The Brooklyn rock band Eastern Midwestern refers to the American Midwest in their name, yet they have never performed in the ?region before.
That’s about to change with their current East2MidwesTour where the band will be playing through Midwestern states from Ohio to ?Kentucky.
On one stop, Eastern Midwestern will be playing at the Bishop Bar Friday, Feb. 6. Indianapolis band She Does Is Magic and local band Busman’s Holiday will also ?perform.
The show will be a homecoming of sorts for two of Eastern Midwestern’s guitarists and vocalists, Brian Kerr and Zach Pollakoff, who are former IU students.
Despite their prior relationship with the University, Friday night’s show is the first time the band will play in Bloomington. The two said the Bishop had yet to be opened while they were ?attending the University.
Kerr said he is looking forward to having a brass section consisting of Jacobs School of Music students join them onstage, as well as giving old friends from the Bloomington area a chance to see the band live.
Beyond just attending college in the Midwest, Kerr and Pollakoff grew up in different parts of the region. The band’s other two members are from the East Coast, ?they said.
A combination of the members’ origins is the simple version of where the name Eastern Midwestern comes from, the two said. The name’s inspiration also comes from the fictional state of Winnemac in Sinclair Lewis’s book, “Babbitt,” which is described as being equally Eastern and Midwestern, according to ?Pollakoff.
The band released their debut album, “Zenith,” Jan. 27. The album was released through a Brooklyn label co-owned by Kerr and Pollakoff called Twosyllable Records. They said there was a lot of debate surrounding whether or not it was acceptable to release the album on their own record label but finally decided to go ahead with it not long before the album was due for release.
Kerr and Pollakoff said they are mostly playing songs from the new album on this tour but that they occasionally reach back to a couple songs from their 2012 self-titled EP. Pollakoff said they try to avoid most of the slower songs on their new album when ?playing live.
“We try and have energy and keep the crowd ?engaged,” he said.
Kerr said he is also looking forward to seeing the members of Busman’s Holiday, whom he said he and Pollakoff know from their time at IU.
Busman’s Holiday released their debut, “A Long Goodbye,” in April 2014.
Indianapolis band She Does Is Magic is getting ready to release their second full-length album Feb. 14. Vocalist and guitarist Chad Serhal said he is excited to release the album.
“What we lack in intensity that a live show would have, we make up for it with the horns and the extra instrumentation,” he said about the album’s sound.
According to Serhal, the style of music the band plays is rock and roll at its core with influences from surf, ?rockabilly and punk.
“Our live show isn’t crazy, it’s not doing backflips or anything, but it’s a lot of fun,” Serhal said.
