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(10/29/12 3:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Fall temperatures set in Friday along with a dreary drizzle, but that didn’t stop people from leaving their houses to crowd into the City of Bloomington Animal Shelter to be face-to-face with a celebrity cat.Lil Bub, a local cat with international fame, came to greet her fans to start the final weekend of the shelter’s adopt-a-thon efforts for the ASPCA Rachael Ray $100K Challenge.Through Wednesday, for the Howl-O-Ween Adopt-a-thon, dogs and puppies cost $20, and cats and kittens are free. If Bloomington Animal Care and Control saves 300 more lives than usual by the end of October, the department is eligible for awards for the challenge, including a $25,000 Community Engagement Award.While Shelter Manager Virgil Sauder has lost track of the number adopted, given the huge push, he estimated about 80 more animals need to be adopted or returned to owners to complete the challenge.“It’s still going to be a struggle, but it’s obtainable,” Sauder said. Hannah Duncan, a student at Ivy Tech Community College wearing an orange shirt with a cartoon-version Bub and dubbed the “Bub-biggest fan” by a friend, was in line to meet the famous feline a second time.“She’s much smaller than I thought she would be,” Duncan said. “I will forever love her.”Bub, who was adopted from a feral litter, was born with dwarfism and is a “perma-kitten” with extra toes, no teeth and a long body. She gained fame through her Tumblr.“She’s really healthy,” said Bub’s owner, Mike Bridavsky of Russian Recording. “She just has standard cat problems.”While Bub might have trouble with arthritis later in life, Bridavsky gives her preventative medicine and said she’s doing well.Bridavsky said he never planned for Bub to become famous, but he hopes to use the attention she garners positively.“Pretty much every other animal celebrity is a purebreed — Maru’s a Scottish Fold,” Bridavsky noted. “But you don’t have to pay top dollar to have an amazing, top-notch, unique animal.”Thus, he teamed with the animal shelter to promote adoption, spaying and neutering. Part of the proceeds from Lil Bub merchandise sold during her meet and greet went to the shelter, as well.Bridavsky’s other cats live at Russian Recording, and he adopted another cat during the $100K Challenge a few weeks ago in hopes that Bub will have a friend at home.Since the new family member has a front leg that’s not fully developed and has only one toe, Bridavsky named her Nub.To support the animal shelter, people can vote daily for Animal Care and Control to win the $25,000 Community Engagement Award here. “Regardless of if we hit (our adoption goal), and I think we can do it, it’s been great seeing the community involvement,” Sauder said. “It’s a win no matter what happens.”
(10/10/12 2:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>An eagle sculpture, WFHB’s firehouse dog Spot, the angel at Rachael’s Café and the giant guitar on the parking garage at Seventh and Walnut streets all share a common birthplace.They were built right outside community radio WFHB’s headquarters on Fourth and Walnut streets. Local collaborative artist Joe LaMantia constructed those sculptures, and he’s building another angel. He builds it in the open air so passersby can join and learn.“It becomes a classroom on the street, and tuition is free,” LaMantia said.Once completed, the angel will be fastened to Auto Heaven Auto Parts located on the B-Line Trail. Auto Heaven owner Chuck Forney said the angel will be a great fit for his business.“We’re big recyclers,” Forney said. “Repurposing works well. Joe’s done some neat stuff with sustainability and recycled auto parts. It’s great.”Split into two halves, the angel presents both a woman and a man. The faces join together in the center. “Being whole is having both those entities,” LaMantia said. “I like that. It makes a peaceful human being.”The angel will hold a book with a red heart in the center, and each feather on the wings will be from an Indiana license plate.LaMantia needs more donated license plates.Al Feitl of Ellettsville, Ind., and member No. 5947 of the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association, dropped by LaMantia’s work station to deliver a bagful of plates. Feitl has 3,000 stored in a room above his garage, which he said was a small collection. He knows people who have 70,000 and bring small trailers to conventions.“I haven’t been involved in an art project like this before, although I’ve seen people use license plates for birdhouses,” Feitl said. “This is a good cause, this angel.”LaMantia said he found Feitl through a mutual acquaintance.“I keep on telling people, networking is a type of empowerment,” LaMantia said. “People feel like a part of it, and they are. Every part is essential.”LaMantia said he enjoys the interchanges with people and hopes to encourage them to push themselves with new opportunities. Until the project is done, LaMantia will be outside WFHB from 9 a.m. to about 5 or 6 p.m., weather permitting, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. He will also work on the project from 9 a.m. to about 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.People can stop by to donate license plates, help cut out and put on feathers or offer a word of compassion in any language to include on the angel’s book.“A public art piece is like this radio station,” LaMantia said. “It’s community-based, people come together to share an interest in music they like and it’s run by local people.” Using the analogy of a boomerang, LaMantia said he tries to be ready and receptive for the idea he puts out to return with more input. “The boomerang comes back, but not exactly to where you are,” LaMantia noted.The idea of the angel developed further when his wife suggested he dedicate it to the late Jeanne Walters, a local realtor who was compassionate and involved in the community. The concept of compassion solidified the design, LaMantia said.“I realized an angel is a messenger, a symbolic icon,” LaMantia said. He also enjoys the problem-solving aspect of projects. For instance, he initially planned for the angel’s halo to be a bicycle wheel but realized he will need something larger. A couple from Washington, Ind., stopped by and brainstormed with him. They mentioned that manufacturing carts have large wheels.LaMantia hopes to have the project complete by mid-October. People interested in contributing license plates or money can contact him through his website, lamantiastudio.com. “It does take a village,” LaMantia said. “It wouldn’t be much fun just buying materials.”
(01/24/12 4:49am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU alumna Katie Nelson studied philosophy in the late 1990s. Now, at 32 years old, she’s writing a book.The book will be about “walking a high wire fifty feet off the ground without a net and the resulting fear of falling off, but dreading the possibility of throwing yourself off just to get the damn thing over with,” Nelson said. “Fun stuff like that.”The catch? Katie’s a fictional character — but an IU alum is behind her creation.Michael Boggs, who graduated from IU in 1973, has just published his first novel, “From an Island in the Ocean.”Primarily set in Bloomington during Katie’s college days, the novel contains settings many students would find familiar: Ballantine Hall, Showalter Fountain and Nick’s English Hut. Katie frequents the latter.“In a large sense, it talks about what college students are going through, the angst they may have,” Boggs said.The book begins with Katie, the main character, telling her mother and their waiter of her writing ambitions. She then reflects on her college experiences.“Katie, she’s obviously got some similarities to me,” said Boggs, who began to study philosophy his sophomore year, just as Katie does in his book.Boggs was rejected by 51 publishers — which he humorously references in the book’s satiric reviews at the start — but he was not deterred. After all, the author of best-seller “The Help” was turned down by 60 literary agents, Boggs noted.And so, instead of following a traditional publishing route, Boggs decided to self-publish via Amazon.“In 2010, Amazon, which is the largest retailer in the country, for the first time ever, they sold more e-books than printed books,” Boggs said. Amazon prime members can borrow a free Kindle version of the novel for a month. Others can purchase the e-book for $3.95. Eventually, customers will be able to order a print version from CreateSpace, Amazon’s publishing service, Boggs said.One of the main themes of the novel is “facticity,” Boggs said, which he defines as the weighty responsibility that comes with freedom. Katie must sort out her responsibility to herself and her mother.“She doesn’t have to follow what her mother wants, to be a writer — what bothers her is freedom,” Boggs explained. “She knows she has the talent to be a writer, but she knows she doesn’t have to if she doesn’t want to.” Throughout the novel, Katie references and comments on the historical events of her time: the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Elian Gonzalez incident and the Columbine massacre, among many others.Within the novel, Katie also writes several standalone short stories. Even so, Boggs stressed, Katie’s characters are intertwined with the larger story of her life.“You don’t know when they’ll pop up, if they’re really fictional or not. … It’s kind of funny because the characters rebel at her for what she put them through,” Boggs said. And, further blurring the lines of reality, Nelson actually has a real Twitter account. She can be followed at the account @Katieonanisland.“I know Bloomington well,” Boggs said. “Katie says it’s the best decision she ever made, to go to IU.”
(01/23/12 3:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On Saturday at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, David Fletcher went from kitchen to stage, bringing tubs of ganache, a roasted cacao pod and a tiny bowl of crystallized cocoa butter.As a fundraiser for PRIDE, Bloomington’s LGBTQ film festival, Fletcher held a Sweet Meet & Greet that taught attendees how to roll truffles. True truffles are shaped irregularly, like the fungus, Fletcher explained as his class pulled on blue gloves.“Don’t feel compelled to make them perfectly round,” Fletcher said. “I can usually pick the engineers out.” While the ganache was pre-made, Fletcher said it can be flavored. For instance, cream can be heated with tea bags, coffee, cinnamon sticks or even bacon. Then, boiling dairy melts the chocolate and combines with it.“It’s a beautiful moment in culinary arts when they come together,” Fletcher said.Fletcher was a cellist and physician before a chocolatier.“In medicine, you can’t make up stuff — or at least, you shouldn’t,” Fletcher said with a laugh. Graduate student Katie Schweighofer, a member of the Steering Committee for PRIDE, attended the chocolate class. This year, she said, the committee looked at more than 30 feature films and about 90 short films.“We pick films that are meant to be a little controversial, films that prompt people to think about LGBTQ,” Schweighofer said.She recommended festival-goers attend Saturday’s and Sunday’s free matinees, which include community discussions afterward.The festival has sold out the past two years and, this year, will show 34 films instead of 25, said Maarten Bout, the marketing and technology director of the Buskirk-Chumley.Bout recommends Gun Hill Road, a film about a man who returns from prison to find his son transitioning to female.“It’s very much a film about family,” Bout said. “People should come to see it to find out what it’s about.”While this is his first fundraiser for PRIDE, Fletcher has been involved from the beginning. The first year, he provided desserts, and the second, a model was painted with chocolate.Fletcher showed students how cacao becomes cocoa and how beans are processed.“It reminds me of rock-polishing kits,” Fletcher said as he showed images of the huge grinders used to make chocolate particles fine.Later on, the chocolate is “conched” by huge rollers in a refining process. The tempering process gives chocolate the shine, the snap, the texture and the certain way it melts.“You have to think about your outcome, your goal,” he reminded students throughout the night.They rolled truffles in toasted coconut, plain cocoa and smashed malted milk balls.Schweighofer said she’s going to try something different.“We’ll try to make some with spicy-pepper, maybe ancho-chipotle,” she said.
(12/08/11 3:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It started this summer. Twenty-three bands began to write and record, and now, months later, despite the cold, rainy weather, the holidays don’t have to be so rotten.That’s the title of their instrumental compilation album — “The Holidays Don’t Have To Be So Rotten: Volume 2” — a project of local label Flannelgraph Records. The proceeds from the album go to Stepping Stones, a local organization that helps homeless teenagers.“We thought it would be fun to put together an album of new, original holiday instrumentals because it’s just something that we would actually like to listen to,” said Jared Cheek, owner of Flannelgraph Records.Bands that wrote songs for the album will perform at Flannelgraph Record’s Holiday Benefit Spectacular. The benefit will begin at 8 p.m. Thursday at The Bishop. Instead of cash, a canned good or clothing donation will be accepted for admission. These will go to the Monroe Country Red Cross.“Making it a benefit album with all of the profits going to charity just seemed like the right thing to do,” Cheek said.The performance will be the last show of the year for Michael Anderson, the man behind solo project Drekka, before he tours Europe in January and February. Anderson’s holiday track is titled “It’s Here (Are You Ready?),” which he called a strange reworking of the “Charlie Brown Christmas” theme song. “It was mostly made on an antique organ called an Optigan,” Anderson said. “It’s sort of a pre-sampler.”The solo artist described his music as heavily experimental, industrial soundtracks. He’s also toured the world, from Italy to Iceland, which he said influences his work.“I do a lot of field recording and incorporate it into my pieces,” Anderson said. Along with Drekka, six other bands will perform, “so you can expect to see some great music with short set times,” Cheek said.Wet Blankets, She Does Is Magic, New Terrors, Tim Felton of husband&wife, Frank Schweikhardt and Sleeping Bag make up the other acts in the lineup.Dave Segedy is the lead vocalist for Sleeping Bag, but in an unusual twist for a band, he’s also the drummer.“Basically, I don’t know how to play bass or guitar, but I wanted to write songs anyway,” Segedy said.He knew enough of the instruments to get the melody down and to write the arrangements, he said. His band mates, guitarist Lewis Rogers and bass player David Woodruff, add their own flair to the music with details and solos.For Sleeping Bag’s song on the holiday compilation, “Missing All Your Best Friends,” Segedy reworked an old demo song into an original instrumental.At the show, Sleeping Bag will play songs old and new. The pop-rock band, which released its debut album in August, already has all the songs written for its next and has only to record. Fans can expect to hear the upcoming album next summer or fall.Sleeping Bag also recorded a song for Flannelgraph Records’ first holiday compilation. Now, after the second volume has come out, Cheek said he hopes to make the show and album an annual event.“It’s really great to see people selflessly come together to do something that helps other folks out,” Cheek said.
(12/05/11 1:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The vintage organ that first led Michael Fitzpatrick, a.k.a. Fitz, to create the sound for Fitz & the Tantrums does not tour with the band. After all, the band would have to have its own semi-truck to move it, said saxophonist and flautist James King. But the massive instrument is still an inspiration.“Our music is heavily drawn from Motown and classic American,” King said, adding that it complements its soul and indie sensibility.With a rave review from Rolling Stone this year, radio success and spots on television shows that include “Criminal Minds” and “Desperate Housewives,” the band has risen to success rapidly since its first show in December 2008.“It’s been really lightning speed,” King said.At 8 p.m. Tuesday, Fitz & the Tantrums will come to The Bluebird Nightclub, along with indie-pop band Scars on 45, which hails from Leeds, England. Tickets are on sale at The Bluebird, Landlocked Music and Ticketmaster locations for $22.The concert is also a benefit for Toys for Tots. People are encouraged to bring new, unwrapped toys to the show.“We definitely need the help, especially with the economy the way it is right now,” said Bob Sutter, founder of Monroe County Toys for Tots.The organization plans to assist 400 to 500 families in Monroe County and surrounding areas, which means toys for 1,000 children or more, Sutter said. Danny Bemrose, singer and guitarist for Scars on 45, said he looks forward to benefit concerts, which his band does often in England.Like Fitz & the Tantrums, the band has experienced much success. Surprisingly, it’s all been in the United States.“In England, we have no popularity at all,” Bemrose said, excluding their home city.But all the same, he said he’s “completely happy” about his and his fellow musicians’ success stateside.Now, after three years as the band Scars on 45, the group has toured for many months and expects to have its next album out in February, Bemrose said.Scars on 45 met Fitz & the Tantrums at a conference in Boulder, Colo., a while ago.“They’re such lovely people,” Bemrose said. “We’re really excited to play with them.”As to Tuesday’s performance, King has a bit of advice.“Just bring out the Red Steppers, because you’ll have something to dance to,” King said.
(11/30/11 4:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This summer, Murder By Death toured Alaska. The band did not just go to Anchorage. Instead, it went to McCarthy, Alaska, population 22, a small mining town three hours away from any neighbors.People traveled from miles around to see the musicians, cramming into the tiny lodge where they played their rock ballads and filled the room with themes of the Old West, the band said. Young people crowd surfed while an old man with a bushy white beard danced in front of them.“We have all these great memories,” frontman Adam Turla said after recounting the tale. “It’s the reason we like to travel.”Now, Murder By Death is back in Bloomington, where it began more than a decade ago, and is holed up writing songs for the album to be recorded in January.The band will debut several new songs Friday at the Bishop. “I don’t think we’ve ever done anything quite like this,” Turla said. “It’s a local show to get some perspective on (the new music).” He said the songs have been coming hard and fast lately. And, while the band has been a four-piece for some time, Scott Brackett recently became a fifth. He plays a number of instruments: accordion, trumpet, mandolin and piano.“There’s a huge amount of sonic space he opens up by being in the band,” Turla said. “There’s so much opportunity it can be hard to rein it in.”The band is completed by Sarah Balliet on cello and keyboards, Matt Armstrong on bass and Dagan Thogerson on percussion.Mile 44, a screen-printing service run by duo Dave Windisch and Stacy Curtis, created the poster for the performance.Windisch said they listen to and base their designs on aspects of the band’s music, whether those are specific lyrics or a feel the band projected. This show’s poster depicts a cartoonish arm raising a martini glass of bubbly blue beverage. A glow-in-the-dark overlay reveals a skeleton in the arm.Windisch based it on one line from the song “Piece by Piece,” in which Turla sings “I’ve paid my dues, and I had my fun/ You’ll have yours too, son.” He said the line reminded him of his own father’s influence on him and the fun of “boozing it up” with friends.“I love their music. I think it’s great,” Windisch said. “It’s happily depressing, if that makes any sense.”Bloomington’s Austin Lucas, who will open with his backing band the Bold Party, has performed with Murder By Death before. As a spectator, he said he has found their growth incredible.“If anyone’s good, they don’t end where they started,” Lucas said. “Adam’s voice has become so rich and full over the years.”Lucas has been on a music journey himself — he grew up singing in the Indiana University Children’s Choir and performed in operas at the Musical Arts Center. Since his childhood, he’s toured and released albums for nearly a decade.“It wasn’t until I was 12 that I realized punk was something I could reach out and grab, the kind of music I could do,” Lucas said.While he’s moved on to playing what he said could be described as alternative country or folk, “Once a punk, always a punk,” Lucas said.“I like to sing pretty,” Lucas explained, which punk music does not usually accommodate.Now, after a tour with Willie Nelson this past summer as well as a tour in Europe to support his 2011 album “A New Home In The Old World,” Lucas is back to writing for his next album. “He’s got that Americana vibe,” Turla said. “We dabble in that occasionally. It’s a nice fit (for the show).”While Murder By Death has journeyed to Alaska and across the world — Norway, Greece and Sardinia, to name a few — Turla said he’s excited to return to the Bishop.“I love that joint,” he said. “Just a nice, small room that sounds good.”
(11/28/11 1:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As a neuroscientist and musician, graduate student Francisco J. Parada doesn’t write lyrics about neurons and synapses. Nevertheless, he said science has influenced his band’s music, which fans have dubbed “experimental post-rock.”“I felt comfortable with the term ‘experimental,’” Parada said. “Since I’m a scientist, I experiment all day.”His band, Bäitoník Configuration, will perform at 9 p.m. Wednesday at The Bishop with local post-rock band Clouds as Oceans. Admission is $4.Parada is from Santiago, Chile, where he first studied music. He said he wanted to play flute for an orchestra.However, even when Parada switched his aspirations to neuroscience, he never stopped playing music, he said.He has written a musical piece called “Lied Notturna” that spanned 45 to 50 minutes and made use of instruments such as double bass and cello.“It was like a little chamber music band with a drummer,” Parada said. At the time, his then-band would play the nonstop, nearly one-hour piece.“Then science brought me to the United States,” Parada said.While pursuing his Ph.D., Parada formed his most recent band, Bäitoník Configuration, with developmental psychologists and other musicians. “Music is like living a double life,” Parada said.With his work as a scientist, it can be difficult to find time for music, he said. He writes at night when he has time, and the band rehearses once or twice a week with as many members as can come together.“We are a new band trying to have fun and create a really nice, quality musical product,” Parada said.Fellow Bäitoník Configuration member Stephen Harms is a full-time musician who appreciates the dynamic of playing with scientists.“A lot of my music is informed by psychological concepts,” Harms said. He said he enjoys talking about these concepts with Parada and psychologist Viridiana Benitez, who is also in the band. Even so, Parada said the band works well with the little time members have. They hope to have their debut album out sometime in 2012.For Harms, the band’s music has an interesting dynamic and plays with contrast.“They’re kind of longer form compositions, elaborately structured and elaborately conceived,” Harms said. “It’s very structured, along with the more free, improv sections.”Parada has seen local post-rock band Clouds as Oceans before and said he is glad to perform with them.“They sound really cool,” Parada said. “I’m looking forward to (the concert).”At Wednesday’s performance, Bäitoník Configuration will play the first piece Parada wrote in the United States. Parada said the piece reflects the changes he’s gone through as someone who’s come to a new country and has a new life.“This concert marks the end of an era for our band,” he said, as it will be a farewell event for one member, Lisa Cantrell, who is leaving. “But it is also a start of a new wave of composition.”
(11/21/11 12:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Bugles will blare, cider and hot chocolate will be passed around and downtown Bloomington will burst into light for the Canopy of Lights celebration.Santa Claus will take the stage at 7 p.m. Friday on the south side of the square, where he’ll start the holiday season with the flip of a switch. The lights, strung from the courthouse to surrounding buildings, will transform the scene after a day full of festivities.“It’s really one of those Bloomington traditional events that brings people together to celebrate the holiday season,” said Talisha Coppock, executive director of Downtown Bloomington, Inc.In partnership with CFC, Inc., Downtown Bloomington, Inc. has the downtown lighting ceremony annually.Started in the 1940s, the Canopy of Lights celebration ended for several years and was brought back in 1985, Coppock said. It’s been a community tradition ever since, and the lights will remain on through New Year’s Day.In the lead-up to the lighting, WonderLab Museum will extend its hours to 6:30 p.m. Friday and will have a holiday craft station for children. The Monroe County History Center will also have a free open house from 5 to 9 p.m.Before Polka Dot the Clown and public officials welcome Santa to the stage, the Bloomington Brass Band will play from 6 to 7 p.m.Gerald Hanson plays bugle horn for the band. Modeled after British-style brass bands, the community band has no reed or string instruments.For Canopy of Lights, the weather is sometimes nice, sometimes cold and sometimes snowing, “but as a brass band, we can play in that weather,” Hanson said.Musicians in the ensemble have cornets instead of trumpets and E-flat horns in place of French horns.The musicians said they look forward to the Canopy of Lights performance, and it has historically been the band’s largest audience of the season according to Hanson.“We’re all volunteers,” he said. “We enjoy doing this for the community.”The band will perform several seasonal arrangements, from “Silver Bells” to “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” to “Jingle Bells” and other traditional holiday songs.The Cardinal Stage Company will put on another performance right before the lighting with a number or two from its upcoming production of the musical “Annie.”A dozen girls from the cast will perform “It’s the Hard Knock Life” on the square, and they might even throw in a surprise number, Artistic Director Randy White said.“It’s a lot of fun to have the kids up singing and then see the lights turned on,” White said. “We try to pick a high-energy song to show what the play’s about.”Before the girls take the stage, the Cardinal Stage Company will hand out hot cider in partnership with Bloomingfoods.The Canopy of Lights event serves to promote local businesses and charities, Coppock said.The Stuff-A-Bus on the square will accept donations of toys for families in need, and Bloomington Hospital Home Health & Hospice will illuminate Light Up A Life Trees.“Each one of the lights is sponsored in the name of a friend or family member who has passed away,” Coppock said, adding that each tree represents a donation to the hospice.The Canopy of Lights celebration will be replete with carolers, cookies and a slew of live performances.“It makes the whole weekend,” Coppock said.A full list of this month’s holiday events can be found on the City of Bloomington Website.
(11/16/11 3:19am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Finding a niche in Bloomington’s bursting, diverse music scene can be difficult.Birch Miller doesn’t write many songs with sing-along choruses. His brain works in odd time signatures — 7/8, 8/8. His band, Hard Candy Hearts, plays loud music, the music the band members like. He describes it as “swamp rock.” His bandmate, lead guitarist Casmir Lewandowski, calls it “psycho blues.”Even if maintaining a dedicated following can be difficult, “a record or a show can live on well past when I’m decrepit,” Miller explained. He isn’t troubled.Besides, the audience is often impressed with Hard Candy Hearts’ no-nonsense style, Lewandowski said. The band goes into a show with an agenda, with a well rehearsed, high-energy performance, he said.“Jon Spencer (of Blues Explosion) never stops in between songs,” Miller said. “He plays at blistering speeds, rocks your face and keeps you happy.” It’s this approach he imitates.“Get in, get out,” Lewandowski said. “Shock and awe.”At 11:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18, the band will bring its characteristic approach to the Bishop. They’ll play with Crisis Hotlines of Austin, Texas, and Chicago-based Sons of the West. No one band will headline, Miller said — just three bands jamming together. The cover is $4.Miller said he doesn’t promote shows much unless he really believes in the bands, and he certainly does this time.“Sons of the West are very much like us,” he said. “In a way, they have a loud, Black Keys style. The closest (description) might be a wild, groovy blues style.”Anthony DeSanto, lead singer of Sons of the West, said the blues-garage rock trio started in high school. All three members played guitar, so they were forced to learn and adapt.They’ve released a self-titled, full-length album and are currently working on an EP. The band has experimented with its sound and recorded the upcoming album on tape, DeSanto said.“We’re all really happy with it,” he said. Miller is also excited to play with Crisis Hotlines, which includes Cody Leitholt of former Bloomington band the Horribly Wrong.While Miller described the Horribly Wrong as a unique band full of charisma, he said he admires Crisis Hotlines, too.“The new band is a little more professional and straightforward,” Miller said.Their shows are high energy, with the musicians jumping around often, he said.“We’re a three-piece band, so we have to make it as entertaining as possible,” Thompson added.Miller advised people to come out to the performance.“It’s a really solid show,” he said. “All the bands are great.”
(11/14/11 2:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For the 43rd and final show of her solo tour, Wisconsin singer Anna Vogelzang performed Saturday at The Bishop.She belted her lyrics to an attentive audience despite her fatigue from the night before — she had played in Indianapolis with belly dancers and fire-eaters, she informed her listeners.Vogelzang played after local musician Taylor Campi and before headliner Eric Ayotte.Graduate student Tamara van der Does said she was impressed with Vogelzang’s voice.“I enjoyed the simplicity,” van der Does said. “It’s down to earth. The music is easy to relate to.”Vogelzang performed songs from her upcoming album, “Canary in a Coal Mine,” to be released February 2012. After leaving her previous record label, she started Paper Anchor Music and produced the album with the backing of her fans.“I would like to be in charge of my own trajectory but also reach as many people as possible,” Vogelzang said. “It’s about finding a balance.”During the performance, she switched among guitar, banjo and kalimba. Her dynamic vocals changed just as much — sometimes soft, sometimes spoken and sometimes a crescendo to fill the room.Using various instruments helps her challenge herself when writing, Vogelzang said.“When you don’t know the rules, you don’t get held up by them,” she said.Vogelzang, who studied opera at Carnegie Mellon University, said she tries to “mix that part of my voice in, too.”Local musician and junior Taylor Campi opened for Vogelzang and garnered laughs for a 21st birthday song she wrote for a friend and an emotional response for “Sophie,” a song about her dog’s death.Campi said she appreciated the politically charged music of headliner Eric Ayotte, whose song “Fallujah” reminded her of her own song about Libya.“I’m silly in real life, but when I approach songwriting — well, it’s a very serious outlet for emotional release,” Ayotte said.Even when writing about his personal side, Ayotte said he tries to incorporate political ideas without making his songs “finger-pointing.”He took the stage after finishing work at Rhino’s, where he runs Youth Radio for WFHB.Ayotte joked with the audience between songs to make up for “keeping the mood low” due to his serious themes. In the spring, Vogelzang will return to The Bishop, which is “one of my favorite venues,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to her band coming back,” van der Does said.
(11/08/11 2:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Don’t tell members of the local band the Best Friends, “You can’t just go around playing music,” like the manager of Gresham Food Court did. They’ll just reply, “Why not?”Last November, the band members trickled into the food court one by one with their instrument cases.They purchased food, sat down and ate. Then Neal Anderson took out his accordion. Soon, all the members of the Best Friends were playing their original song “Clock on the Wall.”Taylor Campi, an IU junior and the band’s guitarist and vocalist, recalled the scene as her favorite band memory.She said the Foster crowd was half receptive and half confused, and some diners clapped along to the performance.The Best Friends later tested their music in Wright Food Court, weaving through tables and playing the song “Dirt.” The crowd was even more receptive there, Campi said.The last impromptu performance was in the dining hall at Read Center. The diners sat quietly and listened intently to the performance, even singing along when asked to, Campi said, perhaps because many of them were musicians themselves.Now, nearly a year later, The Best Friends has taken a break from performing as it records its first EP. Campi said they hope to have it out in the spring.Campi is also a songwriter. She said she has about 30 original songs in addition to the 13 she’s written for the band. She discussed with the IDS her solo and group work, from a song about stolen cats to her songwriting process.She will perform a solo set at 9 p.m. Saturday at The Bishop with Eric Ayotte and Anna Vogelzang. Admission is $5.IDS When did you start playing guitar?CAMPI I started playing my mom’s guitar in eighth grade. I still have her guitar. That’s the guitar I use — that’s kind of cool.IDS Do you prefer playing in the band or your solo set?CAMPI There are times when I do prefer playing a solo set because I’m in control of the whole sound of the set. The flip side of that is that it’s really awesome to get to play music with six of my best friends. I’m torn on that sometimes.IDS Is indie folk an accurate description of your music?CAMPI Definitely. Our bassist always describes it as playful folk, which I can see for a lot of the songs. But then there are some songs that are definitely not playful. A lot of our songs are either playful folk or indie folk.IDS Who are some of your influences?CAMPI I would say that some of my influences are — have you seen “Juno”? Kimia Dawson is the lady who did most of the music. Another huge influence would be Regina Spektor. They’re both kind of quirky. If you listen to their lyrics, a lot of them are quirky, cute songs. And then, it’s totally not in my time, but Simon and Garfunkel. “The Boxer” was one of the first songs I learned. That really got me into the folky realm.IDS What advice do you have for musicians starting out?CAMPI For solo artists, definitely do open mic nights. They have them all over town. You just have to find them. IDS What’s your songwriting process like?CAMPI If I have an idea in my head, if I think of a rhyme while I’m walking along, I’ll just think of words that go along, and then I’ll write it in my phone and remember it later. I’ll just write a song on the spot in five minutes. And then other times, it’ll take me a couple weeks to finish a song.
(11/07/11 2:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Yellow, orange and black cords ran across the floor from speakers and sound equipment. A guitar case lay open on the floor, lined with a show poster for The Natives.It was Tuesday evening, and the band was practicing for its performance the following night at The Bishop.Daniel Topp’s head brushed the basement ceiling as he played bass. Kyle Hoopty plucked at his pedal steel guitar. He discovered he would need to change its strings later. Justin Hubler, in an IU basketball T-shirt, played the keyboard. The shadows of guitarist Coleman Lowndes and drummer Aaron Frazer played across the wall.“We’re all friends and classmates,” Frazer said. “We spend a lot of time together.”The five musicians of The Natives are all juniors, and all but one are recording arts majors.Their music, Lowndes said, is a blend of American styles — country, blues, rock and folk.They’ll return to The Bishop on Dec. 4 to perform with Matthew Santos.For the kind of work this band does, venues like The Bishop are good, Frazer said.“Our music gets lost in a rowdy, gritty basement” because of their emphasis on vocal harmony, he said.The band’s debut album, “My Song Is Gonna Set Me Free,” is available for free download on their website, thenativesband.com. Lowndes said since the album was released, the band has been busy writing. Half its set is now new music.“I think one thing I’m really proud of is that people can always expect one new song (at each show),” Lowndes said.Topp said the band first began to form at a house party some months ago, when Lowndes had called him over to play bass.“The more refined answer, is that we gradually came together,” Lowndes said.The band continued its practice. Alone on the yellow cinderblock wall, a speech bubble sticker said “Charlie Patton’s War” — three members of The Natives are in this band, too.The Natives’ sound filled the basement as they practiced one of their songs, “Legs.” The song was acoustic on the album but, like others, has since been revamped and is now electric, Lowndes said.“We have a more focused sound now than on the album,” Frazer said. “We’ve found our direction more.”For the moment, they moved to “Susanna Come To Bed.”As soon as they have enough songs, which won’t be for a while, The Natives will likely put out another album, Lowndes said.“We’re focusing on the present,” Frazer said.
(11/03/11 1:13am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Senior Tim Mattingly has written poetry since the third grade, and his bandmates said it’s obvious through his lyrics. Guitarist and singer Mattingly and drummer Gordon Lang form the Adultery Brothers with junior Eric Dreyer on bass.They’ve been playing for eight years — since high school. Lang said it’s such a long time that it’s weird to think about.Mattingly, however, said he thinks of the Adultery Brothers as three years old, since the band has taken on a completely different feel from high school. “Those eight years fostered understanding,” Lang said. “We know what to expect from each other.”At 8 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Bishop, the Adultery Brothers will perform with Indianapolis-based Great Future. Admission is $4.“I look forward to every show,” Dreyer said. “Playing in front of people, having fun. But I’m interested in this show in particular.”Unlike the covers the band often plays at house parties, Dreyer said they’ll show off their original work. “Something In My Drink” was the band’s first good, original song, Mattingly said. After that was written, he decided the band should push its songwriting and try to make each one as good as it can be.Having people approach the band and recognize them added to the focused push, Lang said.“It’s guitar-driven, hook-filled alternative rock,” said Paul Mattingly, Tim’s brother. “There’s a happy emphasis on the hooks.”Tim Mattingly compared his band’s approach in “the art of pop-song writing” to the focus of Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer of Weezer.“We have a lot of qualities similar to Weezer because our focus is more on the songs themselves than the instrumentation,” Tim Mattingly said. As for lyrics, Tim Mattingly described his writing as introspective and cynical. He said he’s interested in human behavior and social psychology.“I think that comes through in my lyrics,” he said. He added that despite some cynical and depressing themes, he usually tries to make the songs upbeat.As the band becomes more serious, “it’s progressing toward less of a hobby,” Lang said.Paul Mattingly and Joe Micotto created Real Escape Records specifically to promote the Adultery Brothers. Both are IU alumni.“I felt (the band) would have an audience,” Paul Mattingly said. “It’s radio-friendly alternative rock.”The Adultery Brothers’ self-titled debut album will be released mid-November, Paul Mattingly said. He added the record will be available on iTunes, Spotify and Rhapsody. “We’re ready for primetime. We’re about to try to make it big,” Paul Mattingly said. “These next two weeks are the kickoff.”
(10/27/11 1:21am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When Orgone performed at Max’s Place last June, the band had to compete with Taste of Bloomington. People heard the music from the streets and were drawn to it.“It was great. We had a pretty good crowd,” said Travers Marks, owner of Max’s Place. “Everyone was smiling and dancing.”Dan Coleman, founder of Spirit of ’68 Promotions, booked the band at the venue again for this October.“They were, hands down, one of the best shows of the year,” Coleman said. “They came out and put so much energy into the show. People were walking in off the streets.”He described the band as funk with elements of soul, jazz and Latin.“They’re an amalgamation. They absorbed so many different things in California,” Coleman said. The Los Angeles-based band will perform at 10 p.m. Saturday at Max’s Place, a restaurant and venue at 108 W. Sixth St. Tickets are $8 and can be purchased at Landlocked Music and the Buskirk-Chumley Box Office.Orgone is defined as “a universal life force, a cosmic unit of energy, the creative force in nature,” according to the band’s website.Perhaps this life force contributes to long performances — after all, Orgone played for two and a half hours the last time they were in Bloomington, Coleman said.With nine musicians, “they have so many cooks in the kitchen, all throwing in ideas,” Coleman said. “It creates a wonderful sound.”Marks described the band as wonderful all the way around, with danceable and soulful music. The members play a number of instruments, from guitar to bass to brass.“The hand drummer’s one of the best I’ve ever seen,” Marks said.Orgone’s music can be sampled at orgonespace.com. Before the performance, a DJ will open with some funk records.“It’s a show that no one should miss,” Marks said.— Celia Grundman
(10/27/11 1:15am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In July 2010, Bloomington local Robert McGaha picked up a guitar and began to teach himself the instrument. Within three months he had started performing his own songs for his solo acoustic act, fight well, young lions.“I wanted to do something different with my life,” he said.The themes present within his songs are very personal, he said, and he uses many metaphors to convey what he wants. McGaha’s album “i exist, but only in this,” which was released this past July, begins and ends with a poem. He said he wrote the poem based on people from his life and their perspectives.“I try not to use just my point of view,” McGaha said. “I try to put myself in someone else’s shoes.”McGaha will be featured in a performance Saturday with Backwords and Jessie and Amy. He will perform a new song, “I breathe,” for the first time. He said he wrote it only a few days ago.“He’s a great guy,” freelance audio engineer Lanis Watkins said. “He’s passionate about what he does. There’s an intensity behind his words and his voice.”Watkins recorded McGaha’s album. The first time he heard McGaha’s work, he said he wasn’t sure he was interested since he usually works on more elaborate productions. But the more he recorded, the more it grew on him.“It’s simple and raw, but with a strange feeling of suspense,” Watkins said. “There’s an open space, like a lonely plea that draws me in.”While McGaha played five shows with a full band including bass and electric guitars, he recently made a switch. He said his return to solo work has made the process more personal.“People can relate to me a lot more easily,” McGaha explained.When songwriting, McGaha said he writes lyrics first. McGaha is meticulous when it comes to what he wants to sing. Then he continues to the structure of the guitar part.“One song, ‘amiable enemies,’ is about how much people can impact your life, and you don’t realize it until they’re gone,” McGaha said.He said he hasn’t heard Backwords before, but has some connections with another group on the lineup for the night.He went to high school with Jessie, who is one half of the opening duo Jessie and Amy.“It’s really amazing. Their guitars blend really well together,” McGaha said. “They’re very talented.”McGaha’s album can be downloaded for free at http://fightwellyounglions.bandcamp.com, and he said he intends to release another album.“He’s definitely worth a listen,” Watkins said.
(10/27/11 1:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Fresh from the CMJ Music Marathon in New York, Brooklyn-based band Backwords will play in Bloomington this weekend.Brian Russ, guitar and banjo player, finds it difficult to lump the band into one specific genre.“Right now, we’re saying we’re a psychedelic pop band with folk undertones and a lyrical set,” he said.Backwords will play a show at 8 p.m. Saturday at Rhino’s All Ages Club. Admission is $5, and the group will be joined by Indianapolis-based duo Jessie and Amy and local solo act fight well, young lions.A solid, four-piece lineup, Backwords is completed by Meredith Meyer on keys, Tim Pioppo on bass and John Sheldon on drums, with all providing vocals at some point, Russ said.Russ is a teacher, as is drummer John Sheldon. “Our careers as teachers are what got the band through its first five years,” Russ said, adding that all the musicians have side jobs. Sometimes, they’ll get performances through Federal Emergency Management Agency, which Pioppa works for.When they decided to tour more heavily and make the band more sustainable, they began what Russ called a “grand experiment” with 55 self-booked shows from New York to Los Angeles. Their current tour is three weeks long and runs through the Midwest and the South. Russ said he is inspired by the kind people the band meets across the country who, despite current economic problems, are willing to help the band out.The travel has influenced Backwords, he said.“A lot of bands have historically felt this way about the road and journey everyone’s on — a journey into the unknown,” Russ said. “And everything’s changing. It’s part of being a band.”Backwords’ upcoming album has a different feel from previous work, Russ said, which was heavier on the folk side. This album is more “’90s grungy with a little bit of surf,” Russ said, and will likely be released in spring.“Quilt,” the band’s third album, is available free online at http://backwords.bandcamp.com. Russ recalled another memorable recording, an EP titled “Hurricane Irene,” which the band recorded in its basement studio.Everyone was worried about the potential flooding and “16,000 pounds of water their apartment would be filled with, so we recorded this spooky, foreshadowing song,” Russ said.He added their fears were partly real — they wanted to record one last thing if the flooding did occur.The live performance will include songs old and new, with some longer, psychedelic work not heard on the albums, Russ said.
(10/20/11 3:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Seniors Elie Abraham and Thomas Frick — or, as you may know them, C. DeL and Fricktion — make all their own beats and have performed across Bloomington as Anti-Swag Fiend Party.Yet, surpisingly, C. DeL can count all the hip-hop-style shows he’s played on one hand.“We’re known for our experimental nature,” he said. “We’re not accepted by the hip-hop scene.”This weekend, Anti-Swag will have a release party for its album “We’re Your Age.”The show begins at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Rhino’s All Ages Music Club. All proceeds from the entrance fee, which is $5, will go to the Humane Society, according to the event poster.Anti-Swag will be joined by Fly Painted Feathers and Charlie Patton’s War.C. DeL said he loves Fly Painted Feathers’ energy, which he described as “rowdy rock.”“Fly Painted Feathers has a very punk element and definitely an indie element,” Fricktion said.As for Charlie Patton’s War, he said he met the band’s drummer at Hip Hop Congress and learned his band is not at all hip-hop.“(Charlie Patton’s War) is a bluesy rock band with energy, which makes for an energy-packed show,” Fricktion said.Anti-Swag spits lyrics about a number of topics: gremlins, crocodiles, animal cruelty and anti-swag.“Our anthem ‘anti-swag’ is why we started,” C. DeL said. “It’s how we feel about radio rap.”Certain rap and hip-hop artists perform for money and fame and even admit to it in their music, he said. Anti-Swag, however, is “sonically and lyrically diverse,” C. DeL said. The song “Crocodile Deathroll,” inspired by a song about bears by the band HORSE, is named after “a move crocodiles use to incapacitate their prey,” Fricktion said.“They bite into their prey while rolling it into the water and drowning it,” Fricktion explained. “It’s one of the most terrifying ways you could perish.”C. DeL added that it is a serious song.“It’s a very vivid description of crocodiles,” he said. “Who normally talks about that?” Anti-Swag’s ability to address such obscure topics in its songs isn’t surprising to those who know the musicians personally, though.“Their music shows a lot of their personalities,” sophomore Lia Snyderman said. “They’re a lot of fun to watch, and their lyrics have a lot of meaning.”As a friend and fan of the band, Snyderman used her artwork to assist Anti-Swag’s fundraising efforts for its album production. For the band’s Kickstarter page, a website that allows people to pledge money to projects, she painted portraits for people who donated a certain amount.“I wanted to help out more than just donating money,” Snyderman said.The duo said it’s been rewarding to receive so much support from friends and fans who genuinely appreciate the music.“We don’t have to feel like we’re dragging our friends to shows,” Fricktion said. “We can tell when it’s sincere.”He added that being in the band is surreal for him. While he had been involved in music during high school, he said he never escaped the crowd he knew. Now, people he doesn’t know come up to compliment his music.“It’s foreign and out of this world to me,” Fricktion said.C. DeL said the band has received great support from friends and classmates, from promotion and poster design to people who wish to help with videos.“I like that some of their songs are completely ridiculous, while other tracks have underlying emotional content,” Snyderman said. The album’s love song, “Squidlings,” follows the “rowdiest, heaviest song” on the album, “Grem,” Frickman said. It also precedes the song he said has the most controversial lyrics, “It Tastes So Good (But Now I Know).”“It keeps things fresh,” he said. “We wanted the contrast, for it to hit hard, out of the blue.”This hard-hitting song is about animal cruelty, and as vegans and animal lovers, C. DeL said they were set on including it.“There’s a difference between animal lovers and pet lovers,” C. DeL said. “If people truly love animals, they would not slaughter them.”“Grem,” based on the film “Gremlins,” is in a more lighthearted vein.“It’s a fun song, but it’s a creepy narrative.,” C. DeL said. “We wrote it as if we were taking it really seriously.” The band went to Manhattan, N.Y., to work on the album and have it mixed and mastered professionally.“There’s a world of difference,” Fricktion said of the raw material and finished product.Both he and C. DeL said the price tag was completely worth it, and even if they still have some to pay off, they’re dedicated to having the show to benefit the Humane Society.After graduation, C. DeL will return to Finland, where he has citizenship. While he doesn’t know how long he’ll be there, he said he looks forward to spending time with his family and godson, but Anti-Swag Fiend Party won’t cease to exist.With graduation nearing, and this the last show for a while, the band intends to go out with a bang.“I feel strongly that this will be one of the best shows, beyond other years,” C. DeL said.
(10/18/11 1:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Glenn Jones’ first solo album, “This Is the Wind That Blows It Out,” features an old postcard image of a chicken.“It gives the appearance that I don’t take myself seriously when, in fact, I do,” Jones said.Recently featured on National Public Radio, the solo guitarist performed for two decades in Cul de Sac, a Boston-based psych band, and has collaborated with such greats as John Fahey and Jack Rose.Along with local bands Circuit Des Yeux and Sitar Outreach Ministry, Jones will perform at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Russian Recording. Tickets are $6.“He’s a bigger name than ever,” Nick McGill of Sitar Outreach Ministry said. “Glenn is up there.”Since his first solo album, Jones has continued to use postcard artwork for his albums, from a beetle to a goldfish to a cat on his most recent, “The Wanting.” All of the creatures on the covers play the guitar.“All the postcards are from around the turn of the last century — 1899, 1901,” Jones said. “The guitar was a new instrument, a novel instrument, at the time.”While he said he’s received “gratifyingly good” reception to his latest album, with some people telling him it’s his best yet, Jones said he needs a few months to evaluate it and see if he agrees. His music during the years has been an exploration with “a glacial kind of growth,” Jones said. Instrumental, acoustic, finger-style guitar is his primary sound.However, he picked up the banjo not too long ago, and “The Wanting” features three banjo pieces. For live performances, the banjo serves to break up the set and make it more varied and dynamic, Jones said.“I’ve always loved banjo, particularly the old-timey banjo, like the clawhammer,” Jones said.He can’t play in that style but said he “plays in a way that makes sense to me.”IU senior Haley Fohr of Circuit Des Yeux said she is enthused to play with Jones.Circuit Des Yeux is her solo project, but as this performance will be a solo acoustic set, she said it will be a change of pace for her.“I like to think I do psychedelic experimental folk,” Fohr said. “This show will be more folk because of the acoustic guitar, more traditional.” She said her music has varied during the years and was previously challenging, experimental lo-fi. Now, she said she’s moved toward “cleaner, more song-oriented music.”She said she has received a warm reception to her most recent album, “Portrait.”“I’m super excited to play with Glenn Jones,” Fohr said. “It will be a treat to meet and hear him. I’m also excited to hear Sitar Outreach Ministry.”Since his fellow band member Sonny Blood of Apache Dropout is unavailable, McGill will also perform solo for the Sitar Outreach Ministry.“In a small venue, it’s fun to keep it simple,” McGill said.It was a sentiment all three musicians echoed — after all, “It’s nice not having to lug all those amplifiers,” Jones said.Describing himself as a “kind of professional amateur,” McGill said his work is a musical collage of high and low, from symphonies to television shows.“It’s a little bit of psychedelic, a little bit of medieval, a little bit of stone age,” McGill said.With a sitar, some guitars and some banjo thrown in for good measure, the show has a mix of solo acts.“It’s a good representation of different veins of acoustic music,” Fohr said.Jones’ solo tour began this Sunday.“If people are willing to go with the flow I create, I think they can find something beautiful and moving, something that feels like a voyage,” Jones said.
(10/13/11 1:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>You may have seen the stickers — they’re plastered on the 10th Street sidewalk, the railing outside Soma and Indiana Daily Student news stands around town. A frowning face beneath a crown and the title “Wringer.”Wringer is a local punk band, and the face is the band’s logo. The day band members started handing out stickers, Anthony McMammoth said they were surprised to see them pop up immediately across town.“It’s crude and simple but memorable, like the music we play” singer and guitarist McMammoth said.The group is completed by drummer Jake Swiss and bassist and singer Jared Wilson.Formed earlier this year, Wringer is about to release its first EP, “Cool Story.” The cover depicts Jesus surfing on a giant lobster, which “is a pretty cool story,” Swiss said.The EP, which has five tracks, will be sold at the band’s release party at 9 p.m. Oct. 19 at the Bishop. Admission is $3. Bands High Dive and Comfort will also perform. McMammoth said they asked the other two bands to play for a reason.“We tried to make this show a catchy punk show,” he explained.Swiss described High Dive as a pop-punk band in the style of local label Plan-It-X Records, while Comfort is “a little bit grimy.”As for Wringer’s own music, Swiss said memorable hooks and driving rhythms lend to an energy often found in punk bands but with the sing-along quality of pop.“We’re not reinventing the wheel when it comes to pop-punk, but we don’t want it to sound too polished,” McMammoth said. He said they try to avoid telling people they’re specifically pop-punk. While their music is catchy punk, it is not the “boy-girl music” that most pop is made up of, McMammoth said.“Our band has a kind of over-arching theme, as far as lyricism goes,” Swiss said. “It’s a kind of hopeful cynicism.”The crown of their logo could be interpreted as being unhappy while still being in a good place, he said.Mike Notaro of band Ponyboy and studio The Sound Workshop, where Wringer recorded, said he is a fan of the music. “It’s similar to what got me into my own music in the first place,” Notaro said.Wringer has been touring regionally to promote the EP, and the band plans to expand, Swiss said. In the spring, Wringer members said they intend to have a full-length album out.One of the EP’s tracks, “Popewad,” can be heard for free at wringer.bandcamp.com.