All My Favorite Current Garage Rock Bands Are From Ohio (and I Used to Hate That Stuff)

(Photo by Cassidie Mae at The Coup)

ARMY OF INFANTS

Hail SDayton, Ohiyer
Inderpendents (SIGN THESE THAR BOYS!!!!!!!!)
phaserbook
blandcamp

Blown-out, rockin', *nsane, and yes, melodic, you puss-puss.  Seen'em these thar hairfarmers twice and the second time it was twice as nice.  I haves their seven-incher, "Main St. Blues" b/w "Busted in B.G." (SPOILER: that stands for Bowling Green!), and lurv its.  Ye can gets halves of eet on thar blandcamps and thuh other by harassin'em on the phaserbooks.  I dern't know how good dey 're wit dem technologies, but thems fools rock it hards.  If'ns ye gets a chance ta see'em, be'a sures to do dats!!!!!

Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn, NY (photo by ...?)

TWEENS

Shittynati, Blowhio
Frenchkiss Records (Ooh-la-la!!!!!)
facespacers
bandcramps

TWEENS are the first garage rock band I really got into from here.  They're blown-out enough to grab my attention and catchy enough to hold onto it.  We have wayyyyyy too many bands here who want to sound like THE BLACK KEYS (who, since the early 2000's, have found a second home here), but come up short.  Thankfully, TWEENS are definitely not one of them.  Rather than going for a slicker, more-produced sound, they have more of a 60's girl-group, doo-woop, trash rock, and power pop thing going on.  THE SHANGRI-LA'S, GUN CLUB, BOBBYTEENZ, and EL VEZ are all cited as influences and I have to agree (I'm not familiar with Bobbyteenz and El Vez, though... yet).  A lot of writers lazily refer to them as "sticky-sweet" and "syrupy", which has reached the point where it's become a cliche that I feel does a disservice to them, though.  This is not just some catchy bubblegum shit.  It's more like a slap in the face and a kick in the nuts from your about-to-be-ex-girlfriend while her friends are cheering her on because she should've kicked you to the curb awhile ago.  Which might explain why when THE BREEDERS asked Jim Blase (owner of Shake-It Records) who they should take on tour with them recently, he recommended TWEENS.

It should obviously be said that that the rhythm section of this band is made up of 2/3 of the one-and-only VACATION, who have been breaking new ground in pop-punk since the late 2000's.  The crazy-assed bastard Jerry Westerkamp plays drums in both bands and the more relaxed Peyton Copes plays bass in TWEENS and guitar in VACATION.  Part of why TWEENS has been more active than their main band may be due to the fact that their bass player, Evan Wolff, currently lives in Columbus and is also a member of PRETTY PRETTY (who you should be sure to check out!!!).

(From Lamont "Bim" Thomas' facebook - "Puttin my hood up for Trayvon! Let my niggas live!")

OBNOX

The River's on Fire, Oh My-Oh!
Smog Veil, Slovenly Recordings,
sandyclouds
face your books
spotify webplayer

Holy.  Fucking.  Shit.  When I saw them recently at MOTR Pub here, it was the most punk thing I've ever seen.  Just a couple of black dudes, one singing and blowing people's minds with just a few guitar chords while the other went nuts on drums, showing a bunch of white kids how rock and roll is done!!!!  Vocalist Lamont "Bim" Thomas is the drummer for the politically-incendiary THIS MOMENT IN BLACK HISTORY and was formerly in THE BASSHOLES, COMPULSIVE GAMBLERS, FLIPPING HADES, MY UNCLE WAYNE, and THE CHEATER SLICKS (you can google those yourself!!!).  Listen to OBNOX and TMIBH immediately!!!!!!!!