Generals of the Underground

If you are like many outsiders Dover and New Philadelphia, Ohio, are nothing more than farm towns.

Separated by the Tuscarawas River, these two rural towns with a combined population of just under 30,000 have always been about being down home.

“We are part of Tuscarawas County, which for non-residents is hard to pronounce, so people from outside the county affectionately abbreviate it to T-County. We are the Southern outpost of NE Ohio.” says Don Whittingham, Dover native and founder of the Unreal McCoys, who are one area band on the reunion trail.

This August 21 at Bud and Tooties on West High, an outdoor venue in New Philly, the McCoys are back. Playing with the McCoys will be Vegas 66 (lead singer Jimmy Robinson grew up in New Philly played in 90s area rockabilly band The Swinging Cadillacs) the High Plains Drifters, Max Garland and The Generals of the Underground (Featuring Garland Monroe) and Smakin Dabby and the In-Betweens.
But before a re-emergence could be formed, some thirty years ago, the towns synonymous with agriculture, dairy farms, meat cattle, jumped off the hay bailers and onto the punk bandwagon for the first time.

It was in 1977, that a young novice guitar player named Louis Paris inspired by the upstart punk sounds of Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and the New York Dolls decided to give his hand at it.

“You had to watch your back,” said Paris, whose first punk band was The Goons. “The guys in caps and flannel shirts. Most of the time they didn’t like us cuz we were different.”

Undaunted Paris, a New Philly native, and his band would play anywhere they could, including old barns, Memorial Hall in Dover, and The Windchasers on West High Street. Most bands all practiced in a place called The Hole, a basement on Courthouse Square in New Philadelphia.

“We played in the old barns because we got tired of people that would throw ice cubes and change at us,” Paris said. “I was a guitar player and we patterned out sound after the Ramones, NY Dolls and Johnny Thunder.”

Paris and his punk band, The Goons soon would venture out of the area and strike out for Los Angeles, as many other NE Ohio punk bands looking to get signed would do. The band would put out one single, “I Wanna Be Dumb” without much fanfare. And while this seemed to be the end of the fledgling punk effort in T-County, it was only the beginning.

By the time Paris came back to the area a few years later, the scene had exploded with alternative bands, punk fashion and more. It became a popular stop for Akron-Kent bands such as Hammer Damage, Johnny Clampett and The Walkers, The Bangorillas, Urban Mutants and more. Even local punks Dickie Lotion & The Master Baiters were leaving their mark.

One of the local haunts frequented by the burgeoning punk scene was The Spanish Ballroom in Dover. On March 13, 1981, the Baiters and Ronald Koal and The Trillionaires of Columbus were playing there as store-bought beer was being sold (without a license) and sponsored by local musical entrepreneur Pat Nichols.

The ensuing party event led to a bust by local authorities and the local paper, the Times Reporter made the story front-page news with, “‘New Wave’ party draws liquor agents”. The story went on report “It was the second such party held by Nichols geared toward the “New Wave” cult which emphasizes bizarre clothing, music and dancing.”

Within a year Akron punk band ODFX would have a more violent experience with fighting between its band and some Dover locals and escorted out of town.

Punk T-County had arrived.

Soon after, bands like Paris’ Rifle Range, The Eddies, The Heralds of Hip, AOA and The Criminals would spring up. Nichols and local music enthusiast Sherry Rose began fostering the promotions of Akron and Cleveland alt bands coming to their rural backyard. And soon punk bands like The Bizarros and The Hammer Damage, Tin Huey and a slew of more northern NE Ohio alternatives groups would play in T-County. The bars included Joe’s Country Barn, Jim’s Barn, The Mustang, The Dover Hotel, Johnny’s, The Spanish Ballroom, Windchasers and Memorial Hall.

“As rural and conservative as the area was, bands like Hammer Damage would come down to T-County because until The Bank came out, there were not a lot of venues for the burgeoning punk Akron crowd,” recalls Paris.

Other out-of-town bands such as The Human Switchboard, and Tin Huey would play there. T-County’s first legit hardcore band, The Absurd consisting of Doug O’Neil, Mike Heck, Garland Monroe, Steve Mari and Pat Nichols made a brief splash and would eventually play at The Cleveland Underground.

“There was no distribution here though,” said Paris. You had to go to record stores and ask them to sell it (your record).”

Still unsettled, Paris jumped in and out of college at nearby Ashland University and headed to NYC. He would work at the fabled CBGBs and Brownies, looking for his next musical break-through band. Paris would return a decade later.

“That is the theme – people leave and then come back,” notes native Don Whittingham. “The community still has a nucleus of friends that people came back to visit, sometimes moving back permanently.”

Meanwhile a new band which put new meaning behind the Hatfields and McCoys would have the moment in the spotlight. Formed by keyboardist Whittingham in 1983, the Unreal McCoys would become the band of choice among NE Ohio alt-country followers.

The McCoys were a band that was able to meet the locals more in the middle. With its cow-punk sound becoming the latest trend in the punk world, the McCoys hit their stride.

“We played locally but received our first real taste of exposure in Akron and Kent with bands like The Attitude, Joy Circuit, High Plains Drifters.”

The Unreal McCoys included: Mark Incarnato, Vic Heffner, Richard Gibbs and Whittingham and at different times Steve Sicurella and Jamie Aldergate, all from T-County.

They would open for The DBs and The Del Lords for their biggest national exposure.

Unreal McCoys posing for 80s promo shoot.

“Being from an agricultural area, we felt comfortable with the cowboy punk thing,” explains Whittingham, whose band’s first recording, an EP, “Party Time” along with their first single. “I Wanna Be Someone” began getting heavy airplay on NE Ohio college radio stations such as WAUP University of Akron and on the local WJER.

By this time Whittingham began attending Kent State University. The EP came out in 1984, and band manager Rick Reminger from Mayfield Heights would book the bands in and outside of their local environ at such places as The Phantasy, Peabody’s Down Under and Kent clubs JBs, and Mothers.

“Party Time” was the band’s only recording. They were also included on Exhibit A, a Cleveland compilation album.

The band would switch to a Cleveland band management firm which saw them as their small-town novelty act, and the band struggled to continue to grow. Whittingham would end up in the short-lived Pharaohs of Rhythm before moving on.

Meanwhile Paris would create his current and most enduring group in 1998, Sour Jazz. The band consists of guitarist Ratboy, Cowboy Mark on bass, Splat Action on drums and Paris on vocals.

Their sound can best be described as Iggy Pop revivalism and they don’t mind. In fact they band’s three albums: the 2009 Rock & Roll Ligger, American Seizure and on Acetate and No Values on Ghost Rider Records, both 2005 releases, all ring in like late 70s NYC punk with a fresh new approach.

Louie Paris on recent Spain tour with his acclaimed NYC band Sour Jazz.

After a successful spring tour of Japan, Paris and band played eight dates in Spain in June before a loyal raucous following which has seen the before. A few of the more notable stops included Madrid and Barcelona. The band was interviewed on Spain’s National Radio 3 for good measure, while there.

Meanwhile the Unreal McCoys have also indeed, regrouped. The band performed its first gig in two decades, last Halloween at the Broadway Brewhouse in New Philly and drew 400-plus. Vegas 66 and Pitchforks and Halos also performed.

“There is a whole new era of bands: Stagecoach Robbery, Smackin Dabby and the In-Betweens, Pitchforks and Halos and the Sofa Kings,” Whittingham says of the resurgence of a healthy alt scene.

Aside from their musical hobbies, Paris now works for the T-County MRDD and Whittingham as sales manager for AquaBlue Chemical. Both are raising families, but still have music in their bones.

The scene is not exploding, but re-emerging. And, while many a punk have come and gone, Paris and Whittingham still call New Philly and Dover, home. And, while the music careers are still on track, the music takes a backseat to family, friends and day jobs, a fact that is not so different from most any NE Ohio punk music scene, urban or rural.

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