BY EMILY RICHARDSON “It’s our clubhouse!” exclaimed Jared Gonzalez of the Dover Ballroom, a DIY venue in Dover that he and friends also call home. “It’s where we make the posters; it’s where the songs are written. We play Nintendo on the movie projector. It’s a family.” Dover, Ohio, is not exactly the musical epicenter of the nation, but Gonzalez and his crew have created and fostered something authentic and special for their community with the venue and associated record label, Mewn Wrox. The Dover Ballroom has two floors: the first features an old stage from the 1920s, and ...
Square Records is hosting their 8th anniversary party at Musica to celebrate the shops opening in 2003 on Friday, August 5. The show is free, and three of Square Records’ favorite local bands will perform. What started as a very small, niche-heavy record store has grown over the past eight years to become a store where you can find records from your favorite rocks bands right along side that obscure record you heard about that one time. “We were just trying to open up something in Akron that wasn’t already available,” said shop owner Square Dave. “We focused more on having the ...
“Tape-Toons is noise, feedback, busted cymbals and three guys who are trying to make your ears bleed,” said the band’s artist, Bobby Makar. A Kent-based alternative rock band making music from the gutters, Tape-Toons consists of singer/guitarist Andrew Bittaker, bassist Allen Bittaker and drummer Dylan Gomez. Andrew and Gomez met as music majors at Kent State University and previously played together in the short-lived Mothership Jellyfish. After the band’s demise, the two musicians began working with Bittaker’s younger brother, forming Tape-Toons in the summer of 2009. Befo...
Beginning with any specific part of Kid Congo Powers’ career serves only to leave out huge chunks. There’s not a specific moment in time, or even a single project, that would define his contribution to underground rock over the last 30 years. He’s just been around — in and out of bands at will, leaving behind a recorded history touching on updated blues from the Gun Club, trashy rockabilly cum psych revulsion with the Cramps and eventually Nick Cave’s steely appropriations with his assorted Bad Seeds. Lauding one of those gigs over the others is pretty pointless, too. Each marked ...
