Umclunk - BGSU Planetarium, 4/7/90

Stardate April 7, 1990. I've always loved this flyer, not only for its pretty hand-drawn flowers and stars, but because it's the only one in the AOBGN archives to mark the existence of Umclunk, who were comprised of former members of Schwah, Sheepish Green and The Living End (Chris Comer, piano/tape edits; Bart Foster, drums; John Binkowski, guitar; Troy Raszka, bass). As the flyer says, Umclunk created "an intriguing yet perplexing collage of harmonious musical experiments" which the ever-useful Toledowiki describes as "weirdo noise and found sounds."

This particular show goes down in BG music history for the "blown burned speaker" incident in which Troy Raszka's borrowed bass cabinet caught fire and the BGSU Planetarium had to be evacuated. Good times! The cabinet in question went on to contribute both the cover image and name for an Umclunk cassette. They released another cassette (bareschlonghoagie) around this time too.

Chris Comer went into radio, a career he continues to pursue in Cincinnatti.

Cletro - Easystreet Cafe, 11/25/97

November 25, 1997. Bowling Green's music scene has long been a bastion of mainstream rock music, but over the years it's also spawned plenty of interesting sounds from out on the margins. By the late-'90s, a new generation of BG musicians was incorporating electronic music with traditional rock instrumentation to create new hybrid forms of electronic rock and synth-punk. Whatever you want to call the type of music that emerged from these experiments, Cletro (Joel Roberts, keyboards/theremin/guitar/vox; Matt "Letterman" Gannon, guitar; Jason Clever, drums/percussion) played it very well and did so with an energy and style that anticipated the keyboard-driven sound of Stylex half a decade later.

Cletro mixed together lo-fi, sci-fi and punkrock and named the frantic results "electro-prog trashmen rawk." Letterman picks it up in an email accompanying this flyer:

We formed after a hot Indian summer afternoon jam in September of '97 out of mutual appreciation for low-fi recording weirdness. Clever played a really crappy drum kit crudely equipped with a clangy-ass metal cylinder, I was on an over-driven early 90's heavy-metal hot-rod guitar with EMG pickups, and Joel was our ring-leader with his circus of Casio keyboards, theremin, and a "Flangemogrifier" (an electric guitar with a flange hot-wired to it). 

This was probably one of our first shows and the flyer has a bunch of stuff going on. Joel and I collaborated on this. We used a Star Trek coloring book and at the top, from left to right, we have Joel as Kirk, me as Spock (with a penned in goatee which I was sporting in true bad '90s fashion), and Jason as Bones with signature thick-rimmed glasses. Below that is a Korg MS-20. I believe Clever had recently purchased one for some obscenely cheap price up in Toledo and it really symbolized the old-school hand rendered synth rock we played.

I don't know if we were actually booked at Easy Street or if this was just an open mic night that we intruded on. I believe it was probably the latter . . . Easy Street wouldn't probably have us otherwise. At that time, they typically seemed to book blues and jam-band kind of stuff. "We Do Chin-ups" was some shit we yelled in one of our songs.

The T-Shirts, The Cyril Lords, The Crown Jewels - Howard's Club H, 2/28/04

February 28, 2004. On the same day that over a million people in Taiwan formed a several-hundred mile long human chain to commemorate a 1947 anti-government uprising, BG supergroup The T-Shirts imploded on stage in front of a packed crowd at Howard's Club H. Although they weren't due to play their last show for another month, the band (Matt Truman, guitar/vox; Walter "Black Mac" McKeever, guitar/vox; Miguel Oria, bass/vox; Henry "Feezil" Hirzel, drums) called their two-year local music career quits early in a now legendary on-stage spat.

The T-Shirts at Nate & Wally's Fishbowl, BG

At their best, The T-Shirts played an infectious blend of straight-ahead rock. But as one of the ever-informative informants at Toledowiki astutely observes: "Three frontmen and a drummer. A recipe for total disaster."

Thanks to Miguel for this and all the other flyers he's passed along.

The Cyril Lords were a Detroit garage rock band in the Hentchmen and Gories mold, and although their Motor City origins means they fall outside the brief of this humble blog, I mention them simply because it gives me a chance to show the following video:



Opening this show (and for their debut as a live act too) was psychedelic band The Crown Jewels, and here's one song from that set on what turned out to be a very long night.

Groovy Records, BG - 1986-87?

Before Madhatter Music Co., sometime in 1986 or 1987,  there was . . . Groovy Records! Groovy Records was an independently owned and operated store selling vinyl, cassettes and CDs (both new and used and featuring the "areas best selection of heavy metal, hardcore, new wave, psychedelic"), as well as the usual scene paraphernalia such as posters, incense, buttons etc. They were located just north of Dairy Mart (now a Circle K Domino's Pizza), in the alleyway at the west side of the convenience store that runs towards Court Street (see map above), just a mile from the "sleazy area . . . marked by tenements and vagrants" (aka BGSU, heh).

Not groovy: The former site of Groovy Records today

The store is billed here as "BG's Best Kept Secret" and certainly there are probably few people around today who even remember Groovy Records, let alone who can claim to have set foot in the place. All three flyers in our archive reflect the eclectic DIY vibe of the store, as well as the proprietor's close relationship with the XHOA-wing of the underground scene of the time.

To paraphrase Mr. T, "I pity the fools who didn't shop at Groovy Records!"

Vambo Marble Eye, The Generals - Good Tymes Pub, 2/15/91

February 15, 1991. In 1990, when punk band Art School disbanded, bassist Perry Finch and guitarist Mike Wing formed Vambo Marble Eye with drummer Larry Zengel, taking their name from a song by the The Sensational Alex Harvey Band.

Vambo soon moved to Chicago (Zengel being replaced by Kevin Smith), releasing several 7" and a couple of albums during the remainder of the decade. Finch eventually went on to found Off White Records.

The Plastic Factory - Uptown, 1/20/99

January 20, 1999. This is a nice hand-drawn flyer that takes full advantage of Kinko's palette of photocopier inks. The Plastic Factory (William "BJ" Price, guitar, vox; Chris Carsten, guitar; Dan Stutzman, bass; Phil Dicktone, drums; Josh Eppert, vox) were named after a song by Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band (which they covered) and played their own unique version of psychedelic Beefheartian rock ("The Liver Spotted Standard," "Drongo The Ugly Angel") and garage standards ("Maid of Sugar, Maid of Spice," "Mr. Pharmacist"). They contributed a song to Shawn Wilbur's turn-of-the-millenium Mutual Aid CD series.

A rare photo of The Plastic Factory playing at Howard's.

Uptown's brief late-90s flirtation with live bands didn't last longer than a year or two, and by the end of 1999, The Plastic Factory themselves had melted down, birthing garage rockers The Unexpected and The Orgones.

Mote, Spaceship 9, Assignment Moongirl - Howard's Club H, 7/2/96 [UPDATED]

July 2, 1996. This flyer sports the understated and well designed indie aesthetic that also graces Mote's late-1996 45 "Camelia's and Azaleas"/"Capgun" bw "Melvina"/"Red Handled Pliers" (yes, 4 songs on one single). Mote (Matt Gengler, vox, guitar; Colin Herb, bass; Zach Hill, guitar; Josh Spitler, drums) were one of the heavy-hitters of the BG scene in the eighteen months before Matt Gengler teamed up with Tony Cavallario in Aloha. Assignment Moongirl, a mysterious noise/sound manipulation two piece who still pop up from time-to-time, opened the show.

Spaceship 9 were Matt "Letterman" Gannon, guitar; Geoff "Geo" Grant, guitar; Hal Hixson, vox; Anthony Buehrer, drums; Mike Pennington, bass. Here are Geo's memories of this show.

This was the first real Spaceship 9 performance. We insisted that Mote headline as they were the veteran band that night. There was a beautiful argument because Matt Gengler wanted us to headline as it was our moment. It was so incredibly nice of him, but of course I've never lost an argument and Mote headlined. They were such an under-rated band. And I remember Assignment Moongirl was so trippy. I spent the majority of their set in a catatonic state lying on a pool table in the back of Howard's.

When it was time to do soundcheck for us I politely declined and left [soundman] Maurice to deal with it as he saw fit. Maurice cranked everything to 11 and that's how we rolled. I remember the sweet feeling of relief as we started our set. It was a huge moment for us - our coming out party. I'm sure a lot of people were on drugs based on the dancing styles I saw as we threw mediocre garage-rock psychedelia in their faces. Both Matt and I admitted later to picking out a couple of kids that were totally into it and playing our guitars to their movements. That was the first time I saw the power and magic of creating something on the spot - that strange communication with an audience. It was a secret discussion between a handful of people - 90% of the crowd didn't get it but that didn't matter to me. It was a feeling of accomplishment even though at a minor level.

An after-hours party at the punk-house followed. Icing on the cake.

Geo informs me that I once described Spaceship 9 as a "Hawkwind rip-off." Not surprisingly, I have no memory of this but, Geo, it was intended as a compliment! I have fond memories of Spaceship 9 shows at various house parties around this time.

May Day! A Festival of Musical and Vocal Protest - n.p., 1992.

Dateline 1992 (again). All I can say about this one is that it's advertising a May Day protest that seems to flip the bird at the generally miserable state of the world and advocates--in the time-honored tradition of failed revolutionaries everywhere--angry alcohol consumption as just compensation for political impotence.

Fair enough!

I've no idea who played or where this event happened, but looking at the style of the flyer, I'd say it dates from the late-'80s or early-90s 1992 (thanks Cubbie Fan). Speaking of political impotence, is that George Voinovich?

XHOA, The Stain, Majority of One, Infants of Sin - Warehouse A Go Go Go, BG, 2/19/88

February 19, 1988. Ah, warehouse shows. They were always fun, and this one features BG's best kept secret, Scott Cramer's XHOA, descendents of HOA and a true undiscovered psych-punk gem. They recorded an album, Yap Yap Yap, which I predict will one day be worth hundreds of dollars (to some obscure Italian collector). As it is, the lucky few who've heard it agree that for genuine weird brilliance it's hard to beat.

Go Go Go No Mo'

This show also featured The Stain (yes, that Stain) from Toledo and two bands I know nothing about, although Infants of Sin has a nice ring to it. I think we can all agree that the flyer at the top, with its cut-and-paste collaged go-go dancers, is far more exciting than the one below it.

The warehouse in question, on the corner of Manville and Lehman in BG briefly hosted a practice space (didn't BHOC practice there at one time?) and was also the location of a ubiquitous self-storage facility. Sadly, it's now demolished, and has been replaced by vacant offices (see the recent photo above).

 Gotta get out of this place is right!

Charlotte's Webb, Rotten Excuse - Howard's Club H, 4/14/92

April 14, 1992. We received another reader email, this time from Dean Bianchi, which gives us a rotten excuse to break out another flyer from '92 (for some reason, we have more flyers from this year than any other). Dean played in Charlotte's Webb, one of the few (the only?) early '90s local bands to have a woman guitarist (Charlotte Webb Swenson herself). The local scene was and is (what's left of it) heavily dominated by men, although thankfully that seems to be changing (Hot Love, The Dirty Damn Band . . .).

Great site! Saw the Charlotte's Webb flyer on Facebook from a friend of a friend. Brings back tons of memories . . . For what its worth, I was in Charlotte's Webb for a bit in 92-93 . . . I have a few shows taped but so far have only managed to upload one tune to You Tube... Hoping to get more BG era stuff online soon.

Charlotte's Webb were loud, heavy and played a species of metal that's always been popular in the Black Swamp, and were for a brief time one of BG's better supported underground bands (even though they were based in Toledo, I think). You can read much more about the history of Charlotte's Webb here (thanks to former Webby Matt Duncan for the link).

I don't think I was at this show, although I might have been and don't remember. Anyway, here's Charlotte's Webb, which may or may not be from the same show as the flyer. Thanks Dean!

Scapegoat, The Sweaty Whiskers - Good Tymes Pub, 9/23/92

September 23, 1992. A nice bi-color flyer which looks like it was colored in with felt tip pens; it's hard to tell from the scan. Over the weekend Todd Downerd, formerly of Scapegoat, sent Art of BG Noise this along with a few other flyers we'd never seen before. Scapegoat (Mark Barbour, vox; Todd Downerd, guitar; Vic DiAngelo, drums; Mark Kremser, bass) used to be called Acid Trip. Todd picks up the story:

Acid Trip was Mark Barbour playing guitar and vocals, Jay Zielske on bass and Shane Watkins on drums, and when Shane left, he recommended Vic and we changed the name to Scapegoat. When Jay left, I recruited Mark Kremser who lived downstairs from my apt. at the time. Kremser drew the new "mascot" (who may or may not have had a name, but I don't remember!) and also did most of the flyers at that point . . .

The version of Scapegoat with Barbour, Vic, Jay and I put out a tape called Grab the Goat by the Horns (because only Big Hunk O' Cheese did CDs at that time!) and the version with the Barbour, Vic, Kremser, and I later put out a cassette called Niminy's Basement (which was the name of the cat that hung out in the basement of Mark's place where we practiced).

Anyone have copies of the cassettes so we can scan the covers?

The Sweaty Whiskers were a whole other story which will have to wait for a future post.

Black Swamp Arts Festival - Community Commons Stage, BG, 9/12 & 9/13/98

September 12 & 13, 1998. The Black Swamp Arts Festival started in 1993, and by 1998 had expanded to include bands from the local scene. A small stage was set up at the north end of the brick alleyway beside Madhatter Music Co., and bands started around noon and continued on both the Saturday and Sunday until dinnertime.

The theatrics and controversy generated by this year's line-up led to the stage being moved indoors to Howard's Club H for subsequent festival weekends. Toledo's Rocket 88 wowed the early afternoon festival-goers, and Andy Crash and Mike Dooley's Three Quarter Tank mounted a veritable sonic blitzkreig, kicking their set off with Andy's infamous "Good morning Vietnam!" greeting.

Those who stuck around were treated to great performances by mainstays of the BG scene in the late-'90s; The Crabgrass Boys (Iain Ellis and Billy Hanway), El Racko (Zach Hill and Dan Horvath), Maji-12 (Jason Clever), Giraffe Boy (Brian Boes), Junior Electric (Tony Lowe, later of Fast Piece of Furniture) and Aloha (Matt Gengler, Tony Cavallario). Aloha, together just a year or so at the time of this performance, went on to enjoy a successful national indie-rock career on Polyvinyl Records.

An Evening of BG's Newest Music, sponsored by Howard's Club H & Madhatter Music Co. - Howard's, 4/15 & 4/16/86

April 15 & 16, 1986. A double-header at Howard's, featuring a line-up that probably represents as accurate a cross section of the BG underground scene in the spring of '86 as we can get at this point. Our old friends HOA played the Tuesday night, along with Madhatter Music Company's eponymous rock-n-roll ancestor (Ed Cratty!). Wednesday night featured Proof of Utah, one of BG's more successful bands of the era. You can read much more about them (and listen to their music!) here.

House of Abuse, Blank Schatz - The House of Abuse, BG, 2/14/86

February 14, 1986. The band HOA (Scott Cramer, vox; John Zoll, bass, vox; Larry Reyes, drums; Maria Weber, vox, tambourine; Doug Kerr, guitar) derived their name from the House of Abuse, 12208 East Gypsy Lane Road, BG, which was the band's home base and also, by all accounts, a den of considerable ill-repute. I never set foot in the House (I don't think), although I do remember being shown a few large format black-and-white photos featuring various houseguests seated around a burning kitchen table. Packing peanuts were also a decorative theme throughout. That certainly wasn't the case in "Conformityville," the numbered streets north of Napoleon where the pinks and the normals lived.

The Blank Schatz (Rob Butler, drums; Tim Schumacher, guitar, vox; Chris Butler, bass, vox, guitar; Bill Houston, bass) were one of the dozens of great punk rock bands to emerge from the BG scene over the years. They were fast, tight and released an album which someone I know owns.

Sheepish Grin - Quad Rock Cafe, Founders, BGSU, 9/29/88

September 29, 1988. I like the fact that you can see the missing corners on this flyer, where the staples ripped out when it was torn down from a campus kiosk or notice board. I also like the fact that Sheepish Grin billed themselves--ironically?--as "BG's premier heavy metal band." The sheep in skull-and-crossbones shorts is nice too.

Mindpower, Hezikia Storm - Good Tymes Pub, 5/23/92

May 23, 1992. Here's Art of BG Noise's first uploaded flyer, a nice hand-drawn invite to see Hezikia Storm open for Mindpower (or was it the other way around?). Mindpower was one of the many side projects of Scott Cramer who occupied a unique musical niche in Bowling Green in the late-80s and early-90s with his bands HOA, XHOA, Satan Tortilla and Uncle Mike's Nightmare, among others. Mindpower were years ahead of their time; a lo-fi three-piece who played long, droney improvisations accompanied by a light show. They would have been a hit in today's noise psych underground; in the Northwest Ohio of 1992, not so much. The quotations at the header and footer of the flyer (and the name of the band too, I think) are parodied lines from a Nocturnal Education LP from the 1950s; you played the LP while you slept, and the soothing hypnotic voice of the nocturnal educator apparently turned you into a successful Organization Man on waking. This voice was mixed live into the unforgettable Mindpower sound.

I don't know anything about Hezikia Storm, although they sound like a metal band, and probably were.