We Did It! Aquabear Legion Volume 5 Double LP Coming Summer 2015!

A sneak peak (about half way done) of Charlie Touvell's artwork for the inside of the upcoming Aquabear Volume 5 double LP!
A sneak peak (about half way done) of Charlie Touvell's artwork for the inside of the upcoming Aquabear Volume 5 double LP!
A sneak peak (about half way done) of Charlie Touvell’s artwork for the inside of the upcoming Aquabear Volume 5 double LP!

Wow. The Aquabear Legion would like to thank all of you who supported our recent project, a massive 24 band/song double LP release of all Ohio bands. With a pre-order and donation page through Indiegogo we raised 110% of our goal (and still have 5 days to go), an amazing $5,491 from 135 contributors. We still have a few days left to raise some more money and for you to pre-order your copy, plus there are awesome extras like colored vinyl, hoodies, and unbelievable limited edition prints from Charlie Touvell of the Aquabear fighting a sea creature (see the halfway done version above). Here’s the link, get your copy.

The songs are being mastered with Bernie Nau at Peachfork Studios down in Meigs County and artwork and layout is being finalized in the next week or so, we are hoping to scheduling a pressing and have everything ready to go to be sent out by the end of the month if not sooner! The plan now is to have this album out and ready to go in June 2015, we of course will keep everyone up to date as the schedule progresses.

Aquabear Legion Volume 5 will include music from 24 Ohio bands on 2 LPs:
The 1984 Draft, Black Owls, Connections, Dead Hand of Man, Dead Winds of Summer, The D-Rays, The Guitars, Herzog, Hookers Made Out of Cocaine, Hyrrokkin, Joseph Airport, Kid Tested, The Kyle Sowashes, The Motel Beds, Murderedman, Nick Tolford & Company, She Bears, Speaking Suns, Sport Fishing USA, Supernobody, Unmonumental, Weedghost, Weird Science, and WV White.

Putting this record out means an awful lot to Aquabear and we could not be more excited to share it with you all. Help us spread the work and share this link, just 5 days to go!

Aquabear 2LP Track List, Support and Pre-Order Now

ABLV-Cover-Back-webTo celebrate our 10th birthday the Aquabear decided to release a double LP featuring 24 Ohio bands and set up an Indiegogo page to collect pre-orders and support to help make it happen. The Aquabear is thrilled to be at 56% of our goal with 34 days remaining and a total of $2801 of $5000 raised! Thanks to all who have supported this project, so far 68 of you have directly contributed to making this thing happen. You are awesome.We need to keep spreading the word to reach our goal, there is still a lot more to go. If you can share this link, and tell anyone you think might like two records of Ohio music we would be thankful. Look for some sketches from Charlie of the liner note art (that will become the awesome limited edition prints that start at the $75 level w/ a record) coming soon.

Below is the track order for the compilation, it’s subject to change of course but it is a really good sequence so it probably won’t. Share the link and support an awesome project.

AQUABEAR LEGION 2015

SIDE A
Joseph Airport  “If I Had An Airplane (I’d Be There)”*
Herzog  “Oh No”
Sport Fishing USA  “Feeling So Strange”*
Connections  “Everybody High”*
Supernobody  “Quicker Than the Eye”*
Weedghost  “Excerpt from I”

SIDE B
WV White  “Multiple Bathrooms”
Motel Beds  “Stay Out of Riverdale”*
Unmonumental  “Sword”*
The D-Rays  “High Tide”*
The Guitars  “She’s Got Your Heart”
Nick Tolford & Company  “Cancel Your Plans”

SIDE C
Weird Science  “Gimmie Some Time”*
Kid Tested  “#1 Hit”
Hyrrokkin  “Astrionics”
Murderedman  “Love Under Ground”*
The Kyle Sowashes  “A Faster Asshole”*
Dead Winds of Summer  “He’s Gone Man”*

SIDE D
Dead Hand of Man  “Dark Invader”*
Hookers Made Out of Cocaine  “Milky Way”*
Speaking Suns  “Sleeper”
She Bears  “Beach Fires”
Black Owls  “Whorehouse Joke”*
The 1984 Draft  “Scarlet & Cream”

*currently unreleased and exclusive to the comp

Are You in the Aquabear 125? Support & Pre-Order a Double LP of 24 Ohio Bands

Aquabear 2015 will feature 24 Ohio bands on 2 LPs, donate now and spread the word! (cover art painting by Emily Beveridge)
Aquabear 2015 will feature 24 Ohio bands on 2 LPs, donate now and spread the word! (cover art painting by Emily Beveridge)
Aquabear 2015 will feature 24 Ohio bands on 2 LPs, donate now and spread the word! (cover art painting by Emily Beveridge)

To celebrate our 10th birthday Aquabear Legion wanted to release a double LP vinyl compilation of 24 Ohio bands, but we need your support. To fund the release of this compilation Aquabear has set up an Indiegogo page where you can pre-order your copy of the double LP release along with a lot of awesome extras. In less than 2 weeks we have raised 25% of our goal from 32 contributors, but there is still a long way to go. We think we need around 125 people to support this release and reach our goal, are you one of the Aquabear 125? You can directly support the release of this compilation buy pre-ordering your copy and donating now. In addition to the record you can get lots of great extras including limited edition prints by Charlie Touvell (based on the art for the liner notes), colored vinyl, hoodies, t-shirts, and even a new perk: a show from Dayton’s The 1984 Draft (at the appropriate level of $84). We must reach our $5,000 goal by February 13th and currently have $1,235 raised.

We are looking for everyone out there who loves Ohio music, records, and independent rock and roll. Please share this link and help us spread the word, give whatever you can, and tell friends, family, and music lovers in your life.

Aquabear 2015 will include music from 24 Ohio bands on 2 LPs:
The 1984 Draft, Black Owls, Connections, Dead Hand of Man, Dead Winds of Summer, The D-Rays, The Guitars, Herzog, Hookers Made Out of Cocaine, Hyrrokkin, Joseph Airport, Kid Tested, The Kyle Sowashes, The Motel Beds, Murderedman, Nick Tolford & Company, She Bears, Speaking Suns, Sport Fishing USA, Supernobody, Unmonumental, Weedghost, Weird Science, and WV White.

The Aquabear Legion would like to thank our 32 contributors so far for this project, you guys are the best:
Brian Wiebe, David Massimini, Leslie Jankowski, Dave Frush, Sherri Oliver, Carl Raponi, Bill L’Heureux, Chris Pyle, Scott Summerfield, J.R. Fisher, David Butler, Ben Penry, Matthew Cutter, Heath Seifert, Dan Majesky, Arielle Banaszak, Dustin Cell, Eli Alban, Sean Redefer, Mike White, Jessy Lancaster, Michael Bart, Anonymous, Randy Demidovich, Darren Fox, Suzanne Sloo, Blue Eagle Music, Bobby Rosenstock, Jadey Gilmore, Bryan Gibson, Ken & Pam Koscho, and Luke Edwards

Aquabear Will Release Double LP Compilation in 2015, Pre-order on Indiegogo Now

The Aquabear (painted here by Athens artist Emily Beveridge) will release a double LP, 24 song vinyl comp in Spring 2015.
The Aquabear (painted here by Athens artist Emily Beveridge) will release a double LP, 24 song vinyl comp in Spring 2015.
The Aquabear (painted here by Athens artist Emily Beveridge) will release a double LP, 24 song vinyl comp in Spring 2015.

Since 2004, Aquabear has worked with over 200 bands and dozens of visual artists and filmmakers. And in that time produced 10 releases including compilations of Ohio music both physical and for free on aquabearlegion.com. But we REALLY want to put out some vinyl. And since we just celebrated our 10th birthday it seemed like a double LP is the way to go. 24 songs from 24 of Ohio’s best bands on 2 LPs. Printed, pressed, designed, and played in Ohio. You can support this project and pre-order your copy at our Indiegogo page here. Please help us spread the word folks!

To help raise money and make some more things in the process we are partnering we a couple local artists for some really cool special items. Charlie Touvell will be making some limited edition prints based on his artwork for the record’s liner notes and even some custom drawings too. We will be making some brand new hoodies and of course have t-shirts, colored vinyl, and countless random Aquabear items we might send along. We sincerely appreciate your support of this project.

Aquabear 2015 will include music from 24 Ohio bands on 2 LPs:
The 1984 Draft, Black Owls, Connections, Dead Hand of Man, Dead Winds of Summer, The D-Rays, The Guitars, Herzog, Hookers Made Out of Cocaine, Hyrrokkin, Joseph Airport, Kid Tested, The Kyle Sowashes, The Motel Beds, Murderedman, Nick Tolford & Company, She Bears, Speaking Suns, Sport Fishing USA, Supernobody, Unmonumental, Weedghost, Weird Science, and WV White.

We have always wanted to make a record, and these are some really amazing songs to do it with. The plan is that if this works we will keep doing it with more and more bands in the future. Here’s a video!

Aquabear Hosts William Hooker Trio at The Union on August 15

William Hooker Trio will play The Union on August 15th, tickets on sale now.
William Hooker Trio will play The Union on August 15th, tickets on sale now.

The Aquabear Legion mainly focuses on Ohio music but every once in a while we get a chance to bring in a non-Buckeye musician or band and cannot pass it up. William Hooker’s body of uninterrupted work beginning in the mid-seventies defines him as one of the most important composers and players in jazz. Aquabear presents the William Hooker Trio at The Union in Athens on Friday, August 15th at 9:00pm. Tickets will be only $5 in advance because we don’t want any excuses on this one You can buy them at Haffa’s in advance and they will be more at the door. As bandleader, Hooker has fielded ensembles in an incredibly diverse array of configurations. Each collaboration has brought a serious investigation of his compositional agenda and the science of the modern drum kit. His coming to little old Athens, Ohio on a Friday night to play for you dudes. Hooker’s trio includes an Ohian in Edward Ricart (of Aquabear favorites Hyrrokkin among many more) and DC underground jazz lynchpin Luke Stewart. This will be incredible and I suggest you don’t miss it.

His work is frequently grounded in a narrative context. Whether set against a silent film or anchored by a poetic theme, Hooker brings dramatic tension and human warmth to avant-garde jazz. His ability to find fertile ground for moving music in a variety of settings that obliterate genre distinctions offers a much-needed statement of social optimism in the arts.

William Hooker (drummer,composer and poet) has created works that range from jazz and “new” music to experimental genres. He has released over 60 CDs a a leader. Mr. Hooker has performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Atrium at Lincoln Center, Wadsworth Atheneum, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Walker Art Center,MTV, The Kitchen, Roulette, Real Art Ways. He has also presented his work at the JVC Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival, CMJ Music Festival,Vilnius Jazz Festival, Experimenta Argentina,The Knitting Factory and the Victoriaville Music Festival. William Hooker has received commissions and support from the New York State Council on the Arts, Meet the Composer, Tokio Marine Insurance Company and colleges and universities such as Oberlin, Fordham, Columbia, New York University, Boston University, Princeton, Dartmouth and many more. Accompanying musicians have included Billy Bang, David S. Ware, William Parker, Thurston Moore, David Soldier, Roy Campbell, DJ Spooky,Steven Bernstein, Zeena Parkins, Lee Ranaldo, Jason Hwang, Sabir Mateen, Elliott Sharp, David Murray, Ted Daniel, JD Parren and many more.

Edward Ricart is a guitarist and bassist presently located in Yellow Springs, OH. His creative outlets include avant-rock power trio Hyrrokkin; free jazz/noise rock quartet Haitian Rail; free-rock duo Matta Gawa; and the Edward Ricart Quartet, alongside Herb Robertson, Jason Ajemian, and Andrew Barker. He has also collaborated with William Hooker, Marshall Allen, Merzbow, Peter Brotzmann, Paul Dunmall, Andrea Parkins, and members of the rock groups Tortoise, Black Flag, and Fugazi, among many others.

A veteran of Washington DC’s creative music underground, his weekly New Atlantis series of concerts earned him the designation of ‘Avant Garde Savior’ and Best in DC by the Washington City Paper. The series blossomed into a vanguard record label, with an exemplary roster of rising stars and established legends. His work incorporates the processes of new music- including serialism, through-composition, and free improvisation, braced with the dissonant, polyrhythmic backbone of creative rock music

Luke Stewart is an emerging voice on the bass, whose efforts have a pronounced impact on the Washington DC community. As production manager at the storied WPFW radio station, Stewart has worked with Chuck Brown, Yusef Lateef, Randy Weston, Muhal Richard Abrams, Juma Sultan, and Amiri Baraka. He produced many successful programs including a month-long commemoration of Black Music Month. He also co-produced a month-long tribute to pianist Horace Tapscott Los Angeles based community organization UGMAA (Union of God’s Musicians and Artists Ascension). Also notable, he produced Washington, DC’s first live radio appearance of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal on the program Jazz and Justice with Tom Porter.

Stewart has also helped establish CapitalBop.com, a DC-based jazz website, as its Avant Music Editor. Through the site, he helped launch a live jazz performance series dubbed the “DC Jazz Loft”, presenting talented jazz artists in and around the DC area. He has also presented other jazz performances in his “Red Door Loft” series, showcasing artists such as David Ornette Cherry, Ken Vandermark, Rob Mazurek’s Starlicker, Acid Birds, Khan Jamal, Juini Booth, and Elliot Levin. Stewart has played with Trio 000 since 2010 and has performed at many of DC’s historic venues including Bohemian Caverns, Twins Jazz, and HR-57.

Aquabear County Fair is September 5-7: 14 Ohio Bands, All Free!

ABCF13Poster-webThe 7th annual Aquabear County Fair is THIS COMING WEEKEND: September 5-7 in beautiful Uptown Athens, Ohio. Things kick off on Thursday, September 5 at The Union at 10:00pm with Weird Science (athens), Palaces (cleveland), Princess (athens), and Night Stalker (athens). Friday, September 6 we move a few block away to Casa Cantina with music from The D-Rays (athens), Hyrrokkin (yellow springs), Supernobody (athens), and The Dead Hand of Man (athens). And we finish off the weekend back at The Union on Saturday, September 7 at 9:00pm with Wussy (cincinnati),  being joined by a slew of Athens bands including County Pharaohs, Hex Net, Unmonumental, Weedghost, and the night will close out with a performance from We March. ALL FREE. It’s on Facebook here, share this link, bring friends, support Ohio music

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Traysh Island is August 24-25 in Chesterhill, Ohio

Ohio is home to some amazing artists: musicians, filmmakers, visual artists, and more. Sometimes Ohio even becomes a place to create for those in the big cities of Chicago and New York, Harold Arts does exactly this by hosting artist residencies on its property in Morgan County just outside the town of Chesterhill. The place is called 8550 Ohio 377 and that so happens to be its address too. Traysh Island is a two-day ribbon (this weekend August 24th and 25th)cutting and celebration for artist Conrad Freiburg’s Woodshed, an 11-sided stellar observatory he designed and constructed at 8550 Ohio 377. Jason Ajemian is curating the music with 17 bands playing from Brooklyn, Chicago, Lafayette Indiana and of course Ohio is well represented with groups from Athens and Yellow Springs. $15 a day for no camping, $30 for two days and no camping, $50 for two days and camping and you can buy tickets by clicking here.

Saturday, August 24:
Xenia Rubinos (brooklyn), Hex Net (athens), Hyrrokkin (yellow springs), Sy (chicago), Jamie Reeder (chicago), Mr 666 (chicago), Jason Ajemian’s High Life (whale), Jerome Maez (chicago), DJ Pluto (chicago)

Sunday, August 25:
Cave (chicago), Leverage Models (brooklyn), Sport Fishing USA (yellow springs), Bitchin Bajas (chicago), Unmonumental (athens), The Brave (chicago), Doberman (lafayette), Traysh Island Big Band (universe)

7th Annual Aquabear County Fair (9/5-9/7) Full Lineup: Palaces, Dead Hand of Man, Night Stalker Added

CountyFair090webThe 7th annual Aquabear County Fair is September 5-7 in Athens, Ohio! The weekend features 14 Ohio bands playing three nights for FREE and here’s the final lineup (times TBA):

Thursday, September 5 at The Union, 10pm
Weird Science (athens)
Palaces (cleveland)
Princess (athens)
Night Stalker (athens)

Friday, September 6 at Casa, 10pm
The D-Rays (athens)
Hyrrokkin (yellow springs)
Supernobody (athens)
Dead Hand of Man (athens)

Saturday, September 7 at The Union, 9pm
Wussy (cincinnati)
We March (athens)
County Pharaohs (athens)
Hex Net (athens)
Unmonumental (athens)
Weedghost (fairborn/athens)

All shows are FREE. We still pay the bands so if you’d like to help by making a donation let us know: contact@aquabearlegion.com