The Western Reserve – Best of 2017 – Episode 12

Another year is in the books and it was a great one for Ohio music. Brian plays some of his favorite songs of the year including Supernobody, Vacation, Van Dale, Pere Ubu, Water Witches, The Magic Words, Day Creeper, The Village Bicycle, Smug Brothers, Bloody Show, R. Ring, Speaking Suns, Obnox, WV White, The Crooked Spines, Buffalo Killers, Ipps, and She Bears. Enjoy!

Supernobody – “Oh Yeah Records”
Vacation – “Blueberry Patch”
Van Dale – “Vacationhead”
Pere Ubu – “Prison of the Senses”
Water Witches – “Totality”
The Magic Words – “Melody Ranch”
Day Creeper – “Allergic to Myself”
The Village Bicycle – “Anyone But You”
Smug Brothers – “My Little Crowd Pleaser”
Bloody Show – “Pyro”
R. Ring – “Cutter”
Speaking Suns – “The Void”
Obnox – “Woe Is Me”
WV White – “Backwards”
The Crooked Spines  – “Keep On”
Buffalo Killers – “Stuck Inside the Realm of Man”
Ipps – “Human Beings Are Garbage”
She Bears – “Lay Out Long”

The Western Reserve – Episode 8

It always feels like it’s been too long since we posted a new episode of The Western Reserve, so please enjoy Episode 8! Just under an hour of music from all around Ohio, no themes or gimmicks this episode. Music from everyone from Gaunt to the The New Vinton County Frogwhompers Marching, Singing, Srumming, and Plucking Society and Lo-Pan make appearances. Hope ya like it.

Party of Helicopters – “Reduced to Rubble”
The Crooked Spines- “City of Lights”
WV White – “Brain Left Town”
Counterfeit Madison – “Bartlett’s (live from Mug and Brush)”
Six Parts Seven – “Stolen Moments”
DANA – “Bight”
Lo-Pan – “Go West”
Vacation – “Prison Guard”
Vinton County Frogwhompers – “Good Old Mountain Dew”
Rocket From The Tombs – “Never Gonna Kill Myself Again”
The 1984 Draft – “Scarlet and Cream”
Gaunt – “Silly Watches”
Us, Today – “Long Since Forgotten”

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

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!

8th Annual Aquabear County Fair is September 5-6: 15 Ohio Bands, 2 Days, ALL FREE

8th annual Aquabear County Fair is this weekend: September 5-6 in Athens, Ohio and is FREE
8th annual Aquabear County Fair is this weekend: September 5-6 in Athens, Ohio and is FREE
8th annual Aquabear County Fair is this weekend: September 5-6 in Athens, Ohio and is FREE

It’s Aquabear County Fair time! Now in it’s 8th year (whoa), this annual Aquabear celebration of Ohio music will be in Athens, Ohio on Friday, September 5th (at The Union at 9:00pm) and on Saturday, September 6th (at Haffa’s Records at 3:00pm and The Union at 8:00pm) and it is all FREE. Poster above and full schedule (subject to change of course) is below. We can’t wait to see everyone, here’s the event on Facebook to attend and share.

2014 AQUABEAR COUNTY FAIR SCHEDULE (subject to change)

Friday, September 5th at 9:00pm
The Union (18. W. Union Street) – FREE!
9:15pm Summoners
10:15pm The Heartlanders
11:15pm Speaking Suns
12:15am WV White
1:15am The D-Rays

Saturday, September 6th at 3:00pm
Haffa’s Records (15 W. Union Street) – FREE!
3:00pm Chris Biester
3:45pm Adam Remnant
4:30pm Joe Anderl

Saturday, September 6th at 8:00pm
The Union (18. W. Union Street) – FREE!
8:00pm Weedghost
8:15pm Unmonumental
9:00pm Supernobody
10:00pm Dead Hand of Man
11:00pm The 1984 Draft
12:00am Connections
1:15am Hex Net

Connections, WV White, + More TBA for Aquabear County Fair #8 on September 5-6!

Connections
Connections will headline the 8th annual Aquabear County Fair on September 6 at The Union

The Aquabear County Fair will happen for the 8th time (whoa) on September 5-6, 2014 in Athens, Ohio. With this years event featuring two nights of ALL FREE Ohio music at The Union with another surprise or two to be announced. The Aquabear is excited to announce one band for each night already and both hail from up US 33 in Columbus, Ohio: Connections (on Saturday, September 6) and WV White (on Friday, September 5). Lots more bands to be announced as we get closer! And remember: this weekend is FREE cause we want you to come watch Ohio music but we do pay all the bands so donations are welcomed! We will be hosting our annual Aquabear Legion Pancake Breakfast in Athens this August, so be sure to check back for details on that delicious event. All proceeds from the Pancake Breakfast go to the Aquabear County Fair.

Sometimes the Bear Eats You Too: NMF 14 – Friday

Jam-packed with more music than you can handle, it’s day two of the 2014 Nelsonville Music Festival. This episode features performances by Village of Spaces, Lily and Madeline, Shaky Graves, (Aquabear County Fair 2014 artist) WV White, Grupo Fantasma, Steve Gunn, Quilt, The Total Blam Blams, Kurt Vile, Wooden Indian Burial Ground, Dinosaur Jr, and The Men. We also have some brief interviews with the mama who’ll cause you trauma Emily Prince, the foreign legionnaire Rick Dodgson, and everyone’s favorite Tim Peacock. This date was perhaps the most rockin’ day in NMF history. Have fun, and come back again for our final festival roundup episode.

Podcast:

Photo Gallery:

 

Lost Weekend Records Summer Show at Ace of Cups This Weekend!

A winter picture for a summer show: Lost Weekend’s annual Summer Show at Ace of Cups in Columbus This Friday and Saturday

Columbus, Ohio’s Lost Weekend Records (one of many damn fine record stores in the capital city) will host their annual Summer Show this coming Friday and Saturday August 17th and 18th at Ace of Cups (2619 N. High). The yearly tradition is similar to their anniversary shows held in February, a bunch of awesome bands playing in one weekend. Doesn’t get much better than that. Columbus “supergroup” Connections (members of Times New Viking, 84 Nash, El Jesus de Magico), WV White, Nervosas, Altered States of United Snakes, The White Outs, and more will all play.

From the Facebook event:
“5 bands each night, music starting at 8:30 sharp each night. We have just about confirmed all our bands and look for full details soon, I will say that we have a good blend of some pretty neews bands as well as old favourites and one cool reunion band (well a re-reunion band that recently reunited at one of the Rock and Roll High School Reunion shows earlier this year) more will be revealed stay tuned for more info. Ok here are the line-ups for the most part, we will update with any changes.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 17
8:30pm Sonic Roach Destruction Unit.
9:30 pm Skilletllickers
10:30 pm Nervosas
11:30 pm Messrs
12:30am The White Outs.SATURDAY, AUGUST 18
8:30pm The Twits
9:30pm The Dirty Biscuits
10:30pm – WV White
11:30pm – Connections
12:30am Altered States of United Snakes

also between bands Jimmy Carl Black from Heatwave and Cool Brother Kyle will be DJing between bands.