This originally started out as a blog to provide more details about the music on Iowa Music Showcase.. But now it also features tags that have to do more with the individual artists and bands.
This is the first of another weekly feature on Iowa Music Showcase. In case, you missed these bands on We Are Iowa and ABC WOI 5 on Thursday and Friday mornings, you'll be able to catch them here!
Lou Sipolt, Richard Ardnt, and Jackie Smillen on Iowa Live
This week we present a collection of the blues and southern rock of Richard Arndt. We don't stray much farther with the next video, the country rock of Michael Moncada and the Whiskey High Band. And sticking to bluesy, country style, we close with Josh Sinclair.
This week's collection of IHearICvideos from May 2013 features a return of The Combined Efforts Men's Chorus as well as Iowa City staple, Dana T. Plus, former Iowa City rock band, Huge Lewis.
TRANZIG is an instrumental solo project founded, written, and performed by Erich Tran of Des Moines, Iowa. Over a two-year period he wrote and recorded all of the album's guitars, drums, and bass parts producing a heavy metal journey through thrash, hard rock, and solo guitar pieces.
With unconventional song structures, this self-titled album is meant to be heard as a whole piece of music rather than individual songs. It also features guest appearances from David Ellefson, Randy Walker, and Stephanie Tran.
- from the Tranzig Facebook page
Erich Tran is a multi-instrumentalist from the Des Moines area. He recently recorded a self-titled solo album "Tranzig" in which he played all the instruments on the album. He also plays drums in Horror Business (a Misfits tribute band), bass in Facecage, and has an acoustic project with his wife.
Buick McSnake was a 90s and 00s band featuring Brad Roth and Lonnie Ulrich, both staples of the Des Moines music scene, having worked together since the 80s, most notably in ATOY/A Testament of Youth.
The Goldblums are Des Moines area shapeshifting reptilian overlords. This Iowa Music Showcase page is for their dead homie.
The Vahnevants are Criminals and about death rattling.
The first ever two band appearnce has happened! And I had a blast hanging out with both of them. We laughed, we cried, we bleed, it was long and crazy experience. Both The Vahnevants and Goldblumes played sets and we all sat down and had a goofy conversation afterwards! This was an episode I will cherish for a long time
Emery Brown in the guitarist and singer for the Des Moines area band The Sleepover. We sit down and discuss his experience as a keyboardist in past bands, the music scene in Des Moines, the formation of The Sleepover, and so much more!
"The Sleepover is a post rock band out of Iowa with influences from 80s punk and 70s rock with pop perversions throughout the years."
- from The Sleepover's Facebook page
"The soundtrack to sexy underwear, painting each other's nails and pillow fights."
- from The Sleepover's Bandcamp page
Audible Farm is an Iowa based effort to help musicians gain exposure and give artists a platform to showcase their talent.
Audible Farm was created by Peter Stockdale as an outlet for musicians, bands, and artists. Peter began by recording the local and area bands he saw live with a GoPro and a Tascam DR-40. With permission he uploaded those videos to the Audible Farm YouTube channel.
After uploading a wide variety of bands, Peter created the Audible Farm Podcast. During the podcast, Peter and his guests sit down and discuss the local music scene.
Kick back, relax, and enjoy the local music scene as you’ve never heard it before!
"Hey, I'm Andersen. I'm a solo artist from Marion, IA, who enjoys writing, arranging, playing, and recording music as a means of self-expression and stress relief. I also lead worship weekly for my church's youth program. My main influences are various indie/folk artists such as Jon Foreman, the Lumineers, and others. My hope is that my music would bring you some of the same joy it brings me."
- from his ReverbNation page
"An independent singer-songwriter from the middle of Iowa, Andersen Coates creates a unique blend of heartland pop rock, somewhere in between the folky rock'-n'-roll of artists such as Tom Petty and the contemporary pop rock stylings of Coldplay and John Mayer."
- from his Bandcamp page
Last Thursday, Andersen Coates a student in the college of Design and fellow Ceder Rapidian sat down with me in the studio! Man this kid can play, what a fantastic songwritter and guitar player! From folk rock, to Tom Petty inspired Indie rock to Jazz guitar he can play it all! It was a lot of fun talking with Andersen and hearing about the work hes doing on an album with his father, I'm super stoked to get a copy and listen to it!
Listen Up Iowa was a school project for University of Northern Iowa student, Olivia Novak, from September to November of 2017. We will feature some of her pieces from time to time. This was originally published the Listen Up Iowa website on Sep 18, 2017.
When people think of music festivals, they probably think about notorious ones like Lollapalooza, Coachella, or Bonnaroo, but Iowa has plenty of music festivals worth checking out. To make it easier on you, I’ve gathered five Iowa music festivals that stand out.
80/35
I couldn’t make this list without including 80/35. For two days in early July, Western Gateway Park comes to life with progressive indie and jam music. The festival is organized by the Des Moines Music Coalition, a non-profit company dedicated to building up the music community in Des Moines.
Boasting both free and paid stages, anyone is welcome to come an enjoy. DMMC brings in well-known artists like NAS, Weezer, The Decemberists, and Wu-Tang Clan, but also features many local artists. They even dedicate time to high school performances, encouraging young musicians.
80/35 celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, hosting artists like The Shins and MGMT. And it doesn’t show any signs of stopping.
GriffleTV was a YouTube show that ran from May 2010 to Mar 2011 featuring local bands in live perfromances. We will feature some of these videos from time to time.
"The Poison Control Center is a band from Ames, Iowa.
"The band's indie rock sound is strongly influenced by bands of the 1960s, such as The Beatles and The Beach Boys, but they have also touched upon more unrelated genres since their inception. Their earlier recordings show influence of the lo-fi sound and pop sensibilities of indie rock bands of the 1990s, such as Guided by Voices and Pavement, although recent albums have featured more polished production."
- from their Wikipedia page
"The Poison Control Center have long been considered one of Iowa's personal favorite local bands. The creation of Patrick Tape Fleming and many of his friends, the band's inspiration has stood as one of Iowa's music scene's key ideals: community and friendship. Though the numbers and band members have changed throughout the years, the band has continued to release music in a more condensed version, having most recently released 2011's Stranger Ballet. The band is best known nowadays to consist of Patrick Tape Fleming on guitar and vocals as well as Devin Frank, who also plays guitar and sings, Joe Terry, who plays bass and sings (and does a cool thing with a trumpet and some swingin' hips), and Dave Olson, who plays drums (... and he sings, too). Though some of the members have moved away, the band still likes to get together to entertain the masses, doing cartwheels, standing on their heads while shredding through guitar solos, dancing in the crowd, and leading many a sing-a-long with the crowd (basically, putting on legendary rock shows). The PCC have spawned many other great bands around Iowa INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: Mantis Pincers, Gloom Balloon, and Histo (technically, not an Iowa band, but we still have love for Don). The PCC have also had special guests perform with them, such as Bob Nastanovich of Pavement, and Paul Shaffer from Late Night with David Letterman."
- from their page in DMMC's Music Directory
"The Vahnevants have carved out their place among their Des Moines garage rock contemporaries by filtering the familiar through their devil-may-care delivery and refreshing lack of attention to detail. It’s textural and rooted in nearly 60 years of rock subgenres and culture. The result gives The Vahnevants’ music its signature timeless warble and warmth, and what a worthy warble it is."
- from a review by Ali Henkle on the DMMC website
Credits:
Jared James Vaughan III
Micah Sturdevant
Ryan C. Meier
James Dean Brittenson
micah & jared made these recordings
micah & jared were telepathically manipulated by ryan
ryan made these recordings
satan made it stick.
"Eric Kennedy performs mostly solo and sometimes as a duo with his friend Tim. He is also fond of eggs on toast...
"Eric Kennedy is part of Squidboy and was in Why Make Clocks and Delirious Conniptions."
- from his Facebook page
Credits:
Recorded by Dan Hutchison on the same Tascam 414 MKII 4 Track cassette Portastudio.
Recorded & Mixed between April 2013-Feb. 2014 by Dan Hutchison @ Sump Pump Recording, Des Moines, IA
Mastered by Maria Rice at Peerless Mastering, Boston, MA
"Dex Romweber is nothing less than an icon of the American music underground. Pioneering the template for the stripped to-the-essentials guitar/drums duo format in the (should be) world famous psycho-surf-rockabilly-garage-punk combo Flat Duo Jets—so often emulated, so rarely duplicated—Dex continues his resurgence with the new album Is That You In The Blue? With sister Sara on drums, the Dex Romweber Duo is a potent combo that’ll get your leg twitching with the beat and your heart racing -and sometimes breaking- with the feral excitement of music. If it don’t, you might want to consider turning in your 'I Heart Rock n Roll' badge. Seriously.
"In Dex, you have someone who burrows into the guts of American roots music with a uniquely alchemical mania; he’s a man clearly bored with, or oblivious to, genre constraints. With a mix of originals and obscure nuggets from rock and roll’s dusky back closets, the DRD romps through the sweaty cinder block studios of Memphis of the 50’s, channels street corners on the wrong side of town with existential blues and instrumentals that’d find a home in a Tarantino spy flick."
- from his Facebook page
Last Week Joshua and Sascha from Moonrabbit came by the studio and we played some tracks off their upcoming EP!! These guys had some hilarious stories to tell and it was a blast getting to talk to them.
"Brad and Ryan started making tapes in their Iowa dorm rooms in 1996. They convinced Jessie to put viola parts on the tapes starting in 1998 or so. A little while after that, the sounds from Cory's room were just too much and he started putting his keyboard bits on the tapes. Somewhere in there the live shows began. The first ones were either very weird or very small performances in art galleries and coffeeshops. In 2000, the shows moved into the rock clubs. Jessie still played on tapes but mostly lived in Boulder. Kevin and Grant and Powell and Peter all played in the rhythm section for a time until Phil started playing drums and Steve started playing bass. That was the lineup for about 4 years.
"The band made an album called "My Ice-Fingered Ghost" in Chicago in 2003. It came out in 2004 on Future Appletree Records. They toured the midwest a couple of times and played with bands like Outrageous Cherry, The Frogs, The High Strung, Menomena, The Rosebuds, and Quasi.
"The band holed up in a house in Waterloo, Iowa with a bunch of recording gear in the hopes of recording their second album, but it never really panned out. In 2006, Brad and Ryan moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. A while later, Cory moved to Saxapahaw, which isn't terribly far away. The three of them resumed playing, this time with a laptop, looper, and hand percussion as the rhythm section. Jessie was living in Baltimore by this point, which though not close isn't too bad for a weekend trip, so she said she'd start to play her viola parts in the band again. A is Jump is currently writing, recording, and rehearsing new and old material."
- from their entry on the Secret History of the Cedar Valley website
Credits:
Casey Averill
Brad Brandhorst
Ryan Creery
Cory Hamilton
Mary Jessica McGee
Philip Sterk
Recorded April 2006 - July 2014 in Chapel Hill, Durham, Hillsborough, and Saxapahaw, NC.
Engineered and Produced by A is Jump for The Hate Salon.
Mixed by Chris Wimberley and Brad Brandhorst at Nightsound Studios in Carrboro, NC.
Mix Assistants: Mark Oglesby, Meghan Puryear, Adrianna Villa, and Geneva Walata.
Mastered By Carl Saff
From their Facebook page:
"photo by Elaine,
used without permission."
"House of Large Sizes is by far the most successful, prolific, and well-known band in the history of the Cedar Valley. Began in September of 1986 by core members Dave Deibler and Barb Schilf, the band released 8 full length albums and a smattering of EPs and singles. They have toured the country extensively, most notably with ex-Pixies front man Frank Black.
"They were signed to Columbia Records in 1994 and released their major label debut, My Ass-Kicking Life, on that label. Due to internal mismanagement at the label, they did not receive the support and attention for their record, and they left the label as a result. Undetered, they continued to play music and make records with What Are Records? and The Tyros Label until 2003.
"The band broke up due for unknown reasons in late 2003. Barb and Dave currently own and operate Mohair Pear, a vintage/retro clothing store on College Hill in Cedar Falls."
- from their page on the Secret History of the Cedar Valley website
"House of Large Sizes was an alternative rock band from Cedar Falls, Iowa, in the United States. The band's lineup was primarily Dave Deibler and Barb Schilf, and featured a number of drummers throughout the group's run...
"House of Large Sizes, often abbreviated HOLS, played a unique style of rock with a driving beat, lots of rhythmic changes, unexpected rests and false endings. Although the group's music was unusual, it drew on common influences--punk rock, funk and heavy metal. Punk shows itself in the short duration of many HOLS songs. The gut-level emotional energy of the music (largely attributable to Deibler's voice and guitar style) and the band's DIY ethic also show their punk roots. Deviating from the DIY standard, HOLS released one album, 'My Ass Kicking Life,' on Red Decibel/Columbia in 1993. They worked primarily with small labels like WAR (What Are Records?) and Toxic Shock or released recordings on their own.
"Funk can be heard in Schilf 's bass playing and the throbbing, danceable rhythms of the music. Heavy metal elements are present in Deibler's powerful guitar technique and the short musical phrases from which the songs are constructed."
- from their Wikipedia page
"Dan Bee started off life stillborn in Evanston IL in the mid 1970's. After his revival he did the normal baby thing, then the toddler thing. After going through some torturous years being picked on and ostracized as a teenager the pure isolation led him to lock up in a room with a guitar becoming a musician. Today he is an adult man child making music which aids him to bypass the crippling nature of his normal reclusiveness.
"Dan Bee is a songwriter who marches to the beat of his own drum. He does what he does and does it as well as he can. Some people will like it and some people will not. The music isn't trying to be anything in particular other than an expression of the emotion the songwriter is going through at the time of creation.
"Dan Bee is one of those weird musicians who doesn't really care about what guitar they are playing on or playing with technical skill. While those things do have their merits, Dan feels as long as what you do has passion and you have passion for it then that is enough.
"The music on this page can and will be anything from a rough acoustic demo recorded on a cell phone in a bedroom, to a full band of friends recorded in a lush studio.
"Here you go, have a listen and enjoy your life. :)"
- from his Facebook page
This week Austin, Dom, and Henry of Fertile or "The Fertile Boys" come into the studio for some improvised songs about little boys, crying, grochery shopping, and taking a drumset on a canoeing trip. Lining these guys up as a fill in band, I was compleatly blown away by their ability to improvise and write fantastic songs on the spot. Broadcasting over the ISU football game they only felt right playing "Sports."
This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm All Recordings done in the Studio at [88.5 KURE Ames Alternative]
"Igor Dimitrienko, a skilled guitar player. Has over 10 years experience in playing. Skilled in playing variety of styles ranging from rock to metal to funk. Highly specializes in blues and rock and roll. Igor is known especially for his alluring and crowd pleasing live performances. In his spare time he enjoys spending time with his family, his daughter, and writing music."
- from his Facebook page
Singer/guitarist for Audio Curve also singer/guitarist for Birdstein and a full time musician/songwriter."
- from his ReverbNation page
Lineup:
Igor Dimitrienko - vocals, guitar, instruments
