Scott Andrew - lo-fi acoustic pop superhero!

A playlist of bands from Cleveland OH circa 1993. Enjoy.

The Waynes, “Your Sympathy”
This is a track from the never-released second Waynes album, produced by Mitch Easter. Laurie gave me a burned CD copy a few years back and I guard it like a family heirloom. The band broke up, the album was shelved and I never really heard the whole story. Lead singer Matt went on to form Superkreme with Susan Rasch (see “Rasch, ‘DNA’” below) and re-recorded some of those tunes, but they’re not as good IMO.

Fun fact: both Laurie and Derek (the Waynes bassist) perform on Brickyard Bend.

The frans, “Honey Sugar”
One of my favorite bands from the time, I really dug their dramatic Tool-with-a-chick-singer sound. I always thought the frans could’ve gotten huge but unfortunately they weren’t together very long.

Paranoid Lovesick, “Universe Boat”
I used to rent a room from Bill Stone, the lead singer. In fact, I used his guitar to write Gravel Road Requiem. Local myth sez Paranoid Lovesick landed a cover story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s weekend entertainment section by sending a jar of pickles to an editor there. I may have that story wrong.

Slawjaw, “I Could Crack”
When WENZ started playing local music on its Sunday-night “Inner Sanctum” show, “I Could Crack” was one of the first to get regular airplay. The band later changed its name to Dopamine and played SXSW a bunch of times.

Hot Tin Roof, “Fixation”
Lead singer Tom Lash used to be roomies with Trent Reznor pre-NIN. I never saw them live or met either of them, but this is a solid single and a good example of Cleveland’s alt- and synth-pop sound of the late 80’s.

Public Library, “Cedar Chest”
I don’t know anything about this band except 1) they sound a lot like Innocence Mission and 2) their name makes them impossible to Google. This song appeared on a local compilation CD and I immediately liked it, although I’m unaware if they ever released an album.

Albino Violet, “FTBS”
Okay, I briefly played drums for this band back when they were still sounding vaguely Pixies + Ocean Blue. Then they got another drummer and two lead singers, disappeared into a studio for a year, and came out with a totally different Ministry/NIN thing.

This isn’t their best song IMO but I always thought it could be a big hit live, with a million-strong crowd pumping their fists and shouting the GET DOWN! GET DOWN AND DIE! part.

Jericho Turnpike, “Bitter End”
Jericho Turnpike were to Cleveland what the Clarks were to Pittsburgh. Does that make sense? Sort of a roots-pop ala Gin Blossoms-sounding group that everyone loves but nobody outside the city limits takes much notice of. Fun fact: lead singer Jim Morrisson(!) was often shirtless by the end of the set.

ivet, “Fondle”
This band came out around the time that weirdass post-grunge aggro sound started getting popular (think Deftones, Korn, etc.) and they stood out since there really weren’t many bands like them in Cleveland. Unfortunately I don’t have a copy of their real hit “Aneurysm” which I don’t think the band ever released on CD. They were active as late as 2001, I think.

The Adults, “What It’s Like”
I secretly love this song, although I have a suspicion it’s about cross-dressing.

The Simpletons, “Back In The Day”
In my snarky, superior prog-rock-loving way, I used to joke that every city has a band like the Simpletons: a bunch of clean-cut young dudes playing accessible acoustic pop whose shows were packed with attractive young women. Yes of course I secretly wanted to be in that same band, duh. This song grabbed my attention mostly because I couldn’t believe a local act could write such a good pop tune.

The Fifth Wheel, “It’s As Close As I Can Get”
This band took a lot of shit from the local press for sounding like Morrisey but damn they could pack shows. I wonder what happened to them?

Medicine Show, “Lookin’”
I don’t know much about this band, except I think(?) they did a lot of shows with Paranoid Lovesick.

World In A Room, “Train”
You’d have to have been living under a rock (or not in Cleveland) to not have heard of World In A Room in the mid-90s. They were like a force of nature — the gravitational force of lead singer Jason Kilbey-Smith’s resonant voice and perfect cheekbones. Heavily U2 influenced.

Rasch, “DNA”
Not their best track, but the only one I have on CD, and I always liked how Susan refused to stick to typical sweet girl-with-guitar songwriting.

At one point, this band included me on guitar, Derek (from the Waynes) on bass and Steph Eulinberg (pre-Kid Rock) on drums. We played a show at Peabody’s Down Under and a gajillion people came to check out the new local supergroup. So of course we bombed. Miserably, horribly, fatally.

Lead singer Susan went on to form Superkreme with Matt Sobol (see “The Waynes, ‘Your Sympathy’” above) and re-recorded some of these tunes, but they’re not as good IMO.

Rotary Ten, “Winona”
The first Cleveland band I ever heard. I never got to see them live but I get a little sad and nostalgic when I hear this tune. This band formed at Megan’s high school.