There was an excellent turnout at Hotel War‘s CD release show at Skully’s last night. The hippest kids in Columbus were there; and there are a lot of the buggers.
Opening act Strangers in Daylight were a pleasant surprise. A standard three-piece, their unfortunately short set was fun, lively, and got a decent amount of people to the dance floor. It helps that they seemed like they were friends with everyone in attendance, but that’s Skully’s for ya. I look forward to seeing Strangers in Daylight again in the future.
Burglar, of course, got all the women dancing. Which was amusing to watch because all of the “cool” hipster guys wear standing in a semi-circle, encasing a horde of young, fashionable females grooving on the dance floor. The sweet sounds of the lovely and gorgeous Lindsay Ciulla‘s mellophone and the sultry and dripping-with-sex appeal singing of Mehgan Hutchinson melded perfectly with the percussion of Drum Guy, Upright Electric Bass Dude, Guitar And Sometimes Vocals Guy, and Keyboard Dude. I’m not trying to be a jerk guys; but you are honestly not what I or any other straight guy is paying attention to when we see Burglar play. However, you will be happy to know that every single girl I know says things that I can not mention here about you. Suffice to say, they find all of you to be very handsome fellas and would like to do naughty things with you. So there ya go.
Couldn’t stay long as I had to rapidly travel to Kobo using Columbus’ red-headed stepchild of public transportation – the COTA bus. The Spruce Campbells were closing out Kobo and I told a couple people I would be there.
Not enough is said about Kobo. I think the sound at the old Oldfield’s on High is superior to most (if not all) bars in town. Unlike some other more prominent places, the vocals don’t get drowned out, the balance of guitars, bass, drums, etc isn’t all out of whack, and the acoustics of the room just seem better.
Anyway, the Spruce Campbells killed it. Unfortunately, it was late so the crowd was small (but still good for the late hour). Some pre-set jamming to Rush by Chris Cheeseman the drummer and guitarist Matthew Forney was welcome (and amusing). Chelsea Moore‘s and Jason Kusowski‘s vocals complimented each other perfectly. The band seemed to be having fun, and that translated to the crowd; there was dancing and smiles everywhere. Chelsea tells me that she has no groupies, and I think this is an absolute crime. With her voice and looks, she should be beating dudes off with a stick.
Also in attendance at the Spruce Campbells show was Scott Ball (accompanied by his lovely fiance) of the tragically defunct Asthmo. Few people probably remember Asthmo, but they were good. Real good. However, their demise brought about The Nuclear Children, which begat the Spruce Campbells (which is apparently going to give birth to a bouncing Barker’s Beauties at some point). Sometimes it’s weird how everyone in Columbus is connected. Also, you just got a short lesson in some Columbus indie band history.
You’re welcome.
