Marah’s Serge Bielanko pays tribute to the late Ronnie Spector.
Read MoreHouse Party Concerts, Marah & Hogan Productions - by Ricki C.
“Johnny’s in the basement, mixin’ up the medicine” – Bob Dylan, 1965
Basement house party gigs are weird. And great.
The first time I ever played music in public – 50 years ago next autumn – that gig was in one of my high school classmates’ basement. From my vantage point of 65 years on the planet I have watched rock & roll shows progress from those basements to festivals in huge, barren fields and football stadiums in the 1970’s, and now back to people’s basements.
I spent the decade of the 2000’s as road manager for an act from New York called Hamell On Trial – aka Ed Hamell, a four-man punk band rolled into one bald, sweaty guy – and right at the end of my tenure on the road Hamell started playing house concerts. Nine years earlier – July 1st, 2001 – Hamell had opened a sold-out Ani Difranco show at the 7,000 capacity Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles. By 2010 Ed was playing in people’s dining rooms. Sometimes, looking back, I think that’s the entire history of what the music industry did to rock & roll music in the early 21st century, in a nutshell.
Which brings us to Marah at Hogan House Productions’ basement concert a coupla Friday's ago.
Early in my service as a roadie for Watershed back in 2005 (to supplement my Hamell income), Colin & the guys opened a Marah show at the old High Five Club. It was sold out, hundreds of people, the place was packed, and Watershed and Marah deployed one motherfucker of a rock & roll show. Power, passion, volume to the point of pain; on that particular evening both bands mightily kicked out the jams.
So last week I saw the Bielanko brothers – Dave & Serge – of Marah with Colin opening for them in a guy’s basement. That’s a really different show than a packed High Five. But then again, this is a really different basement. P.J. Hogan’s home base for his shows seats maybe 50 people, the walls are lined with great classy DVD’s, there’s a decent little sound system and PROXIMITY to the performers that you’re not gonna get in a larger setting, even the intimacy of a small listening room club like Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza (my current favorite singer/songwriter venue in Columbus).
At Hogan House you’re almost TOO CLOSE to the performers. After the first song Colin asked me and the audience – “Am I WAY too loud? Do we need to turn this down? Is this volume okay?” – because he was so close to the listeners it seemed overwhelming. But it wasn’t. Admittedly you could probably play PJ’s basement with no PA system at all, just sing and strum guitars and the sound would be fine, but the presence of that little bit of power & electricity just makes the show that much more exciting. It's a rock & roll truism: Volume makes EVERYTHING better.
So Marah are, it almost goes without saying, genius-level great in the context of a basement house gig. At one moment in the show – during a particularly dissonant Dave Bielanko guitar solo – his brother Serge (who normally is the lead guitarist of Marah, but at that point is grinding out a GREAT rhythm guitar bed for his brother’s solo) leans over and says, “Somethin’s tryin’ to get out,” as if Dave is attempting to conduct some sort of sonic exorcism with his beat-to-shit black acoustic guitar.
It’s a rock & roll moment I won’t soon forget, and one I probably wouldn’t have gotten in even a small club, and most CERTAINLY would never have apprehended in Nationwide Arena or the Schott. And it was a moment I got because I saw Marah in P.J. Hogan’s basement. Thanks P.J. Thanks Marah. – Ricki C. / April 24th, 2018
The next Hogan House Production is Amy Rigby on Saturday, May 5th.
Here is a link for details on that show: https://amyrigbycolumbusohio.brownpapertickets.com/. I’ve seen Amy Rigby two or three times in the past – but again, never in somebody’s basement – and to my mind this show would be the absolute best use of twenty dollars of your entertainment budget for all of 2018 that I could possibly think of.
For more info on Hogan House Productions in general, check out P.J. Hogan Talks About Marah and His Successful House Shows earlier in Pencilstorm.
P.J. Hogan Talks About Marah and his Successful House Shows - by Colin Gawel
Marah is playing the Hogan House Friday April 20th. Click here to read Marah - Five Songs You Need to Know by Joe Oestreich.
Colin G. - Let's jump right in with the Marah show on April 20th. Why did you want to host this show?
P.J. - Marah is one of my favorite bands of all time. As far as live rock bands, they and Mekons would probably be my top two current favorite bands. I saw them many times before they split up and since the brothers have reformed I’ve seen them 3-4 times in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Virginia. And don't get me wrong, I've caught other versions of the band through the years and they have always been excellent. But it's hard to replicate the dynamic Bielenko brothers when they are on stage together. They are a band I’ve reached out to every year or so to see if they would be interested in a house show. As a huge Watershed fan as well, (and your solo stuff) having you open is going to make this an amazing night. I remember being jealous of reading the article on Pencilstorm on seeing their holiday show in Philadelphia a few years ago. I went to the show this year in Philly and I may make that an annual tradition.
Colin G - Ah shucks, you are too kind. But yes, us Watershed guys have always been beating the Marah drum. It's a thrill for me to weasel onto the bill. Back to your situation, when booking a show, do you reach out to the artist or booking agent?
P.J. - I’ve had the best luck booking bands by going directly to them through Facebook. Dealing with booking agents, I’m not always sure they understand what it is I’m doing. One agent sent me a rider asking for air transportation, hotel, merchandise salesman, etc. I had to explain that I make 0 money doing this so I don’t have a budget to provide all of those kind of perks. What I do provide is 100% of ticket price directly to artists and food and bedrooms.
Colin G. - At what point did the idea hosting shows in your basement switch from a dream to a reality?
P.J. - It was kind of a fluke to get into hosting shows. I’ve always been a huge fan of live music and before having a child probably went to 60 or shows a year. There is a company called Undertow that books house shows and they were looking for volunteers in Columbus area to host a band called Vandaveer. My wife, Abbie and I are both big fans so we took the plunge and hosted the show in 2014. It was a wonderful experience. The crowd was respectful and were there for the music. There was more interaction with the crowd than at a normal show. The last time I had seen Vandaveer at MOTR in Cincinnati the crowd spoke through the entire set. That was the first show we hosted and we’ve hosted Vandaveer every year since and have become friends with the band. The lead singer recently played a surprise birthday concert for my wife. We had about 30 friends all realizing they were at a concert but my wife was shocked. It was a special evening. There is a video of it I can send.
The next year we hosted another Undertow show for Chris Mills. An artist I loved since the late 90s when I lived near Chicago. Another great crowd and show and we met some great friends at the show. We also hosted Vandaveer again. This time through their booking agent. Dolly Varden was the first show I booked directly with the artist. They are one of my favorite bands. It was difficult selling tickets but still an amazing show. First show I had where someone flew in to attend.
Once I started booking the shows myself I would occasionally book a local opener to try and spread the word of the show and to selfishly see lineups that get me excited. We’ve also had some nice moments where bands that might not have much awareness of each other become great friends by the end of the night. Jon Langford was so taken with Happy Chichester that he booked him for a show in England with him. Craig Finn and Bottle Rockets were both Undertow shows. Bands with built in audiences like that are very easy to put on. Undertow puts the tickets up for sale and they both sold out quickly.
Robbie Fulks was booked by working with his booking agent. I’m still not sure his agent understood it was a house show but it all worked out very well and he seemed open to doing it again someday.
Colin G. - Are you a musician yourself? What motivated you to start doing this.
P.J. - I’m not a musician myself. I’ve just always been a big music fan. I’m very shy in normal social situations. I would never go speak to a musician at a show, but by having shows in my house I’ve become friends with some of my musical heroes. The fact that Jon Langford will comment on my daughter being goofy on facebook is something I’ll never get over. Also that there is video of Jon Langford and I singing Charlie Rich’s “Most Beautiful Girl in the World” into breadstick ‘microphones’ makes this whole crazy thing worthwhile.
Colin G. - What is the hardest part of hosting these shows?
P.J. - The hardest part is trying to get the word out on shows. The fact that all money goes to the bands means that any traditional advertising would come out of my pocket. I’ve had a couple shows where I thought there would be great crowds and struggled to get 15 people.
Colin G. - What is your favorite part?
Favorite part is usually the show itself. I can stop trying to sell tickets at that point and just enjoy the music. It helps to have a full crowd of fans of the bands playing but we’ve had great shows where it’s just a handful of my friends.
Colin G. - You have had some amazing acts so far, who is on your wish list?
P.J. - I’ve been very lucky with booking my favorite acts. If I had to rank bands, Mekons/Jon Langford would be my favorite. Hosting Jon Langford was a dream come true and having him be a good guy who loves playing at our house has been a great joy. He said he’ll keep coming as long as we will have him. Other all-time favorites for me that I’ve been shocked to have play would include Marah, Bottle Rockets, Two Cow Garage.
Of my all-time bands left, I would love to host Slobberbone/Brent Best but I’m not sure if they will make it out to Ohio. I’m flying to Texas to see their 25th Anniversary show in May. Bands I would love to host (That some people have heard of): Hayden, Lisa Germano, Bonnie Prince Billy, Joe Firstman, Kimya Dawson, Matthew Ryan, Gary Louris, on and on. I have a list of about 100.
Colin G. - Do you have any plans to expand? How long do you see yourself doing this?
I don’t necessarily have any plans to expand. I’ll keep doing this as long as it’s fun. There are times when we have shows coming up and not selling any tickets that it becomes more stressful than fun. I’ve had day dreams of opening a traditional club but I fear I might lose some of the love of the music if it became 100% a business for me. I still love going to Rumba or Ace of Cups as just a fan and enjoy a show.
Colin G. - Any random thoughts you would like to share before wrapping this up?
P.J. - Sure....
Things I’ve grown to love with the basement shows:
Posted set times. I’m too old to go to a show where ticket says 9:00 but opening act doesn’t go on until 10:30. Columbus clubs have gotten better about posting set times and that has been very helpful with getting to see more shows. Our shows normally start at 8PM (or a little later based on putting our daughter to bed) and usually over by 9:30 with one act or 10:30 with two acts.
Fully seated. We can sell up to 55 tickets and have a seat for everyone.
Crowd has been respectful to artists at every show. Have never had to ask anyone to quiet down.
Shows are BYOB and much more social than a normal club show. Most people feel somewhat uncomfortable going to someone’s house for a show. We try to make it feel as much like a party at our house. Usually people mingle before and after shows.
Show history
2014 (Vandaveer)
2015 (Vandaveer, Chris Mills)
2016 (Vandaveer, Clem Snide, Dolly Varden, Justin Wells/Shane Sweeney/Todd Farrell, Syd Straw/Happy Chichester)
2017 (Craig Finn, Flat Five, Jon Langford/Happy Chichester, Bottle Rockets, Vandaveer/Lizard McGee, Richard Buckner, Adam Carroll, Jon Langford’s Four Lost Souls/Micah Schnabel
2018: Robbie Fulks, Tommy Womack/Micah Schnabel, Marah/Colin Gawel, Amy Rigby, Dean Schlabowske
Your Marah Primer: Five Songs You Need to Know - by Joe Oestreich
Marah (Bielanko Brothers Acoustic) w/Colin Gawel Friday April 20th at Hogan House Productions.
Your Marah Primer: Five Songs You Need to Know - by Joe Oestreich
Of all the bands that got lumped into the imprecisely named ‘90s alternative country movement, Marah is my favorite. Sure, they were once signed to alt-country godfather Steve Earle’s E-Squared label, but Marah isn’t country. Marah is city. Less honky tonks and bass boats and more cheap Chinese joints, Vietnamese barbers, and muddy rivers that spit out Colt .45 bottles and bags of dead kittens.
The specific city in the case of Dave and Serge Bielanko—the brothers who started the band—is Philadelphia, but we’re not talking about the clichéd boxing-and-cheesesteaks Philly, about Balboa v. Creed and Pat’s v. Geno’s. Marah sings about the true Philadelphia, or at least a Philadelphia so dense with unexpected and raw detail that when listening to their records I assume it to be true. But even if it’s not, Marah’s melodies and lyrics are so freaking great, I’ll happily take the Bielanko Brothers’ word for it.
Should you go see Marah play an acoustic house show in Columbus of Friday April 20th? Absolutely. (Click here for event info) Could I possibly write anything that would convince you that you should go? Maybe not. For nearly fifteen years writers far more accomplished than me have been trying to get people to queue up for Marah.
Exhibit A: Nick Hornby writing for The New York Times .
Exhibit B: Stephen King (Click here for his favorite record of 2005)
So, yeah. You should go. But if you’re not yet ready to commit—if you’re still just Marah-curious—here are five songs you might consider when weighing your options.
1. “Christian Street” from Kids in Philly
Perhaps the most Phila-centric song on their most Phila-centric record. You get the sense that the Bielanko Bros. have a complicated relationship with their hometown. After all, they eventually moved away, relocating the band to Brooklyn for a time. Then again, judging by the street-level detail in this song, it’s clear that while they were living there, they were paying attention. And as Sister Sarah Joan says to Lady Bird in last year’s Oscar-nominated film, isn’t paying attention the same thing as love?
2. “What 2 Bring” from Float Away with the Friday Night Gods
For the follow-up to Kids in Philly, Marah moved about as far away from alt-country as they could, geographically (to London), artistically (the big shades and bubble gum on the album cover), and musically (the mega-chorus power pop of this song). This album pretty much tanked, but it made me love Marah for their disco ball-sized gonads.
3. “Pizzeria” from 20,000 Streets Under the Sky
Serge Bielanko’s doo-wop influenced ode to a slice shop that turned Chinese. If you can’t taste the garlic powder after listening to this song, then you obviously have no soul (or maybe it’s just because the sound quality on this video ain’t so hot).
4. “The Closer” from If You Didn’t Laugh, You’d Cry
This is Dave Bielanko applying to Brooklyn that same eye for detail he once employed in cataloging Philadelphia. But now with added playfulness. Stick around to the end to find out how much it costs to have a Mississippi pickle applied to your Brooklyn buns.
5. “Angels of Destruction” from Angels of Destruction!
My computer is right now telling me that this is the thirteenth most-ever played song in my iTunes. More significantly, this song features perhaps the most honest and true lyric in rock history: I love you so much. Now let’s get something to eat.
Bonus! Exhibit C: Bruce Springsteen. In case the tunes above aren’t doing it for you, here’s an additional celebrity endorsement, straight from the rock and roll CEO.
Clearly, not going to the Marah’s Columbus show would amount to insubordination. I can’t speak for you, but I wouldn’t want that on my permanent record.
Joe Oestreich is the bass player for Watershed and the author of four books, including Hitless Wonder: A Life in Minor League Rock and Roll and Waiting to Derail: Ryan Adams and Whiskeytown, Alt-Country’s Brilliant Wreck (co-written with Thomas O’Keefe), which is forthcoming in June.
Watershed Drinking Tour Stop w/ Marah, Celebrating Kids in Philly, October 16-17
Biggie has the van gassed up and he & Colin will be scrounging up change for the Penna Turnpike for a Watershed Drinking Tour date in the city of brotherly love the weekend of October 16 & 17.
Readers familiar with the book "Hitless Wonder" know Watershed has been known to schedule tour dates without performing. "It's a pain in the ass to move all the gear and we usually sell the same amount of swag anyway, whether the band plays or not." said longtime roadie Ricki C.
So on Friday October 16th, join Biggie and Colin at the South Philadelphia Tap Room for a happy hour celebrating the vinyl reissue of Marah's classic LP Kids in Philly. Showtime for drinking is roughly 8pm.
What's all this then?
Colin explains: "Off the top of my head, the best live bands I have ever seen are AC/DC, Dash Rip Rock, Cheap Trick, The Olympic Ass Kicking Team and Marah. Why wouldn't we drive nine hours for a happy hour party celebrating Kids in Philly finally coming out on vinyl? We have certainly driven further for worse reasons. To put this in perspective, our last two drinking tour stops were The Replacements in St. Paul and Jerry Lee Lewis in Memphis. That should show the respect we have for the mighty Marah. Besides, I've been to Philly like 10 times doing gigs but I've never seen anything more than the clubs on South Street and Biggie yelling "The Liberty Bell is around here somewhere." as we grind on steak subs at 3 am on our way out of town."
Due to high demand, there is a chance the band could add other dates to the tour. "We plan on checking out some history and arts 'n' stuff on Saturday but we can't miss UM vs MSU so we will probably hunker down somewhere close to Underground Arts Saturday before the big show that night. It's a big city so I assume there is somewhere to watch football around there. And yes, we know OSU is playing Penn State the same time Marah is on stage so please be respectful and don't tell us the score before we get back to our hotel to watch the tape."
For the latest details or suggestions on where Biggie and Colin should go, follow @watershed or @colingawel on twitter