By: DJ Hostettler of Vital Source:


In one of his SubVersions columns several months back, our boy Matt Wild declared the basic guitar/bass/drums lineup of Quinn Scharber and the Electric Youth a refreshing novelty, or some similar turn of phrase — the implication being that bands in the Beer City have become so obsessed with attaching extra bells and whistles to their music (like, for instance, actual bells and whistles) that the simple effectiveness of a well-crafted guitar-pop song is overlooked.

Maybe that's the rationale behind titling their debut disc Being Nice Won't Save Milwaukee; in a city where every new band is determined to throw their housemates' thrift-store toy pianos on stage, playing a no-frills guitar riff is an act of defiance.

If there's rebellion in these songs, it's not the type that comes screaming. Scharber is a graduate of the Pollard and late-Replacements-era Westerberg Academy, more "Can't Hardly Wait" than "Fuck School." In fact, the opening "Latest Flame" wouldn't have sounded out of place on Pleased to Meet Me, as blasphemous as hardcore 'Matheads may consider that. It's all boxed wine and "Don't you wanna be my latest flame/don't you wanna make a big mistake," delivered in Scharber's conspiratorial half-whisper. It's quite a feat to sing a refrain like "Keep it Legal" and sound like you're getting away with something, yet there it is.

Quinn Scharber and the Wrath of Khan (they change their name every show, so why let them have all the fun?) are doing little more than playing extremely well-crafted pop songs cobbled together by a dude, his guitar and a few of his drinking buddies backing him up. In a town overrun with banjos and glockenspiels, maybe an Epiphone will save the day after all.

Again from Shelley Peckham:

Half a year ago, Madison's The Box Social and Milwaukee's Quinn Scharber and The... spent one of the coldest nights of the winter blowing the minds of Café Montmartre's packed house of thrillingly rabid booze-soaked fans. If you were one of the lucky masses in attendance that night, you know that both bands performed with an electric energy delivered from complete sincerity, honesty and confidence about the work they were there to present. To say that the evening was special would be a massive understatement. This Thursday, the bands will be back to do it all over again.

Saturday night marked the official release of Quinn Scharber and the...'s first full-length album, Being Nice Won't Save Milwaukee, on The Bus Stop Label. Scharber (lead vocals and guitar), Thom Giebel (bass), Joe Kirschling (drums) and Joph Bravo (tambourine orchestra maestro) presented a white-hot set to mark the occasion, complete with a handful of even newer tunes that promise to lead the way for the creation of another fantastic album down the line. Scharber's sweetly raw vocal delivery is a highlight of the band's live shows, as he expresses a rare vulnerability that so many singers aspire to achieve. The band's sound is a seemingly effortless blend of the brightness of power pop greats like Big Star and Guided By Voices and the kind of self-aware, bittersweet introspection of songwriters like Elliott Smith, and the often-referenced cathartic rock of The Replacements.

The Box Social, having recently presented their brand of high-energy power pop to the Summerfest crowds for the first time (where they were voted Fan Favorite Emerging Artist), are preparing for a series of exciting upcoming shows, including billing with The Toadies and Bob Mould. Nick Junkunc (lead vocals, guitar), Nick Woods (lead guitar), David Griesbach (bass), and Brian Peoplis (drums) were also recently honored by being named the Best Band in Wisconsin by FuseTV. In the event that you've somehow forgotten, a Box Social show will always remind you why rock is fun. The danceable punk-influenced beats and an abundance of pop hooks found on the band's latest release, Get Going, are only enhanced by a live setting.

Both The Box Social and Quinn Scharber and the... make music that inspires instant devotion. In the same way that a generation of teenagers cried in their bedrooms to the Smiths, understood exactly why Iggy slashed open his chest onstage, or felt their skin chill with goosebumps to Dylan's prophetic "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," theirs is art devoid of sterility.

It's possible, though, to commit the crime of overanalyzing the appeal of art, and to unintentionally lay misrepresentative impressions upon it. These are not art school wunderkinder with $200 haircuts and pretension to spare. While both bands are most certainly serious about the music they make, they possess a healthy, endearing sense of Midwestern humor that permeates their songs. Self-deprecation, sarcasm and blissful, bacchanalian abandon are common themes in their music that listeners should find easy to relate to.

The bands will return to Café Montmartre this Thursday, July 24, at 9:30 for what promises to be yet another unforgettable show.

The Exclusive Co.
1669 N. Farwell Ave.
Milwaukee

Rushmor Records
2635 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.
Milwaukee

Atomic Records
1813 E. Locust St.
Milwaukee

From Erin Wolf at: fan-belt.blogspot.com

"Localized" is our way of providing you with some info about a band, FROM the band themselves. This week, Erin Wolf talks to the incomparable Quinn Scharber and The…
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Well, yes, that is really an ellipsis after their name, and no, it's not meant to confuse. Think of it as a cheap form of entertainment for a band that puts out solid music, but feels like changing up their moniker to keep things fresh ("My all time favorite was Quinn Scharber and The Temple of Doom" the infamous Quinn Scharber confides).

THE BAND: Quinn Scharber (guitar/vocals), Joe Kirschling (drums) and Thom Geibel (bass) also like to mix it up by throwing several tambourines (instigated by full-time tambourine-player, Joph Bravo) at unsuspecting audience members at their live shows to create what they call a "Tambourine Orchestra".

"Our first show was at the Hide House for a show put together by Betty Gow, who has remained a good friend of ours since," Scharber says of their beginnings. "We started in November of '06. I was writing some songs at home and was looking for a bit of a different sound than The Nice Outfit, which I am also in [along with Joe]."

Previous stints together with Geibel and Bravo in Menlo and The Static Model, had also introduced them as bandmates … "so, it was easy as asking Joe and Thom to work on some things with me and that was that. A short time later Josh joined."

Being Nice Won't Save Milwaukee is what they've chidingly entitled their forthcoming album, which is slated to appear in May. Scharber and company are excited to see their final effort realized after recording headaches kept them from releasing the album earlier.

The band's catchy compositions, mixing rock with garage, power-pop and blues, is energizing. Think Field Music meets R.E.M. meets The Replacements. "I think we're a dynamic band that relies a lot on improvisation," Scharber says.

"We try to do something different every time we play, which means we sometimes fall on our faces, but the times we pull it off are very, very rewarding…we're a pretty simple rock and roll/pop band. I've always had a soft spot for that kind of heart-on-your-sleeve type writing".

And congratulations is in order not only because of their fantastic sound, but also because they just snagged a spot on Milwaukee's very own Bus Stop Label, whom they will be sharing with the recent additions of local wunderbands, The Celebrated Workingman and Juniper Tar.

"I was hanging out with Jason Mohr of Juniper Tar and Brian Kirk of Bus Stop and they wanted to hear our record. Not long after that, we decided it would be a good partnering."

Congratulate them in person at their next show, and don't forget to ask them for their name update.

This article written by Shelley Peckham. Also featuring The Box Social and White Light Riot.

With the amount of attention given to musical acts from the coasts these days, the extraordinary talent of Midwestern bands seems to slip through the cracks of recognition in the music press all too easily. However, the lineup for this Saturday's show at Café Montmartre is impossible to ignore. Madisonians will be lucky enough to experience not one, not two, but three of the best bands the Midwest has to offer: The Box Social, Quinn Scharber and the..., and White Light Riot.

Madison favorites The Box Social have had quite a year. After returning from their longest tour to date over the summer, Nick Junkunc, David Griesbach, Nick Woods and Brian Peoplis completed their latest release, Get Going. The album is just about as fun as it gets—not a skip-worthy track in the bunch. Theirs is a bright, crisp brand of power pop-laden rock with instantly memorable, euphoric choruses. "I think we have a lot of Midwestern flair in the songs that we write," Junkunc reflects. It's not hard to agree with him. Full throttle excitement is tightly woven throughout the album, especially on standout tracks like "Big T," "Why Oh Why" and "Hot Damn!" The laidback bounce of "Galoshes" could easily be the amphetamine-spiked cousin of The Replacements' "Waitress In The Sky," while "Pay Attention" and "Coming Around" have all the crunchy guitars that one could ask for.

"I think we have three different hats that we wear," explains Junkunc. "We have a power pop hat, we have some harder rocking songs, and we have some country songs. I think that we have a relatively diverse platter to offer." The Box Social's songs may be many things, but whatever you do, don't call them emo. "I hate emo beyond a shadow of a doubt," says Junkunc. "The songs are high energy rock songs that are very poppy and have a lot of pop sensibility. There's maybe a few songs on the record that I would concede to saying sound a little bit pop-punky, but that is not even close to the same as emo. The Ramones are a pop-punk band; nobody calls them emo. It's just that that's the climate of music these days."

The Box Social pride themselves on playing accessible tunes that can be appreciated by music fans from all walks of life by expanding on a sound that is tried and true. "While I would never even dream of saying that our music has a completely original sound," Junkunc admits, "I would say that the genre we play doesn't seem to be as well-traveled these days. I think that there are a lot of people that just like good, honest rock and roll, and I think that people really appreciate it when they do get to see it, because for some reason it seems to be few and far between."

Thankfully, Quinn Scharber and the... have just released their own superb record of good, honest rock and roll, Being Nice Won't Save Milwaukee. "Recording this album was one of the hardest, most trying things I've ever done," says Scharber. "I wanted a very organic sound with a lot of breathing room, but the way some of it was recorded it just wasn't possible. At the beginning I wanted about 12 songs on it, but as we got started I soon realized that would take about a year, so we picked the ones we thought were best."

The eight tracks that made the cut are as diverse as the players who created them. The fuzzy throb of "Addiction and Subtraction" brings to mind the impossible coolness of shoegaze greats The Jesus and Mary Chain, while songs like "Latest Flame" and "Pop Song" are high energy rockers performed with the unbridled spirit of (again) The Replacements. The simplicity and bittersweet melodic beauty of the band's more reserved songs suggest the influence of songwriters like Elliott Smith and Neil Young.

"To me, we don't share much in common at all as far as backgrounds go. As far as I can tell Thom [Geibel] was into indie rock and contemporary rock of the nineties. Joe [Kirschling] is into a lot of classic rock, punk, and hip hop. And, for myself, I've always been into a lot of classic rock and pop songwriters," Scharber explains. "We seem to meet in the area of songs that have a lot of hooks with space for us to stretch out as instrumentalists. If it's one thing we do have in common it's the influence of bands like Led Zeppelin whose members could really play off one another."

Though the songs on Being Nice Won't Save Milwaukee have a richly intimate quality about them, Scharber insists that it's just the result of good storytelling. "Addiction and Subtraction was completely written at the 5th Ward Pub and Grill one night in about twenty minutes. I match the lyrics with riffs I write on the guitar. Usually, I come up with them at work between teaching guitar lessons. Hardly any of the songs on this record are about my life at all. Most of it is observation."

Like The Box Social, Scharber feels that calling the Midwest home plays a significant part in the music that he and his band create. "Living in the Midwest is a huge part of my influence. This part of the country has as much life in it as any other part of the country, and I don't mean that in a John Mellencamp sort of way. The Midwest is like purgatory, and I take pride in that. It's not that great, but it's not that bad either. People that live here are more honest than anywhere," he explains. "Whenever I meet someone and the first thing they say is "Well you know, I'm from Boston", "I'm from L.A.," "I'm from New York", in my head I'm thinking "Next!" I'm tired of people being ashamed of being raised in the Midwest because they think it's not as important as other parts of the country. You should own that shit!"

While Scharber and Co. were hard at work crafting their debut, Minneapolis natives White Light Riot gave birth to their first full length album, Atomism, in the summer of 2007. "In essence, we wanted to record a tight, well-crafted pop record with a lot of rock and roll," explains guitarist Joe Christenson. "We had a lot of great pop songs in the bag with lots of hooks and some clever drum and bass work, so we ran with that and made the record." The result of the band's work in the studio is a polished, complex and distinctly British-sounding body of work. The swirling dreaminess of "Midway Souvenirs," "Transit State" and "Forever In The West" are sure to satisfy the indie kids, and Britpop lovers will immediately take to the infectious title track and "Our Formative Capital," among others.

Creating Atomism was a fast-paced labor of love, Christenson affirms. "We wrote songs during the summer of 2006, got approached by 50 Records in August, demoed 18 songs on September 1st, were tracking drums and bass by the last week of September at Pachyderm Studio, and tracked the rest from the end of October until early December. It was definitely a whirlwind process with a lot of last minute ideas and impromptu parts added, but it was amazingly fun and we got to work with two amazing engineers (Brent Sigmeth, who co-produced with us, and Paul Marino). For all of us it was arguably the most fun we've ever had, plus Pachyderm is just an awesome studio in a beautiful, inspiring location, so it was kind of blessed by the circumstance alone."

Though their time playing together has been relatively short, the band has enjoyed a great deal of noteworthy acclaim. WLR were named one of Minneapolis' best new bands of 2006, and Atomism has been praised as one of the city's best albums of 2007. Christenson, Dan Larsen, and brothers Mark and Mike Schwandt plan to hit the road heavily in the coming months, including a show at the renowned South By Southwest Festival in Austin.

Except you can't buy beer after 9pm