The Ohio Weather Band
Cleveland, Ohio, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2012 | SELF
Music
Press
"Alliance Rockers release stellar debut album..." - Canton Repository
Album selected for Cleveland Music City’s 30 Best Cleveland Albums of 2014 - Cleveland Music City
2014's "Best of" List - Canton Repository
"The young Alliance-based group has been collecting critical praise for its self-titled debut album, released in early April.." - About Magazine
"Ohio Weather Band is a young touring rock group with a talented singer and definitely worth checking out..." - AL.com
"The band already was on a loose concert tour that included stops in Columbus, Nashville, Tennessee and Oxford, Mississippi..." - Canton Repository
"A life-altering entity..." - The Alliance Review
The relaxed, natural feel of the Ohio Weather Band’s new album “Crooked Light” is the result of much consideration and effort.
“It just feels more mature,” keyboardist Ray Lumpp said of the record. “We all got more specific about our parts and how the harmonies came together.”
“We focused a lot on the musicality of it,” said Corey King, the band’s vocalist, guitarist and songwriter. “With the last record, we were trying to party while making this music. Now we’re focused on the instrumentation.”
Compared to the 2014 self-titled debut of the band — whose members are all Alliance natives — “Crooked Light” is “technically an improvement,” said bassist Derek Strata. “Everything is easier to hear, especially the low end. It’s a little more professional in general.”
King’s plaintive, vulnerable and intimate vocals remain the band’s most recognizable aspect, and his lyrics on “Crooked Light” are thoughtful, confessional and detailed, with inventive turns of phrase.
“It’s not a thematic album, but there’s a recurring message about miscommunication,” King said. “‘Advice’ is about being able to give people advice but not taking your own. ‘Sunburn’ is about holding on to something that is probably a mistake.”
King’s song “Barflies,” an album standout, is a story song about a guy too drunk to drive home from a bar who calls a friend on his near-dead cellphone, gets no answer and then explains to his girl that they’ll have to walk home.
“It seems like there are simple, obvious meanings to the songs,” King said. “But there’s something bigger behind it.”
BIG SHOW SATURDAY
The band will celebrate the release of “Crooked Light” with a concert Saturday night at Musica in downtown Akron.
“We’ve definitely stepped things up,” King said. “We’ve got some stage decor — our own craftsmanship — so visibly people can see that we’re at the next level.”
The show will have “production values,” Lumpp said. Plus, “We’ve been practicing a lot.”
The band’s last CD-release show, also at Musica in 2014, attracted a near-capacity crowd of fans who seemed to know every word of the songs. “It was overwhelming,” drummer Pete Childerson recalled. “I didn’t know what to expect. I thought it would be nine of our friends and us playing to them.”
Asked to define the Ohio Weather Band’s following, Lumpp said, “Family is huge for us, a lot of it is friends from college, we all have individual groups of friends. And there’s Gopher, an awesome diehard fan from West Virginia. He came to see a Bob Dylan show at E.J. Thomas, and stumbled (afterward) into our last release show. He came to see us in North Carolina.”
King said, “We’re starting to see recurring people who only know us by the music. A lot of different age groups.” Incidentally, King, Lumpp and Strata are 25, and Childerson is 26.
Now that the band has two albums under its belt, “it’s really nice knowing we can play two solid hours of original music,” Lumpp said.
UNDER ONE ROOF
Three of the band members now can walk to Musica, if so inclined. King, Lumpp and Strata moved to Akron in October, where they share a house. (Childerson lives in Lakewood).
“We live in North Hill, where there are a lot of Nepalese and Cambodian people,” Lumpp said. “We’re next door to a police officer.”
Living together, “we can wake up, get breakfast and start the business,” King said.
A portion of “Crooked Light” was recorded in the basement of the house, which doubles as a practice space.
Beyond the band, all four of the guys have daytime pursuits. King does tech support for a software startup, Childerson does engineering work and Strata is studying computer programming at Stark State University.
“I have a minimum wage poultry shop job,” Lumpp said. “I cut up chickens, do heavy lifting. It’s dirty and gross. The other day, I broke up a fight. But I do have a college degree.”
Fortunately, the guys have enough flexibility with their jobs that they can get away for touring. Because King’s father now lives in Nashville, the band has played there several times, most recently in December at the Mercy Lounge.
“We’re making friends there and connections,” said King. “We have a growing fan base here and we’re trying to grow it regionally, trying to hit some of the same spots.”
For the second year in a row, Ohio Weather Band will perform two shows during South By Southwest in Austin, Texas, in March, on a tour that also will include two shows in Nashville, and gigs in Louisville, Kentucky, and Columbus.
“I think the next step up would be to get a real booking agent, someone who wants us to do well,” King said. “And just keep on keeping on.”
Reach Dan at 330-580-8306 or dan.kane@cantonrep.com. - The Canton Repository
A driven roots-rock band from Akron, The Ohio Weather Band are a blossoming four-piece with a talent for raucous sound and chaotic rock melodies. The latest installment in their growing discography is ‘Crooked Light’, a sophomore album that boasts an impressive display of talents.
Recorded, co-produced, and co-mixed by the entire band, ‘Crooked Light’ is a dynamic collection of rock cuts that mingle with grass-roots level blues, classic folk, and some melodies of their own invention. Its light music intertwined with dark lyrics, driving a contrast that constantly intrigues and frequently entertains.
Opening track ‘Boardwalk Act’ is the perfect illustration of the unique sound The Ohio Weather Band are developing, offering folksy beginnings that quickly transform into brash, rock choruses and shadowed vocals that are self-aware and brimming with confidence. Following cut ‘Messenger Bird’ infuses their sound with some easy-listening flavour, while the semi-titular track of ‘Ohio Weather’ plays as one of the most emotive and transcending tracks of the album.
The beauty in ‘Crooked Light’ doesn’t so much lie in the music, although every turn, and each blossoming tone is played to near-perfection, but it’s the realism in their narratives that makes it so transfixing. Simple ideas flourish, and dazzling displays of blues composition break against waves of compelling vocals. It’s an album that quickly transitions towards a triumph of style and substance, and it’s certainly worth a listen.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Anthem: Ohio Weather - Anthem Review
Discography
The Ohio Wether Band (Self-titled) - 2014
Crooked Light - 2016
Photos
Bio
The Ohio Weather Band formed in a small town in Ohio--before the members even realized it. Corey King (guitar/vocals), Derek Strata (bass/vocals) and Ray Lumpp (percussion/vocals) were friends long before bandmates. Corey had written songs for a solo EP (“Ohio Weather”) and asked his friends Derek and Ray to perform on the record as bass player and drummer, respectively. At that point, the band was established. In 2014, The Ohio Weather Band released their self-titled, debut album. Most of the album was recorded by the group, though they managed to salvage a few guitar and drum tracks from previous recording sessions. The album was produced, mixed and packaged solely by the band. This served as a local and regional launching pad for OWB: local magazines and newspapers supported the album and honored it as one of the best area albums in Cleveland, OH and Canton, OH. Shortly afterwards, The Ohio Weather Band went on a self-booked three week tour around the Midwest and Eastern US.
Band Members
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