The Lorax Tree

Review
Down Here At the Grog Shop
The Lorax Tree W/ The Heights, RareBirds, and Aliver Hall
“Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can”
- Danny Kaye (1913-1987)

Chad W. Lutz

That’s exactly what they did. I wasn’t quite sure what Matt Brower, bassist for The Lorax Tree meant by “complete live experience” when I first got his email inviting me out to the Grog Shop on September 4th. But by the end of the second act, completely entranced by local artist Justin Roberts’ (above) elemental take on the classic mountain landscape, I understood exactly what he meant.

Armed with my photographer, I made my way up to the Grog with little to no expectations. I had checked the website earlier that day to listen in on some of the bands that were going to be playing, most notably The Heights Band from Barberton, who basically blew the lid right off the house with their insane take on the down and dirty blues. The venue hadn’t even started letting people in when I arrived, giving me the chance to sit down with members of The Heights to talk Cleveland for a bit (mainly about how depressing the upcoming Cavs season is going to inevitably be and the almost hilarious [if they didn’t sting like a syringe full of bleach] off-season blunders of Dan Gilbert and Co.). After about twenty minutes of watching some amateur parcours enthusiasts nearly snap their necks in two, they began letting people file in and we made our way inside.

The Grog Shop, located off Coventry Rd on the East Side of Cleveland, has been in the business of blowing minds since 1992 (the days when livin’ with Louie Dog was the only way to stay sane). Rather intimate and gritty, the venue opens up as you walk through the door into a dimly lit stage area with a wall-to-wall bar running along the right hand side. The color scheme is red and black (UC!), with massive pillars holding the joint up dotted here and there across the dance floor directly in front of the stage. People filed in and out slowly, but consistently, throughout the evening, with the crowd reaching it’s fullest potential around 10pm just as The Heights Band took the stage. There were types of every stereo, with a couple barefoot hippies present leading the transcendental tango; hands to the heavens.The first band to play, Aliver Hall from Akron, greeted the crowd with an eclectic mix of energetic jam pop rock that hinted at its classical influence playing a resonating cover of “Dear Prudence” I won’t soon forget. After their set, DJ Havok took over the job of generating sound, and with Justin Robert’s help, turned the venue into an episode of The Joy of Painting on ecstasy (Paint Rave! [think about that one]). With a crowd of about thirty on-lookers, Justin Roberts went to work putting paint to portrait to the club music gurgling dangerously close to “The Brown Note.” It was cool to watch the creative process in action and watch Roberts gain spire right in front of our very eyes as the painting took shape and came to life. I later asked him if this was the first time The Lorax Tree had collaborated with him on a project like this and he told me that it wasn’t.

“No, we actually do this all the time,” reaffirmed Brower after the show was over. I was surprised to hear this, thinking that my own similar idea was the first of its kind. I always wondered what it would be like to mold and mesh mediums into one fantastic, thrill-filled evening of music and mosaic mayhem. Now I know. The miracle has happened.The Heights Band showcases their signature form of thrash and bash blues.The evening wore on with The Heights Band (above) literally putting the, “oh,” in show. My photographer said he had never seen a bassist get so into a performance before (props to you, Kyle). But props are due to the whole band, who never seem to hold anything back and always leave the stage like they had just been through battle. The Rarebirds came on next and enlisted the help of guitarist Neal Campbell as they, tongue-in-cheek, rocked the crowd while psychedelic snip-its of Kill Bill danced wildly on the backdrop. Video artist Jon Mancinetti was on hand to provide the psychedelic visual entertainment.

“Thank you,” shouted the drummer after the crowd received one of their songs with a roaring applause.

“Your welcome,” one brave and liquored fan shot back when the room reached that awkward crawl towards silence after all clapping had ceased.

Seemingly humbled and impressed, the drummer thanked him for being the only person who had apparently taken to an ethics class in the crowd.

Finally, around midnight or so, The Lorax Tree took to the stage and made quick work of sending all of us out there somewhere near Jupiter (or was it Saturn?). Their spacey sound I described as “weird”, with a smile, at the show, during another such awkward crawl, filled every square inch of space in the room. With dissonant guitar riffs that seemed to reach and reach and reach and the intense thundering drumming of the curly and capricious Dylan Gomez, the instrumental psychedelic techno jam rock whipped through the crowd like a wildfire and into an internal frenzy, ready to combust at command. One fan, who had to have known these guys personally because he kept shouting, “BROWER IS A SEXY BEAST!” at the tops of his lungs, must’ve succumbed to the bands mind-melting capabilities at one point because he lost control of his beer (which inexplicably happened more than once) and sent it flying across the crowd to land effervescing innocently on the stage right next to the bare feet of Brower, who kept right on rocking. The Grog Shop, looking more like a page torn straight from a Dr. Seuss book, under the spell of The Lorax Tree.After the show I had a chance to meet up with the guys, who, like The Heights Band, are excited about their upcoming shows and are playing Sunday (9/12/2010) at the Zane Shawnee in Bellefontaine.

I keep telling my friends that the next big era of rock music won’t happen without the 216 or 330 somewhere in the mix. With artists like Kid Cudi, The Black Keys, and NE Ohio’s long standing tradition in the vein of Rock N’ Roll, Ohio has been on the music map since Salem, Ohio’s own Alan Freed popularized the phrase back in 1951. This was just another new chapter in the Book of Rock N’ Roll, and even though this article stands as a fairly precise account of the event, I’m still a little groggy about what I witnessed (but probably just a little dazed and confused).


*Special thanks to Matt Brower and The Lorax Tree for having us out, to Joshua-Kareem-Abdul-Hammertime-Zawiski-Jackson for the photos, and to The Heights Band, just for being sweet. - Chad W. Lutz

This trippy affair begins with the careening "Soka," a steady dose of trance that's propelled by noisy guitars before segueing into "Inversion," a tune with distorted vocals and sci-fi lyrics about elves and dwarves. It's head-melting stuff that this fine band delivers with the right amount of finesse. While the trajectory of "S.N.E.S." is more predictable than the album's first two tracks, there's little about Captain Kneal that can be easily categorized, as the guys dip into psychedelic rock ("Interlusion") and electro-funk ("CLE DNB") without missing a beat. - Scene Magazine

CD Review: Captain Kneal And The Noisemakers - Captain Kneal And The Noisemakers

Cleveland’s Captain Kneal And The Noisemakers are an incredibly inventive guitar-oriented rock outfit that mixes ambient guitar effects and rock arrangements to create avante-garde instrumental creations. These creations are direct descendants from the sort of tight and off-beat arrangements made famous by Andy Summers. Captain Kneal And The Noisemakers' self-titled EP is five songs deep in music that is highly unusual and creatively unique.

Drawing on the sort of progressive punk the Police practiced in their early days, Captain Kneal And The Noisemakers make a statement about ethereal guitar rock. You will either love or hate this album, I don't think there's any in-between. Highlights include Lake Effect Snow, N.F.S, and Captain Kneal. Check out Captain Kneal And The Noisemakers, particularly if you play guitar. You'll get a kick out of this.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Captain Kneal And The Noisemakers at www.myspace.com/clevelandnoisemakers. You can purchase a copy of Captain Kneal And The Nosiemakers at www.cdbaby.com/cd/ckatn2.

Posted by Wildy at 5:00 AM - Wildys World

Instrumental Trio Creates Indefinable Music And Noise
Posted by John Benson December 23, 2008 09:41AM
Finding the gray area between noise and melody is what local act Captain Kneal and The NoiseMakers is hoping to discover with its instrumental music that includes elements of rock, drum 'n' bass and trance.

Formed a year ago on the Kent State University Campus, the trio - Matt Brower (bass), Neal Campbell (guitar) and Dylan Gomez (drums) - has so far experienced high-profile gigs opening for national acts such as Dub Trio and Lotus. As for describing the outfit's sound, that apparently isn't an easy proposition.

"We get all kinds of comparisons to bands I've never really heard of, so then we go back and listen to the band we're compared to," said Brower, a Lyndhurst native and 2003 Brush High School graduate. "Someone compared us to King Crimson. Someone compared us to like different electronic bands and some people think we sound like Rage Against the Machine and Incubus. It's really all over the place."


He added, "I think it's great that one person will have a perception of us and then the other person will be completely opposite. That really speaks loudly about how original and unique the sound is."

Granted such diversity is good, but in today's music world some, well, snobs wouldn't take lightly to being compared to classic rock act King Crimson.

"Right, but not our band," Bower laughed. "Since that comparison, it drove me to listen to them and really see what they're all about. They're actually amazing, and while I was honored to be compared to them, I don't necessarily think we sound anything like them."

Currently the band is promoting its new self-titled EP, which includes band favorite "Lake Effect Snow," with a Saturday (Dec. 27) show at the Grog Shop. Recorded at Mannequin Odd Productions in Aurora, the entire release was actually the grand prize won by Captain Kneal and The NoiseMakers at a Kent battle of the bands event earlier this year.

So what does it say that an instrumental three-piece act would not only standout favorably among 70 other local groups in a battle of the bands setting but against all odds win the event? At the very least a confluence of fate, musicianship and dedication appear to be pushing Captain Kneal and The NoiseMakers to greater things.

"A lot of the bands we went up against, they were very talented with talented singers, but it was all of the same old stuff we'd been hearing for 30 or 40 years after like Led Zeppelin and those groups," Brower said. "So you have all of these other bands with members in college trying to replicate that, while we're trying to take that and use it as an influence but extend that and go further because we believe in the progression of music and not just doing the same old thing everyone does year after year.

"I think it's the originality, intensity and the energy that we bring. Whether people like our music or not, we're going to get their attention and draw them to the stage just so they can figure out what's going on."

Captain Kneal & The NoiseMakers are scheduled to play at 8 p.m. Saturday (Dec. 27) at the Grog Shop, 2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights. Tickets are $6. Also on the bill are This Is A Shakedown!, JJ Magazine and DJ Blackbird. Call 216-321-5588
- John Benson