Man, is timing everything. This morning on Twitter, former member of The Hitch, Magnum and numerous other socks-rockin’ bands (and current bearded construction god, seen above with Duane Flatmo’s fire breathing dragon) Steve Bohner announced:
Looks like the new band has found a keyboard player…..
New band? Keyboard player? Bohner agreed to come on the air on 94.1 KSLG to talk about this new project, which the local music scene has been waiting for. He talked about a collaboration between himself and Roshawn Beere (neither of whom have played together since The Hitch split up, a few years ago) on drums and bass, with Dragged By Horses singer and guitar player Pablo Midence… and a keyboard player, who will remain anonymous for now, but who Bohner assures us has been an integral part of the local music scene for many years.
Stay tuned to the NCJ blog and 94.1 KSLG-FM for more details, as they surface. In the meantime, go buy some new socks.
This article appears in The Council that Kicked the Hornets’ Nest.
So The Hitch + Dragged by Horses + what?
Dragged by a Truck?
Ha! Witty. I don’t think they’ve come up with a name (heck, they’ve only just added the anonymous keyboard player), but ears are open for updates. 🙂
Great news for local rock enthusiasts.
That was me, not Monica. And since I’m double-posting, here’s a related question: Am I out of touch or are we suffering a tangible lack of young rockers on the scene?
haha monica, or whoever just posted that…If I were a young rocker, I’d definitely allow myself to be tangible for select fans…
This is GREAT news. I’ve followed Roshawn’s career ever since the early 90’s goth/punk/death scene…anyone else out there still remember Sake?
Roshawn and Pablo are rock gods. If they weren’t behind the redwood curtain they’d be much more famous.
P.S. This was such weird news to read this morning. By the oddest coincidence, I had a dream last night wherein my still existent cassette copy of “Oriental Revenge” was vitally important. Not the sort of thing I dream regularly…
I think the lack of young rockers has much to do with the local venues. I don’t know exactly how you define “young rocker,” but for simplicity, I’ll define it as people between 14 – 25 who listen to KSLG, and “the scene” as attending local live music venues, both as performers and audience.
I can think of a lot of reasons for this, having grown up in Humboldt. I’m 34 years old, but I still haven’t forgotten all years when I was shut out of 90% of shows.
The lack of all ages venues.Over the years, I’ve watched them come and, all too quickly, go. Sooner or later, the neighbors complain about the tangible presence of young rockers in the neighborhood and use their evil grown-up powers to destroy it, or the venue decides to mix youth and alcohol, screws it up, and decides to become 21+.
Busses that stop at 10:00 PM on Friday, 6:00 PM on Saturday, and don’t run at all on Sunday. I’m no longer a “young rocker,” but I don’t own a car so I’ve missed a lot of shows at the Lil Red Lion and Red Fox Tavern. I’m sure a lot of high school and college students and others have this same problem – 5 miles away might as well be 300 some nights.
Venues/booking agents: I like Reggae, Folk/Bluegrass, and Blues/Jazz based jam bands. But often it seems that’s the only thing happening. And in between these shows, they often seem to prefer to book the $5 DJ over the $10 band. Sure, there are a few venues, such as the Alibi, the Lil Red Lion, and such, that book acts outside this narrow definition of Humboldt music. But they’re hardly the largest or best venues in town. Where are local “rockers” supposed to play or gather to hear travelling musicians?
Just a few thoughts. One could also blame a decline of funding for arts in the schools over the past 20 years for the lack of new musicians and fans, or the fractionalization and factionization of music scenes, or any number of other causes.
This is poised to be the worst-smelling HumCo band since Grout.
Damn, did Jen just call Bohner old? wow, that hurts.
Jonathan, I consider Bohner ageless. Like J Lo.
Scott, solid points — the lack of support for Placebo and other attempts at establishing an all-ages scene has been sad, for sure. But in the 21-to-30-year old range? No rockers? Or even some semblance of an indie scene? It wasn’t that long ago that Arcata seemed bustling with bands. Tell me I’m just out of touch…
Scott, in my opinion, hit it on the head. This county has it’s core of rockers/punk rockers. But the majority of shows put on are Reggae, Folk/Bluegrass, and Blues/Jazz based jam Bands. When’s the last event on the Arcata Plaza had something even close to a rock band? I was influenced to start my first band (WD-40) after seeing a live show. Maybe these “kids” are simply getting into jambands or Reggae because that’s what gets booked here? Props to Ian at the Alibi for keeping the rock alive in Arcata. Wish we had a train from Eureka to Arcata for those great Eureka shows. Wait. That’s another topic…….
Yeah, scott’s totally right. I’m 35 and was big into the music scene in the bay area, especially the east bay where I grew up. I watched the rise of bands like Primus and eureka’s own Mr. Bungle (mike patton hates eureka, btw)…papa roach was still playing garages then almost overnight went superstar. Too many great bands who were really into making good music and vibing off eachother…all started young.
A lot of crap is stumping younguns from getting together to truely ROCK. Lack of venues is probably the biggest part of the problem. I watched plenty close down. The berkeley square probably the most famous. I dunno if the Gilman is still going, hope so. Others jsut stopped allowing minors due to influences of law enforcement. There was a coffee shop in antioch that was becoming very popular with teens on weekends, where kids would get together and jam. This was between 97-98. The cops killed that one. Before that, downtown Walnut Creek had a few hot spots to gather. Same thing. The last place I remember to serve alcohol while also welcoming minors was Lindee’s in concord. Needless to say the place was seriously bumping all the time. Kids and adults hanging out together having a good time. Now it’s like some kind of major taboo for minors to even see alcohol being consumed or something.
Also, kids under 18 can’t even drive with passengers, and aren’t allowed to drive after 11pm. This is a HUGE setback. Over restrictive parents, etc. etc….increasing lack of faith and trust that kids will be kids etc. Tollerance is way down and police presence is way up. .
Also, I notice teens going for instant stardom on the internet first vs. putting themselves out there in front of their peers. As is the way of the internet, not a very encouraging venue. Take a look at young rocker vids on the youtubes…9/10 comments are insults. A couple good friends of mine are teachers in bay area schools. We talk about it often, how highschoolers are glued to their cellphones,and check their spacebook facepages as often as possible. LAME!
…and heartbreaking. To all the young rockers putting yourself out there and rocking in spite of it all, I salute you!
The lineup with the keyboard reeks of being a Delta Nationals tribute band. (Talk about old!) You F**kers stay away from the Elks Lodge, Ya Hear!
Dont get me started sounds like the old guy I used to know that would yell, get off my lawn you punk kids and attempt to throw rocks at us- that damn FB… ruining the youth today!!
..and thanks jen for clarifying that bohner is ageless and not old. whew.
what’s that jonathan???! speak up! the batteries in my hearing aide are dead!
I call it like I see it, mang. I’m guessing you got your nose glued to friendspace too…you gotta admit all things internet is a new phenomenomenon, and kids are hooked more than anybody because they’re being born into it…growing up watching mommy and daddy staring at computer screens all day instead of TV screens…like in the good olden days of yore.
I got a bucket of rocks on my lawn that says “take one” for the kids to throw, actually.
chiming in only two more cents, because I won’t be staring at the computer screen all day today as usual…I’m saying the opposite of “kids these days! bah!”…I’m saying “adults these days! bah!” I’ll be the first to admit my stupidity where due, but I like to think I’m a bit ahead of the game in some departments. It’s crazy to see people who I grew up with, the same age as me, who in highschool had jobs at burger king and we’d talk like “imagine if we made three grand a month! we’d be set!”…who are now making tons of money but buried in debt. And every time they get money, they blow it. Stuff like that…
…society’s blatant stupidity not excluded. Cellphones, for example, have been proven, beyond any shadow of a doubt, to promote tumor growth. They’re equivalent to pocket sized microwave ovens…even worse in proximity…yet parents that can afford it insist their kids’ stay glued to the things. Parents who, only a decade ago didn’t even imagine such technology would exist like it does today. Mind boggling. Another discussion entirely.
For the longest time I thought “dragged by horses” was named “drugged by horses”…I’d only heard them on the radio and misheard. Then I saw them live and derrr….
Regardless, this lineup proves to be the most rocking in town.
In-freakin’-deed, Terrence.
I think everyone has a good point in regards to both the recently lacking scene, and the reasons for it. We can ruminate on those reasons all day, or we can support the folks who want to keep fighting the all-ages-venue fight, in hopes that some day the kids will have something akin to the all-ages scene that I’m thrilled existed when I was a mid-to-late teen.
Perhaps we can start by trying to educate the bah-humbug adults on the idea that kids who have nothing constructive/supervised to do will create their own trouble… possibly involving alcohol in the adult’s parking lot or in the form of “art” on their back fence. Give ’em a well supervised place to go, where they can have fun and take pride in what they’re helping to accomplish, and you end up with far more proactive kids than destructive ones, I’m guessing.