The all-new Outer Sounds

The Outer Sounds was originally conceived by James Allison and Jacob Halpern of the Columbus/Boston duo Blastronauts as a two-night local music show centered around their CD release. Shortly after, it became a weekly Thursday night event at Scarlet and Grey Cafe, again featuring Columbus bands. Now it’s morphed into something new.

The Outer Sounds begins anew on September 25, this time at various North Campus venues, and it’s scope reaches beyond only local to bands from all of Ohio -- and even a bit beyond.

LotC spoke with James about the new and improved Outer Sounds and began by asking him about why they decided to change up how they chose to do things.

“Scarlet and Grey Cafe is still a pretty "college" bar and can only really fit certain types of music. Some bands I wanted to book simply didn't want to play because the night was being held at Scarlet and Grey because they associated it with a certain type of crowd. I considered switching to another bar all together, but I realized I was going to have that same problem with any place I held the night. Having an assortment of venues where I can book gives me the chance to really choose anyone and find a good place to fit them. The variety's really better for everyone, including us (Blastronauts) because it gives us a chance to play at some awesome venues.”

And the list is a veritable who’s who of area bars: Rumba, CBR’s, Bernie’s, and Ruby Tuesdays to name a few.

According to James, it didn’t take much to get a solid line-up. “ It usually doesn't take much to ask someone if they want to play, and for a lot of the bands it gives them the chance to play with bands they wouldn't usually play with.”

And there’s a few surprises in the mix this time around. Denver’s Dressy Bessy, featuring John Hill of the Apples In Stereo on guitar, stop by on the last date of their fall tour, Lollapalooza players the Melismatics are coming in from Chicago, and Le Concorde on their way back from CMJ are in the line-up.

The Outer Sounds schedule (and the cities where the bands are from):

September 25th, 2008

Bernie’s

The Seedy Seeds (Cincinnati)

Flotation Walls (Columbus)

Couch Forts (Columbus)

New Vega (Dayton)

October 2nd, 2008

Rumba Café

Blastronauts (Columbus)

Earwig (Columbus)

Paper Airplane (Columbus)

Bookmobile (Columbus)

October 9th, 2008

Café Bourbon Street

Russenorsk (Athens, OH)

Melty Melty (Columbus)

James & James (Columbus)

Blood on my Neck (Columbus)

October 16th, 2008

CBR’s

Blastronauts (Columbus)

The Melismatics (Chicago, IL)

The Nuclear Children (Columbus)

Karate Coyote (Columbus)

October 27th, 2008

*SPECIAL MONDAY SHOW*

Rumba Café

Le Concorde (Chicago, IL)

Winter Makes Sailors (Columbus)

Our Cat Philip (Columbus)

Jonathan Hape (Columbus)

October 30th, 2008

*HALLOWEEN PARTY*

Ruby Tuesday

featuring Our Cat Philip, Karate Coyote and Blastronauts

November 6th, 2008

Bernie’s

Dressy Bessy (Denver, CO, featuring John Hill of the apples in stereo!)

One for the Team (Minneapolis, MN)

Blastronauts (Columbus)

Also, stay tuned for more dates featuring Sleeping in the Aviary (Madison, WI), Amos Joy (Indianapolis, IN), Gadgetvoz (Columbus), The Dreadful Yawns (Cleveland), and more.