Feature_TS&N_Playhouse

November 10, 2008

by Dave Schaefer

Saturday night was a hectic but fulfilling journey into the musically eclectic nature of the Columbus local music scene. A trip that went from electronic folk to jazz to modern rock.

Team Smile and Nod

First, it was a stop at East Village in the Short North for Team Smile and Nod’s CD release show. A duo of talented musicians, TS&N creates a sound that juxtapositions traditional folk with a decidedly contemporary electronic dance sound.

The two members of TS&N are Kara Elizabeth on acoustic guitar and vocals and Rich Ratvasky on guitar and Macbook. They blend the complexity of their sound on stage with such ease that if you closed you’re eyes, you could almost pretend that you were listening to it on your iPod. Kara’s voice is sweet, lively, and compelling all at once. One song it’s spritely and fun, the next her vocals are marked with an intense conviction that is impossible not to be drawn into.

Kara also has a personable stage presence. Both sympathetic and likable, you picture her being your friend, regardless of whether you’ve ever met.

Rich is all business on stage. Generally quiet and concentrating, he let’s Kara be the center of attention, perhaps because he knows she does it with such grace.

Team Smile and Nod’s set was a mix of tunes from the CD Look Both Ways Before You Die along with other songs that didn’t make the cut. All were good. The standout song for the night is the standout track on the CD -- “Still Stuck.” It’s a song that according to Kara is “getting some love” from people and it’s a featured song on the latest edition of the Life on the C-bus Podcast. Of all the songs, “Still Stuck” is the one that most craftily fuses their folk and electronic sounds together then blends in vocals that are spot-on and lyrically fun.

I have a copy of Look Both Ways Before You Die and a review will likely be posted next week.

Before moving on, I have to say that East Village may well have the greatest, most friendly bartenders anywhere. They all were clearly having a good time doing what they do and were having just as much fun with their clientele.

Playhouse

I took off during TS&N’s last set in order to walk a few doors down to the Short North Tavern to try and catch as much of Playhouse’s electronic pop-infused jazz as I could before heading to my last stop.

I stepped into a packed, standing-room-only bar, but was fortunate to grab an unused barstool, ordered a beer and waited for Playhouse to set up and start playing. When did finally start about a half-hour later, it was worth the wait.

This band is absolutely phenomenal.

With Billy Zehnal on bass, Sean Ferguson on keyboards, Carlos Fisher on beats and samples, Jeffro Jam working the synthesizers, and Jason Branscum mastering the trombone, Playhouse kicks out jazz jams that are impossible to sit still to. That is, if your body will allow you to sit at all. Nearly everyone in the bar was moving to the rhythm and, save for a very few, everyone was paying attention to their dynamic and engaging performance. This being my first time hearing them live, I’m in awe.

I’m ordering their latest CD Billy’s Playhouse and I absolutely can’t wait for it to arrive.

Sorry William

Unfortunately, I had to skip out after just a few songs in order to head over to CBR’s for my last stop of the night. But fortunately, it was for a band that I feel has great potential to do something big -- Sorry William. The band was playing last on the line-up for Halo Effect’s CD release show. Halo Effect themselves can kick it pretty heavy with good modern rock/metal, but my busy night only allowed me to catch the last couple songs of their set -- one that was clearly satisfying the large crowd that filled the pit in front of them. The band even had to eventually give in to demands for an encore.

After Halo Effect did their headlining thing, Sorry William closed up the night with an outstanding set.

Sorry William’s sound is solid radio-friendly modern rock. They showed off some new songs, with “Slip Away” showing huge promise with it’s clever hooks and a sweet (though short) guitar solo. Another song called “This Is Your Life” showcased great lyrics melded into a clean musical riff that would be any producer’s dream to work with.

Afterwards, I sat down with Jonathan Goldsmith (vocals), Jason Retz (guitar), Jim Guest (bass) and Jason Yu (drums) to talk about Sorry William, the local scene, and what’s in the hopper for the band.

They first talked about how the hell they got the name. It started because of a really big basement and a really picky neighbor. Former drummer Mike Hawkins’ home had a huge basement, which was a perfect practicing space for the band -- then called Half Angle Formula, or H.A.F. -- but it was in a housing community where a neighbor two doors down wasn’t happy at all with the regular noise of a rock band rehearsal.

“This woman comes over,” says Retz, “and she’s got the Miranda Homes bylaws out and she’s like reading shit from it. Apparently she had a son named William who couldn’t practice his violin because we were being too much of a nuisance. So later Mikey comes downstairs to where we were practicing, pitching a fit and bitching at this lady in effigy. And he’s yelling at her like she’s down the hall -- ‘Fuck you, lady! I’m sorry! I’m sorry, William! I’m sorry you can’t practice your violin!’ And he’s just going off. So I specifically remember Jonathan and I looked at each other from across this huge basement and we’re like, yeah, that’s it. And the band name Sorry William was born.” He laughs. “So basically, we’re spiteful assholes and that’s where the name came from.”

The band’s songwriting is a collaborative effort, with everyone adding to mix, including the lyrics.

And lately it’s weird,” says Guest. “It’s been like an explosion in the songwriting process. We’ll just start playing and we’ll be, like, ‘Man, we gotta come up with a bridge for this part’ and all of a sudden we’ll all start playing something and we’re ‘Hey this sounds really good, let’s go with it.’ It’s all been flowing really well.”

Retz agrees. “We had a song that we’d been working on for months and we didn’t really like it that much, didn’t really go anywhere with it, and then one night I was like, ‘What if I played this part just clean instead of distortion?’ and everyone was like, ‘That sounds so much better.’ And all of a sudden we finished that whole song in one night. That’s really a rewarding thing -- when you’re writing a song and it all comes together like that.”

They’re heading into the studio this weekend to do some recording with Joe Viers of Sonic Lounge. Their goal is to lay down one -- possibly two -- songs, and be sure to get it sounding just right. Their focus right now is quality, not quantity, with a plan of releasing an EP sometime in the first quarter of 2009.

“More than anything I’d like to see us be able to support ourselves doing music,” says Retz. “It’s what we all love more than anything in the world. I basically quit college to do music, so I work a shitty day job and live for nights when I get to play out with my band.”

And play out, they do -- averaging anywhere from three to four shows a month at venues ranging from Ruby Tuesdays to CBR’s to Flannigan’s.

And what do they think of the Columbus local music scene?

“The bands get their friends to come out and they come out,” says Guest. “But they’re there to see that specific band, so when that band is done, those people leave. They don’t have any interest in seeing the other three or four bands that might be playing that night.” Evidenced by the clearing out of the Halo Effect fans that same night to make way for the smaller crowd there to see Sorry William’s set.

“And I feel like the Columbus scene is way more supportive of, like, indie-rock bands,” adds Yu. “And they seem to get more action.”

I asked them about the constant buzz about bands leaving the city to move to bigger markets or get more notice elsewhere.

Guest speaks up. “I feel it really takes us local bands to work together to make a difference in the scene here in Columbus. And giving up here and going somewhere else isn’t helping.”

After all, for Sorry William it’s about the fans. “We’re a good band,” says Goldsmith. “We just need those good fans to help us get better.”

Guest smiles: “Yeah, and it’s the best feeling in the world when you’re playing in front of a crowd that digs it.”

If Sorry William keeps going like they are, they’ll be adding those fans, getting better, and get the attention of a crowd that’ll stick around even if the band they came to see has left the building.