Feast Your Ears On This

Here are a few artists I think should be given a listen. I'm skipping over the huge national acts like Smashing Pumpkins and Tool because everyone's heard of them. Instead, I give you the (somewhat) local musicians that have limited exposure but lots of talent:

The Mines: Ethan Nickerson, Greg Lockwood, Todd Hoek, Troy Hatfield

A local band from GR, I've seen them several times at FMG and once downtown at Festival of the Arts. They have three discs (Metropolis (2006); People Music (2008); Fear Is Easy (2011), all of which are full of great songs. Fortunately or unfortunately, they don't do a lot of touring outside the region. Definitely check them out if you ever get the chance, or just order their discs and enjoy them from the comfort of your own home.

Ethan, who plays bass, also does most of the singing. I think because of that their songs also have a lot of bass in them, which is certainly fine by me. Or maybe I'm just more attuned to bass and hear it over the other instruments.

Papa Vegas: Joel Ferguson, Mick Force, Scott Stefanski, Pete Dunning

I first heard Papa Vegas downtown at the Grand Rapids Grand Prix in August of 1999. I was so blown away by their sound that I immediately went out and bought Hello Vertigo (1999), which I still listen to all the time. Although they were truly a local band (from Grand Rapids), I don't remember them playing very many shows around town. Unfortunately, Papa Vegas didn't last long after Hello Vertigo was released.

After the demise of Papa Vegas, Joel Ferguson formed Miles to Mars (MTM). I was vaguely aware of them, but never saw any shows or heard much about them. I found out they actually put out a disc, Sovereign (2003), so I bought it. It's pretty good. Unfortunately, I don't think MTM is still around, either.

Update--Papa Vegas is currently recording a second album!! The lineup has changed a little (Mick Force is no longer in the band), but I'm seriously looking forward to the new disc. The songs they played at the FMG shows were fantastic, so I'm sure this one will be just as great as Hello Vertigo.

The Verve Pipe:  Brian Vander Ark, Brad Vander Ark, Donny Brown, A.J. Dunning, Doug Corella

I'd heard of TVP being from Grand Rapids and all, but I didn't really get into them until I heard "Photograph" on the radio one day on my way home from work. I remember exactly where I was when I heard it:  getting off I-196 at the College Street exit. It was love at first hearing.

Formed in 1992 in Lansing, Michigan, TVP had quite a bit of success locally and managed to go national with Villains (1996). Their first two discs, I've Suffered A Head Injury (1992) and Pop Smear (1993), are virtually unheard of and sadly, their subsequent big-label recordings, The Verve Pipe (1999) and Underneath (2001), failed to achieve the same response as Villains. Nevertheless, I own them all.

Brian Vander Ark appeared in the movie Rock Star (2001) as Ricki Bell (bass player for Blood Pollution), and the movie featured the song "Colorful" from TVP's last album, Underneath.

Brian is now playing and recording music on his own. I haven't seen any of his solo performances, but I did buy Resurrection (2004). It's OK.

19 Wheels: Chris Johnston, Scott Owen, Tim Marzorati, Rob Dickey

I forget how I got hooked on 19 Wheels...I think I might have first seen them at Celebration on the Grand, or maybe I heard them on the radio. Whichever it was, I liked their sound. They were fairly local (Lansing) and played a lot of shows around town, so I went to as many as I could. They put out three great discs: Six Ways From Sunday (1996), Sugareen (2001), and Jaw Breaker (2005). "13 Seconds to Burn" and "Colorado" from Six Ways from Sunday and "Broken" from Sugareen made national airwaves.

19 Wheels performed for the last time on November 25, 2005 at The Intersection in Grand Rapids. I'll miss travelling around West Michigan to see them play; I always looked forward to doing that in the summer. 

Dovetail Joint (the one that I knew, anyway):  Chuck Gladfelter, Robert Byrne, Jon Kooker, Henry Jansen
Ivory Wire:  Chuck Gladfelter, Robert Byrne, Tim Hesler, Henry Jansen

It's a strange tale, how I discovered these guys. One of my jobs was to put together a huge report for radio stations in the Chicago market every month. On the list for one of the stations was "Dovetail Joint"; I knew I'd heard the name before, so I looked them up online and listened to a few of the songs they had on their site. I was instantly hooked! Unfortunately, Dovetail Joint disbanded shortly after I discovered them.

Not too long afterward, Ivory Wire started playing shows around Grand Rapids. At first I didn't give them much thought, but there was a show at Ten Bells one night so I decided to check them out. They were just as great as Dovetail Joint! And they should have been: IW was comprised of most of the guys from Dovetail Joint. I saw them at Ten Bells a couple of times after that, but as of June 2006 they are a band no more. Very sad indeed, but you can still check them out at the Dovetail Joint and Ivory Wire myspace pages. 

Every disc released by DJ or IW is worth owning, and I suggest you start with the very first (and, in my opinion, the best) one. (I got most of mine at their shows; the band was VERY generous about giving away discs at their performances. Chuck Gladfelter actually sent me The White Lab Coat Experiment (1998) and The Killing of Cool (2000; unreleased) after a conversation I had with Robert Byrne at one of the shows. Sweeet!) 

• Dovetail Joint, aka The Black Album (Dovetail Joint, 1998) As their site once said: "A must for any die-hard Joint fan." 
• Level EP (Dovetail Joint, 1998)
• The White Lab Coat Experiment (Dovetail Joint, 1998; sold briefly in 2000)
• 001 (Dovetail Joint, 1999)  
• The Killing of Cool (2 discs) (Dovetail Joint, 2000; unreleased)
• E.P. From the Underclass (Dovetail Joint, 2002)
• The World is Flat (Ivory Wire, 2003)
• Notables & Nobodys (Ivory Wire, 2006)