Getting Some Homuculture from Homunculus
by Aaron - 10/2/2002
I am going to visit Athens this weekend. I know...who cares? I won't even be noticed I am sure. And this isn't just a random visit to the school and community to reminisce about the good 'ol days. The wandering days of yore when I strolled aimlessly through college and somehow graduated in just over four years - of course, Imajored in communications, enough said.
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I'm not coming to visit my old dorm room in Smith House, way way way the hell back on New South Green somewhere near West Virginia, or even my old decrepit high rent house that I lived in once I was able to live off campus. Man that house sucked. And to top it off they tried to take our security deposit at the end of the year claiming we hadn't cleaned the place well enough. Can you clean dirt? I can't believe this! Give us our money back you damn slumlord and quit ripping us students off with your shoddy shanties and bogus business practices. Oh, you're not giving us our money back?! We'll see you in court, buddy!
Ah, the good times.
My life is one big tangent, so stick with me here. I will be in Athens this Friday to get drunk at cheaper prices than here in Columbus, and to see Homunculus at Casa Cantina. I was lucky to have seen these guys while I was in school and with continued success in town, the venues have been booking them for five years now.
Evidently my friends and I, namely Adam Schoen, had been to enough shows that they actually let him in the band. Luckily he is a bassist and vocalist, which they were in the market for. Adam, who was just recently hitched, by the way, joined the talents of keyboardist and vocalist, Ben Doepke; guitarist and vocalist, Kevin Shima; and drummer Chris "Cupcake" Ellison.
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I won't tell you the origin of his nickname, but it isn't because of a large mushroom sized head that sits atop a stem-like body - let your mind wonder or use it to start a conversation with the man after the show.
You also might be able to find out on their website - http://www.homunculture.com - where you can also download their songs ("Basic Word" is one of my personal favs) because I have a tough time describing their sound to people - and apparantly "it's neato", is frowned upon by professionals. While your at it, be a happy consumer and go to the record store and buy their re-released album, "Words", which just went national on the first of this month.
"Words" was solely mixed and released by the band last year, but when it finally got into the right hands - namely the people at Howling Records - they decided to sign the band, let John Curly from Afghan Wigs remix it in his Cincy based studio and re-release it to a much wider audience.
David Katznelson and Sue Drew are at the helm of the new label and Sue has some clout in the music industry as she has signed They Might Be Giants, Barenaked Ladies and Phish - a college green favorite.
Things seem to be on the up and up for the fab four as they just returned from their journey out West where they played - amongst many other places - The Viper Room in Los Angeles. In addition to the health and fashion conscious crowd, several executives in the music industry came to rock the night away. Indeed a successful exposure tour which was entirely booked and promoted by Homunculus.
Not to be outdone by Anne Franke, the guys got together and decided to keep a running journal during their trip, which is now immortalized, at least until the internet crashes one day, for everyone's reading pleasure at - http://www.citybeat.com/2002-09-12/music.shtml.
Read along, evaluate and figure
out why planes are always better for music tours. Go to see Homunculus
on Friday, though. Shake your ass...get drunk...buy me drinks...and listen
to great music. And one more thing - we did sue - and we won. Students:
1 Landlords: 554,465
