- Anafair: down with the big hand
Tonight’s show at House of Blues’ Cambridge Room with Cleveland’s Anafair and Cincinnati’s Flight Station heralds the debut of a new Cleveland-based record label, Crushtone.
Both bands are releasing EPs on the label at the show. And both CDs — the Flight Station’s Prepare for Impact and Anafair’s Nothing Feels Like This — were recorded at Cleveland’s CloserLook Studios by L.A.-based producer Jim Wirt, who has worked with Jack’s Mannquin, the Rocket Summer, and Incubus.
Wirt formed the label with Clevelander Randy Chase, who formerly owned Fishhead Records.
“He and I formed this label because we want to develop bands on a regional level and ripple them outward and take them to the industry of which there isn’t much of one right now,” says Chase. “We’re trying to see what we can do about that.”
Anafair singer Ian Ver will be familiar to some Cleveland music fans — he sang for Between Home and Serenity, who recorded for the defunct Cleveland label Rust. Anafair’s music leans more toward forceful pop/rock that BHAS’s bipolar mix of indie rock, metal, and a touch of hardcore.
The Flight Station’s yearning, melodic music was first showcased on their 2006 EP Falling Star. Since then, the group has been named a “Band to Watch” by Alternative Press and placed songs on MTV’s The Real World.
Crushtone also has projects in the pipeline with Cleveland-based singers Mary Cushman (formerly of Blush) and Erika Lauren.
The show starts at 9 p.m. —Anastasia Pantsios
