Cleveland Band Announces Farewell Tour, Pledges Portion of Merch Sales to 'Billionaires in Need'

Houdini’s Code. Credit: Courtesy of Houdini's Code

Last year, on what would’ve been Harry Houdini’s 150th birthday, Cleveland rockers Houdini’s Code released their debut album, Escape. The band — singer-guitarist Kevin Cedar, singer-guitarist Shawn Davis, bassist Dom Mikula and drummer Cullen Perdue — formed two years ago and began working on the album shortly after forming, so finishing it was a major feat.

Since the album’s release, the band has headlined 10 shows and been featured on 107.3 FM eight times. The music video for “Gemini” has garnered more than 17,000 views on YouTube, and the band has announced its First and Farewell Tour that’ll kick off with a show on Saturday, July 12, at the Rialto Theatre in Akron.

“We’ve always wanted to go on tour, but a lot of our favorite bands inspired us to throw a special kind of tour — one that never ends,” explains Cedar via phone. “It’s our way of saying goodbye… and hello… at the same time.”

The group will also perform on Aug. 9 at the Westside Bowl in Youngstown, on Oct. 31 at Howard’s in Bowling Green, on Dec. 5 at the Beachland Ballroom and on Dec. 6 at Musica in Akron.

“It’s been an awesome year,” says Cedar. “We released the album last March, and since that, we’ve played 10 to 15 shows. The craziest thing that I feel doesn’t happen for many newer bands is that we’ve been able to headline the majority of the shows. I think there was just one show that we didn’t. We played [clubs such as] Beachland and Musica, and we even played a movie theater in Michigan. It’s been an interesting ride and super amazing. There’s nothing better in the world than being able to play music with my best friends in front of people who love rock ‘n’ roll as much as we do.”

The group is working on a second album that it hopes will arrive early next year. It wants to record it at Suma in Painesville. One engineer it met with there already had Escape and was familiar with the group. And the guys in Houdini’s Code are fans of the Black Keys, who’ve recorded there.

“We plan to record our new album early next year and release it in 2026,” says Cedar. “This time around, we know what we’re doing — and we’ve written some of our best songs yet.”

The group has also put together a tongue-in-cheek promotion as it sells its merch. It says that half the proceeds from sales will be donated to Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and other billionaires.

““Together, we can make the world a better place one merch sale at a time,” says Cedar with a laugh. “There are a lot of people going through hard times — imagine living in a world with only two yachts? Our goal is to provide a third yacht for those who need it the most. It’s obviously a joke, but we’ve been leaning into it. I’ll be posting a video soon and we’re also set to talk about it on [the local podcast] BigPlay Network. We figured ‘Local Band Donates Merch Sales to Billionaires’ is the kind of headline that could grab attention beyond just the Cleveland music scene. I thought it would be a hilarious headline. We’re just trying to be ridiculous.”

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