For the past 30 years, local musician Ed Douglas has written and recorded Halloween-inspired music with the Cleveland-based Goth outfit Midnight Syndicate. But a few years ago, he embarked on a completely different endeavor with a group called Vinyl Arcade. The band plays covers of radio hits from the ‘70s and ‘80s as well as TV themes and commercial jingles from the era.
“[Guitarist] Keith [Martin] and I wanted to create something different,” says Douglas, who plays keyboards and bass guitar, one recent evening after the band’s soundcheck at Whiskey Island Still & Eatery. “We wanted to play the music we loved from the ’70s and ’80s, but during that period, we were all also watching the same TV shows because there were fewer stations. Those TV themes resonate with an entire generation. We wanted to give audiences the complete experience.”
Martin agrees.
“We wanted to do something that our generation could relate to, you know?” he says. “Our youth, our formative years when we were stress free and enjoying childhood. That is where we want to take the listeners back to . We want to make them relive those good memories, especially growing up in Cleveland, Ohio.”
Often, the group utilizes a screen that plays old commercials featuring Big Chuck and Little John, Superhost and beer commercials.
“Those are classics,” adds Douglas. “We’ve even performed the Garfield 1-2323 jingle too. We just thought, ‘How much Northeast Ohio nostalgia can we cram into one show?’”
On this particular night, the group’s live show starts with a sample of the late Murray Saul, the former WMMS personality, encouraging everyone to “get down” for the weekend. That segues into a rousing rendition of “Cleveland Rocks” and a cover of the Outfield’s “I Don’t Wanna Lose Your Love Tonight.”
“Ok folks, we are about to hit you over the head with some nonsense,” Douglas tells the audience at that point. “It’s our first TV theme medley of the night. This should take you back to the time when we may have only had a few channels, but we loved it.”
The group then launches into a cover of the Scooby Doo theme song, and a medley that includes theme songs from Spongebob Squarepants, The Banana Splits, Hawaii Five-O, Sesame Street, Fat Albert, Married with Children, Schoolhouse Rock, The Addams Family, Greatest American Hero and The Munsters.
Vinyl Arcade,consisting of Douglas, Martin, drummer Jim Eichenser and American Dead Rockstar guitarist Tom Curry, has been performing for a decade now; it played its first show nearly ten years ago at Joey’s Italian Grille in Madison.
“I remember I was using a lot of equipment at the time,” says Douglas. “I had a huge computer setup along with the typical acoustic instruments, screens, and video playback gear. I just remember trying to get the computer to load and the screen to stay up so we could play the video portion. It was hectic but rewarding. The first time you play these themes and people’s faces light up, it’s great. They may have never heard the Scooby Doo or Munsters theme song played live. Seeing their reactions is priceless.”
Over the years, the show has evolved as the group now seamlessly integrates the theme songs into its performances. Initially, their show consisted of alternating between two regular songs and then one TV theme.
“We learned that it disrupted the flow of the show,” says Douglas. “So we started creating medleys and then we go back to the music. We also play heavier upbeat versions of slower songs by acts such as Neil Diamond, Simon & Garfunkel and John Denver. That’s another thing that I think fans may not expect to hear.”
Just this year, the group wrote its own original theme song and released it on an orange 7-inch vinyl and on streaming services.
“We all love vinyl, so why wouldn’t we?” says Douglas. “Keith has this jukebox in his basement and we pulled a lot of songs on the Vinyl Arcade playlist off that jukebox,” he says.
“That jukebox was a main inspiration for the band,” adds Martin. “We would sit and listen to the songs and say “we should do a band that plays all the stuff from our youth If we like, odd are other people our age should too.”
This year, the group also picked up some momentum and found itself playing at more and more festivals around the state. Earlier this month, it played a Honey Festival in Lithopolis.
“You can plop us anywhere and it’s exciting to see how people react,” Douglas says. “We were down just south of Athens in Oak Hill for their Festival of Flags. We’ve also done a lot of gigs in the Lake Erie island region this year and community events throughout Northern Ohio. The show hits a wide swathe of people. This is my release. It’s fun. I’m proud of this band because I think we’re doing something different. From Google searches, I can’t find any other TV theme cover bands. That’s what’s great. It’s goofy, silly fun.”
“We aren’t really a genre band because we can play any type of music from that time period and add our own flare to it,” says Martin. “We like to think of ourselves as an ‘era or place in time’”’ band. So far people seem to enjoying the nostalgia of what we do. We are bringing memories back through the doors of the Vinyl Arcade.”
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