Five Northern Ohio bands will play the Ernie Ball Local Heroes side stage at the Vans Warped Tour on Thursday, August 2. And now that you’re here, you’re one click away from learning about Another Found Self, This Awkward Silence, Plague the City, Bleeding a Memory, and Between Thieves.
Ernie Ball, a guitar-string company, picks regional bands for each stop on the punk festival. Being picked is a great opportunity, but in Cleveland, the bands’ time in the spotlight has often ended right there. In the past, the Ernie Ball panel has picked some winners. Victory Flag played some killer crossover in 2003, shortly before imploding. In 2004, the stage’s lineup featured Delay, HowAboutNo, Johnny Psycho, and the Radikills — and we couldn’t tell you the last time we heard from any of them. In 2005, Monet Madrid Madagascar shook the stage with art rock, shortly before breaking up. And last year, Madison East actually broke up between submitting a demo and being accepted, but reformed to play the show. It won’t be the end of the scene if the curse strikes some of this year’s lucky winners, ‘cuz emo and wuss-rock are the order of the day.
The Cleveland lineup features: Another Found Self, a Boardman emo quintet; This Awkward Silence, a Lakewood rock band; Plague the City, a Bowling Green rock combo; Bleeding a Memory, a Cleveland screamo squad; and Between Thieves, Akron pop-punks.
The local stage lineup starts when the gates open, at 11 a.m. Click here for a full Warped lineup from Scene’s concert listings. (Set times aren’t announced until the morning of the show, at the show.) See you there. — D.X. Ferris
This article appears in Aug 1-7, 2007.
Dear D.X Ferris, I was sent a link to your article from a friend. I think it is a sharp article and I enjoy the writing style of it. However, I am here as a member of the band Delay to say we still are a band. Since 2004, we have gone on numerous self-booked tours. I am typing this from Washington and we play in Seattle tonight. We are currently on our second national tour. You may not have heard from us because the band moved to Columbus, Ohio. Also, the warped tour stage is far from what we aim for as a band these days. The corporate sponsorship and the army recruiters are the things we feel should be far, far away from punk rock. Now, Delay plays strictly all ages shows and most commonly we perform in basements, community centers, art spaces, and anywhere else where the power of music is valued and the D.I.Y punk ethos is expressed. We travel in a mini van all around the country crashing on floors and sharing fun times and ideas with participants in the punk community around the country. If you want to see what we are up to or have been up to, check out http://www.midwestrock.org/delay or http://www.myspace.com/delay Also, Johnny Psycho is still a band. They are now called Ghost Town Trio and you can find them at http://www.myspace.com/ghosttowntrio
Thanks for the mention in the article and have a good summer.
Sincerely,
RYAN and Delay.