(I know that this is what happened on that particular day 14 years ago because I told it to Cara in a message I sent her that day.)
I was a second year graduate student, living alone in a little apartment on the fourth floor of an apartment building near Case Western Reserve University's North Residential Village. I was also recovering from a broken arm suffered at the beginning of August, and had just very recently gotten my cast removed but was still wearing a wrist brace for support (that figures into this story later). I had a penchant for staying up very, very late playing computer games and chatting with a certain girl who lived in Columbus. Hence the dragging myself out of bed so I could go to a 2:00 pm class.
It was an ordinary day. Little did I know at the time that it was a day that would turn out to be at least a little bit life-changing.
"I'm heading to a concert pretty soon," I messaged Cara at 9:52 pm.
"Tonight?" she asked.
"Yeah," I replied, and explained that it was two local bands, playing a free show at my school. (This was one of the weekly Spot Night shows, a topic I've written about before.)
"Ah," said Cara. "That's the best kind of show, sometimes."
My response? A blunt, "I disagree."
That's hilarious to me now. Both the bluntness (something I still do, but did to a far, far greater extent back then) and the fact that back then I just had no idea how amazing little, local concerts could be! Every really great show I'd been to had been a nationally known band. I'd seen a few decent performances by local bands, but I genuinely didn't consider the idea that a little known Cleveland band might become one of my favorites.
That night totally changed how I viewed local music.
"I just got back," I messaged Cara at 12:26 am. "The concert was really good. It was an interesting mix of genres, the first band was alt-country and the second was post-rock. I bought CDs from both... I liked both of them more than any other obscure Northeast Ohio bands I've seen."
That was an enthusiastic endorsement from 23-year old Jeff. (I've realized I tend to express myself much more passionately now than I did back then.) That show really did far exceed any previous performance by local bands that I'd experienced. And in doing so, it pretty much opened up a whole new world of music to me, right in my backyard, as in the ensuing years I went to more and more shows by local artists and discovered more and more to love in the music of "obscure Northeast Ohio bands."
The two bands who played at the Spot that night were called Goodmorning Valentine (the alt-country band) and To Be a High Powered Executive (the post-rock band, and if you know anything about the genre I'm sure you could have guessed which band was which). It was the recent release after a very long hiatus of a new To Be a High Powered Executive album that inspired me to write this post! More on that in a bit.
After seeing their excellent performances and buying and listening to their CDs, I would become big fans of both bands that played that night. One thing that really made an impression on me, in addition to their music, was how friendly and down-to-Earth the musicians were. And that's another thing that seems funny to me now, because why wouldn't they be? But back then, I didn't know that.
I told Cara about how when I bought a CD from Goodmorning Valentine, the lead singer asked what had happened to my (brace-enclosed) wrist and that he "seemed genuinely concerned." I really appreciated that genuine concern. I also said that during their set, he had said, "Do you always get this many people here? We should play here more often."
Despite the crowd of "60 to 70 people," which to me was quite small, I noted that this had definitely been said with sincerity.
"I love that," Cara said.
"Both of the bands seemed really nice and appreciative of the crowd," I replied.
"A show isn't anything without the people," Cara added.
Ain't that the truth. (Thanks, COVID...)
That's one of the great things about being a fan of local musicians, or not just local musicians, but also many other musicians who regularly play to modest crowds. You often get the chance to connect with them on a person-to-person level, and when you tell them how much you appreciate their music, that will really mean something to them. I've said it before, when someone creates something that has an impact on your life, and you get the opportunity to tell them, you should take that opportunity.
I've discovered more and more wonderful local bands in the years since. To Be a High Powered Executive, though... there was just something about that band. In the period from 2006-2008, I'm pretty sure they became the band I'd seen live the most times. And they were just so good. I was pretty heavily into the post-rock genre (mainly instrumental music, usually guitar-driven but sometimes with orchestral elements, featuring complex arrangements and melodies and often quite lengthy songs as well as often lengthy song titles [e.g. "The King Has Bled, We Have Slept, and Now We Must Wake"] and/or band names [e.g. To Be a High Powered... well, you get the point]) at the time, including a strong fandom of big names in the genre like Explosions in the Sky and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. I did feel that in a lot of the lesser acts in the genre, and even sometimes with the bigger names, there was a tendency for the music to be a bit formulaic. Like how many different ways can you write a swelling guitar crescendo?
To Be a High Powered Executive, they never failed to keep things interesting in a way that few post-rock bands could match. Their music kept you on your toes because there was so much variety from song to song and also even within songs; halfway through a song it would go in a totally different direction, but at the same time it all flowed together so well. Another strength was their strong rhythm section; the intricate bass melodies were a marvel to see live, and between that and the drumming the music just had this great groove to it, it was danceable as hell and that was part of why they were so fun live. Add two guitars trading off parts that ranged from delicate to face-melting (oh, plus an occasional fifth member adding some nice percussion and xylophone flourishes), and they were just a machine. One of the best post-rock bands I've ever seen, my favorite local Northeast Ohio band I've ever seen, and a band who deserved far more fame and recognition than they received, but who did have a small but devoted following.
Cara became a big fan of the band too, although she, still living in Columbus at the time, didn't get to see them live nearly as many times as I did. I remember buying a CD for her at one of their shows that I went to solo, their 2007 album We Don't Want It Safe, We Want It Secret. It's an excellent album that I highly recommend.
(Here are a few pictures from a fantastic show at the Grog Shop with TBaHPE opening for Le Loup and also joining the latter band on stage during one of the headliners' songs. I think this was the show where I bought the CD for Cara.)
On November 25, 2008, two days before Thanksgiving, I sent an email to Cara with a very short subject line:
:(
And in the email I quoted what I believe was a MySpace message from the band:
| THIS IS IT..... OUR FINAL PERFORMANCE | |
| WEDNESDAY at the BEACHLAND, $3 DREADFUL YAWNS HOT RAILS TO BE A HIGH POWERED EXECUTIVE Hello friends. With sadness and joy, we announce after many confusing months our final show.....ever. We are playing first, so come early. It will sort of be like a Thanksgiving present from all of us. But, there will be a set full of oldies, goodies, and even some new ones that you'll have this show only to hear. It is also the last night in Cleveland for our dear Michael Lassins..... if nothing else, come to see him before he is on his way. <3 tbahpe |
"Well, now I want to go to this concert," I added, and also mentioned that I didn't know whether my dad had gotten tickets for "the hockey game" yet. Apparently on Wednesday, the night before Thanksgiving and the night of the concert, there was a Columbus Blue Jackets game and we had been invited to go to the game with my parents and were trying to decide whether we wanted to go. (Cara had moved to Cleveland in September and we would be heading down to Columbus for Thanksgiving.) The sudden and unexpected announcement that my favorite local band would be playing their last show ever made it a very clear decision to me - going to the concert was a much higher priority than going to a hockey game.
So that's what Cara and I did. I remember being in the tiny Beachland Tavern, near the front of the crowd, rocking out to those familiar tunes, feeling exhilarated but also saddened that this was the last time.
That happens a lot with local bands. They come and go. A band member might move to another town and then that's just the end. Or the members might just move on to other things in their lives. It's nice when you at least get a chance for a sendoff, like in this case. I remember Cara and I also happened to be at the final show of another local band we really liked, Unsparing Sea - that time we didn't know in advance that it was the last one. Other local bands I've loved, like Machine Go Boom and Afternoon Naps, have faded out of existence without a farewell show, at least not to my recollection. The band Likenesses released an amazing debut album in 2015 and shortly after dropped off the face of the Earth and I never found out why.
So I'm really glad Cara and I got to go to that last To Be a High Powered Executive show.
I remember after their set Cara and I wanted to get t-shirts, and we tried to give them money but they didn't let us pay, saying, "We're done. Just take them." I still treasure that shirt.
We didn't even end up sticking around for the other bands. So we delayed our trip to Columbus by a day and skipped out on an NHL game to see one band play for maybe an hour or less. But it was absolutely 100% worth it.
At the time, TBaHPE had been working on another album, but then had to break up due to one of the members moving out of state. The album was never completed, and I was always sad about that.
And thus it was to my absolute delight when the album Tall Shapes appeared practically out of nowhere last month after a nearly 12-year hiatus for the band. It might even be one of my favorite things to have happened in this godforsaken year.
The album is certainly a departure in sound from the old TBaHPE (I was very surprised when I hit play for the first time and early in the first track heard singing, something that was completely absent from the band's previous albums) but after giving it a number of listens I'm a big fan and it's a great addition to the catalog. The songs are shorter, there are new and more diverse instrumentations, a few of the tracks have, yes, vocals - all in all, it's a nice evolution of the band's sound (at times reminding me of a cross between the old TBaHPE and the very little known Trumpets in the Snow project two of the band's members did a number of years ago) that at heart retains most of the essential elements that made the band so good in the first place. What a great surprise and gift to have this new album after so, so many years.
I might be even more thrilled if, some day, the band could play a reunion show, playing their old and new songs. Who knows if that's something that could realistically ever happen, but it's nice to imagine. A show in an intimate setting with a small but enthusiastic audience of friends and devoted fans.
That's the best kind of show, sometimes.
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