Earwig (band)
Encyclopedia
Earwig is an indie rock
band from Columbus
, Ohio
. They release music on their own "micro-indie" LFM Records label. Playing as a trio, a staple of the band's sound are verses where the guitar drops out and the bass dominates the melody. While they have drawn occasional national attention, they've remained unable to break out of the underground, ultimately overshadowed by the Seattle explosion of the 1990s.
oculus magazine > Earwig
At this point Earwig was made up of Lizard McGee on guitars and vocals, Chuck Palmer on drums and bassist Jeff Perkins. The group was soon joined by Terry Lo on guitar and cello. The four-piece began playing shows as they worked on their debut CD. With the release of Mayfeeder, Terry Lo and Jeff Perkins exited the band and Rich Cefalo joined on bass for the nationwide tour. They managed to survive the tour, however, and emerged a year later a much tighter and coherent trio.
Earwig is featured with Interview and Photo in The Big Takeover
Issue No. 61, 2007
in 2000 and released the widely available version of Perfect Past Tense on CD on LFM Records that same year. That same year he began running LFM Records completely on his own from California, increasing their distribution and recognition. Playing live in the Bay Area as a duo with drummer Raj Kapololu, Lizard also did 2 solo tours of the West Coast, playing shows from Seattle, to Phoenix
, Arizona
and Los Angeles
. The duo of McGee/Kapololu also recorded several un-released demos at Avalon studios in San Jose, CA. McGee returned to Ohio and in 2004 teamed up with bassist Matt Wagner. Previously, when Rich Cefalo moved to NYC and was unavailable (but before he officially left the band in late 1999), Matt Wagner (of LFM Band Preston Furman) sat in with Earwig on the bass for one show in Athens, Ohio at Follett’s Bookstore. Matt also played bass during 1999 with the “LFM All-Stars” which included Justin Crooks on the drums, Brad Swinarski on keyboards and Lizard McGee on guitar and vocals. McGee and Wagner were joined by drummer Joshua Sheik for live shows in 2004/2005. In 2005 the band parted ways with Sheik and Justin Crooks once again took over drumming duties for Earwig.
Despite the bitterness and melancholy evinced by some of Earwig's songs, ("Wounded Knee" and "Mink" come to mind), songwriting isn't necessarily a form of therapy for Lizard. "I don't sit down to write a song based on this specific experience, although sometimes I'll look back and say, oh yeah, this is about that time in my life. And a lot of people have mentioned that they see childhood things in my music but I don't look at writing songs like I'm trying to work out a fucked-up childhood or anything. It doesn't stem from problems even if unconsciously my songs are about certain times in my life. I think I'm a pretty well-adjusted person."
In 1996 LFM Records was featured in an article for the Columbus Dispatch. Due to the media hype surrounding the search for the “Next Seattle”, the magazine Entertainment Weekly
came to Columbus and featured a full page photo of LFM Records/Earwig with an article on how Columbus was a contender for the next big break-out scene in America...ie: The Next Seattle.
The album is number 8 on Columbus Alive's list of "The Top 100 Columbus Albums of the Past 30 Years".
The single "Used Kids" from Center of the Earth, was ranked 15th on WWCD
FM's "CD101 Top 101 of 2007".
Earwig's latest album "Center of the Earth" is available for purchase from the major retail store, Meijer
and available for purchase through iTunes
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band from Columbus
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. They release music on their own "micro-indie" LFM Records label. Playing as a trio, a staple of the band's sound are verses where the guitar drops out and the bass dominates the melody. While they have drawn occasional national attention, they've remained unable to break out of the underground, ultimately overshadowed by the Seattle explosion of the 1990s.
The beginning
Over a weekend in February 1992, the band slammed together a quick 5 song demo tape (Dead Slow Hoot) recorded to 1/2" 8 track in McGee's garage. The response was very promising, after sending the tape out blindly to zines and labels alike, he got calls back from megalabels such as 4AD and Capitol.oculus magazine > Earwig
At this point Earwig was made up of Lizard McGee on guitars and vocals, Chuck Palmer on drums and bassist Jeff Perkins. The group was soon joined by Terry Lo on guitar and cello. The four-piece began playing shows as they worked on their debut CD. With the release of Mayfeeder, Terry Lo and Jeff Perkins exited the band and Rich Cefalo joined on bass for the nationwide tour. They managed to survive the tour, however, and emerged a year later a much tighter and coherent trio.
Earwig is featured with Interview and Photo in The Big Takeover
The Big Takeover
The Big Takeover is a bi-annual music magazine published out of New York City since 1980 by critic Jack Rabid.-Overview:The Big T usually appears in June and December, with most recent issues coming in around 200 pages. The review section, featuring Jack’s Top 40 for the issue, is regularly 60-80...
Issue No. 61, 2007
Mayfeeder-Perfect Past Tense
In 1996 drummer Chuck Palmer left the band and was briefly replaced with Brad Swinarski, who played only two shows with Earwig before leaving the band due to other commitments. Brad had two recording sessions with the band resulting in 3 songs released. 1. A cover of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas” released on the LFM Chris-single cassette. (very rare and hard to find), 2. Anatomical Gift and 3. Two Dragons…both appearing on Perfect Past Tense. In 1996, Justin Crooks, who was previously the drummer for LFM band Parsnip (a Columbus, high-school punk band which included now well know hip hop artist RjD2 on guitar. Parsnip released a 7” on LFM, also very, very rare), joined Earwig on drums. This trio of Rich Cefalo/Bass, Justin Crooks/Drums, Lizard/Gtr vocals recorded Perfect Past Tense with Steve Evans (also produced the Major Label debut of Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments on American Records among others) and with producer Jared Kotler (producer of multi-planinum selling band Marcy Playground/Capitol Records among others) in Long Island, NY. The band toured the Midwest and east coast, eventually releasing a very limited , hand-pressed, early edition of Perfect Past Tense in late 1999 at a show in Columbus. Then Rich Cefalo moved to NYC (he went on to direct the music video for the song “The Horror”, the first single off of RjD2’s debut album ‘Deadringer’). Rich now plays in the NYC band ‘Estranged Estates’ with Chuck Palmer (who also moved to NYC in 2000) on drums.Move to California
McGee moved to CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in 2000 and released the widely available version of Perfect Past Tense on CD on LFM Records that same year. That same year he began running LFM Records completely on his own from California, increasing their distribution and recognition. Playing live in the Bay Area as a duo with drummer Raj Kapololu, Lizard also did 2 solo tours of the West Coast, playing shows from Seattle, to Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. The duo of McGee/Kapololu also recorded several un-released demos at Avalon studios in San Jose, CA. McGee returned to Ohio and in 2004 teamed up with bassist Matt Wagner. Previously, when Rich Cefalo moved to NYC and was unavailable (but before he officially left the band in late 1999), Matt Wagner (of LFM Band Preston Furman) sat in with Earwig on the bass for one show in Athens, Ohio at Follett’s Bookstore. Matt also played bass during 1999 with the “LFM All-Stars” which included Justin Crooks on the drums, Brad Swinarski on keyboards and Lizard McGee on guitar and vocals. McGee and Wagner were joined by drummer Joshua Sheik for live shows in 2004/2005. In 2005 the band parted ways with Sheik and Justin Crooks once again took over drumming duties for Earwig.
Albums
| Album | Year | Number of songs |
|---|---|---|
| Dead Slow Hoot(cassette) | 1992 | 5 |
| Dinosaur Song/Wounded Knee(live) 7" vinyl | 1993 | 2 |
| Mayfeeder | 1994 | 11 |
| Bored In Chicago | 1995 | 9 |
| Perfect Past Tense | 2000 | 13 |
| The Donkey (Live) | 2005 | ??? |
| Center Of The Earth | 2006 | 12 |
| Gibson Under Mountain | 2010 | 11 |
Mayfeeder
Earwig's debut album, Mayfeeder, brought this band to be and rose them up from the bottom to the top of the Columbus underground scene, being the catalyst of the greatness to come. "Dinosaur Song", Lizard told, was taken verbatim from a dream his girlfriend had. "She woke me up one night and she just turned to me and said, 'I had a dream that we were dinosaurs, with little arms and long tails and big big scales, and you were trying to hold my hand.' I thought it was so perfect that I went and wrote it down. The song's first two verses are essentially the same as what she said to me. A friend of mine made a kid's book from the lyrics."Despite the bitterness and melancholy evinced by some of Earwig's songs, ("Wounded Knee" and "Mink" come to mind), songwriting isn't necessarily a form of therapy for Lizard. "I don't sit down to write a song based on this specific experience, although sometimes I'll look back and say, oh yeah, this is about that time in my life. And a lot of people have mentioned that they see childhood things in my music but I don't look at writing songs like I'm trying to work out a fucked-up childhood or anything. It doesn't stem from problems even if unconsciously my songs are about certain times in my life. I think I'm a pretty well-adjusted person."
Bored in Chicago
Earwig's debut single, Dinosaur Song/Wounded Knee , came out on LFM in 1993 with their first album, Mayfeeder , in 1994. Followed by a national tour in the summer of 1994, when Bored In Chicago was recorded at a tour stop at the Elbow Room in Chicago. Bored in Chicago is taken from a cassette recording of the night’s performance direct from the soundboard at the club. It was extensively bootlegged and eventually “officially” released as Earwig’s first LIVE album in 1995.In 1996 LFM Records was featured in an article for the Columbus Dispatch. Due to the media hype surrounding the search for the “Next Seattle”, the magazine Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
came to Columbus and featured a full page photo of LFM Records/Earwig with an article on how Columbus was a contender for the next big break-out scene in America...ie: The Next Seattle.
Perfect Past Tense
Five years after the release of their debut full-length, Mayfeeder, Earwig resurfaced from the Columbus, OH indie rock underground with 1999's Perfect Past Tense. . A previously available as part of the group's 1994 live effort, Bored In Chicago (recently re-released on CD by McGee's own Lizard Family Music imprint), "Cinema East" reappears as a studio recorded version on this album . Perfect Past Tense also includes several other tracks that were previously available only on Bored in Chicago, including "Sleep With Me", "Dress", "Nineteen", "Anything", and "Stain".The album is number 8 on Columbus Alive's list of "The Top 100 Columbus Albums of the Past 30 Years".
Center of the Earth
Earwig's third studio albulm "Center of the Earth" contains the single which truly brought popularity to the band.The single "Used Kids" from Center of the Earth, was ranked 15th on WWCD
WWCD
WWCD —currently branded CD101 @ 102.5—is a commercial modern rock radio station licensed to Baltimore, Ohio and serving the Columbus metro area....
FM's "CD101 Top 101 of 2007".
Earwig's latest album "Center of the Earth" is available for purchase from the major retail store, Meijer
Meijer
Meijer, Inc. is a regional American hypermarket chain based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1934 as a supermarket chain, Meijer is credited with pioneering the modern supercenter concept in 1962. About half of the company's 196 stores are located in Michigan, with additional locations in...
and available for purchase through iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....