Summery Pop Bands Brave Cleveland's Cold Weather, Reputation
By Andrew Clayman
Published (with edits) in The Cleveland Scene (Village Voice), March 2008
Detroit, Seattle, and Nashville might have their signature sounds, but in Cleveland, it's always been more about an attitude— a gritty, industrial disposition that’s informed the work of everyone from the James Gang to Pere Ubu, Trent Reznor, and Mushroomhead. There's rarely been anything pretty or pristine about it, and when such exceptions did appear—such as the Outsiders or the Raspberries-- their influence usually spawned more cover bands and pub singers than creative disciples.
Nonetheless, in 2008, a new ray of sunshine has begun to peak over Lake Erie's icy coast. It's too soon to call it a scene, and too fresh to label it retro, but somehow, during another miserable winter of salt trucks, chapped lips, and heartbreaking football, the sound of summer found its way back to Cleveland.
"In the beginning, I didn’t know how well received we would be,” says Tom Dechristofaro, singer/guitarist for one of the city’s best and balmiest new pop bands, Afternoon Naps (pictured above). “But people really seem to like it. Every time we play, it’s a lot of fun, and the crowd is always into it and very enthusiastic.”
“Definitely,” chimes co-vocalist and keyboardist Leia Hohenfeld. “The response that we’ve gotten—for just having had this band a little over a year— it clearly says there’s a demand out there for good indie-pop in this town. People who like this music really like this music.”
Ironically, when Dechristofaro, 32, and Hohenfeld, 24, first formed Afternoon Naps, they hadn’t fully embraced their own affection for pop music just yet. Dechristofaro came from a background in shoegazer rock—with the emphasis on effects pedals over flower petals—and Hohenfeld had earned her local cred playing “rock n’ roll flute” with the psychedelic folk-rock troupe, The Volta Sound. When the two joined forces, however, they quickly found themselves channeling an entirely different sort of source material, combining the offbeat jangle-pop of obscure indie bands like Felt, Shop Assistants, and the Acid House Kings with the essential blueprints of classic ‘60s pop, bubblegum, and Motown.
The result was Sunbeamed, the contagious 2007 debut album from the now six-piece Afternoon Naps ensemble, recorded defiantly in the middle of another grey, freezing February in Cleveland. Both cheery and nostalgic, the record earned the Naps plenty of kudos from Beach Boys and Belle & Sebastian fans, alike, but the road to success in the hard-rock, hard-knocks city of Cleveland still looked like a lonely one—at first.
“Then we met Charlie (McArthur) and Craig (Ramsey) from Bears,” Dechristofaro says, “and we realized there was this other local band, that we hadn’t even been aware of, who were really into the same music as us. I had never really met anyone who liked that stuff before them, so it was strange how that worked out. But yeah, we really get along famously with those guys. We’re all buddies now.”
Yes, as fate would have it, another up-and-coming Cleveland band, Bears (pictured to the left), had already been honing their own brand of sun-drenched, indie-pop in the city that supposedly couldn’t produce such sounds.“I think living in Cleveland and having such cold winters— people really appreciate a nice day,” says Craig Ramsey, who sings, drums, strums, and mans the distinctive Farfisa organ for Bears. “When the weather is nice here, you really feel great. And I think that could be part of the appeal for this kind of music around here.”
Recording and releasing their self-titled debut LP in 2006, Ramsey, 32, and singer/guitarist Charlie McArthur, 24, decided to recruit a full band of local musicians to adapt their sound to the stage, a transition they began right about the same time that Dechristofaro and Hohenfeld were expanding their line-up for live shows of their own.
“Our expectations, when we started out, were pretty low,” McArthur admits. “It was just hard to find good local bands doing anything that wasn’t ‘rock,’ so to speak. But now, in a short time, it’s completely changed, and there’s always somebody that we’re trying to get on our shows—like Afternoon Naps. We really like playing with them. You just start to realize that the pop bands that are around here are pretty good ones.”
A closer look also reveals that cross-pollination has played a considerable role in this unlikely North Coast pop boom. Afternoon Naps’ line-up, for example, includes members from some of Cleveland’s other on-the-rise, indie-pop bands like Expecting Rain and the Dreadful Yawns. And with only so many places to play and record around town, other local pop bands are contributing to the sense of camaraderie.
“We actually share a practice spot with the Dreadful Yawns, Mike St. Jude & The Valentines, Hot Rails—a bunch of bands,” says Leia Hohenfeld. “We each take it one night a week, and we have a little mini recording studio down there, where we recorded our last EP (Snowday). Unfortunately, the place has no heat, so we’re always freezing!” she laughs. “We probably look like crazy people, shivering while we’re singing about the sunshine or something.”
“I suppose it is a little ironic to be recording music like this in a city that’s generally known as being this grumpy, cold place,” adds Dechristofaro, “but it isn’t really that way. If anything, Cleveland is a very humble town. And that goes for the musicians here, too. Everyone is very supportive of one another.”
As it turns out, history shows that a humble, blue collar town— be it Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, or even Portland, OR—is far more receptive to a sunny pop tune that one might initially suspect. It’s a sentiment summed up best by Chris Sheehan, frontman of the Celebrity Pilots, and one of Cleveland’s most accomplished and respected pop songwriters.
“I think the dismal weather and general industrial decay of the city is something that can actually inspire the opposite from an artistic standpoint,” he says. “It’s a lot like the sports teams here-- Cleveland doesn't completely depress you, it likes to string you along with some really pleasant days on the beach before crushing your spirit. That ebb and flow of the seasons here probably gives the pop music an added sense of poignancy or vulnerability.”
Judging by the recent national attention that Bears (featured in Spin and Filter) and Afternoon Naps (an Allmusic.com “crush band of 2007”) have been receiving, it’s safe to say that Cleveland pop may have its national appeal, as well.
“A lot of music now is so pretentious and over done,” says Dechristofaro. “Sometimes, you just want to hear something that’s simple, straight forward, and sounds good”—a no-nonsense credo any Clevelander can get behind.
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