Brian Lisik & Hard Legs
Brian Lisik & Hard Legs (Lisik, vocals and guitar; Robb Myers, guitar; and Martyn Flunoy, drums) conjured the ghosts of its collective musical past while making its latest studio album, appropriately dubbed Nu Wreckard. Lisik described the short, smart, snotty and irreverent seven-song collection as “born from us getting in a room, making some noise and seeing what happens.”
Nu Wreckard deftly traverses an ocean of genres – from raw ‘50s rock and 90s grunge to campy ‘70s TV cop show sounds and features appearances from Lisik’s long-time bassist, vocalist and songwriting partner Steve Norgrove, saxophonist Ian Early (Cherry Poppin’ Daddies), and Akron rock legends The Bizarros, which Flunoy is also a member of.
Nu Wreckard follows Brian Lisik & Hard Legs’ 2022 release, the intentionally unvarnished live album Hotsy Totsy! American Songwriter placed “Monk,” a searingly profane non-single from that album, among its Top 24 songs of the year. Hotsy Totsy! was also named one of the Canton Repository’s “Best of 2022” releases.
No Depression called the band’s music “a winning formula of catchy phrasing, jangly guitar riffs and great pop hooks.” The Seattle Post Intelligencer said the songs make “A rough and tumble garage-y sound…soaked deep in an ocean of chunky guitars.” Music writer Lee Zimmerman said “Lisik writes songs that resonate almost immediately…sharp, smart and full of edgy intensity…bold, assertive and flush with full tilt rock ‘n’ roll.”
brianlisik.com
Bored Approval
The brainchild of Ohio-based singer-songwriter-guitarist Christian Lisik, bored Approval (Lisik, bassist/vocalist Tom Longworth and drummer Joe Hahn) is at once pleasantly charming folk-rock and a lyrical sledgehammer of young-adult displacement, disillusionment, angst and dark humor. The band’s latest EP, Filo, picks up where its 2022 debut full-length, Pending/No Quorum left off, continuing to play off the partly fictional persona of bored Approval - a disgruntled young professional grappling with themes of 21st Century love, loss and social discordance with songs like the overtly cheeky “Mistake on the Lake,” an ode to the perennial misfortunes of Cleveland professional sports teams; the tender ballad “Fortunate”; and the band’s de facto Iliad, “Ballad of Keith.”
Funeral Proposals
Funeral Proposals (Akron, OH) champion a contrast of alluring melody and cutting instrumentals. It is served loud and off-kilter.
The alternative-rock group consists of Holden Shumate (vocals/guitar), Ryan Hanlon (guitar), Samuele Gucciardo (drums), and Gavin Gunn (bass).
Get to the show early for dinner and drinks from Paninoteca - open in The Rialto Living Room at 5pm!
Doors: 7:00PM / Showtime: 7:30PM