The Patsys b/w Magic City
Two Columbus garage rock bands release a split single the old-fashioned way
By Liz Schroeter
Published: July 5th, 2007 | 3:04pm
Drummer Jeff Regensburger remembers when releasing a single was a big deal, when there used to be only two or three places to play music in Columbus, Ohio, and when a Tuesday night show would draw a crowd. Now, he says, every Tuesday night seems to be some band’s CD release party. “There’s always been a certain do-it-yourself ethos to indie rock,” Regensburger opines via phone during a break at band practice. “But it’s so much easier to do it yourself now. You have to do so much more to rise above that, because now everyone has a CD and a single out, and tours in some fashion.”
Regensburger has been drumming with the Patsys since their start in the early 2000s, but he's been around the Columbus music scene for many more years. He’s not shy about his age (43); and while he looks back on the way things used to be, he’s not at all bitter about change either.
“Changing rock music is a young man’s or young woman’s game,” Regensburger says. “That’s not our job. We’re playing the kind of music that we’ve come to collectively appreciate. We’re in no danger of being the next big thing,” he jokes of the band, which includes bassist-vocalist Tutti Jackson, guitarist-vocalist John Stickley, and former New Bomb Turk member Jim Weber on guitar. “We’re the most self-actualized band I’ve ever been in. There’s none of that baggage. No one’s going to get kicked out of the Patsys because they’re not taking it seriously enough. We’re so far past all that. We’re doing it for ourselves.”
Doing it for themselves means doing it all themselves, including self-releasing the new Patsys’ full-length album on their Umbrella Records’ imprint. But at least they’re not doing it alone. Leading up to the Patsys’ latest, Both Sides Never, the band self-released a split 7-inch vinyl single with another Columbus band, Magic City.
Maybe you remember split 7-inches. Bands often sold them for $3 in the basements of house parties or sweaty VFW halls in the ’80s and ’90s. Back then, it was the logical first release for bands; before they could upload tracks to a MySpace page, 7-inches got bands’ newest songs out there quickly and cheaply. They were the perfect souvenir from a noisy night out seeing some new and exciting band in a cramped and smoky room; a delicate nugget of slightly fuzzy music slipped carefully into a plastic sleeve. Who’s to say if it’s just nostalgia or the warm low end of the vinyl, but for many of those bands, their early 7-inch singles remain some of their fans’ favorite releases.
That said, it wasn’t for nostalgia’s sake that the Patsys and Magic City chose to do it the old-fashioned way, nor was it a lack of knowing how “the kids” do things these days (both bands have active MySpace pages where you can download songs — though you won’t find either 7-inch track up there). It was simply that when it came time to release some music, pressing a split 7-inch seemed like the natural and logical step for a band like the Patsys, whose members had been playing in bands for so many years and enjoy doing things the old way. As Regensburger puts it, “That’s what we wanted to do, and we like Magic City.” Both the CD and the 7-inch were released on April 14, 2007.
Magic City, the trio of guitarist-singer Karen, guitarist-backing vocalist Ann, and drummer Nick (last names intentionally kept a mystery for mystery’s sake), are much newer to the music scene than their Patsys pals. In fact, Ann and Nick primarily learned how to play their instruments while they were already playing in the band. The simple, raw aesthetic of Magic City’s fuzzy garage rock lends a little room for novice rockers, and the trio makes up for it in a big way with an irresistible ’60s pop vibe. “It’s a little primitive at times, but I think that’s a good thing,” explains Karen. “There’s no room for pretentiousness or filler. A song is either good, or it’s not. There’s nowhere to hide.”
<img alt="patsys3.jpg" src="http://venuszine.com/stories/patsys3.jpg" width="252" height="377" align="right" hspace="5" vspace="5"/>
When asked if the band’s unusual line-up (two guitars, sans bass) was deliberate, Karen says, “Somewhat,” and adds, “When we started, there was no bassist, simply because we didn’t really know anyone who played bass. Ann and I always joked that neither of us wanted to play bass because having a girl bassist is sort of an unfortunate stereotype. We started practicing without a bassist and liked it. I have a lower guitar tone, and Ann’s sound is a little more treble-heavy, so it fills in the gaps. Plus, by not having a bassist we get to follow the lead of some other cool bass-less bands that we dig, namely the Cheater Slicks and Oblivians.”
Magic City has a self-recorded EP and a series of self-released CD singles recorded onto CDs that look like little black records packaged in sleeves. Though the band appreciates the aesthetic qualities of records, Karen says this is their first 7-inch release. She says the band has been reluctant to release anything on vinyl because the process seems complicated. “Teaming up with the Patsys made everything so much easier,” Karen says. “We recorded the songs in Detroit at Jim Diamond’s studio with the Patsys. It was our first time in a studio, so it was really cool and helpful to have the Patsys there. They’re such pros.”
Working with producer Jim Diamond, who has also produced notable garage rock bands including the Dirtbombs, was a thrill for both bands. Magic City was excited to work with a pro on their first trip into the studio; and the Patsys, who have recorded with the likes of Steve Albini (Shellac) and Paul Mahern (Zero Boys), welcomed the opportunity to work with someone who could challenge them to create something different from what they’d done before.
The end product of this Columbus collaboration is a classic 45 vinyl, one side for the Patsys’ groovy, keyboard heavy “Have You Got Soul?” and one side for Magic City’s fuzzed-up, infectious “Teenage Electricity.” From the retro-inspired artwork to the music within the vinyl grooves, this split 7-inch demands attention in the old fashioned way — the way MP3s just won’t ever be able to. In other words, you won’t mind running back over to the hi-fi every three minutes to flip it over and start all over again.
--
Photos: 1. Jeff Regensburger of the Patsys; 2. Karen and Ann of Magic City; 3. Tutti Jackson of the Patsys. Courtesy of Magic City
Comments
Please login to be able to comment on this article.
more