Argos

by Randy Webb

Iowa State Daily

A mix of metal, pop and punk with the classical sounds of violin and cello may bring to mind Metallica’s “S&M” album, but Argos is nowhere near James Hetfield and the boys.

Instead the Ames/Des Moines band has been tearing up local venues for the past year or so with its string-punk, and the band will bring it to the Veishea Battle of the Bands stage Friday.

“We have a good mix of songs,” says bassist Ryan Meier. “There is a punk element to us, but we’re pretty poppy. Everybody will find there’s at least a couple songs they really like.”

“I think the strings give us a bit of an edge,” vocalist Greg Goode says about the cello and violin of respective bandmates Henna Chou and H.B. Rhee.

“I don’t think there’s any band in the local scene like us,” he adds.

Chou agrees.

“There’s a lot more going on, even though our two parts could be played on a keyboard, with one hand playing each part.”

Using the different instruments “makes it a little more interesting, gives it more personality,” she adds.

“We add a little more touch to it,” says Rhee. “I also play the mandolin, and that adds to it as well. But the guys would still be a great band anyway.”

So the strings are not there for novelty purposes. But when they come on stage, people have a tendency to think otherwise, Goode says.

“It’s not a gimmick,” he says.

“In a way, it sucks,” says Rhee, “because sometimes that’s the only reason people want to see us.”

Argos formed in the summer of 2001 after the breakup of Goode and Meier’s previous band, the Badgemen.

After guitarist Matt Goode, Greg’s brother, returned from a stay in Florida, Badgemen drummer Scott O’Gara joined them to form the core of Argos, says Meier.

In October Chou and Rhee joined the band, and the Argos sound was born.

So how does Argos intend to prove its worthiness to the local music audience?

“We like good, catchy songs,” says Greg Goode. “We have a wide variety of influences,” he adds, name-dropping bands like the Smiths, Weezer and the Stone Roses, “but we try to approach songwriting in a unique way. We want to write songs that people will still want to listen to 20 years from now.”

“You’d have to experience it, really,” says Meier.

Check out the Web site at: www.argosrock.com.

The Barn Owl Band

by Dana Schmidt

Iowa State Daily

What do you get when you combine several ISU professors, an ISU graduate and the son of an ISU professor with a bass, piano, guitars, and fiddles? The Barn Owl Band.

“We have a lot of fun when we play; it’s not a chore. It’s a hobby and not a job,” says Jason Huntley, graduate in veterinary pathology and fiddle player in the band.

The Barn Owl Band has been performing as a group since 1991 at several events in Iowa and elsewhere.

Its members began performing as the house band for the Central Iowa Barn Dance Association and have continued to evolve though the years.

Michael Bell, who plays guitar as well as several other instruments, echoes Huntley.

“You listen to people who are full-time professional bands, they talk about working gigs, they don’t play music anymore,” says Bell, associate professor of sociology. “We play music, we don’t work music.”

All of the members of the band have outside jobs at places such as Iowa State, Simpson College and Pioneer Hi-Bred, International. Roger Alexander, associate professor of mathematics, one of the original organizers of the Central Iowa Barn Dance Association and pianist/accordion player for the Barn Owl Band, helped form the band.

Other band members include Jonathan Duvick, on guitar and upright bass, Merle Hall on the five-string banjo, Martin Miller, professor emeritus of sociology, on upright bass and percussion, and Bettie Swarts on the fiddle.

The band plays traditional string band music, which is often associated with Irish groups such as Riverdance and Trinity Irish Dance and is sometimes considered folk music.

“Roger [Alexander] likes to say its old-time fiddle tunes. But it is somewhat New England-style and we play some Irish tunes,” Huntley explains.

Other members of the band, such as Bell, classify their music as old-time string band music.

“There aren’t many groups that play our style. We’re keeping a tradition alive,” he adds.

The band performs at the Central Iowa Barn Dance Association’s dances on the fourth Saturday of every month.

“Our audience cuts across all ages,” Bell says. “You’ll see every age group at our dances, at our performances. There’s not many musical styles where that’s the case. Most of them are so heavily identified with particular segments. But I think since this is folk stuff, it has an appeal to every age group.”

Besides playing for the Central Iowa Barn Dance Association, the Barn Owl Band has played for local events such as at Sen. Tom Harkin’s birthday party, local civics events, weddings and anniversary parties, Bell says.

In February 2002, the band had the opportunity and honor of playing on “A Prairie Home Companion,” a National Public Radio program.

“Prairie Home Companion was a big thing,” Huntley says. “There are 3 million listeners every week on 500 stations worldwide.”

After its performance on “A Prairie Home Companion,” the band began receiving telephone calls from all around the country.

“We’re talking South Carolina, Atlanta, Texas, Minneapolis and all over the state,” Huntley says.

Currently, the band plans to stay rooted in Iowa with occasional trips to play else where, Bell says.

The band released its first album, “Dance Owl Night,” in 2000 and is currently recording its second album, which it hopes to release this fall.

Check out the Web site at: www.public.iastate.edu/~alex/barndance.html#owls.

Catchpenny

by Trevor Fisher

Iowa State Daily

Catchpenny hasn’t been around the Ames scene long.

The members got together during February of 2001, and have only a played a few shows since the band’s birth.

The self-described melodic, moody metal band is still trying to get its feet wet and make a name for itself in local music. But in their short time together as a band in Ames, the members have already learned a rather disappointing concept about today’s scene: there isn’t a lot of support for metal bands in Ames.

“We don’t seem to have an audience here, but there’s got to be people around here that like metal,” says lead singer Lora Fields. “But for some reason we can’t get anyone to care about us.”

And, says bassist Brian Brehman, it isn’t just lack of fan support for metal bands that works against Catchpenny, but also lack of club support to book metal bands.

“No one will book a band that isn’t punk around here,” Brehman says.

The band will be the first to admit finding a place to play in Ames is hard for any band, no matter what style of music. But Fields and Brehman think it can be even harder for a band who doesn’t sound like the newest MTV pop-punk craze.

So instead of playing in the town they live in, the band usually books its shows in Illinois, where three members hail from. Brehman says the scene there is a little more rock-oriented and what he calls “with the times.”

“Ames kind of seems to be lagging three of four years,” Brehman comments.

“They’re still really into Blink-182 here and it seems like everyone else has kind of moved on.”

It isn’t as if Brehman and the rest of Catchpenny’s (mostly the very outspoken Brehman though) somewhat hostile attitude toward local pop-punksters is completely unprovoked though. Earlier this year Catchpenny was part of a pre-game tailgate show that featured three other bands as well.

After one of the bands finished, it told the crowd to stick around to hear the other bands. The group then named off the other bands but referred to Catchpenny as “some other band.” Needless to say this didn’t sit well with Catchpenny.

“We hadn’t been part of the scene a whole long time, but if you were playing that show you easily could have found out our name,” Brehman says.

Frustration over not being able to find gigs and a lack of recognition have forced the four-piece into a recent slump in which progress has been slow. But the band that draws influences from groups such as Cold, Korn, Mudvayne and Staind was able to land a spot in Friday’s Veishea Battle of the Bands.

And playing the battle is just what Catchpenny needs to re-energize itself, Fields says.

Although it falls on the same day as a show the group had booked in Illinois, the band is extremely excited to perform in the battle.

“I just have a really optimistic outlook,” Fields says. “We’re playing Veishea, and it is going to give us a great chance to get our name out and let people see us plus they seemed to pick some more rock-oriented bands which was nice.”

Check out the Web site at: www.go.to/catchpenny.