Sat 12/3
You know the holiday season has arrived when The Ohio City Singers awake from their slumber. This year the act is providing Northeast Ohio with Yuletide cheer in the form of new studio effort Ring Out the Wild Bells.
The 10-piece band – which features Christopher Allen (guitars, vocals), Doug McKean (guitar, accordion, vocals), Austin “Candy Cane” Charanghat (guitar, vocals), Don “Dingle” Dixon (keys, percussion, trombone, glockenspiel, vocals), Brent Kirby (drums, vocals), Tom Prebish (bass, vocals), Matt Sobol (guitar, vocals), Nick “The Clobberer” Stipanovich (accordion, hand bells, vocals), Kelly Wright (vocals) and Fred Perez-Stable (percussion) – has booked an early afternoon CD release show for Sat 12/3 at the Music Box Supper Club.
CoolCleveland talked to Allen about the Ohio City Singers, the new album and Christmas Ale.
How did the group come together?
We’ve been playing together since 2003. We kind of formed at a house party where we scheduled a get-together at Christmas for our families and friends. It became this kind of Christmas tradition. Every year we’d have a Christmas party, write some original songs and we’d make 50 copies for everybody’s family and friends. We did five of those, and then in 2008, we got Don Dixon on board to produce our first real record that was released to the public. We’ve been playing out doing shows ever since then.
So the Ohio City Singers are just a holiday band?
Yes, except once in a while we’ll do a Christmas in July show. We start up in November and it ends the Saturday before Christmas. We’ll pack in shows. This season we’re doing quite a bit. We perform 98% original material but it’s all songs about the holidays. We have 10 players so it’s a pretty uptempo, high-energy kind of show. So it’s a lot of ways to say “Merry Christmas,” I guess.
How does the group go about writing songs?
Generally what I’ll do is write a little bit during the holidays but generally we get together in January when there’s still snow on the ground and it still looks kind of festive. Also, most of the stuff is really based on a good title: a good idea kind of writes itself. Most of the stuff from our new album was written then but then this summer we got together and wrote a few others.
Congrats on Ring Out the Wild Bells. What stands out on the album?
Our first three records were more studio in nature. We did invite folks to come in and sing along, but this album in particular we did it like we did the first party. We invited a bunch of family and friends, and we recorded the album while they were there. We gave them song sheets and stuff to sing along to. There’s a lot of crowd participation on a lot of the records but this one in particular sounds like 2004 to me where this are people hanging around, drinking, having a good time. There’s crowd noise in the back, people laughing. Also this year we put it out to our fanbase and sold 50 slots so people could participate in the album. It was a nice way to get people involved and also help us fund the project.
What songs stand out on the new album?
The album opens up with “Ohio City Singers Christmas Bash,” which speaks for itself. Also, this album is different. It’s the first time we ever put covers on a record. In the live set. “The Grinch” and “Heat Miser” have become two of our biggest staples. People who know us live will be pleasantly surprised to see that these finally made it on a record. Those are the first few times we’ve covered anyone else on a record.
Stylistically, it seems safe to say the Ohio City Singers offer a “Last Waltz” vibe.
You know, that’s not too far off the path. No one has ever said that but you couldn’t be more dead on because we’ve got some soul in there, folk, Americana, acoustic and flat-out rock ’n’ roll. Stylistically it’s across the board.
Finally, considering you recorded the new album live in September, did you hoard away any Christmas Ale in order to capture the festive mood?
We lucked out. When we were planning the party at a bar and the guy next to us was a beer distributor. He had cask-aged [Fat Heads] Holly Jolly Christmas Ale on his truck he sold us. People who had Holly Jolly at the party said it was pretty strong. I kind of knew that so I stayed away from it because I had to record 12 songs in a day. It’s best not to be bombed when you’re doing that.
Find the full Ohio City Singers schedule of shows here.