Semisextile, a local Columbus band that has been in the business for three years, is finally being recognized for its original rock alternative sound that has blown away hundreds of Columbus concert-goers. The band will blow away fans in a show on Friday at Skully’s.
Pulling its influence from bands such as the Foo Fighters, Incubus, Our Lady Peace and Tool, Semisextile’s latest album, “Sensory Overdose,” released in April 2002, is a sweet blend of hard rock alternative and funk, mixed with some softer ballads making for a flavorful sound untouched by other local Columbus bands.
“Columbus’s local band scene is just phenomenal,” said Tom Moore, drummer for Semisextile.
“One of the band’s main strengths is that we’re relatively versatile, so we can play a large majority of venues around Columbus,” said Nathan Eckhart, band guitarist.
These venues include, but are not limited to, Little Brothers, Victory’s, Whiskey Dicks, Grandview Café and Crown Sports Lounge.
“We offer something for almost anybody, said Eckhart. “We have developed our own sound by blending a wide variety of different genres of music that sets our sound apart from so many other bands.”
The five members have gone to great measures to get publicity for the band and to set it apart from its competition.
Jason Taylor, guitarist and the band’s graphic designer, got arrested after running from security guards while distributing band flyers and stickers at a Weezer concert earlier this year at Polaris Amphitheater.
The band learned it was required to have a permit in order to distribute promotional materials at the Amphitheater. Eventually Taylor was let go, and almost all of the flyers and stickers were distributed.
” ‘Behind the Music,’ here we come,” Taylor said with a good laugh.
“A great time for sure,” said Eckhart, reminiscing about the incident.
The band has surely come a long way in the last three years. Semisextile started out small, with just bassist Ed Tonti and Eckhart who were neighbors at the time. The two started playing together in Tonti’s basement. Doug Collins, a friend of Tonti’s, now the group’s lead vocalist and also a guitarist for the band, had a fair amount of equipment to offer, so eventually he joined Tonti and Eckhart.
Soon enough, Moore came along and the band was cleverly named Ed’s Basement.
Not long after, the band decided to rename itself and came up with Semisextile, an astronomical term that implies two planets are 30 degrees off axis from each other. Their logo, an upside down triangle, is the scientific symbol for the term.
All but one band member hails from Columbus; Taylor is originally from Detroit. His former band happened to be opening up for Semisextile a few years back when the four band members asked Taylor, a recent graduate of Columbus College of Art and Design, if he would do the band’s graphic design for all of the promotional artwork and album cover artwork.
However, soon enough, the band asked Taylor to join the band as its seven string guitarist.
Making it to the point the band is at now was not easy. The band’s first several gigs were played at Fat Jack’s, on the west side of Columbus, just opening up for a local band whose members were friends of theirs.
“We have played shows to bartenders in the past,” Collins said.
After numerous shows played for many of the same devoted fans at various venues in the Columbus area and a lot of hard work, the band is finally earning a considerable amount of attention for its unique sound.
Recently having been featured on the Blitz, and doing several radio interviews since the release of “Sensory Overdose,” have helped immensely to promote the new album.
Most recently, the band opened up for Oleander in April at an outdoor festival at Ohio Northern University. Beginning next week, the band will be playing every Wednesday night at Victory’s.
However, the band is focusing on rocking the crowd at Skully’s, where it will play the first show at the bar, in conjunction with The Leader, a band from Brooklyn, New York.
“Our goal is to have between 300-400 people at the show on Friday. And if you show up, I will meet and greet you personally,” Collins said.
“It’s great when people support local music because it’s tough sometimes when you are competing with hundreds of other extremely talented bands out there,” he said.
From the origins of the band, Semisextile’s goal has always been to go public with its talent and to touch as many people as humanly possible with its music.
Most recently, it has been focusing on “spawning out to all major cities in and around Ohio, not just Columbus,” says Eckhart.
“Yes, Nathan will be on the wall of every 14-year-old girl within the next two years,” Taylor added jokingly. “No really,” he said, “Much love to the devoted fans who come out for every show; who drag their ass off the couch to come see us,” including their girlfriends, Christy Knox and Marcy Turner.
To find out more about Semisextile, listen to tracks off its most recent album “Sensory Overdose,” or even purchase the album for just $10 at the bands Web site at www.semisextile.com.
