Artist of the Week: Local H

Here's the deal, this week's artist is another one of those bands that most people might have never heard of. They're actually doing a show tonight (6/22/08) at the Metro, but sadly I won't be there cause I'm working. It just happens to be down the street at Wrigley. Any who, the band originated close to the Chicago area from a place called Zion, Illinois. It started with two guys; guitarist/vocalist Scott Lucas and drummer Joe Daniels. After failing to recruit a bassist, Lucas just added bass pickups to his electric guitar. Making him the guitarist/vocalist/bassist. Sounds like a hand full, but he pulls it off. In 1995 the band released their first album album called Ham Fisted, but their follow up album was their first success. In 1996 they released As Good As Dead, which featured the popular singles "Bound For The Floor" and "Eddie Vedder". In 1998 the band released their next album Pack Up The Cats which introduced the hit "All The Kids Are Right". Sadly after this album the band's record label, PolyGram, merged with Universal and the album was pretty much lost in the shuffle. In 1999, drummer Joe Daniels left the band and was replaced by Brian St. Clair, who had worked with other Chicago bands such as Liz Phair and Cheap Trick. Together, in 2002, they released the band's fourth album Here Comes the Zoo which included the dark but still fan favorite song "Hands on the Bible". Their next album entitled Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles featured one of my favorite songs from the band in "California Songs". This past May the band released their seventh album entitled 12 Angry Months.


The album is about the experiences you encounter during a break-up, with each track representing a month in the year. The first single is "24 Hour Break-Up Session". I've only heard a couple of tracks so far, but from that I can tell it's a good album. That being said, this week's artist is Local H with their video California Songs, enjoy.