In 1994, “Alternative Rock” from Ohio was having a moment.
And that moment was captured rather ingeniously at a once-in-a-lifetime “Arena Rock” concert. The Breeders — riding high on their hit Last Splash album — headlined Hara Arena in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio on March 18 of that year. Second on the bill was Cincinnati’s Afghan Whigs, who’d been touring heavily on their breakthrough 1993 LP, Gentlemen. The concert also featured Gem City Indie Rock giants Guided by Voices, who were about four months away from releasing the seminal Bee Thousand album.
Rounding out the lineup 25 years ago at Hara was New Bomb Turks, a powerhouse Garage Punk band from Columbus, Ohio, whose own signature album, !!Destroy-Oh-Boy!!, was also released in 1993. The Turks’ debut full-length was released through esteemed indie label Crypt Records, which straddled the line between Garage Rock and Punk, releasing albums by the likes of The Devil Dogs, The Gories, Cheater Slicks, Guitar Wolf and Nine Pound Hammer, as well as the crucial Garage Rock archival series Back From The Grave.
New Bomb Turks also released albums on Epitaph and Gearhead Records, but after 2003’s Switchblade Tongues & Butterknife Brains, which featured B-sides and mostly unreleased tracks, the band slowed down considerably. Though they haven’t released new music in more than 15 years (2002’s The Night Before the Day the Earth Stood Still is their last LP of new material), the Turks have popped up for occasional live dates — largely bigger festival gigs and Columbus shows.
In the coming months, there will be more New Bomb Turks live action than there has been in quite some time, though. The band — featuring the same lineup since 1999: Jim Weber, Eric Davidson, Sam Brown and Matt Reber — recently announced a run of dates on the East Coast, as well as shows on Reverend Horton Heat’s holiday tour in Chicago and Detroit.
And now it appears that New Bomb Turks will be keeping the roadwork going into 2020. Along with another recently announced date in North Carolina early next year, the Turks are slated to play Newport’s Southgate House Revival on Feb. 13. Tickets ($18) go on sale Thursday, Oct. 10 at 10 a.m.
More show info: southgatehouse.com.
