They're Coming They're Coming

CLIMBING TO THE GOOD LIGHT: THEY’RE COMING THEY’RE COMING TAKES ON COLUMBUS
By Steve Knapp

There rests a mantle right beneath the musical surface of what has been discovered, quantified and filed away as acceptable. It’s there you’ll find bands with fingers gripping topsoil kissed by the oh so sunny light of success. To even get that hold, they’ve had to fight for an audience that lay in wait inside a holding pen where stones have long since been cast at what would be established as crowd favorites. But the ears that stay open for what these new musicians have to say are pulled in for a treat and oft leave their owners pining for more.

It is here you will find They’re Coming They’re Coming (TCTC). More specifically you’ll find them at a crossroads of Everlast and Kings of Leon, Tony Banks and Blackstreet. They’re everything you want and you don’t even know it yet, and I’ve spent some time getting to know the boys.

It was around 2pm on Saturday while throwing wooden sticks the size of dynamite at parts of a cut up 2×4 when it hit me, this is what They’re Coming They’re Coming is all about. They’re that obscure lawn game your high school friend drunkenly brought with him from his college days that you, your friends, even your grandma can’t seem to get enough of; they are Kubb.

It was also around this time that I got to go on a tour of TCTC’s music compound—a house off Morse Rd—with Griffin and James as my guides. They had been looking for a band rehearsal space for some time before finally, much in band fashion, deciding to make their own. But that kind of forced ingenuity seems par for the course for the band. Much in the same vein, TCTC recently went searching for a studio to get recording done painlessly but instead got turned away by an engineer who didn’t quite get it. Of course, hurdles are meant to be leapt and TCTC’s leap came in the form of DIY production. They have the space, they have the equipment and they have the talent so why not get the job done in-house? And despite a quick setback from a basement flood, they intended to do just that.

The goal? Two separate EPs that reflect two sides to the band. One is going to be a more lighthearted album with all the grooves and riffs fans are accustomed to, while the other is full of darker and moodier pieces. Why make two EPs instead of a full length? That’s just the way of the band; to them it makes sense. Can’t fault them either, making a mark that hasn’t been made before on a city that hasn’t always been known for its musical diversity takes a different approach. So why not two EPs?

Before I could delve much further into their new ventures, drummer extraordinaire, Lou, arrived from work and it was determined that we needed to get a move on and journey downtown for record store day before much more time got away from us. Bassist Max couldn’t make it out so we all piled into my car and set our sights for the skyline.

We arrived at Magnolia Thunderpussy Records and immediately began a routine of dipping into stores and catching drinks when we could. The records pulled were too scattered and diverse to keep up with so conversation was kept light until we found ourselves around a table at North High Brewing. While drinks were flowing and spirits were high, they fired off about everything from album writing to the state of Columbus music.

While I knew they were in the process of recording, I had no idea how far along they had come and how frantic yet oddly organized their process was. The move to the house seemed to be a kick-start to the whole thing. According to James, they moved in, realized they finally had the space and recorded three guitar tracks the next day. And while some might find recording leads first to be a bit backwards, Lou actually prefers working on drums after guitars and other instruments are laid down, clicks and scratch tracks be damned. It’s as though they figure the songs out as they go and their home studio gives them the ability to breathe and piece together parts the way they want to rather than how they’re “supposed to” in a studio. There’s less pressure, less expenses and you’re able to go at your own pace. It also allows them to make mistakes that ultimately benefit the album. As Griffin put it, “We’re fans of the good f**k-ups.”

Jim KeysThey want their sound to be explicitly human and there’s no better time for that sonic aesthetic than right now. Bands like Cloud Nothings have more than proved that the DIY sound can get you to where you want to be as a musician. If anything, audiences now are rejecting when bands go for absolute perfection. It’s a lot like when grunge killed hair metal in the 90s. Pop music today is so over-processed that it’s become a turnoff and leave listeners thirsty for something raw.

It will be interesting to see if the audiences in Columbus will pick up on what TCTC’s throwing down with this approach. With such a large metro area, it takes a lot of motivation to bring people in to see a show. But the city is expanding like never before, so if they’re going to make a grab for it, now is the time. TCTC are aware of this but at the same time they’re grounded in their approach. They never cancel on gigs they’ve committed to and are the true definition of a workhorse band: never giving up on an opportunity to play—I mean, their bassist has to drive at least an hour to get to practices and gigs; that’s dedication. They treat every show the same. I’ve seen them play in bars, big stages, basements and skate parks and every show has the same high level of energy. Commitment like that is how you can tell if a band has a chance at “making it.” Professionalism is hard to come by these days but if a band shows at least a shred of it, the amount of respect they’ll gain is astonishing.

Our talk slowly devolved into drunken banter as we all worked hard to keep ourselves “hydrated.” So we continued on northward to see what other kinds of Record Store Day trouble we could get into, resulting in a hazy at best visit to Bossy Girl’s. What can I say? I have no excuses. TCTC are the kind of guys who bring the best (read: drunkest) out of people.

The rest of that night is a blur but I was able to catch up with them a couple weeks later at a house show and then at Worst Kept Secret Fest out at Skate Naked. While it was a festival and people typically filtered in and out of performances, TCTC seemed to be the ones who finally brought a good portion of the masses inside and were able to keep them there. That doesn’t come as much of a surprise; their live show is something special. It’s non-stop presence on stage with great musical interludes to keep the crowd involved; I’ve seen professional touring acts that are less organized than them. I can only hope it was a sign of good things to come. I really like these guys and think their music has a freshness to it that the growing Columbus music scene would most certainly welcome. Clawing your way to the sunlight is no small feat but TCTC have enough going for them that digging out that final foothold shouldn’t be too far away. - I Am Tuned Up