treysuno

There’s a running joke between fans and band members of the indie rock quartet, treysuno, that they were racing against disbanded 1980s rock icons Guns ‘n’ Roses to release a new full-length album.
After all, treysuno has been together for over seven years with little more than a 7-inch record and a few cuts sprinkled amongst some compilation albums under their recording belt.
So, the news of their debut CD release party at Howard’s Club H this Friday continues to shock the doubters that were convinced that after many near misses this seminal “part-time” indie band would only be enjoyed live.
“We have been living in separate cities since 2003,” singer and guitarist Justin Hemminger said in a recent telephone interview. “We have been working on this record since before we all started living in different cities, so it is even more of an accomplishment to get it done considering our situation.”
The album, titled “Narwhal” (like the whale) contains studio tracks written over treysuno’s first five years, giving listeners a panoramic view of the band’s stylistic growth over half a decade.
Recorded in eight sessions over the past year, treysuno members came together from their respected professional lives in Toledo, Columbus, Canton and Lansing, Mich. to put together the 12-track album.
“All of the songs are kind of connected by a theme of making mistakes, which considering that it took us four years to make this record, we know a thing or two about making mistakes,” Hemminger said. “I hesitate to call it a theme record but it does kind of loosely connect.”
This weekend also marks what could be called a mini treysuno-Fest at Howard’s, including the release show on Friday and their fourth annual April Fool’s Day Extravaganza on Saturday.
For a band that generally only gets together to play lives shows, a two-night stand at their “home-away-from-home” couldn’t be any better.
Saturday’s show will feature five area bands attempting to “pull one over” on the audience as they play, act and possibly even dress the part of well-known national groups, playing 30-40 minute sets comprised entirely of cover songs.
Host band treysuno will be masquerading as the legendary Elvis Costello and The Attractions (guitarist Scott Wagner had to learn how to play the organ from scratch for this one), focusing on material from his first three albums.
Joining them will be The Press Gang performing as The Beach Boys, Blood Dumpster playing as Tom Petty, Straight to the Withdrawal as Green Day and Picciuto covering the material of seven Toledo and Bowling Green bands, including treysuno.
The concert, which has proven to be a fan favorite over the past three years, is intended to allow each artist the opportunity to stretch out their abilities and concentrate on performing material in a style that is generally removed from their regular routines.
Hemminger said that this is the first year that a band has decided to devote their set to local artists, something he believes helps emphasis the depth of talent in Northwest Ohio.
“We have been picking all of these national bands to cover for the last four years and finally somebody put the local bands up there in that same pantheon,” he said. “I really like the fact that a couple of bands, actually three of them, on the bill this year are really making pretty big stylistic stretches from what they do.” - Cole Christiansen - Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune