Indiana's Finest: The Best Local Bands of 2011

It's been a pretty crappy year for the American music industry. With a handful of exceptions, the radio waves provided a pretty lackluster presentation of Top 40 artists and singles which were fairly forgettable after first listen. Despite this, Indianapolis has managed to carry on and put forth some of the best bands and music the city has ever seen, creating a shining beacon of hope in the Midwest for quality music that hopefully the rest of the country can get on board with. The best thing about this particular list is that all of these bands just recently got their footing in the last couple years, especially in 2011. And what's amazing is many of these bands consist of people who are considerably younger than the average pop artist, but already offer up something better and more refreshing. Here is a list of the best local bands the Circle City has to offer.

It's All Happening - Band Voted Most Likely To Succeed In Their High School Yearbook

If there's one band likely to come out of Indianapolis and establish themselves as the country's next big rock band, it'll be It's All Happening. From the start, it's easy to tell these gentlemen have had nothing but stars in their eyes, with music that could easily take its place on radio waves alongside the top rock artists in the country. Even the band's name, a reference to the movie Almost Famous, is a hint at their desire to go further than any band in Indianapolis. They know what they want, and they have it down to a science.With a punk and rock & roll style borrowing influence from bands like The Clash and Samiam, making it big shouldn't be a problem for It's All Happening.


Facebook page here.
Website here.

Subatomic - Most Punx Up'd in a Single Calendar Year

Subatomic is one of the best and most hard-working punk bands in Indianapolis. The band recorded and released their first full-length album, expanded their reach across Indiana, and went on a five-day tour known as the MidWest Fuck The Rest tour. On top of all that, front man Kenneth Keener put together the first all-ages, all-punk fest in Indianapolis, Punks Don't Give A Fest, featuring over a dozen young, eager punk bands. Their sound, which weaves back and forth between blistering street punk, catchy pop punk, and brutal hardcore, has fans going wild as they scream along and mosh with the most manic of energy, a sign that Subatomic's hard work is definitely paying off.

Facebook page here.
Bandcamp page here. 

Earthbound - Best New Band To Look Out For In 2012

Finally, ska has returned to Indianapolis in the form of this young and enthusiastic ska-punk band! Earthbound broke into the Indianapolis music scene after winning Piradical Productions' annual High School Battle Of The Bands, and have been making waves ever since. All of the members are still in high school, and during their first year of shows, they have shown incredible improvement in their musicianship and song-writing. With some more time and some more shows, they'll accomplish what few have managed to do: be a solid ska band Indianapolis can be proud to call its own.

Facebook page here.
Bandcamp page here.

Scumbelina - Best New Band In A Stale Genre

Also getting a boost from participating in Piradical Productions' High School Battle Of The Bands, Scumbelina is a breath of fresh air in the psychobilly punk subgenre, which is an impressive feat considering many of the best psychobilly bands are still in the middle of their own midlife crisis. The young trio feel right at home in their rockabilliy roots and have the musicianship to show it, displaying an energy that some bands of their genre just don't have anymore. Thanks to Scumbelina, rockabilly could have a bright future in Indianapolis.

Facebook page here.

Comfort - Most Underrated Band in Indy

If there's one band that hasn't yet received enough recognition in the Indianapolis music scene, it's Comfort. If Blink-182 drank more than they already do and got much more depressed because of it, Comfort would be the result. But for where they lack in optimism, they make up for in sheer power. For a pop punk band, Comfort is loud. So loud, Nigel Tuffman would shed a tear of joy. Their first full-length, "Hoover," is one of the best local albums to come out this year, and with it, they're starting to gain a better following. 2012 will very likely be their year.


Facebook page here.
Bandcamp page here.

Chaotic Neutral - The New Kings of Indianapolis Hardcore

The Indianapolis hardcore music scene took a hit this year with local hardcore legends The Dream Is Dead, In The Face Of War, and Bolth all calling it quits and playing their final shows in the last year alone. But Indy hardcore is far from dead, and Chaotic Neutral is a testament to this fact. A super group of sorts, Chaotic Neutral's members have all been in bands that have seen their demise, and eventually came together this year to form the band, whose hardcore punk blend features panicked and pissed-off vocals over thrashing guitars and fast, pounding drums. Chaotic Neutral is a force to be reckoned with, as they could very likely be Indy's next great hardcore band.


Facebook page here.
Bandcamp page here.

 

Pessoa - Best Drunken Cry Mosh

Pessoa is one of the many bands riding high on the revival of early 90's emo music, but what helps them stand out in the genre is how incredibly accessible they are when compared to their peers. The vocals are clear, the lyrics easily relatable, and their music is full of infectious punk and indie melodies and just enough of that noodly twinkle to keep emo veterans and newbies alike singing along to every song, and that's not an exaggeration. Pessoa has one of the most enthusiastic fan-bases in Indianapolis, hanging onto every word while shoving and climbing over each other to prove it, especially during fan-favorite "The Coming Up Right," which is easily one of the best songs to come out of Indianapolis this year.


Facebook page.
Bandcamp page here.

Indian City Weather - Best Local Band of The Year

The pick for the year's band is pretty much a no-brainer. Indian City Weather (exclusive interview here) is one of the Circle City's most original bands, combining indie rock with hip-hop beats to make music so connectable and infectious it's hard to find a better band. Riding on the success of their "Leather Lungs" EP, the band has been all over the all-ages circuit and beyond, making it almost impossible to find a show they weren't playing on while making appearances on local news and opening for Machine Gun Kelly at the Egyptian Room. But for these fine, young gentlemen, the hard work has definitely paid off. Indian City Weather is in the middle of recording their first full-length album, which is expected to be out next year, so expect to see them continue ahead full-steam in 2012.

Facebook page here.
Bandcamp page here.

The Most Badass Christmas Songs Ever

Every December, shopping centers and radio stations devote almost all of their airplay to the yearly tradition of round-the-clock Christmas music. The songs are meant to promote cheer and happiness during a time when everyone is trampling over each other during Christmas shopping sprees and dreading the inevitable visit from their creepy, drunken uncle while they drown their sorrows in a glass of eggnog that never really seems full enough. Nearly everyone (except that one asshole that arranges your office's depressing holiday party every year) gets tired of Christmas music days before Christmas even arrives. This is why it's always important to spice things up a bit, so here's are five Christmas songs badass enough to make Santa Bot himself weep tears of joy.

Christmas With The Devil - Spinal Tap

The clown princes of heavy metal, Spinal Tap made their contribution to the ever-expanding catalog of holiday music and reinforced their relationship with Satan with "Christmas With The Devil." Haunting organs give way to a guitar riff so punishingly evil, it could only be written by the original metal gods themselves. The band says the song doesn't promote satanism, but instead claiming "Man’s relationship with the Supreme Evil One is a very private affair. The song is just a depiction, imagining what’s happening with Satan this time of year. Think about it from the devil’s point of view is all we’re saying." The lyrics give further insight:

The elves are dressed in leather
And the angels are in chains
(Christmas with the Devil)
The sugar plums are rancid
And the stockings are in flames
(Christmas with the Devil)
There's a demon in my belly
And a gremlin in my brain
There's someone up the chimney hole
And Satan is his name

With "No bells in Hell, no snow below" Spinal Tap prefer their Christmas as black as the Devil's soul, and they wouldn't have it any other way, which is why they deserve a spot on this list. It speaks for itself, really.

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Alice Cooper

This classic Christmas song has always had creepy undertones painting Santa Claus as an omnipresent being that rewarded the good and punished the bad, but the cheery tune usually just left the listener without a care despite the fact the song exposes the jolly fat man as essentially Big Brother. Alice Cooper fixes this problem by giving the song the terrifying makeover it really needed. Want your kid to straighten up before the holiday season? Have him listen to this version of the song. Before you know it, he'll be shoveling the driveway and trimming the tree when he's not laying in bed awake at night crippled with fear at the thought of "Santa Claws" watching him while he sleeps. "He knows where you live. He knows that your window is open. He knows what's under your bed," Cooper says with menacing delight. Even though the original shock rocker is well past his prime, he gets this song, and does it proper, pants-shitting justice.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Ronnie James Dio

From the moment you hear the screech of the opening riff of this song, you'll know this isn't a Christmas rendition for mere mortals. Dio tells the classic story of the birth of Jesus Christ with the powerful and eerie wail he is known for. The song, featuring chugging guitars and a marching drumbeat that will have anybody banging their head almost immediately, is a testament to the former Black Sabbath front man's ability to make even the most simple or fantastical concepts seem terrifyingly metal and evil. But make no mistake, Dio is on a mission from God himself. A mission to spread the word of our lord and savior, and if the face-melting guitar solo in the middle of the song doesn't make you a convert, then the Holy Diver himself will force the Jesus into you with his commands of "God rest you, God take you, God bless you, ye Merry Gentlemen!" at the end of the song. Now throw up those devil horns, soldier of God! Spread tidings of good cheer, or Dio will find you.

Run Run Rudolph - Lemmy Kilmister

Although the formula that made the original Chuck Berry version of this Christmas rock song great has largely been left untouched, it's the addition of one of the most testosterone-fueled voices in metal that takes it into the most badass of territories. Lemmy Kilmister's voice is like blazin' hot sauce for the ears. Just a little bit is enough to make the most stalwart of elderly ladies get out of her wheelchair and kick Scrooge in the face. Men would finally have a reason to look forward to mass on Christmas morning with glee if Lemmy lead the processions and gave the sermon with his gruff, throaty man-growl. Using only the power of his voice, Lemmy put a full Grizzly Adams beard on Rudolph made with hair ripped from the chest of the infamous mole that resides on his face. Any more testosterone, and Rudolph would be leading Santa's Sleigh past the houses of sleeping children and onward into the heat of battle, dropping bombs on Baghdad and waging war with his bare fists.

Merry Xmas (War Is Over) - John Lennon

Were you still expecting distorted guitar riffs and unnecessarily intricate shredding on a Christmas song for it to be badass? Then you clearly don't know the definition of the word, my friend. It takes balls to be the man who stands up on one of the most joyous and festive holidays of the year and Debbie Downer that shit into the ground, but the Beatles resident hippie did it with the most famous holiday-themed protest song ever. With this song, John Lennon decided to be the Christmas version of the guy who preaches about the slaughter of Native Americans to his family during Thanksgiving meal every year. But Lennon manages to pull it off with finesse. Armed with acoustic guitars, jingle bells, and a children's choir, Lennon reminds everyone that while they're at home on Christmas morning opening their presents under the tree, wars and violence still rage on elsewhere. He manages to do what no one else can: make being a hipster douchebag on Christmas feel much more tolerable than it really should, and for that, "Merry Xmas (War Is Over) is truly a badass Christmas song.

My Response To The Indy Super Bowl Shuffle

I’m going to go rogue for this post and take a moment to talk about Indianapolis on a larger level than normal. It has come to the attention of Hoosiers who have had the misfortune of a friend sharing it on their social media page of choice that a video terrifying enough to rival the tape from The Ring has emerged from the bowels of the internet. In an extremely misguided attempt to recapture the nostalgia of Super Bowls past, TheIndianapolis Convention and Visitors Association banded together to release a promotional video known as the Indy Super Bowl Shuffle. Those with a weak constitution should refrain from watching the following clip. 

 

The horrors within this five and a half minute video involve staff members of various Downtown Indianapolis hotels touting the services and high qualities of their respective hotels in the form of terribly lip-synched, 80’s synth-drenched rapping a la the classic 1985 Chicago Bears Super Bowl Shuffle (which let’s be honest, isn’t that great either). Suited up in white headbands and dark sunglasses, the hotel community does everything but dignify our small hometown with this baffling video in an attempt to notify incoming Super Bowl visitors of the hotel services available in the Circle City during the big game in February. The terrible quality of nearly everything about the video had me immediately asking myself how I’ll be able to show the rest of the country Indiana as a whole does not approve of this video as a representation of the Hoosier State in the slightest. 

Given Indianapolis’ recent terrible luck on the sporting front, with the Colts in an endless pit of despair and the Pacers’ chance to, for once, finally take the spot light from football being delayed by the NBA lockout, this travesty to the senses does not help us look any better. Indiana is known to the rest of the world mainly for several things, including The Colts, The Pacers, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and corn. With two out of those four gone, our chances of defying any stereotypes the rest of the world may have of Indy decreases. 

Members of the ICVA and the creators of the parody have taken the video down from their Youtube page (although not fast enough for copies to emerge elsewhere) and have gone on record stating the video was only intended as a way to reach out to meeting planners in Chicago and invite them to visit their booth at a trade show in the Windy City. So simply put, the true mistake the ICVA made was forgetting to hit the “Private Viewing” button on the video. But the bigger crime the creators made was forgetting that good promotion requires better execution. 

However, this video can be seen as a minor speed bump in the road to Indianapolis’s expansion. Bringing the Super Bowl to Indy has been a blessing of which the Circle City has already seen the effects unfolding. Take a look at this promotional video Indy Connect created to inform the public of their plans to expand the city’s transit systems. Now check out this clip VisitIndy.com made to promote the Indianapolis Convention Center’s connectedness to the city’s surrounding hotels and landmarks. 

This video basically accomplishes everything the Indy Super Bowl Shuffle tried to convey, and did it while being classy and respectable to its own city. This is a video I can get behind. This is a video I would gladly show the rest of the country. Indiana has long been overlooked as just an insignificant part of the Midwest, but the expansion to the Indianapolis Convention Center, the construction of the J.W. Marriott hotel and the near-constant road construction in Downtown Indianapolis, all thanks to the Super Bowl being hosted at Lucas Oil Stadium (which was built with the intent of bringing the Super Bowl to Indy) are all a testament to the Hoosier state’s preparation to finally share the spotlight with major cities like Chicago. Yes, the Indy Super Bowl Shuffle was meant as a friendly, joking nudge to a convention hall full of business men and no one else, but Hoosiers have plenty of reasons to ignore it and be proud of the city they live in, even if the Colts make it difficult to do so.

What I Am Thankful For

By Scott Raychel

'MMURCA!

Every year, families get together to celebrate Thanksgiving and have as much turkey, stuffing, green beans, green bean casserole, pie, cornbread, and various other delicious treats nobody really has the rest of the year, save for a few exceptions like Christmas. My family is no different. We celebrated the tradition just as everyone else did. Families change and grow and go their separate ways but it’s always tradition that ends up bringing them back together for a few times a year.

I moved out to live on my own around a year and a half ago, currently living in the second house I’ve ever lived on my own at. Being in college and having a job that barely pays the bills can leave anyone desperate for a cheap meal, and with nobody around to prevent you from encountering the dangers of overly-processed yet overly-delicious fast food, it’s only a matter of time before the warm, artery-clogging embrace of Ronald McDonald and the Burger King seems like a pretty enticing idea. It’s one of the characteristics of growing up in middle of the American dream, but as I have found beyond the burrito wrappers and giant plastic cups that currently cover the floor of my car, there’s still nothing like the prospect of a homemade meal made by someone you love and served up on a hot plate instead of a crinkly piece of paper.

I started going to local shows when I was 18, right before I graduated from high school. I made friends with people from all kinds of backgrounds: Christian, atheist, home schooled, high schooled, young, not-so-young, punks, nerds, regular kids, straight-edge, pot heads, barflies, misfits, outcasts and everything in between. It was, and still is, a forever-changing, ever-growing community of people who look out for each other. Some would even dare to call it a family.

Then sometime in the last couple years, Stephen and Margie Zumbrun, two of the co-founders of Piradical Productions, the all-ages booking company that helped to create this family, which makes up a small portion of the Indianapolis music scene, declared every Tuesday would play host to Community Meals. It was a chance for all of their friends and newcomers to visit their house, share some food and stay in touch with each other on a regular basis. At first, the Zumbruns would cook food, normally spaghetti or chili, for everyone, but after some time, it was decided Community Meals would be split up to different houses within this community, and that every Community Meal would from now on be a potluck. The regular attendees of the weekly event pulled through and delivered, making food for each other rather than one making food for all. The sense of community and the sense of family had been strengthened.

When I asked my friends to share any Thanksgiving recipes they have, which was the original idea for this article, I got this response from my friend John Silva, lead singer of local party punk group Trip N Balls:

“I don’t cook. I put boxed dinners into the microwave and press ‘Start.’ This is the 21^st century, dude. People don’t do ‘recipes.’”
-John Silva, November 2011

The Breakfast of Champions

Although the last part of the statement isn’t entirely true, being a fan of Easy Mac and cans of Chef Boyardee Spaghetti and Meatballs, I can’t say I would disagree with it. After constantly eating out for most of my meals, I have recently made a conscious decision to lay off food coming from any place with a drive-thru window in favor of frequenting the local Kroger more often and preparing my own meals. I’ve always liked cooking, but never really did enough of it. During my fast food streak, I visited my mom for dinner on a normal Sunday night, where she made meatloaf and scalloped potatoes. It was food I’ve had numerous times while I lived with her, but in the midst of the pizza-burger-burrito binge that is my college career, that meatloaf tasted like some of the best food I’ve ever had in my life. Nothing beats mom’s homemade cookin’!

But I’ve definitely had meals come close to it, and most of them came from these weekly Community Meals. They don’t always do the trick, but they’re definitely satisfying enough. For me, it’s not just the fact that I didn’t have to yell at a speaker box to get food, it’s the fact that someone took the time to prepare a meal with extra love and care for their friends, the people they sometimes choose to call a family. It’s a welcome relief from counting coins left on my nightstand in the hopes there’s enough for a couple tacos, and makes me happy I have something better to hold me over until the next meal I share with my actual family.

Stemming from the idea of Community Meals is the annual Pirad Thanksgiving Meal. After everyone has spent time with their own families, they get the chance to hang out with their second family for a second day of feasting and thanks. This ends up bringing the most food of any Community Meal, and it always makes for a good time. I will definitely be attending this year, just as I’ve done the last several years, because in the oasis that is the hustle and bustle and the mind-numbing monotony of daily living, having the opportunity to share a real meal with those closest to me helps me realize exactly what I am thankful for: family.

What Pirad Thaksgiving Looks Like

Local Album Review: Good Luck, "Without Hesitation"

Bloomington pop punk trio Good Luck is one of the best bands to emerge from Indianapolis’s sister city. After the release of their first full-length LP, 2008’s Into Lake Griffy, the band found regional success with their irresistible sound and great song-writing. While Good Luck’s sound could be lumped into the emo genre that’s emerged in the Midwest in recent years due to guitarist and co-vocalist Matt Tobey’s noodly riffs and sometimes unconventional time signatures, their undeniably positive energy helps them transcend the genre and form into something much more accessible to a wider audience. Now the band has released their follow-up LP, Without Hesitation, which can currently be heard on Alternative Press.

The signature style, impressive musicianship, and solid sound of their first album are all present in this new outing. Fans of the band who have picked up last year’s Demonstration 2010 will have had a sneak peek into this album, as the three of the four songs from the EP are present on WH, re-recorded for the album with a couple new tweaks. The standout track from the EP, “Novel Figure” is easily the standout track on this album, with the most manic energy of the album present in a furious display of thrashing guitars and pounding drums over co-vocalist and bass player Ginger Alford’s powerful vocals. Matt Tobey’s vocals and twinkling guitar float through the spaced-out “Decider” with a catchy chorus of vocal harmonies taking the listener through its fantastic finish and bringing it gently back down to reality.

However, the rest of the album doesn’t quite live up to the expectations set by the band's previous two outings. While every song on Into Lake Griffey was fully realized and packed a punch, several of the songs on Without Hesitation don’t feel quite finished and ultimately just feel like padding between the meatier songs. “Impossible” shows the band trying a faster tempo than they’re used to with relatively successful results, and songs like the crashing “Our Mess, Our Mark” and the epic “The Story, Rewritten” are the best new songs to emerge from the album. But songs like the album’s opener “All Good People” and closer “Significant Day,” while by no means bad songs, leave just a little more to be desired.

Into Lake Griffey was an absolutely solid first effort, complete with some of their best song-writing to date, giving a fitting ode to their hometown and managing to remain upbeat while pouring out sometimes heartbroken lyrics. While Without Hesitation kind of just floats along while not quite living up to its predecessor’s standards, it’s still a fairly good album definitely worth a listen or two. Long-time fans will be satisfied with Good Luck’s sophomore album, but new fans probably won’t have their minds changed without listening to Into Lake Griffey first.

The Importance of Being Evil, with Harley Poe

Over the Halloween weekend, a group of costumed show-goers gathered in the Hoosier Dome to watch a local Hoosier favorite take the stage. Dressed as a skeleton, a clown, a Rastafarian, a zombie, and a ghoul, Harley Poe took the stage on the weekend of their favorite night of the year. For the next hour, they entertained an enthusiastic audience in various costumes with their own special blend of songs about monsters, death, and the just plain weird.

What sets the Kokomo-based act apart from their horror-punk counterparts is their lack of a desire to raid Hot Topic and add a “whoa-oh” sing-along to every song in an attempt to display their devotion to The Misfits. If Jello Biafra decided to pick up an acoustic guitar after watching schlocky B-horror movies instead of C-SPAN, Harley Poe would be the result. Their lyrical talent goes much deeper than any horror band with boring, spooky imagery and dudes in leather jackets with slicked-back hair and an upright bass.

Harley Poe’s songs are about all of the famous horror movie figures fans of the genre have come to know and love: vampires, zombies, werewolves, demons, death, and more. Front man Joe Whiteford fills every song with sarcastic, witty and scathing lyrics that are enough to keep listeners entertained and laughing through the normally dark and bleak material celebrating the joys of being on the outskirts of what is deemed “normal.” But just as many horror movies are allegories representing a deep fear the viewer may have or creating commentary on modern day issues of the world, so does Harley Poe’s songs.

“The Suckers” can be a classic example of this. The lyrics, chalk full of innuendo, detail the account of someone who takes home a nice girl from the bar, only to find out too late his one night stand is a blood-sucking phantasm of the night. Upon reading the lyrics, it’s not difficult to figure out exactly what happened in the events leading up to the reveal:

“She opened her mouth as she was going south
The blood rushed to my head
Sexy sleaze, she was aiming to please
And I bet she’d be good in bed
So we’re having our fun
And she’s getting it done
And it feels like ecstasy
She says open your eyes, I’ve got a surprise
And it happened so suddenly
She comes up to chin and gave me a little grin
When I noticed these little fangs
She stuck them in my vein
I couldn’t bear the pain
She went and ruined everything
But she’s a blood sucker
And I’m her prey.”

Fairly straight-forward stuff, but it doesn’t take a Twilight fanatic to figure out the subtext of the sex-crazed world of vampires. The unfortunate victim of this one-night stand is obviously now a full-fledged creature of the night, but take things a step further and one could plausibly say this man has just left his unfortunate encounter with a brand new case of the clap. Cautionary tales are something Harley Poe has a knack for, whether or not the subtlety is there. Just listen one of their earlier songs, “The Girl Has Syphilis.” It’s the same story as The Suckers, but without the sneaky innuendo and horror imagery. Whiteford and company decided sexually transmitted diseases are horrifying enough.

Long-time fans of the band know Harley Poe had its early roots in Christian music as Calibretto 13, but the disturbing content of some of their more recent material as the current incarnation proves they couldn’t be located any further from the light. “Homicidal Maniac” and “Stick It In The Man” depict graphic tales of revenge and angst while alluding to the grisly desired outcomes they seek. While nothing entirely relatable to most, songs like these can be a cathartic experience for the listener who may be having a particularly bad day and want to vent some frustrations in less destructive ways. Everybody has evil intentions at one point or another, and Harley Poe recognizes this and empathizes with the listener in many of their songs. The point is not to celebrate violence and death, but to provide something the listener can relate to in their own dark times.

What Harley Poe ultimately celebrates is the value of individuality. “Transvestites Can Be Cannibals Too,” one of their more popular songs, is an anthem for outcasts and misfits raging against those who shun them for being different, which in itself is the classic punk rock mindset of rebellion.

“I hate the popular people ‘cause I ain’t popular
I hate these words tomorrow ‘cause I’m bipolar
It’s okay to be different unless you’re all by yourself
You think you’re so special when you’re just like everyone else

I just don’t understand the reason why I said
Why can’t I be a bigger mand and walk away when
You tear me down and make me feel like I’m worth nothing
But then again, I’m sure that you deserve what you’ll be getting

And when I was young, I wore my sister’s clothes
I like to paint my nails and I had secrets no one knows
But now that I’m grown up, I cook dinner for my wife
I still carry my secrets along with a butcher’s knife.”

Harley Poe stands up for the little guy: the nerd who was bullied by the jocks, the goth teased by the popular girls, the weird kid no one talks to because he licks pennies in the corner when he thinks no one is looking. Just look at their fans in attendance at their shows. While many would be disgusted with the graphic imagery on display in every song, their fans dance and sing along with such enthusiasm, because they’ve found a band that gets them. Music is all about finding a niche where the listener can feel a little less alone. Harley Poe just chose to do it for the freaks and geeks of the world.