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Other Side of BlackCoin

by Chris DeVille

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JOE MAIORANA PHOTO

Tucked behind a bowling alley and a pub a few turns away from Route 62, there's a peculiar space called the Copa Gahanna. Among its many uses, the place hosts art shows and shelters office plants.

And in the case of the band that basically grew up there, Copa Gahanna has combined those pursuits, helping to cultivate the artistic endeavors of the handful of young musicians known as BlackCoin.

"It's our home. We totally feel comfortable here," said Joey Hebdo, singer and guitarist for the band. "We respect it enough to keep it clean. We don't trash the place. We're kind of visiting, but at the same time it's like we almost live here."

Hebdo, along with bassist Adam Smith, drummer/percussionists Allan Ritter and Cliff Lefevre and various lead guitarists, has seen BlackCoin change quite a bit since the last of them graduated from Gahanna Lincoln High School six years ago. The band has gone through three names and grown from a summertime dalliance into an ambitious full-time endeavor.

Perhaps most importantly, BlackCoin has transformed from a reggae-loving jam band into a sort of experimental island-pop band, all while practicing and writing at Copa Gahanna under the watch of the man who runs and inhabits the space, artist Al Girardot.

"He's taken us under his wing. He'll give us his two cents," Lefevre said.

Girardot plays the role of father figure in the "family" that surrounds BlackCoin. He used artwork from the Copa gallery to design the art for the 2006 debut album, Showdown at the Copa Corral.

The band stayed inside its familiar circle to produce the CD as well, turning to high school pal Eric Jones as the first project at his Stezo Studios. The process took nearly two years, during which the band went through some of its most significant changes, moving away from jamming and dropping lead guitar.

"That whole time kind of reflects this place and the whole community thing that we have going," Hebdo said. "We kept everything within our grasp. We wanted it to be ours."

Though most of it at least touches on reggae, the music on the record shows all sides of the band's shifting personality. Tracks such as "Merciless Man" and "Meltdown" are funky party jams, while others, like the great "Firing Gun," tread darker, more introspective territory.

Since self-releasing the disc last fall, Hebdo and company have been playing as many regional shows as possible, including Friday's stop at Oldfield's with Morning Round and Ryan Smith.

They've also been building music industry connections and working their way through the local rounds of the Emergenza Festival. If BlackCoin wins the Columbus finals of the international battle of the bands in June, it could be headed to Germany.

That's pretty far from Gahanna, but even if the band members become globetrotters, they're not likely to abandon the home base that has served them so well so far.

April 12th, 2007

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