Locals Only

"Shop" & Steel

By Wes Flexner

JAMES CHANCE PHOTO

I caught up with Weed Steeler last Sunday, the day after frontman Martin "Platinum Plus" W. helped create a mural at Urban Scrawl in Franklinton before deejaying at the Daymon Day festivities honoring late local music personality Daymon Dodson.

Martin was with fellow Steelers Zach "Big Shows Car Shows" C. and Andy "Air Bud" R.

They've all played antagonists to the well-intentioned but dogmatic DIY/hardcore community, developed over the past decade at the Legion of Doom and the defunct Addition 13. And over time, they've helped loosen up a lot of people.

Sarcastic cultural insights coupled with a good understanding of power violence, an aggressive but not-so-macho brand of hardcore, landed this joke band on a legitimate hardcore label.

Give Praise is putting out their seven-inch, Come Shop with Me, a play on Cam'ron's album Come Home with Me inspired by the bands' day jobs in the fashion industry. For the release party, they're headlining a multi-band lineup at DIY showcase Monster House.

JAMES CHANCE PHOTO

In typical Weed Steeler form, as we talked the band sounded more like arrogant rappers talking trash on the radio than a hardcore combo.

How do you go about writing your songs?

Andy R.: I have to take on the perspective of our target audience and what I think they want to hear.

Zach C.: It's a marketing campaign. That's how we write our songs. We go to shows and find out what people like. We are in the streets.

What is your target audience?

ZC: Babes!

Martin W.: Hardcore kids; 15- to 25-year-old males, usually white; middle to upper-middle class.

AR: Typically, they drag their girlfriends to shows.

ZC: They make their girlfriends hold their jackets.

What topics are covered on your record?

AR: We have a song called "Sex with Magic Johnson."

MW: It's a public service announcement.

ZC: The only lyrics are "Don't do it." T-Pain had a social awareness song. He had a song about AIDS. So we have ours. We had it before T-Pain.

What are five bands in Columbus you think should be supported?

ZC: I like Sinkane.

MW: Should we say Deathly Fighter?

ZC: Naw.

MW: Triceratops. I think that's five right there.

Anything else you want to say?

ZC: We are going to sell more records than Sword Heaven. Print that. They are performance art. No one wants to listen to a CD of that.

MW: Performance art was something my parents listened to, so I don't have to now.

AR: We're basically performance art.

MW: That's true.

September 20th, 2007

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