Grand Rapids music news for early August sees the relocation of a popular indie-folk band’s founders to Hawaii and a promising pop debut for a former Potato Moon-ite who’s also headed west.
Hawaii-Bound: Alexis and Joshua Kohns photographed on the jet headed for Hawaii.
The Koh Kohs have relocated to the land of luaus, leis and the Koko Crater.
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Lost amid the recent hubbub over the Division Avenue Arts Collective being forced to move was the final Grand Rapids show in the foreseeable future for The Koh Kohs. Joshua and Alexis Kohns, the founding core of the celebrated, up-and-coming Grand Rapids indie-folk act last week began a year-long “sabbatical” in the Hawaiian Islands, about 4,200 miles from West Michigan.
“Alexis and I have been wanting to do some traveling before we have any kids or have too much going on with The Koh Kohs,” Joshua told Local Spins. “We bounced around to the idea of Hawaii for a few weeks, then we decided, ‘Why not? What’s holding us back?’ So we decided to take a year and do some WWOOFing (World Wide Organic Opportunity Farming).”
Fans who embraced the band’s debut six-song EP need not fret, however, because Joshua insisted the couple is “gonna write a whole ton of music and record an EP while we’re gone, and write a bunch of music and record a full length album” upon their return.
“The Koh Kohs are far from done. This is just the next leg in the adventure,” he said, noting they’ll continue to update fans via their Facebook page.
They do anticipate coming back to Grand Rapids, though he also cautioned: “Plans have a way of changing.”
MIDNIGHT FACES HOPING TO CAPITALIZE ON SOME NATIONAL BUZZ
Midnight Faces: Philip Stancil, left, and Matthew Warn.
The pairing of Grand Rapids’ Phil Stancil (Potato Moon) with Washington D.C.’s Matthew Warn (Saxon Shore) as the synthpop/rock duo Midnight Faces has earned the band’s airy debut album, “Fornication,” national exposure and scads of positive press.
The MTV Buzzworthy blog raved not long about about the duo’s nod to Depeche Mode, Tom Petty, New Order and The Cure, an intriguing combo to be sure. Produced in Los Angeles by Jason Martin (Cold War Kids, The Drums) and released on Broken Factory Records, the band has promoted it with appearances in New York, Washington D.C., and, yes, Grand Rapids (with a show earlier this summer at The Intersection).
It’s just the beginning. “Right now, we’re writing new music and playing shows to spread the word on the album,” said Stancil.
Indeed, Stancil will be “giving it a go” with Midnight Faces in Los Angeles, according to his mom, Grace Stancil, who said the guitarist/multi-instrumentalist left last week for California. “We are all rooting for him, hoping something good comes of it,” she told Local Spins.
Listen to “Holding On,” a song from the Midnight Faces debut album, at the group’s BandCamp.com site here.
Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2013, Spins on Music
