Obnox
Lamont (Bim) Thomas (guitar, vocals, drums)
Obnox is Bim Thomas’ dirty and brilliant project merging and discombobulating genres. Bim’s DIY approach to Obnox – including self-recording, self-funding, and all of the schlepping, bartering, and hustling – makes him not only a talented musician but a keen salesman.
The Nico Missile
Marty Brass (guitar), Ricky Hamilton (drums, vox), Wesley Who (bass)
The Nico Missile plays garage rock of the most basic and yet highest order. With the unusual drummer-as-vocalist approach, the band owns an almost inwardly driven power that makes each of their shows feel like you’ve stumbled into their practice space for 30 minutes of mayhem.
Goldmines
Mandy Look (guitar, vocals), Heather Gmucs (bass, vocals), Jeanna Lax (guitar, vocals), Roseanna Safos (drums, vocals) (Renewed for 2016)
With soaring vocals and heavy rhythms, Goldmines is by far one of the most dynamic bands in Cleveland. The band’s four-vocal capability only raises their value as a must-hear underground band.
Ex-Astronaut
Pat Gang (bass), Chris Hoke (guitar, vox), Peter Jennings (guitar), Christopher Kochera (drums)
Ex-Astronaut uses their guitars as weapons in their creation of a wall of sound both deafening and exhilarating. They update shoegaze with catchy songwriting, driving drums, fuzzed-out bass, and multiple well-crafted pedal boards.
2016 Cleveland Lottery League
Part social experiment, part performance art installation, and part test of all that is holy or satanic, the Cleveland Lottery League returns in 2016 with its fourth go-around (previous years included 2008, 2010, and 2013). 150+ musicians are randomly drafted via a highly scientific combination of ping pong balls and computer software into 36+ bands and given two months to organize a ten-minute set of original songs to be played at The Big Show in April at Cleveland’s esteemed Agora. It is by far the most outlandish band incubator ever done in Cleveland and perhaps anywhere.
