MANSFIELD — Newcomers and veterans in the local punk rock music scene will take the stage May 12 at Idea Works.
Though The Touch has performed at After Hours before, the headliner has never played the office space. The other three bands — Cruze Campo, TCRXP and Middling — are new to Newsroom After Hours.
The free show includes food provided by Doc’s Deli and beer (21+) from Phoenix Brewing.
Lee McIntosh of Potent Studios will be in charge of lights and visual production for 2023 After Hours shows.
Doors for Idea Works open at 6:30 p.m. and Cruze Campo will open the rock/metal show around 7 p.m.
Cruze Campo
The pop rock band is composed of guitarist/vocalist Ryan Carver, drummer Blake West and bassist/ vocalist Bryson Thompson, who are all high school students.
Carver used to play in Star 77 and created Cruze Campo in March. The band has performed at The Mothership, RELAX, It’s Just Coffee and will make their After Hours debut in May.
“We’re all buddies and we were just jamming,” Carver said. “And I already had a bunch of songs written, so we started playing those together.”
The band has released one single, “But It’s a Love Song” and will debut multiple original songs at After Hours.
“I’ve seen pictures and videos, but I haven’t been to an After Hours show yet, so we’re all pretty excited,” Carver said.
Carver and West attend Shelby High School and Thompson is a Pioneer Career Center student. The band has graduation parties of friends on their calendar later in the summer.
“The main goal for us is to have a good time, help people enjoy the music and spread some positive vibes,” Carver said.
Cruze Campo can be found on Spotify, Instagram and TikTok.
Set list:
Party
But It’s a Love Song
Sometimes
Yearbook
Not What it Seems
Baby
Rock ‘n’ Roll Girls
TCRXP
Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tim Cowan said it was difficult to assign a genre to his band TCRXP.
“As a songwriter, I get bored writing the same style of songs over and over again, so I like to get into different concepts,” he said.
Newsrooom After Hours 2023 Flyer
The Loudonville native has been playing with Wooster drummer Zach Foust since 2018. The two welcomed Devin Howard from Lexington to the band earlier this year.
“Devin’s kind of like an all-hands position doing some rhythm and guitar,” Cowan said. “He has a background in hard rock, hardcore, metalcore and industrial. We try to go for a very layered sound.”
Cowan said TCRXP has multiple rock and progressive punk songs and dabbles in pop music.
“Zach is a big fan of the band Rush, so his drumming is progressive-rock oriented,” he said. “We’ve been playing a lot of the same songs since 2018 so we’re excited for the Newsroom After Hours set.”
TCRXP performed at the 2018 Loudonville Fair and has played local wineries. For fans discovering them for the first time, Cowan said “don’t take it too seriously.”
“A lot of our stuff is very tongue-in-cheek,” he said. “There’s a political angle to a lot of our songs, and we do some spoken sample stuff too.”
TCRXP can be found on Spotify, Bandcamp, Facebook and YouTube.
Set list:
Dystopi-duh
Tomorrow’s Sadness Today/Apathetic Man Wolves at the Door
Less Than (Nine Inch Nails cover)
Funeral Processions/ Hard Decisions
Therapy, Drugs, Hopes and Dreams
Evil Equals
Middling
Guitarist Ethan White met his bandmates Tim Braden and Jake Clark through mutual friends and formed a band in 2021.
White said he usually writes music and Clark comes up with vocals. The screamo band usually writes songs quickly.
“We all have good chemistry and fall into a rhythm,” White said. “We like William Bonney and Touché Amoré, so I would say those bands are some of our influences.”
Middling has performed at shows in Columbus, Detroit and Cleveland in the last year, as well as The Mothership and The Electric Company locally. This will be the band’s first time performing at After Hours.
“I’ve seen some cool videos online, so we’re excited,” White said. “We hope people have fun with our set, and we’re definitely excited to see the other bands.”
White said the band likes when its audiences dance or mosh to their music.
“As long as it’s OK with the venue, we like when there’s some mosh pits,” White said. “It’s just fun to see people moving around with the music.”
After Hours attendees are asked to avoid office walls and not spill drinks if they choose to mosh at the May 12 show.
Middling can be found on Spotify, Bandcamp, Instagram and YouTube.
Set list:
You ever been to Chili’s?
$1,000 or 6 Years
I swear I’m not a backpacker
I think I tore my heart out
I bet you didn’t know TJ Max had a bathroom
The Touch
The four-piece punk rock band opened a 2018 Newsroom After Hours show and is returning with some new music in May.
The Touch lead singer and guitarist Ernest Mahoney said he’s attended multiple after hours shows but has only performed in the basement.
“I think we’re a lot tighter of a band than we were a few years ago,” he said. “We’re excited to show off how much we’ve practiced.”
The Touch released its latest album “Saved By” in October and Mahoney said the band plans to play multiple songs off of that release at After Hours.
Many of The Touch’s songs are short, with the goal of getting a hook or chorus stuck in audiences’ heads. Mahoney said The Ramones is one of the band’s influences.
“We just want people to have a good time, maybe nod their head a little bit and go home singing a catchy song,” he said.
The Touch can be found on Spotify, Bandcamp, Instagram and YouTube.
Set list:
Squeeze
Eye sore
Pockey
God
Be leavin’
‘Yota
My Mahoney
Dad
Knife
Makeup
Straight
Downtown
