WANT TO GO?
Who: Bribing Senators with The Story Changes and Move Home
Where: Blind Bob's, 430 E. Fifth St., Dayton
When: 9:30 p.m. Friday, June 10
Cost: $5
More info: 937-938-6405 or www.blindbobs.com
One true sign of a great music community is stumbling across a local band you’ve never heard of and realizing you must buy their music. There haven’t been many opportunities to add Bribing Senators’ music to your collection, but that’s about to change.
“We’re kind of overlooked,” says singer and guitarist Justin Roseberry. “But then again, we don’t work as hard as other bands. We work hard at writing and playing, but not the marketing.”
Bribing Senators began as a trio – Roseberry, Bruce Hull (bass/vocals) and Dave Pope (drums) – in 2013 with a strong leaning to melodic post-hardcore music. Like most musicians, Roseberry doesn’t know what you’d call it, he just loves what he does.
“It doesn’t sound like punk to me. But I have a punk mentality about music,” Roseberry says.
The band’s name hints at a political bent, but they tend to stay away from political subject matter and get to things most people face.
“We’re just real people singing about everyday stuff,” Roseberry explains. “A lot of people think we’re going to have some real hard political stance. We come at it from a working middle-class background.”
Indeed, they have careers and family obligations away from the stage and that shows up in their songs. But fans have been relegated to the internet for a handful of downloads of the group’s earlier work. So when they went into multi-instrumentalist Patrick Himes’ Reel Love Recording Studios in Dayton months ago, they were hoping to emerge with a great album. But they came away with more — a fourth band member with Himes added on guitar.
“When we talked to (Himes) about joining, he said he wanted to. He said something like, ‘I want to get in on that.’ We didn’t think he was serious,” Roseberry remembers.
Roseberry credits Himes’ pushing and coaching of the group for making them the best they could be, but he also made it an enjoyable experience every step of the way.
“I was totally hammered on whiskey and I still nailed a three-part harmony,” laughs Roseberry.
Bribing Senators spent three months at Reel Love with the goal of releasing the new 12-track CD, “Songs For A Disappearing Class,” at a June 10 show at Blind Bob’s with The Story Changes (Dayton) and Move Home (Columbus). However the band wasn’t about to rush it out before they were satisfied.
“There was to be no corner cutting and no compromising. We want it to be perfect,” Roseberry says.
“Songs For A Disappearing Class” will be out by fall.
Artist info: bribing.senators@
Music link (Band Camp) “Growing Up”: https://bribingsenators.bandcamp.com/track/growing-up
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