MUSIC After growing pains, Moth returns to area

The band's fifth album will be released this month.
By JOHN BENSON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Moth's Brad Stenz is impressed with how far Youngstown has come in the past decade.
"It's kind of interesting, because we played there a long time ago and it was basically like tumbleweeds," Stenz said. "I was wondering where the town was and now when we just recently went back there, and having not been there in years, I was very impressed with how much the city and the music scene seems to be growing."
Moth has also expanded with some growing pains during the last decade, going from an obscure Cincinnati-based alt band to a group on the rise. A dalliance with major label Virgin Records a few years ago poised the quartet for greener pastures on 2002's "Provisions, Fiction & amp; Gear" but gold wasn't to be found at the end of the rainbow. Instead, Moth lived the clich & eacute; of up-and-coming band that falls through the corporate cracks.
"It was definitely a good experience," Stenz said. "We tried to do the smart thing and at the same time, being a novice, you can have the wool easily pulled over your eyes. So I learned a lot of lessons."
Moth's current label home is upstart Hey Domingo!, which releases the band's fifth album "Immune to Gravity" later this month. Once again, Moth is starting over but Stenz feels this time it's different. Or at least he hopes it is. What's keeping him optimistic is the Weezer-meets-The-Cars pop sensibility that imbues the new album.
Comparisons
"This album is kind of paying homage to the late '70s pop stuff, like Wire and Television and bands like that," Stenz said. "I think the Virgin record was more of a collection of songs over a long period of time because it had been a while since we recorded. The next record after that was 'Drop Deaf,' a very aggressive album. And this one is a very stripped-down rock record, where there's no unnecessary bells and whistles."
Saying the band is the tightest it's ever been live, Stenz is all but guaranteeing music fans attending Moth's upcoming Friday show opening for Hopewell at Cedar's Lounge will rock out with the group's in-your-face approach. It's also a great chance to hear the new album before it is in stores.
"This is one of the rare opportunities where it's a new album with a start-up label," Stenz said. "It's certainly more exciting. I look at the Virgin record thing like they throw somebody into a phone booth, spin them around and out pops Superman. This is much more different, much more organic. I like to watch things grow like this."