43
November Loop returns after a taxing season
By John Benson
November Loop is road-testing new material as well as playing an apt cover that epitomizes the band’s sound.
The Youngstown quartet — Ed “Sarge” Villabona (guitars, vocals), Chip Taylor (guitars, vocals), Matt Celio (keyboard, bass) and Matt Leicht (drums) — is excited about unreleased songs such as “Oslo” and “Fortune Teller Fish.” The former track is more of a straight-ahead affair, while the latter is poppy.
However, it’s a cover of the Church’s obscure song “Tristesse” that captures the current head space of November Loop, which previously had been described as inspired by ’90s indie-pop-scene bands such as Pavement or the Rentals.
“I think our sound is getting a little heavier, but we still have that ’90s shoegazer indie-pop style,” said Villabona, a 1993 Boardman High School graduate. “Heavier means not as atmospheric. We layered effects over our guitars the first couple of recordings, and now the style is less effects and more of a straight guitar sound.”
Other appropriate comparisons include Luna and Spiritualized. As for the group’s next CD, a follow-up to a self-titled release from a few years ago, Villabona hopes the act will hit the studio this summer.
In the meantime, the outfit has booked a Friday show at Cedars.
Whereas other Northeast Ohio groups are looking to expand their fan base regionally, Villabona — who is also in side band Nervous Jerks with Leicht — said November Loop is cognizant of its small but cultlike fan base.
“Youngstown is pretty open to everything,” Villabona said. “Every band has its little pocket, but I think people in Youngstown, in general, support the scene as opposed to bigger cities. We don’t have a lot here, but what we have, we hold on to. We tried to book shows in Cleveland and Pittsburgh, but it’s really hard. You either have to know a band or get your foot in, and then impress them to keep playing.
“But in Youngstown, it’s so easy to get a show. We appreciate it, and we feel like we have to nurture what we have here.”
Diehard fans of November Loop know that the fact the group is currently playing out means it’s not, oddly enough, tax season.
“We take a little hiatus because our drummer is a CPA, and he gets busy during tax season,” Villabona said. “We usually play more around this time until fall, and then from December to April we take off. We may do a show here or there, but mostly we play out in the summer.”
It’s pointed out November Loop may be the only band that books gigs around the IRS’ tax season.
“Yeah, you can say that,” Villabona said, laughing.