Aloha

Aloha formed in the fall almost five years ago when Eric Koltnow returned from Cleveland to Bowling Green, Ohio to find guitarists Tony Cavallario and Matthew Gengler conspiring to form a band. Koltnow was down for playing with one condition: He was bringing his vibraphone. Anthony Buehrer filled the drum stool. They recorded and released a seven inch. They lugged a vibraphone around the country in little pieces wrapped in old, smelly blankets.

One day the band found themselves with a gig but no drummer; that’s when Cale Parks came to visit, learned the set, time signatures, and changes — all in about three hours. They played that night knowing that nothing was ever going to stop them. Soon, Aloha was in the studio, knowing only that the music coming out of the monitors was what they’d always hoped to hear. Aloha then wooed Polyvinyl Records into a deal with these demos, which would later become their label debut: The Great Communicators EP. In 1999, after a move home to Cleveland and a month of frantic music scribbling and soul searching in the studio came That’s Your Fire, an album that evoked freakishly good reviews. Aloha then took their non-stop, mallet-whacking, screaming, making-stuff-up-on-the-spot show on the road, proving their songs were not fragile studio creations but living, breathing rock anthems. One hundred + shows later, the band has just completed recording Sugar with longtime Aloha producer/camp counselor Drew Peters at 40oz sound. The band plans to tour in support of the album this summer.