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Local H

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Local H

Local H is an American rock duo, formed by Scott Lucas (lead vocals, guitar, bass) in Zion, Illinois in 1987. Local H's 1996 album, As Good as Dead, includes the top 10 hit "Bound for the Floor". More recently the band (now with drummer Brian St. Clair) has received extensive critical acclaim. Author, rock critic and Rolling Stone contributor Greg Kot and the Chicago Tribune named the band its 2008 Chicago "Band of the Year", calling them "as good a rock band as any to call Chicago home in the last decade."[1] Online Metacritic calls Local H "rock’s greatest unknown two-man band" and says of their newest album, 12 Angry Months, "the ten year anniversary of Pack Up the Cats marks not some complacent CD reissue with bonus tracks, but rather a great new album that flips the bird to anyone who thought Local H was history along with their era."

History

Scott Lucas began playing rock music while attending Zion-Benton Township High School in 1987. After their original failed attempts at recruiting a bassist, Lucas took the unique approach of adding bass pickups to his electric guitar, an attribute of Local H that survives to this day. Local H's first album, Ham Fisted, was released in 1995. Their 1996 follow up album, As Good as Dead had a successful release due to the popularity of the hit song "Bound for the Floor". Two years later, in 1998, the band released Pack Up the Cats, a critically acclaimed album which spawned the single "All the Kids Are Right". During the period surrounding the album's release - their label, PolyGram, merged with Universal Music Group and the album's promotion became a casualty of the transition.

Original drummer Daniels quit the band in July 1999, prompting Scott Lucas to recruit former Triple Fast Action drummer Brian St. Clair in September of the same year. St. Clair had also previously worked with Chicago-based singer Liz Phair as her tour manager, and with Cheap Trick as a drum technician. St. Clair's drumming intensity is highly-regarded as being an essential element to the duo's appeal. The duo released the band's fourth album Here Comes the Zoo in 2002 under the Palm Pictures record label. The No Fun EP followed in 2003 and their fifth album, Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles?, was released in April 2004 to favorable reviews.

In 2005, the band received a good deal of publicity after recording a cover of the Britney Spears single "Toxic". The studio-record can now be found as the last, and only studio recorded, track of Alive '05, a live album the band released in 2005 that constituted the sixth major release from the band.

The next year, in 2006, the band released the limited edition record "'99–'00 Demos" which contained early versions of many songs from the recording sessions of Here Comes the Zoo as well as several songs that were not included on the studio release.

Their next album, 12 Angry Months, was released on May 13, 2008 on the Shout! Factory label. 12 Angry Months is a concept album about the various emotions felt over the course of a 12 month period following the acrimonious end of a romantic relationship. Each track is associated with one of the months of the year, from January "One with Kid" to December "Hand to Mouth" .

The next release by the band was Local H's Awesome Mix Tape#1, a studio EP featuring covers that the band has been performing live. Besides the standard CD and digital releases, a handful of cassette tapes were also released.

Live shows

Local H is known for their frequent and energetic live shows. The members of the band can usually be found at their own merchandise table after shows, signing autographs and selling band t-shirts.

Local H also has a reputation for creative ideas with regards to its live shows. In addition to playing a show in Chicago every New Year's Eve, the band has also participated in several unconventional concerts over the years, such as allowing one fan to select an album name from a hat, and then playing that album in its entirety. In 2005, Local H performed an "all request tour" in which a ballot containing a breakdown of most of the bands' songs organized into various categories, resembling a traditional sushi menu, was handed out to the audience upon admittance to the venue. Audiences were allowed to pick seven songs from the "menu" and the setlist for each show was derived from these ballots.

In 2003, the band auctioned off a live show to the winner of an eBay auction. The band subsequently performed this concert at Duke O'Briens, a pub in Crystal Lake, IL.

In the summer of 2007, Local H played an early morning show at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago before a White Sox game. Tickets to this show were only available by spotting Scott Lucas in public and speaking the phrase "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation, we have assumed control" directly to him[citation needed]. Later that same year, Local H announced a contest in which fans could make videos of themselves covering Local H songs. The winner would then get to be the opening act for Local H's New Year's Eve show later that year. A band from New York called Kung-Fu Grip won the contest with their cover of a song from Local H's No Fun E.P.

During the spring months of 2010, Local H embarked on their "6 Angry Records" Tour. Each show began with Scott holding a hat filled slips of paper containing the band's album names. After interviewing members of the audience about which album they'd like to hear, one audience member would choose an album from the hat. The band would then play that album on the spot in its entirety, following by an encore of other Local H favorites and covers. .

Band members

Current

Discography

Albums

EPs

Live albums

Singles and splits

  • Drum (1991)
  • Local H/Sybil Vane Split 7" (1994)
  • Local H/The Blank Theory Split 7" (2000)
    • A vinyl split single which featured the unreleased cover of The Godfathers song "Birth, School, Work, Death" (later re-recorded for The No Fun EP) and The Blank Theory's "Corporation"

Singles

Year Song U.S. Hot 100 U.S. Modern Rock U.S. Mainstream Rock UK singles Album
1994 "Cynic" - - - - Ham Fisted
"Mayonnaise and Malaise" - - - -
1996 "Bound for the Floor" - 5 10 - As Good as Dead
1997 "Eddie Vedder" - 38 - -
"Fritz's Corner" - - 36 -
"High-Fiving MF" - - - -
1998 "All the Kids Are Right" - 20 19 - Pack Up the Cats
"All-Right (Oh, Yeah)" - - - -
2001 "Half-Life" - - 40 - Here Comes the Zoo
2002 "Hands on the Bible" - - - -
2004 "California Songs" - - - - Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles?
2005 "Toxic" (Britney Spears Cover) - - - - Alive '05
2008 "24 Hour Break-Up Session" - - - - 12 Angry Months
2009 "Machine Shed Wrestling" - - - - 12 Angry Months

DVDs

  • 68 Angry Minutes (2009)

Demos/demo albums

Compilation appearances

See also

References

  1. ^ Chicagoans of the year in music: Local H - Chicago Tribune
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