Northside Garage

Local rockers Northside Garage will be celebrating their new CD single featuring the excellent modern Garage Rock nuggets “All the King’s Horses” and “Quite Literally” with a show on Friday at Newport, Ky.’s Southgate House Revival (southgatehouse.com). Tickets for the 9 p.m. event are $6 in advance (through ticketfly.com) or $8 day of show. The new single will be given away free with the price of admission. Joining the band at the release show are The Mudlarks and Tiger Sex, a fiery, punkish group that recently moved to Cincinnati from Las Vegas. Northside Garage’s new single is also available as a free download at northsidegarage.bandcamp.com. - CityBeat Magazine (Cincinnati), Apr. 24, 2014

The latest release from Northside Garage, All the King's Horses, is a 2-track sampler of modern-day garage rock that unites the raw, unbridled energy of punkabilly with the straightforward groove of roots-rock. Eddy Mullet of ClassX Radio called Northside Garage, "One of my favorite local bands in town to go out and see."

On-stage, Northside Garage presents a wonderful ying-yang of personas. The frontman, Joe Rains (guitar and vocals), is a ceaseless fireball of energy while his 6-string partner, Doug Dickerson, presents a much quieter demeanor and usually lets his guitar do the talking for him. Ted Nagel is deceptively proficient on bass and his rhythm-section compatriot, Steve Sanden (drums), can best be described as a percussive dynamo. Together they are not only a fun band to go see live but are, quite frankly, an all-around great group of guys who are always very upbeat, positive and have been long-term supporters of the local music scene.

The eponymous track on All the King's Horses has a gritty Peter Gunn theme and is presented in a very clean, live way without a lot of overdubs or excessive effects. By stripping the song down to its essential aspects, the Garagees have created a song that is pure, undiluted drive and easy to recreate on the small club stage.

"Quite Literally" continues the contrast/counterpart theme by letting the guitars take the wheel. Rains' infectious lyrics and Nagel's bass lines construct a groovy dance-rock song that is knee-deep in funk.

Northside Garage has three full-length releases which include Grease, Guns, and Guitars (2009), Waiting for the Breakdown (2011) and Another Night of Indecision (2012). These two most recent songs are merely an appetizer as the band is currently working on several more tracks at Monastery Studio in Walnut Hills with a hopeful summer release of a fourth album.

The 2-song disc All the King's Horses is scheduled for official release at their April 25 show at The Southgate House Revival. It will also be available from Bandcamp and, of course, all of Northside Garage's live shows. - Radio 91.7 WVXU (Cincinnati), Mar. 4, 2014

The year in Greater Cincinnati-spawned releases (Honorable Mention)
Northside Garage - "Another Night of Indecision" - CityBeat Magazine (Cincinnati), Dec. 28, 2012

The top 100 local music releases of 2011
Northside Garage – Waiting for the Breakdown - CityBeat Magazine (Cincinnati), Dec. 28, 2011