The High Definitions

Not doing anything tonight? Now you are.

If you’ve never experienced the ridiculous level of musical talent Columbus has to offer, tonight’s Voter Registration Show at the Rumba Café is the perfect door for the uninitiated.

For the low, low price of registering to vote at the door (read: free), you can enjoy some of the best musical entertainment Columbus has to offer in an intimate setting.

On the bill are psychedelic masterminds The Worn Flints, blues virtuosos The High Definitions, and funk-jam collective Osage.

After opening up for Alabama Shakes for a sold-out crowd at The LC, The Worn Flints have made quite the name for themselves in the capital city, even enjoying regular airtime on CD102.5 with their lead single “Colorful Waste of Time.”

On the other hand, The High Definitions take blues to a new plateau, incorporating hard rock grooves and surprisingly jazzy chords into a fuzzed-out sonic aesthetic. Keep an eye on frontman Nick Kurth for a chance to see some world-class shredding, and maybe bring a slow-motion camera to catch it all.

Osage takes a different approach, riding out extensive jams on tunes that range from danceable funk to sleazy slow jams, incorporating a strong horns section to fill out their sound.

Even if you’ve never heard of these guys, even if you were going to stay in, even if you only listen to WNCI, this show is absolutely worth your time. - 614 Now

In 2012, vocalist and guitarist Nick Kurth was driving back from visiting family in Philadelphia when he stopped to visit his long-time friend and drummer Jon Coale in Columbus.


“I showed (Jon) some demos, and then, we just kind of decided on the spot that we were going to start the band,” Kurth said. “I wound up staying on his couch for about a month.”

After contacting bassist James Eger in Cincinnati, The High Definitions was born.

“I just called him, and we were like ‘Hey man ... we’re gonna do a band, so come up here,’ and he moved up,” Kurth said.

The three friends had been close since high school, where they played in jazz band together.

“We had known each other for a long time, so it wasn’t a question of is it going to be worth our time to take a risk,” Kurth said. “We were all kind of in between projects at that time looking for something to do, and the opportunity presented itself, so we went with it.”

Those specific influences helped Kurth to discover his love for blues and blues rock.

“As I got older I started going further back in time in music just mulling down that rabbit hole,” Kurth said.

Kurth said the group’s influence is from ’60s and ’70s music such as Pink Floyd and The Beatles.

“When I started to do jazz ... that was really big for me because it kept the free aspect of how I play,” Coale said.

Kurth said, the trio has played more than 100 shows, sometimes traveling outside of Columbus and Cincinnati to places such as Kentucky and Indiana.

“When we moved here, there were a lot of opportunities for us to play a lot and kind of develop and meet people,” Kurth said. “Just having the chance to go out and do that at so many different places to a lot of different people helped us grow a lot.”

Columbus’ vast music scene has also contributed to the band’s success in comparison to Cincinnati, the band’s hometown.

The High Definitions has played smaller house shows in Athens, but Kurth said the show at Casa Nueva, 4 W. State St., on Thursday will be the band’s first bar gig in the area.

“We recently did Folk Fest … That was one of the most memorable shows I’ve played,” Kurth said.

A great quality of the group, Kurth said, is the live performances. After playing at Columbus’ annual Comfest last year, The High Definitions has gained quite the following.

“This lady in the front row just jumped on stage and started dancing next to Nick,” Coale said. “I think she actually ended up coming to another show of ours in Kent.”

The band is working on promoting its recently released single “Song and Dance,” which will be released on the band's debut album later this year.

“We all love playing music, and there’s nothing else that we want to do,”Kurth said. “We just want people to have a good time and have a good experience with us.” - The Post (Athens, OH)

Soulful vocals and bluesy guitar lines define the sound of The High Definitions, but impressive songwriting and musicianship set the Columbus three-piece apart from your average Black Keys cover band.

On stage, drummer Jon Coale lays down consistently groovy beats, while bassist James Eger and frontman Nick Kurth fit right into the pocket.

UWeekly had the chance to speak with Kurth about the unique chemistry of The High Definitions, what goes into the band’s songwriting and the future of the band.

“James and Jon have been best friends since they were little kids, and we’ve all known each other collectively since high school,” Kurth said, “so, it’s like a deep friendship, for sure.”

Though the trio has been playing together in bars and jam sessions since age 16, The High Definitions officially came together in fall of 2013. They’ve been playing nonstop since, amassing a following and improving their songs over time.

“I think we’ve definitely honed in on our sound,” Kurth said. “I think we used to have a mixed bag of material, whereas now we’ve found more of a focused sound.”

Incorporated into the band’s sonic aesthetic is a subtle hint of jazz, shining out during Kurth’s huge solos and moments of spontaneous improvisation.

“If I hear James play a riff I like, I’ll try and echo that in my next line,” Kurth said. “It’s conversational, the way we play together, that comes from jazz.”

Despite originally coming from Cincinnati, Kurth talked up the Columbus music scene, both the bands and the captive audiences.

“I was blown away when I first moved here,” Kurth said. “Everybody is really together and in love for local music. Whether you’re in a band or just an enthusiast or listener, people pay attention to music around here.”

If you want to find out what all the buzz is about, The High Definitions are playing Saturday at Brothers Drake. - UWeekly

En route to Cincinnati on a return drive from Philadelphia last fall, Nick Kurth made a pit stop in Columbus.

He never left.

“I just wound up crashing on a couch, and I stayed,” said Kurth, 25, who has since found a permanent residence here with fellow musicians James Eger and Jon Coale — all three of whom grew up together and played in the jazz-band ensemble at Princeton High School in the Cincinnati area.

Their latest effort, the High Definitions, is the brainchild of Kurth, a guitarist who conceived the idea for the trio long before.

With a recent EP mastered by Brian Lucey (the Black Keys, O.A.R.), the men will perform on Saturday in Spacebar.

Q: Could you describe your sound?

A: I usually say blues-rock. But that gives the wrong idea; we’re blues-inspired rock.

I’m also inspired a lot by classic R&B, Stax Records, Booker T & the M.G.’s. Some of my riff stylings I take from that,

... but we don’t sound like a soul band.

Q: When were you first drawn to blues music?

A: I started going out to blues jams at bars in Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. I was probably 16 or 17 at the time, playing with the older guys. They were cool with me; I wasn’t trying to sneak in and drink.

When I was in high school, music for me after 1978 didn’t exist. I was all late ’60s, early ’7 0s.

I’m playing catch-up now.

Q: What kind of head space do you have to be in to write the blues?

A: I’m not one of those people where I’m going to put a situation word-for-word into a song.

Sometimes, I’ll write about other people as a way of finding out about the way I feel about something. If I’m feeling lonely, I’ll write about somebody else who is lonely and explore that concept.

Q: But you were reluctant to be a frontman, right?

A: In the past, I wasn’t confident as a singer.

For a while, I was trying to write songs I couldn’t sing. I had to learn what I’m comfortable with, forcing myself to do it.

It’s taken time to find my voice.

Q: How did you derive the group’s name?

A: It was kind of inspired partially by George Benson, one of my favorite guitar players.

The feeling I got from his song, Living in High Definition — which is written by Lamont Dozier, a writer for Motown — is that high definition is not all about quality, necessarily.

It’s about the honesty, the way something is communicated. - The Columbus Dispatch

The High Definitions are a relatively new band to the Columbus, OH scene at large. The three piece I first discovered at Worst Kept Secret Fest, a hotbed for underground talent from the region.

The Cincinnati natives recently relocated to Columbus and this self titled EP is testament to why word is spreading like wildfire across the local scene. I’m a bit of a novice (still!) when it comes to the technical terms needed to help differentiate the five songs from one another. So, I’ll try to tell you how it makes me feel as a whole – why you should pay attention.

It never ceases to amaze me how large of a sound three pieces can create. The most prolific example of this phenomenon today is probably Muse – but High Definitions exudes this characteristic in principle only – not stylistically (unless we’re discussing everything on the rock spectrum). The trio permeates the airwaves with a throwback blues-rock type sound. I can’t say for sure if people would want to mosh (although I recently saw a pit open up during a psych-rock set, so I can’t make concrete statements about this anymore) but the tunes are dang groovy. The single “99 Times” is the most accessible of the five, and serves as a perfect introduction to the band.

Opposite the accessibility of “99 Times” is “Lock and Key”, which throws us for a loop with its triply intro yet takes us back in time with its groove and distinctive guitar breakdown. Consider these 2 tracks bookends, if you will, on the shelf that houses the range of High Definitions. Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the three rocks a little too hard and knocks aside the proverbial bookend as the band continues to grow, experiment, and mature. This EP is a fun one. - Tuned Up

Though The High Definitions settled on a name last fall, the trio’s music has only recently come into focus.

On its self-titled debut EP, the band, which includes members Nick Kurth (guitar/vocals), James Eger (bass) and Jon Coale (drums), compiles a series of blues-inspired guitar jams, venturing from strutting turns like “Broken Bones,” which ambles along comfortably in spite of its shattered title, to swampier numbers like “Reel Me in or Cut Me Loose,” where the song’s narrator sounds resigned to the fact he’ll soon be swimming in solo waters.

While the musicians sound wholly at home in their chosen genre, Kurth said it took a fair amount of time to begin revealing his own personality in the music.

“When I first started out sometimes I’d catch myself singing in a fake British accent,” said Kurth, 25, who was born in Cincinnati to a doctor father and an X-ray technician mother and grew up idolizing the likes of The Beatles’ John Lennon (hence the early accent). “Then after a while I became more comfortable, like, ‘This is what I’m going to do.’”

While High Definitions’ history only stretches back to September ’13, the three musicians have actually honed their chemistry over the better part of a decade after first coming in contact as members of the same high school jazz band. Around that time, the three formed a more straightforward blues-rock collective, parting ways to attend college before reconnecting last year.

“I had a general idea where I wanted the music to go [when we got back together],” Kurth said. “The songs I was writing were blues influenced, so it was a nod to what we had done in the past, but we incorporated more of a melodic element.”

Growing up, Kurth shied from the spotlight, and in previous bands he resisted taking on the role of frontman, gravitating instead to lead guitar. After some time, however, the musician realized being a sideman didn’t satiate his creative needs.

“That’s why I started this group, because I got tired of being just a guitar player and I wanted to write my own material,” he said. “I could play licks, but if you sit down at a campfire you want to play songs — not just play the craziest riff you can. To me that doesn’t have the same lasting power. Songwriting is the way you connect with people, I think.” - Columbus Alive