Defiance, Ohio Share What Ya Got (2004) self-released

My interest in this band named for a town in Ohio that they do not live in (the members reside in Bloomington, Indiana, if I am not mistaken) that sits a few hours' drive north from where I live in Cincinnati, stemmed from my ever music savvy friend Brian. He and his sister were planning to go see Defiance, Ohio at a small local club where the promoters decided to pull an extremely stupid move. Since ska is so popular for the teenage crowd in Cincinnati, and this is an all-ages show (on a Tuesday???), the promoters chose Defiance, Ohio headlining in front of 6 “ska bands” (one or 2 bands don’t really play ska, hence the quotations). When Brian related this disappointing lineup of bands (besides one or 2 pretty good local acts) and he still seemed psyched to go, I realized that if he was willing to wait through 6 "ska" bands to see Defiance, then it must be something worth checking out.

Then a few weeks after being informed of this show, I read a post on this site that had mentioned not only had Defiance finishing recording their full-length (entitled The Great Depression), but it would be coming out via No Idea Records, one-time home and current home, respectively, to two of my favorite “acoustic” punk acts Against Me! and This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb.

Then Brian informed me of another sweet thing Defiance does. They have posted their entire catalog up for download on their website. This means that everything from the CD I am reviewing to demos, their 5 songs from the Ghost Mice / Defiance, Ohio split CD, and their 2 songs from their recent split 7" with One Reason. This alone means you should check out Share What Ya Got, because this and most of their catalog is legal and free.

Now to get to the CD. The violinist in this band really complements the tight percussion section and steady beat set by the stand-up bass. I think that this record definitely has some Against Me!-like moments, but also some truly great moments. Along with some of the faster moments, the folk aspect of the acoustic guitar playing with the violin is beautifully showcased on "Lullabies." It also fits my new found rule for brevity. This also passes my brevity test: If your CD is longer than 30 minutes, there better be a REALLY GOOD REASON or it will not get as high of a review as normal.

That being said, there are moments of true brilliance on this record and songs like "Drinking Song" and "Hey Kathleen Are You Hungry" really do it for me, but the record as a whole could be so much better. The production on The Great Depression will be better than on this and will make that one of 2006’s better releases. If you want to know some of the material, this is the perfect chance.

(BJR)