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Originally formed whilst in high school, guitarist Scott Lucas and drummer Joe Daniels began jamming together and later invited John Sparkman and Matt Garcia to fill out the sound. Garcia and Sparkman left in the early ‘90s however, and Lucas and Daniels decided to continue on as a duo. After honing their skills as a novel two piece, with Lucas playing a six-string with added bass pick-ups, Local H signed with Island Records in 1995. The band made their debut the same year with “Ham Fisted”, which failed to create a stir with similarities drawn with high-flying Nirvana.
A year later however Local H made their mark as feedback wielding, cynical-lyric delivering rock Mid-westerners, with the 1996 album “As Good as Dead”. Aided by No. 5 single on the US Alternative Billboard chart “Bound for the Floor”, as well as the singles “Eddie Vedder” and “Fritz’s Corner”, the album was later certified gold and earned the band a considerable following. “Pack Up the Cats” was issued in 1998 and maintained the group’s alt-rock and hard rock appeal, however lacked some of the focus of its predecessor.
After Island Records’ parent company Polygram was bought out by Universal Music, the band were lost in the merger, which resulted in Daniels leaving the band, and Local H took three years off from recording music. Replaced by former Triple Fast Action drummer Brian St. Clair, Local H returned in 2002 and released “Here Comes the Zoo” on Palm Pictures Records. Featuring more frantic and aggressive drumming, and lyrics, cutting in their design, the album proved there was still life in the Local H beast. After supporting the album with an extensive touring schedule, the band followed the release with the EP “No Fun” in 2003.
Local H subsequently released their fifth studio album “Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles?” in April 2004, followed by a cover of Britney Spears’ “Toxic”, which earned the band significant publicity. The full-length concept album “Twelve Angry Months” appeared in 2008, and two years later their seventh studio album “Hallelujah! I’m a Bum” hit the shelves. 2011 brought the band first best-of compilation entitled “The Island Years” and in 2013 the EP “The Another February” found its release on Slimstyle Records.
Local H started in the early 90s, right before grunge exploded into the mainstream. While they are certainly part of that grunge scene, their music was more raw and closer to punk than most mainstream grunge bands. Over time though, the band has grown quite a bit and part of that growth was a bit of a mellowing out.
Make no mistake, they are still a hard band but the hardness is now tempered by more melodies and changes in tempo to make the music more complex and appealing.There are only two members, guitarist and singer Scott Lucas and drummer Ryan Harding, who only rather recently joined. The duo manage to produce a sound much deeper than you'd expect from just a guitar and drums. The playing is hard and usually quite fast.
Also surprising for just two member, one of whom is stuck behind a drum set, is that they still manage to put on a good show. Part of this is due to the audience and their loyal fan base who keep up the energy but Scott does a good job of drawing attention to his guitar playing which is somewhat reminiscent of Green Day's Billy Joe Armstrong's low slung bass and strong, vertical strumming.The music is still hard and even with the changes and growth, Scott has managed to keep things true to the band's original hardcore and punk/grunge mix of sounds.
They definitely put on a good show and anyone interested in hearing what the local music scene sounded like before acts like Nirvana and Pearl Jam got famous should check them out.
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