The Gersch

The Gersch was founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1995, though their members now reside all across the United States in the cities of Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Chicago. They have been on extended hiatus since 1999.

Biography

Guitarists Justin Sosnovski, Graham Hick and B. Clifford Meyer got together in Allston, Massachusetts, during the winter of 1994-95 to form a rock band. They decided to perform without a bass and instead used 3 guitars tuned low. They met Jonathan Ruhe who agreed to play the drums. Their myspace profile claims their "music was inspired by the poetic dialogue of "Conan The Barbarian" and the dissected human anatomy drawings of Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564)".

Debuting at O'Briens, a small club in Allston, in 1995, The Gersch cleared the room with the first song of their set - the 15 minute long "Cheapskin".

In 1997 a 7 inch single of two songs by The Gersch was released by Tortuga Recordings. "Bloodbottom" b/w "Listwish" was release number 001 for Tortuga Recordingscite web | url = http://www.tortugarecordings.com/releases/TR001.htm] , which later became an imprint of Hydra Head Records .

1998 and 1999 saw The Gersch on a Polterchrist Records compilation titled "Benefit For El Chupacabra", as well as a Tortuga Recordings compilation, "Metal Is A Tough Business". During these years Justin returned to New York City, and Graham returned to Chicago. Clifford and Jonathan performed into 1999 as a two piece, but finally put it on hiatus when Clifford joined Isis (band) and Jonathan joined the Boston based Ho-Ag.

On June 6th, 2006, they released a 45 minute CD titled "The Gersch" on Tortuga Recordings. It is an anthology selected from various recordings the band made between 1995-1999."

Genre

Influences for the band include such metal favorites as The Melvins, Black Sabbath, Sleep, and Kyuss, as well as such diverse bands as Black Flag, Sonic Youth, Pink Floyd, Big Black, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

The sound is a combination of classic rock, punk rock, hardcore, metal and noise. They are commonly labeled doom metal, avant garde, post-metal, drone-metal and sludge-metalcite web | last = Phoenix| first = Boston| url = http://www.thephoenix.com/OnTheDownload/PermaLink.aspx?guid=4cfd9676-1c48-4070-93cf-d9e05bc9b66c| title = Review of "The Gersch" | work = Boston Phoenix| accessdate = June 29 | accessyear = 2006] cite web | last = Wharton| first = Bryer| url = http://pages.slugmag.com/ncdr/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=10| title = Review of "The Gersch" | work = Slug Magazine | accessdate = July | accessyear = 2006] cite web | last = Tobey| first = Mike| url = http://adequacy.net/review.php?reviewID=7065| title = Review of "The Gersch" | work = Delusions Of Adequacy| accessdate = June 28 | accessyear = 2006] cite web | last = Batty| first = Roger| url = http://www.musiquemachine.com/reviews/reviews_template.php?id=820| title = Review of "The Gersch" | work = Musique Machine| accessdate = June 28 | accessyear = 2006] cite web | last = SOS| first = Mike| url = http://www.themusicappraisal.net/articles.june06.shtml| title = Review of "The Gersch" | work = The Music Appraisal| accessdate = June | accessyear = 2006] . They have borrowed and helped to evolve a sound pioneered by the likes of Black Sabbath, Sleep, Kyuss, Neurosis, High on Fire and even Black Flagcite web | last = Wharton| first = Bryer| url = http://pages.slugmag.com/ncdr/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=10| title = Review of "The Gersch" | work = Slug Magazine | accessdate = July | accessyear = 2006] cite web | last = Tobey| first = Mike| url = http://adequacy.net/review.php?reviewID=7065| title = Review of "The Gersch" | work = Delusions Of Adequacy| accessdate = June 28 | accessyear = 2006] cite web | last = Batty| first = Roger| url = http://www.musiquemachine.com/reviews/reviews_template.php?id=820| title = Review of "The Gersch" | work = Musique Machine| accessdate = June 28 | accessyear = 2006] cite web | last = SOS| first = Mike| url = http://www.themusicappraisal.net/articles.june06.shtml| title = Review of "The Gersch" | work = The Music Appraisal| accessdate = June | accessyear = 2006] . Some reviews have also compared their sound to the roster of bands that appeared on the Minneapolis based label AmRep during the 1990scite web | last = Phoenix| first = Boston| url = http://www.thephoenix.com/OnTheDownload/PermaLink.aspx?guid=4cfd9676-1c48-4070-93cf-d9e05bc9b66c| title = Review of "The Gersch" | work = Boston Phoenix| accessdate = June 29 | accessyear = 2006] .

Members

*Justin Sosnovski: electric guitar, vocals
*Graham Hick: electric guitar, vocals
*Bryant Clifford Meyer: electric guitar, vocals
*Jonathan Ruhe: drums

Discography

*"Bloodbottom" b/w "Listwish". 7 inch, 33 1/3RPM single. November 15, 1997. Tortuga Recordings #001. cite web | url = http://www.tortugarecordings.com/releases/TR001.htm]
*"The Gersch" full length CD. June 6, 2006. Tortuga Recordings #034. cite web | url = http://www.tortugarecordings.com/press/gersch/]

Related Projects

*Isis (band)
*Red Sparowes
*Windmills by the Ocean
*Ho-Ag

References

External links

* [http://www.myspace.com/thegersch The Gersch] at Myspace
* [http://tortugarecordings.com/ Tortuga Recordings]