On a warm Sunday afternoon at The Farm (formerly Bozarts) on South St. Clair Street, I sit on the grass listening to the haunting sound of a guitar, reverberating beneath lyrics that tell a tale of the tightening constraints of life in a small town.
The band is The Antivillains, and they are Sarah Cohen (lyrics, vocals, acoustic guitar), Ben Cohen (vocals, bass guitar, composition, electric guitar, rhodes), Sam Woldenberg (composition, kit, percussion), and Petr Kharchenko (electric guitar, bass guitar).
“We call our genre ‘Midwest Nostalgia,’ which is Americana, but obviously it is not Southern. It is our region. We try to create a mood with our music,” Ben Cohen said.
“It’s storytelling through imagery,” Woldenberg added.
Story of origin
The Antivillains formed 10 years ago to open for 1970’s folk superstar, Melanie (Safka), at The Happy Badger (a family restaurant, retail, and community space started by Ben and Sarah Cohen’s parents, who both had a deep love of music). The lineup has changed since then, and now includes guitarist Petr Kharchenko.
“So Much for Romance [the band’s first album] came out of an assignment in a Jazz Fundamentals class at The University of Toledo,” Ben Cohen said.
“That [songwriting approach] was kind of like a computer program, enter in emotion, love, unrequited,” Sarah Cohen joked.
“But the Melanie show was the real genesis [of the band],” Woldenberg said.
The Antivillains pull from a number of influences for their songwriting and their sound.
“For our first record, Galaxie 500 and Yo La Tengo. For our new one, Nebraska-era Bruce Springsteen,” Ben Cohen said.
“I’ve listened to The Band over and over, my whole life,” Sarah Cohen added.
A different path
Recently, The Antivillains have been touring, and while they are currently working on new material to record, they are still playing a lot of their beloved older material.
“I have a real appreciation for our first record [So Much For Romance] now. We’re performing the older material on tour, and it makes sense,” Sarah Cohen said.
“One thing we’ve done is embrace whatever sound we’re passionate about at the time. The songwriting has gone from being more personalized to representing more cinematic themes found in traditional American songwriting,” Ben Cohen said.
Sarah Cohen added, “Our last album was more introspective. But now there are more universal things to talk about. Reading a book, watching a documentary… something coming out of that instead of it being about somebody not calling me back. There is one song, “150 Ways,” that is still personal, but other people can relate to it without having to know who I am or any of the stuff I’m going through.”
“It feels less neurotic than the first album, which was a collage of songs about delusion and disappointment,” Woldenberg said.
The future
The band is looking forward to releasing new material and cultivating an even wider audience.
“With the last record we got so sidetracked by the logistics of recording that we didn’t distribute it as much as we could have,” Ben Cohen said. “It’ll be cool to get the new one out to a wider audience.”
“We’re taking pride in being a better live band and touring more,” Woldenberg said.
The Antivillains are currently at work on their new EP with 3 Elliot Studios in Athens, Ohio. It is due out this fall. They will be playing the Ohio Theatre Folk Festival, along with Jeff Stewart, The Ragbirds, and the Birds of Chicago on November 14th from 8-11pm.
Ohio Theatre and Event Center at 3114 Lagrange St.
Tickets are $15/advance, $18/door
Check out The Antivillains’ first album, So Much For Romance, here: theantivillains.bandcamp.com
The Official Website for The Antivillains: theantivillains.com
For booking inquiries: [email protected]
