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The Evolution of the MISCREANTS: TENSION HEAD and OMINOUS Born from the Pool By Randy Chandler Photo by Robert Martin While it may be comical to think of the Miscreants as "elder statesmen" of the Tri-Cities original music scene, no other band in our area has continued to exist, let alone stuck true to their original vision, for as long as the popular Saginaw death metal outfit. Enduring personnel changes, including the recent 'revolving door' situation in their bass department; rumors and hearsay, most notably the local lore that held that it was the antics of the Miscreants that shut down the practice rooms on Hamilton St.; conflict and near-litigation, involving another local legend, Dick Wagner, over the recording of their debut CD, "Restrained"; The Miscreants have blazed a trail across this area for other heavy original bands to follow. At times the band has laid low, causing rumors to spring up of their demise, only to come roaring back. "The band thing, it's all peaks and valleys, "observes guitarist and founding member James Mann. "We've kinda been in a valley lately, what with goin' thru the different bass-players. But that said, there've been a lot of amazing times for us - the Grudge Match finals was like the craziest gig I've ever done! And the Block party - there was a situation that could've totally sucked, with the rain, but it came out totally cool. Still, though, I think we're headed for another peak." The band is working on their second effort and recording everything on their own. They have recruited new bassist Jeff Schock, originally from 2nd System and TorMent, to round out their ranks, which as always also includes Guitarist Mark Genigeski, drummer Brian Delbosque, and co-founding member/vocalist Pat Kuhn. "This band is my family, they're my brothers," smiles Mann. "There's no other way we could have stayed together this long!" Recording is being done at Mann's new home studio in Roseville, MI. "Mark and Brian live with me down there, so the gear's always setup. It's cool, because I can go home and either hang out, write a tune, do some jamming, or record a CD!" But it's not only Miscreant tunes Mann is recording - there is also Ominous, an upstart Saginaw metal band that features Mann and Genigeski (on bass and lead vocals, respectively) as well as drummer Jeff Terrian and original Miscreants guitarist Shawn Yancer. "I really had no intention of joining Ominous, "laughs Mann. "I mean, I'm working a lot of crazy hours, doing stuff for my own band - I don't even live up here anymore! Jeff always hung out with us, and we were always trying to get him to play an instrument, so he could be more a part of everything, in a way. Well, he started playing drums and jamming with Shawn, and I went over to their place to check them out, and I was completely blown away! I really dug their music." "There just happened to be a bass guitar sitting there...so I ended up being the bass-player!" For Genigeski, Ominous (which began its life under the moniker Tres Putos -"We changed it because we were tired of explaining it," says Mann) most likely affords him the opportunity to write lyrics and deliver them directly to his audience. Prior to joining the Miscreants in 1998, Genigeski fronted The Unknown Band (T.U.B.), writing and singing all that band's lyrics. Onstage, Genigeski, unencumbered by a guitar around his neck, moves freely and for the most part seems very comfortable in his role as frontman. If Terrian is somewhat inexperienced, you'd never know it - he plays with a passion and precision not unlike Delbosque, pounding away behind a massive drum kit. Yancer is an extraordinary guitarist in terms of technical ability, and the band's sound-while still comfortably within the parameters of death metal-is a more paired-down, less cerebral, and more primal affair than Mann and Genigeski's OTHER band. Meanwhile, vocalist Kuhn has been doing some moonlighting of his own. In addition to establishing Milk Money Entertainment, a small production company dedicated to perpetuating our local original scene, as well as diligently working on new Miscreants material; Pat has found the time to join another band - as their drummer! Tension Head, which features Chuck from Black Gorilla Family on vocals, former Jordan's Bank and current Bottom Hour bassist Anthony Garcia, as well as guitarist Sean Griffin, was already its own entity before Kuhn entered the picture. "They had a guy named Rick Bolio on drums - he's the big, bald-headed bouncer guy at the Pub - and when they parted ways with him, I said I wanted to come check it out. "I've always played drums, on and off, for years-in fact, when I first started getting together with Jamie back in the day, I wanted to be their drummer!" Rallying around Garcia and Kuhn's tight rhythm section and Griffin's adventurous guitarwork, Tension Head is largely defined by Chuck's confrontational stage presence- he's played the lunatic card since his days with KGP and shows no signs of stopping now. Much like former OX45 vocalist Paul Krzyziak, Chuck has that lead singer's bi-polar stage disease-gent offstage, loon onstage-which makes for an engaging band, and one of the more entertaining of the heavy bands working today. Recording projects for all three bands are in the works simultaneously, which begs the question: How do these guys keep everything straight? "Dude, I NEVER know what's going on with my band," Delbosqe has quipped to me several times over the years. "I haveta look in the REVIEW to find out when we're playing!" "It's a lot of stuff going on at once," nods Pat. "But the bottom line is that we are all good friends who, in most cases, go back quite a ways together, and we're having a great time making music together." "The Miscreants are far from over. In fact, we're stronger now than we've been in a long time!" Kuhn and Mann have high praise for their new bass guy: Jeff has a different style, but at the same time it totally fits us. He's a great bass-player, a cool guy, and it's SO cool to be over that bass-player problem!" laughs Mann. So, with three bands going simultaneously (four, if you count Bottom Hour, Garcia's band with his brother Andy), what happens when all these bands get booked on the same night? This actually happened, on the 19th of July. "First, we played a Miscreants set at this party out in Shields," relates Kuhn. "Then we had to rush over to the Hamilton St. Pub to do first set with the Miscreants, which was followed by a set by Silverspork, who then had to high-tail it across town to play their own CD Release party at the Trough, and then I had to get up there with Tension Head!" "It was a rough day, but I loved it." "It was so crazy, though, because it seemed like all the bands were doing multiple shows that night, so we're all racing all over town!"
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