I had the pleasure of attending Blend‘s second headline show at The King of Clubs in Columbus…which had some sadness mixed into the night, but we’ll get into that later.
Opening for Blend was More Than Never & Lydia’s Castle, and closing out the night as a co-headliner was 2 Shadows of “Goths in Ungothly Places” short video fame.
The night kicked off with Columbus native More Than Never, a 3 piece band led by Andy Lautzenheiser (singer and bassist) with Clay Hughes on guitar and Chase Harrell on drums – formed in 2016. While being sarcastic, humorous, and having “crowd participation times”, their most recent song Shadow of Me is quite somber, and addresses depression, anxiety, and suicide – topics that Andy has said is personal to him and he wrote the song during a dark time in his life. They’ve got a heavy guitar & drum driven sound with catchy riffs that remind me of my younger days listening to bands like 12 Stones.
Next up after More Than Never was Lydia’s Castle. From the music capital of the United States, Nashville, TN, Lydia’s Castle is a powerhouse female-led metal band that hits you right in the face. Similar to More Than Never, Lydia’s Castle has a mission to encourage and inspire people to build upon their own tragedies and hardships in their lives and to become even stronger. A brand new band, forming during the COVID pandemic, Tonya LeeAnne (vocalist) started the band with Cody Denton (guitar) in 2020. Jon Wysocki (who has worked with Staind, Soil, and Save the World) joined the band a year later as their drummer, and finalizing the band, bassist Corey England joined in 2022.
Stylistically, they combine old school rock & blues, and turn it up to 11 with metal and hardcore riffs. Their set was absolutely incredible, and can’t wait to see them back this far north of their home again!!
The headliner of the night (for their second time) was Columbus locals Blend who succinctly answers the question “Will it Blend?” with a resounding “of course”. I have seen Blend on multiple occasions at The King of Clubs, and absolutely love their groovy sound. They found a way to mix psychedelic chill melodic rock with heavy riffs. You can vibe to it while headbanging. It’s an eclectic mix of funk, psychedelic, metal, and heavy rock for the perfect chill metal sound – music for metal fans to listen to by a fire with a cold beer and just chill. Almost as if Tool got their inspiration from Pink Floyd and jammed with Queens of the Stone Age…which is why their band is named Blend.
Blend was founded by Michael Jacob (guitar) and J.D. Freeman (vocals) when Michael was tired of playing in cover bands and not expanding on his own music. They rounded out the trio with Tyler Foltz (drums) and started the band in 2017. A year later, they picked up Aaron James (bass). J.D. and Aaron told the story of how they found him at a random show as a last minute stand-in and Michael voiced he needed a permanent bass player. After practicing and playing together, he was invited to join.
Following the “theme” of the night, a lot of their music is about self-identity, mental health, and acceptance.
Unfortunately, towards the end of their set, J.D. announced that this show was the last show that Aaron would be playing bass with Blend as he is moving on with other opportunities. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house as J.D. dedicated Say It Ain’t So by Weezer and their own song Willow Whisper to Aaron, bowed to his majestic bass playing, and the group hugged.
Last but not least, to wrap up the night, 2 Shadows changed gears on style of music of the night, and ended in gothic darkness. 2 Shadows is a duo from Vancouver, Canada and had Josh Lauzé as a drummer and Braidyn Michaels as an additional guitarist. The band was started by Glen Bridden (vocals) and Tryst Germaine (guitarist) in 2015. While their music is dark, foreboding, gothic, and has an industrial metalcore sound to it – their music is meant to be ingested as cathartic and healing. All of the bands prior have a heavy focus on mental health, self-inspection, and overcoming difficulties and 2 Shadows is no different. Their music focuses heavily on mental health, isolation, and that no one is ever alone…and all tell a story.
Most will know 2 Shadows from their Tiktok/YouTube shorts “Goths in Ungothly Places”. After talking with them at the end of the night, we realized that (and they jokingly vehemently denied it)! They take their stage presence as seriously as their music, and they deem their live performance to be a parallel representation of their music.
