Apollo Up!

What’s not to love about Cincinnati in the summertime? You can climb the Purple People Bridge, paddle the Ohio River, or hear a whole lot of Apollo Up!

The Nashville trio of Jereme Frey (drums), Mike Shepherd (bass), and Jay Leo Phillips (guitar / vocals) has been to the Queen City so many times in the past month, it feels like they’ve taken up residence here. First there was the Desdemona Festival, then an appearance on WOXY’s Lounge Acts, then a show at (Desdemona organizer) Nick Spencer’s club Alchemize, and finally an in-store at Shake It Records. Oh, and they’ll be back in September for the MidPoint Music Festival.

Not that I’m complaining… I missed the Alchemize show, but as Meatloaf once almost sang, “three out of four ain’t bad.”

In case you weren’t around for some free beer and free tunes at Shake It on Saturday, or haven’t yet heard any Apollo Up!, they are kind of a mishmash of Elvis Costello, Firewater and Fugazi.

What the hell does that mean? Well, they’re good for one. For two, it’s like Tod A. and Elvis Costello are making love sweet love while Brendan Canty bangs away on the drums. Oh, and maybe Novillero is standing outside the window peering in…

Hear for yourself:

• Listen to Walking The Plank
• Listen to Cut Up
• Listen to Plans

There’s more on their MySpace page and you can download an mp3 of their WOXY performance here.

Buy Apollo Up! – Chariots of Fire from Theory 8.