The Local Groove by Dan Clark: Always on the hunt for new music

I am always on the hunt for new music. At one point I only focused on writing about music because I knew that it was a good way to expand my iTunes catalogue without having to pay for it. Knowing this, the editor of my college paper told me about a metal band that his friend was in and that I should write a feature story on them.

He was wrong about two things: one, they weren’t a metal band, and two, the friend he was referring to was the band’s manager and merchandise guy. He didn’t play guitar in the band like my editor said he did.

Regardless of being wrong about everything he explained to me, he was right in that I would like them and to this day Anchorhead is not only one of my favorite local bands, they have grown into being one of my favorite bands in general, and they only have six recorded songs.

Any one familiar with the Perkasie music scene may remember the band All In A Year which is where Anchorhead guitarist and singer, John Schiavone got his start. After All In a Year broke up, Schiavone spent sometime working on acoustic music.

Their first EP, A Room to Stay is a four-song work of pop punk and alternative rock masterpiece with big guitar riffs, catchy choruses and great bass lines. Songs like “My Head” and “Steady” hold the EP together and solidified their spot in my list of favorite bands.

Skip a head about a year and a half and they are signed by Philadelphia independent label Either/Or Records and have two songs on a four song split with Cardinal, an alternative punk band from Virginia.

The first two songs of the split belong to Anchorhead and they once again prove why they are a band worth listening to.

“What you need” is a slower song but does not lack in power from the drums and has memorable riffs. It does not have as catchy of a chorus as I am used to from Anchorhead but their second song on the split makes up for that. “Nola” is a much faster song compared to the first song and, in my opinion, a lot more memorable.

Anchorhead is definitely a band worth checking out. They aren’t reinventing the wheel of alternative rock, but they are certainly a band worth checking out. You can listen to their first EP A Room to Stay on anchorheadpa.bandcamp.com and you can listen to their recent split with Cardinal on eitherorrecords.bandcamp.com.

Dan Clark is an intern for Berks-Mont Newspapers.