Mason County musicians Bobaflex join Split Nixon, others for merry metal at the V Club By Dave Lavender They've outlived a long list of record companies from Eclipse to TVT. They've seen Huntington rock bars come and go from the Stoned Monkey and The Drop Shop to The Monkeybar and Tequila Rocks. And, they've morphed and survived rock 'n' roll's flavors-of-the-month from rap rock to Nu metal. Yeah, go ahead and turn the heat up, you can't kill Bobaflex. The five-man Mason County-based band that's been making its own unique, brother-built joyful noise and flirting with national stardom since it burst on the Huntington scene back in the late 1990s, is still very much alive and sounding better than ever. The band, which was on the main stage at X-Fest 2009 in September, rocks down the V Club, 741 6th Ave., with some of the region's best hard rock and metal acts including fellow X-Fest alums Split Nixon, Stitch Rivet, Downtrend and Blue Sky Falling. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the concert starts at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12. Tickets are $13 advance and $15 day of the show. Guitarist and band founder Shaun McCoy said they're excited to be playing the V Club for the first time and to be sharing the stage with some of the region's hottest acts such as Split Nixon and Stitch Rivet. Split Nixon is back together and getting looks from national labels. Stitch Rivet is the five-man eastern Kentucky-based band that has built up a regional cult following and has supporters including Richard Young of the Kentucky Headhunters. "Stitch Rivet is great, and Split Nixon has one of the best singers I have ever seen locally or nationally," McCoy said of powerhouse vocalist Jason Mays. "I don't know why either one of those two bands haven't broke." Nobody has to tell McCoy how tough it is to claw to the national scene and hang on for the stomach-churning rollercoaster ride that is the music business. Signed to national labels since 2001, Bobaflex has headlined such big rock fests as Rock on the Range in Columbus, has headlined national club tours and got hand-picked for Megadeth's Gigantour. Yet, like many other acts, it has gotten severe beat-downs by labels dying in a changing industry combined with a bad economy. Most area music fans know the heart-wrenching story of what happened to Bobaflex's last CD, the incredibly-strong "Tales From Dirt Town" released in 2007 on TVT Records. Just a few months after the band released the CD -- armed with such radio-friendly songs like "Home," which has nearly 500,000 MySpace plays -- TVT Records (once voted Billboard's Top Independent Record Label for five consecutive years between 2001 and 2006 and home to artists like the Polyphonic Spree, Lil Jon & the Eastside Boyz) went bankrupt. Handcuffed with a new CD it couldn't sell and boatloads of debt, the band cowboyed-up and hit the road, making more friends, fans and scratching out a living playing live. "It was very dark and we didn't know how we were going to get out of it," Shaun said. "We had no CDs so we sold T-shirts at our shows, and I picked up the phone and started booking us again myself. I put together like seven week tours. It was no cake walk but it kept the band alive and it took about a year but we just got free in March of this year." McCoy, who is also the lead singer, said in spite of a rough road in the past few years, Bobaflex is clawing its way back up thanks to their fans all over the country. And especially fans in regional markets such as Huntington and Columbus, Ohio, where it is headlining a New Year's Eve show at Alrosa Villa, the city's prime metal venue. "Our fans have stuck with us and keep us going and have kept us looking forward to shows which makes us continue to write songs," McCoy said. "There'll be bands that have sold a couple hundred thousand records and we'll outdraw them in many markets because the fans really come out and support us. A lot of people can have hits but people may not love the band, they may like a song. Our fans know it's all about hanging out with them and drinking a beer with them and that's really paid for us and helped us through a really tough time." Those tough times may be easing up. The band has been in Detroit with Chuck Alkazian, who produced the latest hit-laden Pop Evil CD, and is about halfway through recording a new CD. It includes a new song called "Bury Me With My Guns On" as well as a new cut of the edgy, slice-of-Tri-State-life called "Chemical Valley," that is about growing up in the shadows of the pollution-spewing industrial smokestacks and the region's penchant for prescription pill abuse. "It's a double meaning because of the chemical plants in the chemical valley and they're dumping everything and so there's a lot of cancer in the area, and because of the cancer rates there are a lot of prescription drugs, and so the song's about a boilermaker who is caught in the furnace of hell," McCoy said. "He has a family and starts taking pills and then he starts shooting up and robbing stores and his wife takes the kids away and he is basically left alone. It's a modern day hard-core, rocking country song and a lot of it is based on a lot of friends who grew up here and who had nice jobs and lost everything to drugs. We've seen a lot of people fall by the wayside." Ironically, after scraping by the past couple years and a possible light at the tunnel, Shaun said, the band is having to do so without fellow founding member and guitarist Mike Steele, who is not currently playing with the group. "Mike had some personal issues in his life that are more important than Bobaflex, and he had to get some things straight and being in the band was not helping him out," McCoy said. "We're still friends and we love the guy. He just had to take care of himself." Not surprisingly, even though the band has picked up big-time management Primary Wave/Manage Musiq (Rick Smith/Scott Fraisier) that works with Saving Abel and Red among others, Bobaflex did not have to look far for another great music talent. Fellow Mason County resident Chris Grogan is now playing guitar with the band that also includes Shaun's brother Marty McCoy on lead vocals and guitar, Jerod Mankin on bass and Thomas Johnson on drums. Shaun McCoy said Alkazian is getting an amazing sound out of the band whose new CD will be what McCoy calls "a modernized read of all the Bobaflex records." "We can't wait for the new album that's coming," he said. "We're doing it piece by piece, and we'll probably put out an EP only and then the album will come out in the summer. It will be amazing. I've never been this confident about the music we have recorded in our life." A Conversation With Stitch Rivet There is a new sound coming out of Eastern Kentucky. No, it is not the fiddles and banjoes that you may think. It is the pulsing beat of the base drum, the riff of an electric guitar, and the passionate grip of rock. I had the opportunity to set down with a group of guys that make up perhaps the most humble, driven and musically intelligent unsigned band on the East Coast. It is truly a pleasure to introduce the world to Gene, Chad, Nathan, Kevin and John. They are collectively known as Stitch Rivet. The background of each member is unique and sometimes surprising. Who would have thought that the fingers that can make a guitar wail can also make a fiddle sing? John Hoskins on guitar is also a well known bluegrass fiddle player and has toured nationally before taking on his true gift of rock. Gene Booth has been letting his vocal prowess fly since his college days. Nathan Lewis grew up in a family that promoted his ability to beat out a rhythm on anything that would make a sound. Chad Hurlburt also on guitar has been studying the intricacies of sound and melodies since he could play. Kevin Allen has played bass in a number of bands until he found his home with Stitch Rivet. Their manager, Jay Booth (Gene’s twin brother), is as much a part of the band as any member and has been working side by side with each of them to make this dream come true of musical domination. To quote Jay directly, “It is like the best of many different bands got together and formed Stitch Rivet.” How did Stitch Rivet form? Gene: I guess it really started with me and Chad. Chad: It started with a cover band. Gene: We decided that we wanted to play our own music. We found Nathan and were really lucky to find him. It wasn’t long after that we found Kevin. And then we lost a guitar player almost a year ago. And so we picked up John and it has been crazy ever since. Jay: Hey Nate, tell the story about how we found you. Nate: I was dating this girl in Campton. She had a friend that is good friends with Chad and Gene. We had a set of drums in the basement where we lived. She mentioned that she knew guys that were looking for a drummer. We decided to meet up and I had this old crappy set of drums. It had tape all over it, only 1 or 2 cymbals and I took it up there and they said, “Let’s see what you can play.” So the bass drum didn’t have a rug underneath it and it was sliding all over the place. I don’t even know what I did. I thought “Well this turned out pretty good.” I don’t know what you guys thought. Gene: Ah, we liked you. We had to be kind of picky about it because we didn’t only want someone that was a great drummer. We wanted someone we could get along with. I guess we auditioned about 6 or 7 drummers and we just kept coming back to Nathan. And we’ve been together ever since. Where did the name Stitch Rivet come from? Nathan: We were trying to come up with a cool name and we had been throwing several names around. One of us picked up a dictionary or something. Chad has a big library in his house. I opened up a dictionary and it came to that word stitch rivet that means unity. Gene: We had a show at a place called Cadillac Ranch and the owner called and asked if we wanted to play. We told him that we would love to play, but we don’t have a band name. Nathan picked up the dictionary and it just landed on that page. We liked the definition of it so we just stuck with it. What are your musical influences? Chad: I wanted to learn to play guitar when I first heard Randy Rhodes. An album a friend gave me was a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne. From the moment I heard that guitar section I decided then and there that I wanted to play. John: Hey, that’s me too brother. Randy Rhodes all the way. Kevin: Yeah, I would say a lot of Black Sabbath, Ozzy, the Doors, James Taylor. And then later a lot of Incubus and Breaking Benjamin. Gene: When I was growing up my mom listened to a lot of Bob Seger. But then when you get into high school and start discovering these bands that have been around for 20 years you also start listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd, Metallica, you think how awesome and then just set in your bed room and listen and try to sing. There are just a lot of influences. Anywhere from Stevie Ray Vaughn, I love him, CCR big time. John: For me Pantera was a big influence. Gene: Alice in Chains, Sound Garden, STP, Nine Inch Nails Nathan: Zepplin. Kevin: There aren’t too many that we don’t like. You have opened for a lot of national acts. Who has been your favorite to work with? Kevin: Mine would probably still be Drowning Pool. Gene: Yeah Drowning Pool was awesome. Kevin: But tonight Red will probably be my favorite. I hear they put on a great show. Gene: Pop Evil was awesome. They were really cool. They treated us with respect. Stereoside. Nathan: Yeah, Pop Evil was great. Gene: You can call them. They give you their number. They pick up and talk to us. Sometimes they call us to see what’s going on. So that’s pretty neat. On the flip side of that, who would you like to have open for you? Kevin: That’s a good question. Nathan: I’ve never given it much thought. Kevin: I would like to give a really good up and coming band a shot when we make it big. John: Anybody that we can help further along their musical career. Nathan: That’s what Stitch Rivet is about. We’ve always went out of our way helping bands. John: I’m very grateful as far as I’ve gotten with these guys. I’ve only been with them since November, but what I’ve done with them is great. I appreciate what these guys have done. Gene: When I first started out my greatest goal was playing at the Silver Mine Saloon in Campton, KY with a population of about 1000 people. That’s all I wanted to do on a weekend. But then after you do that you just kind of want a little bit more and a little bit more. You just get that drive or whatever. You see other bands doing their thing and you start writing music. People start responding to you. Then you start seeing people follow you around. They know all the words to your songs. It just kind of feeds it, you know? When we first started out I didn’t think we would be anything but a cover band. I just really appreciate what everyone has done for us and want to help anyone we can that is coming up. Kevin: For me music has always been a huge event in my life. Long after I’m gone music is still going to be there. And to know that right now at this point I’m going to be a part of musical history, to have something there when I’m gone is awesome to me. Gene: People don’t realize how much sacrifice it takes to do this. Especially when you just aren’t there yet. You work a full time job, you have a kid, I mean, it’s just hard. And then you have to deal with the business aspect of it. And sometimes people you deal with, they aren’t nice. And you want to get frustrated with it and then you just want to quit and the only thing that keeps you going is the group of people that you are with. The fans. You don’t want to let them down. Just like you don’t want them to let you down. John: I’ve been in a lot of bands and I can honestly say this band gets along better than any other band I have been in. Gene: You know, we love each other. Nathan: We’re brothers. We’re Stitch Rivet. Kevin: We get mad at each other for a couple of hours and then we are over it. That’s what family is. It’s what family does. John: I can say something to one of these guys and they get mad at me. I feel bad about it. Nathan: No you don’t! John: Yeah, I do. But we all get over it. If anyone would say anything about these guys, I would beat them. Gene: The thing is this thing takes so much sacrifice to do even what we do. Honestly I don’t think we are the most talented people in the world. There are probably a billion people out there better than we are. But I think the reason why we do what we do and have even gotten this far is because we love music, we have a passion and dedication and drive. Nathan: We love what we do. What is your most memorable show to date? Nathan: I think my most memorable show was playing here at the V-Club with Pop Evil. That was a great time. John: Probably the other night in Hitchens. Nathan: I think your most memorable was when you played with Pantera. John: I wish I had played with Pantera! But really it would be the biggest bluegrass show in the United States. It was my second show out. I did terrible but it was a good experience. The show in Hitchens was an outdoor venue and you seem to be made to play outdoors. Which do you prefer, the outdoor or the smaller venues? Chad: I love the smaller venues. Kevin: Personally I hate the outdoor venues. I think they are all right, but I love the bars. It’s the atmosphere. That is my preference personally. I don’t know how everyone else feels about this. John: The sound is never as good at an outdoor show as an indoor show. Chad: I like the smaller venues because you can get closer to the crowd and can interact with them. Kevin: Yeah, exactly. When we get up there and play these people are going to be right in your face. Chad: At an outdoor festival you kind of lose that feeling. John: When you look at someone you are looking them right in the eye. It’s more intimate. You have X-fest coming up which is a big deal for Clear Channel stations. How does this show differ from other shows through the year? Nathan: Well, this show we have Shinedown, Chevelle, Tantric. It’s an honor be able to play with them. We work a lot harder on those shows. We go big. We sell tickets, and t-shirts. We charter buses to get our die hard fans there. We do extra special things for our fans to get them to these shows. John: Yeah, we really appreciate them. Of the songs that you play, which is your favorite to do live? Kevin: For me right now it is ‘Dark Days’. It is something we have just come up with. Maybe it’s because it’s new. Chad and John: ‘Slip Away’. What do you think makes the current sounds coming out of Kentucky different from other bands in other parts of the country? John: One of the biggest things is Gene’s vocals. Kevin: Gene’s vocals are amazing. When it is just him and acoustic it is amazing. What drove me to this band is when I auditioned for this band they had a couple of original tunes. The music was good, but what really drove me to this band was Gene’s vocals. John: I’ve been in some really good bands, but if the vocals aren’t there then you are wasting your time. I think part of it too is we all have different musical influences. We like similar bands. I listen to a lot of really heavy stuff. Stitch Rivet is probably the lightest thing I listen to. I listen to everything but most of the time I listen to really heavy music. Chad: I’m the opposite side of the spectrum. I listen to really strange jazz and stuff like that. Right there we have completely opposite poles as far as what we are feeding our brains. John: I think that is why we compliment each other so much. Most of the stuff I do is pretty straight forward. I play really heavy at times. Chad comes in with all those little things that make it different and the pretty little things you hear in there that really stand out, that’s all Chad. He amazes me. I’ll play something and then Chad will play something that is just so different from what I would think of or come up with and it’s perfect. Nathan: Chad thinks way out of the box. Here’s the box. Chad is way over here out of the box. Kevin: Every note Chad plays is perfect. Chad: I wouldn’t say the classical music had the influence. I’m a horrible classical player. I think it has to do with listening to a lot of really unusual, weird flares like John Scofield and something a musician would understand. Instead of focusing on the power chords, I’m looking at all the different levels and progressions. Or try to. At the Hitchens show, you played a song about a friend that committed suicide, ‘688'. How was the dynamic different for this song writing experience? Nathan: The situation was a life changing event for all of us. John: He was like a Stitch Rivet roadie. Kevin: Yeah, we was a really good friend of ours. Nathan: 688 was his call number. He was a volunteer firefighter. It’s about him and our experience being with him and what we felt when that happened. He was Stitch Rivet’s biggest fan. Kevin: At his funeral they called his number 4 times. That really hit me hard. Nathan: He was really a great guy and we really miss him. Gene: It is a different kind of song all together. It is a heavier song and my vocals are really different on it. I guess whenever we got together to write it, we wanted to write a song about Jim. It was real emotional and said some really powerful stuff and I just really thought about some of the emotions we all went through. Especially Kevin. When he hung himself, Kevin found him. I was on the phone with Kevin. So we are kind of connected in that way. I tried to recreate the fear and the anger at the same time that we had towards him because he had done it to himself. Not anger in a mean way, just wishing that he hadn’t done it. Wishing that maybe you could have stopped it. They guys did their jobs because it is really powerful and really sticks out. It is a song unlike anything we ever really did. Especially for me because I really never sing like that. I really wanted to express in my vocals that I was upset. At the same time I wanted to show Jim respect. When someone takes their own life, you don’t really know what they are going through. To him I guess it had to have been his only option. So in his mind he did the right thing. There is really no need to argue it because it was his life in the first place. I just wanted to show some respect for him. If you listen to the words we talk about the emotions we felt at his funeral when were setting there in front of his casket and expressing some of the feelings we had at the ceremony and putting him in the grave. How he hung himself by a tree and the tree is still alive and Jim isn’t. The roots will keep the tree alive for another 200 years but did nothing for Jim. He was a good man and did all the grunt work for us. Let us practice at his house and took us in. He believed in us and was probably the greatest Stitch Rivet fan there ever was. What would you like people to know about the band that they may not already know? Nathan: When we throw beads out, make sure you earn them. Those things aren’t free! John: That’s right! Kevin: I agree with that! Chad: I don’t know! John: We are just like everyone else and we really appreciate our fans. They come out and we make a point to go out and talk to everybody. A lot of bands don’t do that, they really don’t. But we want everyone to know how much we appreciate the fact that they came, they spent their money, they bought t-shirts and we love them. And without them there would be no Stitch Rivet. Without the other bands showing up and them supporting us, there would be no us. Chad: Yeah, John’s really nailed it on the head. Stitch Rivet really isn’t the five of us up there playing. Stitch Rivet is the entire experience. It’s us up there performing and the other half is the crowd response. You know, they love us and we love them. Really it is a relationship between the crowd and the music. John: We are as eager to meet them as they are to meet us. You have a really loyal following in West Virginia and Kentucky. What would you like to say to them? Kevin: Thank you. John and Nathan: We love them. Chad: We appreciate them more than they will ever know. Where do you see the band in the next 5 to 10 years? Kevin: Personally I see us already signed and hopefully writing really good music. Being in this band is great. I have a whole family going. Playing live is always great. But my main thing is writing music. When you come up with something new especially when you come up with it or someone else comes up with it and you play your part and you come up with something and you have all these people putting stuff to it and it makes something new that has never been heard before, that is the most awesome thing ever. John: Being creative there is no other feeling than that. There is an immense satisfaction in knowing that you have created something that is your’s, you made it, it is indescribable. There is no way I can ever put that into words. Chad: I kind of expect 10 years from now we will be surprising the critics by producing our 6th consecutive multi-platinum album. Nathan: In 10 years I will be setting back watching my episode of ‘Cribs’. Me and my double wide. John: Forget the double wide. I am going to take 2 single wides and screw them together. Or just get a single wide and build onto it. Chad: Just get 3 or 4 and nail them all together. Cheaper in the long run. Nathan: Yeah, me and my hillbilly mansion. And as always happens with rockstars, it was time for them to perform. And what a performance it turned out to be. When looking at the crowd that night, it was hard to believe that they were the opening act and not the headliners. The mania started with the first notes of a crowd favorite ‘Slip Away’ and lasted all the way through to a personal favorite ‘I’m Thinkin’. Heads were bobbing, fists were pumping, and everyone was singing along to words that may be unknown to most people, but are as familiar as their own names to the true fans. I said it before and I’ll say it again: this is the most driven, passionate and dedicated brotherhood. They have a power and energy about them that is missing from today’s music. The humility and grace with which they conduct themselves is to be commended. When they take the stage, it is a sight to behold. Heart and soul leaks from each pore and is transferred to each note, each lyric. The music flows like a river and washes over you until you are drowning in it. And what better life preservers can you ask for than the men of Stitch Rivet? Be sure to look them up at www.myspace.com/stitchrivet . To really get up close and personal, be sure to check them out at one of the following shows: August 8, 2009 Toys for Tots Benefit Campton, KY 5PM August 15, 2009 Phoenix Hill Tavern Louisville, KY 8PM September 12, 2009 X-fest Huntington, WV 3PM September 26, 2009 Sorghum Festival West Liberty, KY 8PM October 3, 2009 T-Bombs Richmond, KY 8PM October 17, 2009 Court Days Festival Mt. Sterling, KY 8PM

Metal show set for Friday night in Huntington
February 19, 2009 @ 12:03 PM
DAVE LAVENDER
Herald-Dispatch.com
For the past six years, Cody Chaffin has blown a double-barrel blast into boredom with his annual summer-time Rock on the River show in Ironton.
Now, winter gets a shot of his heavy metal thunder.
Chaffin has booked a three-band metal show Friday night at Shamrock’s Pub, 2050 3rd Ave., featuring X-Fest Loud and Local stage band, Stitch Rivet, from out of Eastern Kentucky, as well as five-man Point Pleasant-based melodic rockers, Blue Sky Falling, and Nitro-based, Strength of Solitude, a four-man band that’s opened up for such national acts as 10 Years, Stereoside, Copper and Bobaflex.
Cover is $5 and the doors open at 8 p.m.
The show is sponsored by Bennigan’s, Sheered Lepus and Maggie Chaffin Photography.
A twentysomething who runs a Web site dedicated to Tri-State music, Chaffin said that while the bands come from different corners of the Tri-State, they all have one thing in common. They love to rock and are all regionally traveling, recording bands that have been featured on such radio stations as WAMX’s Loud and Local show.
“I think they’re some of the best local bands,” Chaffin said. “It’s definitely worth coming out and checking it out, especially for $5.”
Chaffin said he’s excited for the show at Shamrock’s, which he calls not too big but just big enough to hold great live music.
While Chaffin was once booking shows every weekend for the now defunct live music club, Paradox Rift, he said he hopes to get back to booking at least one showcase a month of the region’s best rock and metal bands.
“I plan on doing shows more often but not too often,” Chaffin said. “I want to be able to promote the show right and to get the bands that are going to be good for the shows.”
For more information about the show or if you are interested in playing one of Chaffin’s shows, call Chaffin at 740-646-4081 or visit his Web site at www.myspace.com/tristatemusicscene.

By DAVE LAVENDER
The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON -- Book it and they will come, scream and mosh under a hot sun in brutal joy.
WAMX-FM's X-Fest turns 12 on Sept. 6, and the X-106.3's annual fest celebrates in style at Harris Riverfront Park with two stages of hammering metal that features such headliners as the five-man Orange County, Calif.-based metal act Avenged Sevenfold.
The Warner Bros. recording artists, currently touring Europe, has its latest single "Afterlife" sitting at No. 20 on Billboard's Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart.
This is the first area performance for the band that burst on the scene in 2005 with its million-selling debut, "City of Evil," that featured the wildly popular single "Bat Country" and that helped the band straddle the music scene as the only band to headline Warped Tour and Ozzfest while simultaneously hitting No. 1 on MTV's TRL.
Other national-act X-Fest main stage acts include: Shadows Fall, Pop Evil, Egypt Central, Another Black Day and Midnight to Twelve.
Keeping it rowdy on the floating, Budweiser Loud and Local Stage will be X Factor 1 (Columbus, Ohio), PI (Ironton, Ohio), Bud Carroll & the Southern Souls (Huntington), Downtrend (Pikeville, Ky.) and Stitch Rivet (Bloody Creek, Ky.).
Gates will open at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6 for X-Fest and tickets will go on sale Friday, Aug. 1, at all Ticketmaster outlets including the Big Sandy Superstore Arena Box Office. Tickets are $30 in advance and $45 day of show.
Also, a limited number of Pit Passes will be available in advance for $45 at the arena box office at 1 Civic Center Plaza, Huntington or by calling 304-696-4400.
For more information, please visit www.x1063.com.
The X-Fest date will kick off Avenged Sevenfold's North American tour, co-headlined by Buckcherry and featuring Shinedown and Saving Abel.
The band just released its self-titled CD that features the singles "Afterlife" and "Almost Easy," and Avenged Sevenfold will release a live DVD Sept. 16. For more on Avenged Sevenfold, visit www.avenged sevenfold.com.
This is the 12th edition of X-Fest that started at Ritter Park with Jimmie's Chicken Shack and a handful of bands.
In the years since, a who's who of metal and modern rock has played the fest including Hatebreed, Disturbed, Papa Roach, Hinder as well as several nationally touring, locally based metal acts such as Bobaflex, Byzantine and Chum.