Lansing, Michigan remains, in this writer’s opinion, the healthiest music scene in Michigan. If you’re a regular Pencilstom reader, you know why I feel that way, but if you’re new to the `storm (hey, I kinda like that!) here’s a couple of the reasons why.

A couple weeks ago I made the 70-minute trek northwest to see a bunch of pals who have become a big part of my musical family play, and to help a couple of them celebrate new releases. It was a great night of community and support, with many still digesting and processing election results from a couple days prior that they wish had gone a different way. Earlier that night, empowered redneck bigots were taunting and filming customers through windows of LGTBQ+ friendly coffee houses on adjacent blocks to the venue, and the next night neo-Nazis would protest a community theater performance of The Diary of Anne Frank in nearby Howell, MI.

Adding another layer of tragedy to the night, headliners Narc Out the Reds’ drummer Dan had fallen from his roof and suffered serious injury, landing himself in the hospital and unable to play. The band would forge on, partially sans-drummer, partially with a former drummer filling in. They sounded great, and their community was behind them to propel them forward.

Things weren’t ok, but at The Green Door, it was family, and everyone was trying to figure it out together. And that was something.

ROYAL SCENE are a quintuplet of GenX dudes like me writing and recording some of the best pop-rock dive-bar anthems coming out of Lansing in recent years. Some of these guys used to be in 19 Wheels and The DT’s. My bands Chutes and Ladders and SlugBug loved playing with The DT’s (not sure we ever ran with 19 Wheels?) until we got banned and them near-banned from Rick’s American Café in East Lansing back in 1992 after refusing to turn down in the face of mass frat-boy indifference on a packed Wednesday 25¢ pitcher night.

Royal Scene has a brand-new EP called Twenty Summers (Phonophore Records) that hits on all cylinders and levels. The production value is fantastic – completely pro and slick, from the tone to the tracking to the mastering. The playing is top-notch, as you’d expect from a band of scene vets, but where these guys really excel is the songwriting. Great arrangements exploiting the lost art of the pre-chorus and the planting of the earworm hook. I’m generally not a 3-guitar-attack guy, unless you’re Lynyrd Skynyrd (yeah, I’m talking to you Iron Maiden!) but listening to this EP and especially seeing Royal Scene live makes you appreciate what they’re doing. Each guy brings a different part and flavor to each song. They ain’t just strummin’ along together, as we see all too often. At the Green Lantern they sounded incredible – each guitar taking an unused frequency and a mix way better than you’d expect in that room.

On the EP, the guitar solo in “Romeo Blue” sits on top of the mix perfectly – 12 seconds of Slim Dunlap meets Don Felder glory right there. Scott Owens’ “Hanging On” gently lifts a variation of SUGAR’s “If I Can’t Change Your Mind” for the intro and vamp, but quickly morphs into a powerful pop-hook-fest with a tasty organ beneath and the best bridge on the record.

“What the Hell” harkens to more recent Green Day, with Marc Nischan’s vocal melody and performance, and the poppiest radio-friendly verse guitar of the bunch. The guitarmony solo doesn’t hurt either. If REAL alternative radio were a thing today, I’d pitch this as the single. It’d have the girl’s pony tails swingin’ while they sip their gin and tonics at the Small Planet all night. The album closes with a well-executed Depeche Mode cover that adds some flavor and diversity to the release and gets these guys out of their comfort zone for a minute. Pick it up now on their Bandcamp page and I guarantee it’s the best $7 you’ll spend all year.

Highly recommended for fans of The Replacements, early Wilco, and good, honest, heart-on-sleeve Midwestern rock and roll.

Narc Out the Reds pre-date Royal Scene by about a decade maybe, give or take, and their approach to rock and roll is a bit less conventional and SUGAR-coated (pun?) but just as emotionally invoking and fun. While Royal Scene kills ya with melody and hooks, Narc Out gets ya with grooves and rage, complex layers of sound, and arrangements that keep you guessing. Their new EP Will Strum the Bang Bloody (GTG Records) is complicated stuff, and speaking as someone who starts to get heart palpitations when his songs approach four minutes, it’s impressive to ponder how much work had to have gone into learning these arrangements.

Main dude Christopher Baratono towers over the mic stand (and most people in the audience) and strums his Telecaster with a voracious attack that would make Joe Strummer take pause. His voice is sweet and vulnerable at times, and as angry as a can of hornets at others. The vocals are wet with saturation and compression, accentuating an ongoing pop-innocence to them that comes out every couple minutes to remind you that they’ve got great hooks too.

“So Sobering” is one of the poppier moments, but the melody is doused in aggression for a bridge that’s screaming for attention. Then the breakdown takes it to an even prettier place as he builds back into the crescendo. At 6:11 it’s no 60’s pop-rock throwback, but a fun journey, nonetheless.

“With Both Ends Burnt,” oddly also 6:11 in length, has a more defined chorus and ventures into 80s goth-pop territory a bit, like The Cure in their darker, but still upbeat and energetic moods, before it carries into a pure rock middle section.

“Little Bitch,” the last song (clocking in at 8:13 if you’re keeping track) is my favorite of the bunch, toggling between a melodic bouncy major-chord progression and an alt-rock heavy riff that hints at copies of Black Sabbath’s Volume 4 next to Nirvana’s Nevermind in Chris’ record collection. It’s the EP in a microcosm – melodic and sweet, angry and aggressive, complex and deep. You gotta put in some work to extract the masked hooks and clever lyrics on Will Strum the Bang Bloody, but those are the records with staying power, and several listens in there’s still an endless amount of beauty to discover. Check it out on their Bandcamp page. Worth every penny!

Highly recommended for fans of early Afghan Whigs, 80s post-punk with an art-rock edge, and 90s alternative/grunge at its aggressive and melodic best.

Jeremy Porter lives near Detroit and fronts the rock and roll band Jeremy Porter And The Tucos. Follow them on Facebook to read his road blog about their adventures on the dive-bar circuit.
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Twitter: @jeremyportermi | Instagram: @onetogive & @jeremyportermusic