When The Stepford Five, playing at Lakewood's Blind Lemon tomorrow night, tell their story to "Rolling Stone" someday, it won't be your typical boo-hoo "Behind the Music" drama. Instead, it's a simple story of a group of four (not five, despite the name) guys, two of whom have roots in Lorain and Amherst, who love music.
Long ago, two kids who loved the WWF "Saturday Night Main Event" and playing with G.I.Joes, first heard the sound of '80's heavy metal. Posters of made-up, big-haired boys - Motley Crue, Ratt and L.A. Guns -donned their bedroom walls. The bands' tapes blared from their boomboxes. They fell in love with rock 'n' roll, however dour and irritating it may have sounded.
Those two kids, Keith Jenkins (no relation to this reporter) and Jason Dziak, are now in their 20's and have been in a handful of quietly successful local bands. One of their bands, Missing Factor, formed at Marion L. Steele, Amherst, and had quite a cult following in the area.
After Missing Factor parted company following graduation, Dziak and Jenkins briefly went their separate ways musically, but remained friends. Jenkins had his stint of fame with Wallflower, most of whose members still make up the local band Lint. Two years later, the band 10watt came together while Dziak and Jenkins were attending Bowling Green State University.
However, the confines of Lorain and Amherst just didn't satisfy Dziak and Jenkins - they longed for the bigtime. Columbus. After graduating from BGSU in 1998, they both headed to our state capital, with friend and keyboard player Tim Minneci in tow. With a new atmosphere, so came a new band - The Stepford Five. With Dziak on guitar, Jenkins, vocals and guitar, Mark Kovitya was brought aboard to band on the drums, as Minneci moved to bass.
In a very short time, the band established a reputation amongst the Columbus music scene. The foursome became well known for their high-energy performances and guitar-driven rock songs. "Columbus is small enough that it's easy for a band to get off the ground quickly," said vocalist, lyricist and guitarist Keith Jenkins. "Being from Cleveland, I know that there may not be as many places here (Columbus), but it seems to be a better scene overall." Early last month, the band's debut album - appropriately entitled "MESH" - was released to rave reviews and pleased fans. "Everything has been really positive," said vocalist Keith Jenkins. "A lot of acclaim in the local press and all over the Internet."
"MESH" also has consistent airplay consistent airplay on Ohio State's radio station, The Underground (currently No.27 on the charts) and New Jersey's Hum Radio (No. 9 on weekly countdown). Some tunes from the album can be heard at Columbusmusic.com, Riffage.com, or MP3.com.
To purchase your very own copy of "MESH," visit stepfordfive.com. After playing around at Columbus digs (including the legendary Newport Music Hall) over the past year, The Stepford Five is heading home for their Cleveland debut. "It's exciting to be taking the music somewhere else besides Columbus," he said. "We'd like to branch out our sound and broaden our fan base."
