Since, “Death, Taxes, and Other Favorites” Cleveland’s, The Insurance Salesmen have been lobbying for their fair share of exposure in the city, gracing bills with A-List bands and plying their wares.
The Insurance Salesmen are refreshingly genuine, shocking meek, and at times endearingly gross. The bands simmers a rich and flavorful genre-hopping soup; a gazpacho packed with 60s Brit-Rock, love songs like, “Absolutely Fire Proof,” forthright sludge songs like, “I’m Going to Die,” and noise/avant-punker songs like, “We’d Be In It For the Money If The Money Was In It For Us,” and even the sardonic and spastic, lounge/head-beater ballad of, “A Lovely Evening.” There is certainly something brewing here in the master mind of Cleveland’s and The Insurance Salesmen’s, Adam Spektor. Spektor, after releasing three efforts in 2012 then subsequently spewed out, “Death, Taxes, and Other Popular Favorites” in May of 2013. T.I.S., which was a solo project by Spektor, radio personality-turned ‘band captain’ and who is now broadening his horizons and those of the band. This latest album, Spektor alludes was “…swiftly written, crudely performed, and poorly engineered…” mostly by his lonesome with aide of Paul Ryan and crude recording equipment; all of which gives it a certain low-fi charm that is hard not to smile on.
Bryan Reichert effortlessly wrangles the bass guitar, the band noting how sometimes he plays it as if it is a six string allowing Frollo to pull in some more of the low end on keys, and all tied up in a pink, spring bow tie with Kyle Todaro bashing and crashing away on the skins. Spektor speculates on the future, “The one year plan is to have an album released on vinyl…we just finished a weekend of recording with John Delzoppo at Negative Space Studios (in Cleveland). We have no idea when the album will be finished, but we hope to have it ready for listening sometime this spring. All the songs on it will be proper, full band versions of old songs that Paul and I have already recorded on our own.” This a really fun band to see live and I will be keeping my eye on these ‘young bloods,’ and am expectant of good things to come…see you guys after ‘the thaw.”
Insurance Salesmen are Stephen Frollo – keyboard, reeds, Bryan Reichert – bass, Paul Ryan – guitar, vocals, Adam Spektor – guitar, vocals and Kyle Todaro on drums
Find more about them on Bandcamp and Facebook. Adam Spektor also has his own radio program from the campus of Case Western Reserve University check it out following this link.
Catch the band live on 4/7 @ Beachland Tavern with Home and Garden (members of Pere Ubu) and Jon Langford (of The Mekons). The Julie Ruin (Kathleen Hanna’s newest band), Screaming Females and ShiSho, on 4/19 @ RECORD STORE DAY free show at Beachland Tavern with Filmstrip and The Commonwealth. Ira and Georgia of Yo La Tengo are at Blue Arrow DJing that day too…
Shawn Mishak is frontman of Ohio-based Kid Tested, learn more about his band here.
