Sample Ohio hardcore with DIY label The Caller Is In The House
"I love that 'Ohio Hardcore' is its own subgenre now. I have a lot of friends that make stuff that is more 'standard,' but my interest is in weirdo shit."
Whenever I want to find under-the-radar music, I sift through the catalogs of small DIY labels full of experimental and underground artists. I always always always prefer a label’s curation over a streaming service's algorithmically generated playlist. A lot of the time, these labels paint a picture of a local scene or subculture that I otherwise wouldn’t have access to; a scene that no algorithm could ever fully capture.
Something that I immediately dug about the label The Caller Is In The House is that it serves as a sort of primer for the Ohio hardcore scene. While there are a few bands from outside of the area repped on it, it first and foremost feels like a celebration of all the bands who play in Akron basements.
The head of the label, Zach Butcher (who also fronts the jackal and formerly fronted griphook) answered a few of my questions about The Caller Is In The House via email. You can read the interview below, but first, here are a few things you can listen to as you read.
Knife Play - the jackal
The latest release on the label is slasher screamo with some grungy riffs - think Henry: Portrait of A Serial Killer or The Driller Killer as screamoviolence. And, in a very welcome surprise, track four pivots into straight up goth rock.
Demo - theyhungusfrompowerlines
A three song collection of screamo tracks that pack a lot of energy into their under-two-minute runtimes.
From the liner notes: “[When asked to play The Caller In The House showcase show, they] had no recorded music and sent me videos of them playing at their practice space, and even with that it was infectious how much energy they had and wanted to get these songs off their chest.”
4 The Dolls - SOWN
Trans hardcore that absolutely rips. Pulsing with anger and energy.
From the liner notes: “The first SOWN show had all of the trans kids excited, strong representation in Akron DIY, and anger that feels like something they could say was their own. This demo is for those kids.”
Three Trysts - Kaiba
Grimy and lo-fi screamo that makes you wish you were seeing these guys live in a sweaty, crowded basement.
From the liner notes: “This is the band that started the label, griphook played with them summer of 2022 and didn’t understand how they didn’t have merch or any plans to achieve such a thing.”
name five songs - angelhair.
A hypnotic experimental "queergaze" album. With its swirling, echoing vocals, it sounds like a transmission from a dream.
From the liner notes: “angelhair. are a 4 piece formed from the ashes of CHERRY, and they were sent from Heaven.”
Can you tell me a little about The Caller Is In The House? How did it start?
The Caller Is In The House was started when griphook was still active. We played with Kaiba (the then-Athens-now-Pittsburgh band), and I asked [Kaiba’s vocalist/guitarist] Lane why they had no merch. griphook was just popular enough that I could use our fame to help support other stuff I was really into.
Kaiba’s demo was the first thing I wanted to put out, and I did a test run with the griphook/Porcupine split, but that was still technically under In This Economy. ITE is like, a shadow label run by Blade Brown, and he only uses it to put stuff out for his friends, which is why grip was on it. And now Caller is the biggest label in the world and ITE is still our shell corporation Wu-Tang style.
Also, Caller is a Black Christmas reference. That is my favorite movie of all time. And the phone came from a friend, Abbey Ruggles, who I think is completely offline and will not read this. It belonged to her grandma and I bought it when Abbey moved.
How do you curate the artists featured?
I curate the releases around what I’m interested in. We had a few non-heavy/hc/punk bands, but mostly I put out heavier bands that I think stand out. I love that “Ohio Hardcore” is its own subgenre now, and I have a lot of friends that make stuff that is more “standard”, but my interest is in weirdo shit. Youth Attack Records, Three One G Records, and some of those weirder screamo bands from the 90’s/00’s getting worshipped is what drives me to want to check out a band or put them out.
I’m answering these questions while currently in Boston - I love American Nightmare. Most of the Boston movement was boring to me. But AN stood out ‘cause Wes was writing these lyrics that were far different than hanging with your boys or being wronged by someone in your friend group.
How long have you been involved with the Akron music scene? Have you been in any bands other than griphook and the jackal?
I was in the Kent music scene in high school, and found Akron DIY through Annabel. That band led me down the path of other Akron based bands, and I’ve stuck this shit out for 12 years. For better or for worse.
I was in a band before griphook that was bad and doesn’t exist online so I will not talk about that one anymore lol. And during lockdown I did a virtual project called IKILLEDLAURAPALMER with Wes Meadows from The You Suck Flying Circus, Eddy Marflak from Orphaned, and Tyler Brown from Funeral Commercial. It was dark wave Twin Peaks love.
What does signing a band look like? Is it a lot of going, “Hey your band rules, why aren’t you selling merch and tapes”? Based on the liner notes for stuff like the Stick Namler release, I get the vibe that you’ve been the guy to convince musicians, “hey this stuff should really be out there and archived, don’t let it get lost in the shuffle.”
Every band has been similar but different, yes. Sometimes it’s as easy as having friends in bands, like SOWN and Bigg Egg. Sometimes it’s loosely knowing people and wanting to support them, like Starsfadingoutquietly (we’ll drop a tape for them in mid August :) ), but it’s always out of wanting to support the art. When someone really believes in what they’re doing you can feel it, and it’s inspiring.
Do you have any physical releases and merch available for purchase now?
On this tour, the jackal is selling two shirt designs, a Depeche Mode Violator tour variant of Knife Play on tape, the regular version of that and Crimes of Passion, along with the last few leftover Caller “there’s a head in here” backpacks, and some Caller steak knives.
We will do another drop as a two week pre-order 8/15. We’ll be back with that soon. And I have another Fall drop planned, a Caller shirt and a jackal crewneck are both part of that plan.
Can you tell me a bit about the current tour?
The tour is 7/25-8/2, and it’s the jackal and NMZ [New Morality Zine]’s Porcupine doing an East Coast tour. Part of the Depeche Mode nod is the jackal calling it “east coast violation tour,” in reference to Depeche Mode’s “world violation tour”. Come thru.
Is there a release / merch item / tape you’re most proud of or would want to highlight?
That initial release, Kaiba’s Three Trysts demo, will always hold the biggest piece of my heart. The griphook pillowcase with the giant red blood splatter where your head goes. The Caller short-shorts and backpack.
And of course, I’m proud of every release we put out. All of the releases are important to me. I am very proud of this new jackal ep though, so everyone should focus on that. Make the jackal screamo famous.
Check out The Caller Is In The House's linktree here, and if you can, catch the jackal & Porcupine on tour this week.
Tour dates:
7/30 - @nikkilopezphilly with @getxwell and All Your Damage Philadelphia PA
7/31 - @undercroftmd with @shockcollarmd and @gashbdm Baltimore MD
8/1 - @funhouseatmrsmalls with @princess.hc and @miresdoom Pittsburgh PA
8/2 - @zephyrpub with @_trollop_ @bumpstockohio and Trash Mountain Kent OH
