Heads of Lettuce performs at a Battle of the Bands competition at Park Street Tavern on March 3. Credit: Megan Weiss | Lantern reporter
The Columbus-based alternative rock group Heads of Lettuce has come a long way after sprouting from Jam Fridays in a Toledo basement. The band makes frequent appearances on campus and in Columbus.
Singer and guitarist Jack Bonfiglio, a third-year in neuroscience at Ohio State and drummer Johnny Antonini, a third-year at the University of Dayton, joined together in the fall of their junior year of high school to form Heads of Lettuce.
What began as a Blink-182 cover band quickly transitioned into the duo collaborating to create an alternative rock sound of their own. With more time invested in rehearsing, the two began landing gigs and performing throughout their hometown of Toledo, Ohio.
Jam Fridays began to look a little different after they went off to college. The two wrote on their own and collaborated by sending music back and forth. Bonfiglio said the duo stays in touch each day, talking both life and lyrics.
“He’s still one of my closest friends,” he said. “It is an interesting dynamic, we get each other very well … which is why it meshes so well with our music and what we do in that area, but I guess in friendship as well.”
With the transition to college came the move from backyards and basements to venues and stages. The band’s first gig was at Lucky’s Stout House in the fall of 2015 and it now performs there monthly.
From here, the two began landing shows on the campuses of both UD and OSU and surrounding cities. However, they focus their attention on Columbus, playing venues such as Ruby Tuesday Bar and “Battle of the Bands” at Park Street Tavern for the past two years.
“For one, there’s a lot more places to play, that are inviting to play. There are more locations not only around Ohio State but also Downtown that are more open to new bands coming in,” Bonfiglio said. “That’s not to say Dayton doesn’t have that, but we have had a lot more success finding places to play here.”
Heads of Lettuce has released two full-length albums on Spotify and iTunes, for which the pair has written, recorded and produced each track on their own. Its third album is in the works, the duo said.
While much of the behind-the-scenes work is done on their own, Heads of Lettuce has collaborated with a family friend and OSU grad, Matt Kolena, who designed the logo for the band.
Over the last four years, the band has created a fanbase stemming from Toledo, through Columbus, on down to Dayton.
“Our fan base is slowly, slowly growing. Our biggest supporters are in Columbus because we play there the most,” Antonini said. “It would be nice to have more fans that are not our friends since that would mean people actually like our music.”
Bonfiglio said until a record label comes knocking they will continue playing local gigs throughout Columbus and doing what they can to get the group’s name out to the public while growing their fanbase.
Heads of Lettuce is set to play at Lucky’s Stout House on March 25 at 9 p.m.
