(From left to right) Conner Hannah, Jacob Fournier and Andrew Davis make up the alternative-rock band Courtney From Work. Credit: Chandler Moyer
For local alternative-rock band Courtney From Work, head nodding, frenzied dancing and being in the moment are expected of anyone who finds themselves at Ace of Cups on Thursday.
Alongside openers Unseen Keys and The Stereoflowers, Courtney From Work — a three-piece band consisting of vocalist and guitarist Jacob Fournier, bassist Conner Hannah and drummer Andrew Davis — will perform Thursday at Ace of Cups, a popular concert venue/bar located at 2619 N. High St.
When the band was formed in 2014, it was originally titled “Gentleman” and consisted of Fournier, Davis and a mutual friend Colin Cavanaugh, who played guitar and bass. After learning the original band name already existed, Davis changed the group’s title to “Courtney From Work” in February 2016.
“We just named the band after this guy named Courtney we used to work with at McDonald’s, around the same time we started back up jamming again,” Fournier said.
Davis said Hannah joined the group — thus establishing it as a quartet — shortly after its rebranding, as he knew Fournier and Davis from their shared days at Worthington Kilbourne High School. After Cavanaugh amicably left the band to pursue other passions, Hannah said he, Fournier and Davis were able to find a sound that felt true to them, drawing inspiration from punk and garage-rock bands like Fidlar and Waves.
“We self-proclaimed it as ‘barbecue rock,’ but to be real it is alternative rock,” Fournier said. “The band’s sound is driven by simple power chord progressions, similar to popular bands Weezer, Green Day and Nirvana.”
Like most local bands during the 2020 outbreak of COVID-19, Hannah said Courtney From Work experienced a disappointing turn of events. What was expected to be a pivotal point in the group’s music career was ultimately its flatline.
“The month of the pandemic, we had a tour scheduled,” Hannah said. “What would have been our first leap as a band fell through, so it was just really bad timing.”
Considering the band hasn’t scheduled a tour since, Fournier said the group hopes to do so in the future in addition to playing its ongoing local shows.
“We are always trying to book stuff,” Fournier said. “We mainly just need a van and to be put in touch with the right people.”
Alongside its live shows, Hannah said the band has been focusing its attention on producing new music. In fact, he said the group recently recorded a currently untitled EP at Relay Recording, a Columbus-based recording studio, which plans to be released this summer.
Although the group has remained friends with its former fourth member after his departure, Hannah said this EP is intended to portray the band’s development from a four-piece to a trio.
“This bundle of songs that we’re going to release, hopefully this summer, will kind of encompass what we are doing now as a three piece,” Hannah said.
In accordance with its change in membership, Fournier said the band’s sound on this upcoming EP will be distinct from its previous work, with a heightened raw feel.
“It is going to be more true and no frills, just rock ‘n’ roll or garage rock,” Fournier said. “It’s going to be different from our last stuff that we released.”
For its Thursday show, Fournier said Courtney From Work encourages Columbus concertgoers to “come as [they] are.”
“We definitely want people to bob their heads, mosh, feel the music,” Fournier said.
The band is excited to return to Ace of Cups, having played at the venue multiple times, Hannah said.
“We started playing at Ace of Cups in 2016,” Hannah said. “There were a lot of mature bands that were inviting us into the local scene in the early days when we didn’t know what we were doing.”
Fournier, who occasionally works as an Ace of Cups sound technician, said the venue’s style aligns with Courtney From Work’s musical stylings, which is likely why the band keeps coming back.
“It is a solid, punk-rock venue,” Fournier said. “It has a good stage, solid standing room, huge patio, cheap beer, a parking lot — you can’t go wrong with a parking lot.”
All Courtney From Work members also encourage Columbus’ wider community to spread the word about their upcoming show.
“Tell your mom, tell your dad, tell your teacher and your boss,” Davis said.
Tickets for this show can be purchased via Ace of Cups’ website for $10 plus fees.
“If you’re a person and you’re reading this, just get a group of your two or three closest friends and just get on down there,” Fournier said.
