When four Ohio State seniors came together last year as a band, they decided to “full send” their psychedelic rock sound into the Columbus music scene.
Drummer Rami Wadih said that Fullsend started to form when he and guitarist Jack Loth were introduced through a mutual friend and began playing music together. The pair then added keyboardist and vocalist Austin Harsh — Wadih’s roommate at the time — knowing he was a skilled keyboardist and singer.
“The pieces just kind of slowly came together and we were like, ‘huh, we play together now, we should just start making music’ so here we are,” Harsh said.
The group started writing together and scored their first gig at an art gallery show. Still lacking a bassist, Wadih said he knew of bassist Alex Robinson because they had played together in the past and asked him to join the band a month later.
Wadih said Fullsend’s real beginning was when they played their second gig where his roommate worked at local bar, Threes Above High. Loth said that show set their expectations high.
Fullsend released their first EP, “Monkey Funk,” last Friday, Sept. 14, which consists of four songs that emulate their psychedelic rock sound.
“It’s definitely very ambient, atmospheric but still defineitley rock,” Loth said.
Robinson said the theme of “Monkey Funk” is exactly as its name implies.
“It’s playfulness more so than chaos… playfulness and a certain lack of like human logic,” Robinson said. “Monkeys have a little bit more like open-minded view.”
Fullsend brings a unique sound to Columbus music scene. Courtesy of Fullsend.
Harsh said each band member is inspired by different genres such as jam bands, folk music, prague rock and metal, giving their sound a multidimensional edge.
“I think we all have such different influences that our overall sound is kind of like a certain type of conglomerate, like it’s a mural of sorts,” Robinson said.
Being a local band, Wadih said Columbus is ideal because the music scene is expanding due to its young-adult demographic and that they’re genre stands out from what could be described as the “Columbus-scene niche,” such as Hip-hop, rappers and indie bands.
Harsh said the Ohio State community also adds to their success as a Columbus-based band.
“Columbus is great because it’s such a huge mass of people [and] you have Ohio State,” Harsh said. “Obviously, college students are great consumers of music and everyone’s looking for new stuff to see, everyones happy to go out and see you play so that’s a great atmosphere to be in.”
As for the future, Fullsend has more shows lined up and plans to begin working on a new project right away.
“Once the EP comes out we’re pretty much immediately going to start working on another one,” Wadih said. “We’re ready to be done with this one.”
Katie Hamilton (.1193)
