Top 5 Feature: Downbad.

 

DOWNBAD. | EST. 2022

 

THE BAND: 

Downbad. is an acoustic emo trio based out of Upper Sandusky and Marion, Ohio. Consisting of Keith “Weez Er” Will on drums and backing vocals, Christian Cole on guitar and backing vocals and Adam Rajkotwala on lead vocals. Downbad. formed, in a sense, out of necessity; a need to get things off our chest. Formed in 2022, the band focuses on its cathartic and brutally upfront lyricism about the emotional nuances of everyday life, making big and often unexpected changes, and moving forward. We love emo in all forms. From Midwest Emo to post-emo and everything in between and we try to encapsulate that in our sound are really excited to get some of this new material out, much of it bordering on the pop-punk/post-emo side of things.

THE MUSIC:

We have a new song “Heavy Weight” which debuted Monday, April 15 as an Artist Spotlight on Findlay, Ohio's 88.3 Xavier’s Listenin’ Local and the single will be available on all streaming services Saturday, April 20. The best way to stay updated is our Facebook page--we stay very active and post nearly every day! The new song marks a new sound for us and really shows some cool dynamics. It’s a piano and synth fueled featuring Dave Buker (Dave Buker & The Historians) anti-ballad about overcoming and moving forward. It marks our sixth single so far, and we’ve got a whole slew of new music in the process of being finished and even more being written. Hear the band: Here on Apple Music, Here on YouTube, Here on Spotify Follow the band Here on Instagram.

THE SHOWS:

We have a few upcoming shows as of now and are looking to book more Saturdays all throughout June and July. As of now we have April 27th with some of our local favorites, Everything’s Taken and Hospital Brute and that’ll be at Ralphies in Kenton, Ohio (995 N. Detroit St.). Then we’ve got May 4th “Warehouse Jamz” that’ll be at 111 South Main Street in Van Buren, Ohio! It’s a DIY show it’s BYOB and $5 at the door and we will be playing alongside Findlay based band “About 41 Bears” and a few more acts that are yet to be announced. We’re really excited too for WesFest this year, we will be playing night two which is July 27th at Venue 18 in Fostoria, Ohio. It’s gonna be a really eclectic and fun two day line up and our friend Newkleus (Kyle Holsinger) is hosting and putting on the event, it’s gonna be a great time for a really cool cause too.

THE TOP 5:

Christian’s Top 5 Bands: The Cure, Bright Eyes, Spanish Love Songs, Hot Mulligan, Hospital Brute (Marion, Ohio based, these guys are absolutely sick)

Weez is quite the pop culture guy and film fanatic so limiting to five was hard but his Top 5 Films are: The Big Lebowski, Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Weez actually met Gunnar Hansen, the original Leatherface when he was young and was able to get an autograph and picture), Dazed n Confused, Office Space, Purple Rain; Honorable mentions are: Idiocracy

Adams Top 5 Albums: Crybaby - Lil Peep, Creatures - Motionless in White, Rain in July/A History of, Bad Decisions - Neck Deep, Hoodie Szn - A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Goodbye and Good Riddance - Juice Wrld; Honorable mentions are: 17 - XXXTentacion and Igor - Tyler the Creator

 

Photo: "Heavy Weight" single; Live Photos: Hannah Cole (at Carey Brewing), Dylan Kessler (at Venue 18)