Article published August 14, 2005
Putting the punch in pop rock
Former local musicians are returning as Psychodots
By ROD LOCKWOOD
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Long-time Toledo music fan Pat O'Connor calls them "the lost sons of Toledo, Ohio."
There was the hotshot guitar slinger who played so fast he had to teach himself to slow down. Guitar players of a certain age around here still talk about watching Rob Fetters and trying to figure out what he was doing.
There was the new kid in town who was slathering on pancake makeup and black eyeliner, decked out in seersucker suits and fronting high school bands that paid homage to Frank Zappa and Alice Cooper. After getting glam rock out of his system, Bob Nyswonger took up bass because he knew that could be his ticket to play with Fetters.
And there was the "punk," the precocious Keith Moon acolyte who was being sought out by the older kids to join their bands because good drummers were impossible to find and he was one of the best. Who cared if Chris Arduser was only 11?
In the late '60s and early '70s they were a core part of a musical movement in Sylvania, where bands popped up every week. The scene created a group of nearly a dozen guys who honed skills that would lead to long, successful careers in the music business.
"It was just kind of the culture," Nyswonger said. "There were a lot of kids picking it up and there was a lot of competition, so you worked to get better."Of the Sylvania players, none went on to as much national success in alternative rock and pop music as Arduser, Nyswonger, and Fetters. As three-fourths of The Bears - the fourth member is guitar genius Adrian Belew - they were one of the hottest alternative pop bands of the '80s and '90s.
Reconstituted as the Psychodots, who are playing next weekend for a benefit at Centennial Terrace, they're a critically acclaimed Cincinnati-based power pop trio that has recorded three full-length CDs and whose sporadic but explosive live shows are considered must-see gigs in southern and central Ohio.
A confluence of demographics, affluence, and technology helped usher in the era of the garage band 35 years ago. Kids from relatively well-off families in suburbia could get their hands on instruments and amplifiers and plug in and imitate their idols like the MC5 or the Who.
Nyswonger, 49, moved to the area from New York when he was in eighth grade. He holed up in his room, playing acoustic guitar and checking out the local bands. Finally he emerged, fronting a group called Leggs, decked out in makeup, with silver paint sprayed in his hair.
Fetters was in another band, establishing himself as one of the best guitar players on the scene while trying to cope with allergies that kept him cooped up inside in the summers.
"I lived and breathed guitar unless I was forced to put it down to go to school or eat dinner, and I got really proficient at a young age," he said.
He regularly journeyed to Detroit to check out and study bands like the Kinks, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, the MC5, and countless others.
"We would play a dance after a basketball game on a Friday and then that Saturday we'd go see someone like Derek and the Dominoes on their one U.S. tour," Fetters, 50, said. "Suddenly I wasn't comparing myself to the hotshot senior at Sylvania High School. I was comparing myself to Eric Clapton and saying, 'That's how I want to play.' "
Arduser was the brother of John Arduser, who was four years older and in a number of bands of his own. Hooked on rock and roll when he was only 5 after seeing The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, Arduser wasn't nearly as interested in school as he was music.
"It meant a lot to us in just buying the records and reading about the bands, but some of us actually wanted to make the sounds ourselves," he said.
There were a number of excellent players on the highly competitive scene at the time including Ed "E.J." Wells, Chip Davis, who later formed Mannheim Steamroller, Steve Covrett, Bam Powell, George Cunningham, Tom Toth, and Doug Perkins, all of whom ended up carving out successful music careers either locally or on a national basis.The Raisins
After high school, Nyswonger and Fetters started The Raisin Band with Toth and Powell, establishing themselves as Toledo's pre-eminent cover band in the mid-'70s, touring from Ohio to Florida and playing six gigs a week to make a living.
Not content to play other people's tunes the rest of their lives, they started writing songs and renamed themselves The Raisins. Their first album was recorded in 1978 with Belew as producer and they had a regional hit with "Fear is Never Boring," a track later re-recorded by The Bears.
After some personnel changes, Fetters and Nyswonger sought out Arduser to serve as their drummer. He came on board after Fetters talked the younger musician's dad into letting him drop out of high school and go on the road, forming a unit that brought a new wave sensibility to pop.
"They were definitely the hottest band in town," remembered O'Connor, a former owner of Boogie Records who now owns Culture Clash. The Raisins were like the cutting edge of new wave. It was really energetic. It was pretty much a straight ahead, awesome, classic pop melodies rock band."
The band never achieved major label success, though, and Arduser found himself road weary and in need of some different musical challenges while he took time to get his GED. "I think we were all driving each other crazy," he said.The Psychodots
Their career paths converged again in the '80s when Fetters and Nyswonger were beginning to work with Belew, who is best known for his work with King Crimson, Frank Zappa, and David Bowie. Needing a drummer, they called Arduser and he was a perfect fit, both musically and as a strong songwriter and vocalist.
The Bears were born, kicking off a tour that led to sold-out shows in New York with celebrities like Mick Jagger in attendance.
Belew was in huge demand as a session ace and he also had a solo career of his own, which meant he couldn't devote all his time to the band. With time on their hands, Fetters, Nyswonger, and Arduser - now relocated to Cincinnati, where they all still live - started playing on their own, first as The Raisins and then, after shouting out to an audience what they should be called and getting the response "Psychodots!" in return, they had a new name.
The 'Dots three albums - "Psychodots," "On the Grid," and "Awkwardsville" - are exercises in high-energy, smart, quirky rock, with all three members writing songs that are several notches above standard power pop thanks to the level of musicianship honed over decades.
The band also is a take-no-prisoners live act.
"We always say we're going to be as hard and as fierce as we can," said Arduser, 46.
Fetters said all those years of going to shows in Detroit helped the Psychodots forge their live show, which they've brought to Toledo only one other time.
"One of the things Bob and Chris and I are still influenced by was the intensity of those Detroit bands, but we're not a punk band. In fact, someone once disparagingly referred to us as 'yuppie punk.' And he hated us because we could actually play our instruments, but he was frustrated because we thrash so hard."Going solo
Despite being voted Cincinnati's best band in the city's annual Cammy Awards in 1997 and achieving some regional notoriety as an alternative band, the Psychodots never hooked on with a major label.
As befitting guys who are a lot closer to 50 than 25, Nyswonger, Arduser, and Fetters have settled down considerably over the years. Nyswonger sells real estate and plays in a couple of other bands, including one with Powell and another with Cunningham, both Sylvania guys who also migrated to Cincinnati.
Arduser and Fetters launched solo careers, with Arduser - a "drummer for hire" who plays commercial gigs as his day job - being especially prolific. He's made eight albums on his own or with his "other" band, The Graveblankets, which also includes Cunningham. His latest disc is "Celebrity Motorcade" on Crooked Mile Records.
Fetters also has a new disc out, "Musician" on Baby Ranch, which like its predecessor "Lefty Loose, Righty Tight" is a slightly off-center collection of tunes that - like Arduser's - are accessible enough to find a home in the commercial marketplace with a few breaks.
A composer with Studio Images in Cincinnati, Fetters said he's happy living with his wife and raising four kids, while making music that is "worthy of a Todd Rundgren or Jeff Beck fan."
As for the Psychodots, in addition to the live gigs, all three musicians said they're eager to record something soon. The band has a small but fanatic following and a strong catalog of songs that prompt fans to literally thank the musicians for writing them, which always brings Fetters back to that high school kid in Sylvania, trying to figure out how to write songs like Rundgren.
"The pop song format for me is still important because it's short and in three or four minutes you can really take someone to a different space that they weren't before," he said. "That is that spiritual handshake you make with the people who came before you."
Contact Rod Lockwood at: rlockwood@theblade.com or 419-724-6085.
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