Well, the name “No Response” is certainly doing a disservice to Jon Lorenz’s (a former TMTer) and John Rich’s communicative abilities, as John Bender, a minimal synth musician who was active during the early 80s, has somehow been persuaded to perform for the first time in 30 years for the Cincinnati-based festival dedicated to experimental music. It’s true that Bender recently gave a previously unheard-of green light to Superior Viaduct to reissue his debut album I Don’t Remember Now / I Don’t Want To Talk About It, but it surely takes a bit more effort to get a guy who seemingly left the music world to literally reappear front and center. Cult followers and everyone else should be super excited!
The rest of No Response’s stellar lineup includes Aaron Dilloway, Hair Police, and Sarah Davachi for Day 1 (Thursday June 23), and Bill Orcutt, Kevin Drumm, Sissy Spacek, and C. Spencer Yeh for Day 2 (Friday, June 24). The booked Woodward Theater in Cincy seems like a fine and intimate venue for all of the above to musically mess around.
Tickets are a bargain over at the official festival website, and generous individuals should also feel free to donate to the associated Indiegogo campaign. These things aren’t cheap to put on, you know.
More about: and John Bender's first performance in 30+ years, Cincinnati's No Response Festival to feature Bill Orcutt, Kevin Drumm
