Colacana Rising: Two Columbia-area Americana outfits, The Runout and The Witness Marks, drop debut albums this week

There's always been a consistently robust roots music scene in Columbia, but it's rare to have two acts drop their first albums on the same day. But that's what the Jeff Gregory-fronted group The Runout and Ethan Fogus' The Witness Marks are doing this Friday.

Both singer/songwriters are familiar faces and cheerleaders on the scene, which brings a celebratory note to the fact that each is dropping a fully-realized statement with the help of their various bandmates.

The Runout, which will play an album release show this Thursday at the New Brookland Tavern (Cayla Fralick opens; Charleston's Human Resources headlines), specializes in sensitive, acoustic guitar-led folk-rock that usually starts with something close to the hush melodic lyricism of The Milk Carton Kids before winding its way into more rollicking alt-country territory by song's end.

The advance singles from their project "Mama Put the Record On" and "Reach for You," showcase these dynamic swings and the rustic etherealism that has become the group's calling card. The former swings with the purpose of a solo Tom Petty track, replete with an assured harmonica and soulful chorus, while the latter rides a country shuffle and a wave of sepia-tinged nostalgia for maximum dividends.

Mama Put the Record On by The Runout, released 12 April 2019 1. Mama put the record on 2.

The Witness Marks, the band Fogus assembled followed a few years working under his own name, brings a similar palette but more emotionally confrontational style to their roots-rock travails. Fogus can often deliver a lyric with the quivering intensity of Conor Oberst, something accentuated by the lolloping storytelling style of his songs and the lush, overflowing instrumentation which provides so much color and verve.

On the single “You’re Lying,” which premieres here, that instrumentation takes the form of surging organ and elegiac piano (dedicated to former bandmate and Can’t Kids frontman Adam Cullum, who past away last year), as Fogus delivers a drawling, Stones-meets-Dylan country-rocker kiss-off.    

The Witness Marks will celebrate their debut at The White Mule this Friday, May 24 (Post-Timey String Band and flower shopping open).  Follow the Marks (FB, IG) and RO (FB, IG) on social media and be on the lookout for their albums dropping across various outlets this Friday.

Can I Get A Witness?: 5 Questions with Ethan Fogus

Singer/songwriter (and, with this new issue, now-Jasper staff writer) Ethan Fogus has been playing his songs for years in Columbia, but has only recently switched from solo to a full band endeavor with The Witness Marks. A classic roots-rocker with a penchant for big melodies and drawling, tumbling storytelling, his songs find themselves filled in and fleshed out with the sympathetic ear of his new backing band whether providing a country-rock lope or a crashing, punk-tinged Southern sprawl.

The Witness Marks will be joining us on Thursday night for the release of the Fall 2018 issue of Jasper at Stormwater studios (event link here), so we thought we’d ask Ethan 5 questions about his music, new band, and the Columbia scene.

So tell us about how and why you formed The Witness Marks. I know you were doing the solo thing for a while there too.

I got tired of being a first-name-last-name group. It's hard to ask people to play in a band that’s just you. I got over the me-ness of the music and let go of my ego. 

Also I’m an introverted person, so coining a superhero name gave me permission to have fun. I don’t have to feel like I’m up front in the same way. I want to play music and I want the people I play music with to be a unit. It’s more fun for me to be in a band. 

How much has the sound of the band developed over time? What direction do you see for the band going forward?

Overtime we’ve become tighter. We have a better sense of each other’s intuition, and we trust each other more. I think we lean more rock and roll than folk nowadays. 

We’ve got a few songs we cooked up with Zac Thomas that we’ll be pushing out soon. 

You seem really attuned to more classic folk-rock modes of songwriting--Dylan, Cash, etc. How much do you look for inspiration in that older generation, how much do you look towards more contemporary performers?

I do love Dylan and Cash but nostalgia-sentiment alone doesn't appeal to me. I’m not the type of person who thinks that music used to be better in the good ol' days. Music now is pretty good, and I love all types of songwriting. Current favorites include Caroline Spence and Phoebe Bridgers. But I believe in listening widely and learning from all genres and time periods of music. I love music and don’t put parameters on what I like and don’t like. 

What's your favorite song to play live? Why?

That’s tough. I like our new songs a lot. But “The Other Way” and “Bloodoath” are just a darn hoot to play live. “The Other Way” is this really punchy punk rock song that segues into “Bloodoath,” which is a super moody and dynamic song. I like it cause it’s a band arrangement. It’s loud. It’s disrespectful. 

Who are your favorite songwriters in the Midlands?

Kelley McLachlan — she writes beautiful songs with poignant lyrics and inventive arrangements. 

Mario McClean —  every time I see Mario play I get goosebumps. He’s a great pianist and a wonderful lyricist. 

Jeff Gregory of The Runout — he’s an attention-to-detail songwriter. Check out a solo show he did for the Columbia Beet recently. Wowza. 

Song Premiere: The Witness Marks - "We're in This Together"

"We're in This Together," the first effort from singer/songwriter Ethan Fogus' new band The Witness Marks (featuring members of The Boomtown Waifs and The Restoration), is a sardonic protest song with a Dylan affectation that gets its thematic heft from the sweeping indie-folk arrangement that recalls Bright Eyes circa-I'm Wide Awake, Its Morning. Lyrically the song swings hard at the current President's privileged obliviousness, crass misogyny, bellicose rhetoric, and racial resentment politics with a droll eye, but it's tied to a stately melody and a funeral hymnal poignancy brought about from the tumbling blend of fiddle and piano that carry the tune along. And when the rhythm section drops out on the spare, lilting bridge, the electric energy running through the tune becomes unnervingly clear. -Kyle Petersen