Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments
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Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments was an indie punk band formed in 1989 in Columbus, Ohio. Immediately upon their formation, they self-released a series of 7"s to their local market. With their array of noise-laced punk riffs, the four-piece of Ron House (vocals), Bob Petric (guitar), Ted Hattemer (drums), and Craig Dunson would eventually release their first full-album, entitled Bait and Switch, through Onion/American Records in 1995. Their follow-up record, Straight to Video, was released in 1997 by Anyway Records. Haynes Boys guitarist Phillip Park would replace Dunson on the bass after the Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments hit the road with Guided by Voices in that same year. Their final album No Old Guy Lo-Fi Cry was released on GBV's frontman Bob Pollard's old Rockathon label in 2000. They also appeared on a GBV bootleg DVD called Some Drinking Implied in a live segment from 1996 titled "All League Old Guy Lo Fi".
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments came out of the same odd, lo-fi, not-quite-punk scene that bred Guided by Voices, Swearing at Motorists, Gaunt, New Bomb Turks, Cobra Verde and Brainiac. The band was vaguely political lyrically, offering frank snotty social commentary on everything from the music industry and indie rock, to the prison system, schools, voting, cancer, death, and Cleveland Ohio's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.