Youngstown, Ohio’s The Safest Ledge dropped an awesome five song EP on Friday, August 14 called The Space Between Words. Fans of Movements, Trophy Eyes, Turnover, and Silverstein will love every note. I had the chance to talk with guitarist Mason Boano about his top ten bands from Ohio, and things got crazy:

  1. Spirit of the Bear

SW: You’re mad punk rock. I never heard of this band.

MB: They’re quite big in Youngstown. At first I wasn’t into ‘em, but now I’m hooked.

SW: Local heroes, eh?

MB: So much mainstream potential.

SW: Enough to justify snow in the summer?

MB: (laughs) Yeah, totally.

  1. Attack Attack!

SW: TOTALLY CRABCORE!

MB: Everyone in my vicinity that wrote music after 2008 was influenced by this band in some way, shape, or form.

SW: I remember when they were on everyone’s lips. I still love that a band has a song called “The People’s Elbow”.

MB: Not a party foul!

SW: Certainly not (unintelligible growl).

MB: One more song shout out: “Fumbles O’Brian” is a great song title too.

  1. Jetty Bones

SW: To know you is to know that you’re going from extreme heaviness to Jetty Bones.

MB: Jetty Bones stands out from the rest of them.

SW: You clever, Mason.

MB: Thanks for bringing it up.

SW: Jetty Bones brought up the sensitive and introspective side of Ohio.

MB: Now let’s get back to some heaviness and the meme!

  1. Bilmuri

SW: Some people may take offense to Bilmuri being listed above Attack Attack, but I say it’s everything I wanted.

MB: Johnny Franck is NOT afraid to take musical risks.

SW: So many genres, so many yells.

MB: Crabcore < Memecore

SW: MATH, bruh.

MB: .mp4

  1. The Black Keys

SW: I’m stoked that we’re shouting out an underground two-piece from Ohio.

MB: They’ll eventually get their big break. Rubber city hardcore.

SW: I have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about.

MB: Akron, baby.

SW: Let’s rock.

MB: Christian rock?

  1. The Devil Wears Prada

SW: (blegh) I thought that this band was from Iowa because of “Dez Moines”.

MB: Nah, bro. Dayton.

SW: Who knew that Dayton was so angry?

MB: They’ve got a lot of airplanes there.

SW: I remember when this band was flying quite high.

MB: Dogs can grow beards all over.

  1. Twenty-One Pilots

SW: (ignores him) ANYWAY, here’s another underground Ohio two-piece.

MB: Gotta give ‘em credit!

SW: I do! Killer live show.

MB: Columbus should super proud.

SW: HOMETOWN!

MB: Why are you yelling at me, dude?

  1. Nine Inch Nails

SW: If you think I’m yelling now, listen to Trent Reznor.

MB: SLAVE SCREAMS!

SW: Ooo. Happiness in slavery. Kind of like Trump’s America. I disgress.

MB: Every day we’re getting closer to that.

SW: Side note: I think that this band should be #1 on this list, but it isn’t my list.

MB: Boo fucking hoo.

  1. The Plot In You

SW: That rhymes with The Plot In You. And number two.

MB: TPIY has been one of my favorite bands for nearly a decade.

SW: And talk about switching genres effortlessly.

MB: Landon Tewers is a beast.

SW: Dispose is one of my favorite LPs in recent history.

MB: Feel nothing? More like Feel SOMETHING!

  1. Citizen

SW: I have the feels now. We’re almost done.

MB: Youth defines the genre, and I don’t care if you’re mad that I listed this as #1.