It’s raw, it’s nasty and it’s a strangely melodic sonic onslaught, unleashing a full-frontal assault of screaming vocals, chunky and distorted guitar chords, machine-gun bass lines and sweaty, mortarlike drum beats.

Midwestern Electric is exactly what a rock band should be. And it’s all by accident.

The Lottery League, reportedly an idea born of a drunken MySpace rant by a frustrated musician who suggested everyone should just start over, is scheme by which bands are created almost willy-nilly on a midwinter draft night. The only caveat: No member of a lottery band can ever have played with or been connected with another member of the band.

It sounds simple, until you realize that we’re talking about swimming in a pretty shallow pool — in the case of the 2013 Lottery League, that’s 169 men and women who are part of the Cleveland music scene playing original compositions (rather than covers). It is such a tight-knit group that even those who haven’t previously played together at least know of each other…… Read the rest of the story here on Cleveland.com

The Lottery League is all Ed Sotelo’s fault.

Sotelo, according to his friend and fellow co-founder of the Lottery League’s Council of Chiefs, Jae Kristoff, posted a drunken rant on MySpace saying that all of Cleveland’s many bands should just break up and start again.

“MySpace” tells you how long ago that was. But the idea germinated in Kristoff’s brain, partly fed by another experiment he did in which he and some bandmates stayed up 72 hours straight and recorded anyone who wanted to come into the Zombie Proof studio.

“You could come in with an eggbeater and we’d play with you,” said Kristoff, a punk-rock vocalist and “things” player who’s currently running Cleveland State University’s radio station, WCSB FM/89.3, and going to school full time.

When that little experiment ended, several local musicians who’d missed out on the chance approached Kristoff and his friends with pleas that they be notified next time he got a wild idea….. Read the rest of the story on Cleveland.com here.

All 42 newly drafted bands of the 2013 Lottery League will perform for the first time ever on three stages within the Agora. 2013 Lottery League Big Show Schedule (outside of starting promptly at 2pm, given the nature of this event the set times listed are approximate.) Click the links and follow their adventures on Facebook!

Big Show 2013 Schedule

2:00pm – 38% Special  (Melt Stage)
2:15 – La Rascasse (Jakprints Stage)
2:30 – Payback from Wayback (Council Of Chiefs Stage)
2:45 – Amplified Gentlemen (Melt Stage)
3:00 – Shark Martian (Jakprints Stage)
3:15 – Midwestern Electric (Council Of Chiefs Stage)
3:30 – The Predicament (Melt Stage)
3:45 – The Egons (Jakprints Stage)
4:00 – Soy La Barba (Council Of Chiefs Stage)
4:15 – Hot Dignity (Melt Stage)

~intermission~

4:45 – Dinosaur Coffin (Jakprints Stage)
5:00 – Sex Cake (Council of Chiefs Stage)
5:15 – Robosexual (Melt Stage)
5:30 – Dark Magic Ponyride (Jakprints Stage)
5:45 – Favorite Russian Spectaculars (Council Of Chiefs Stage)
6:00 – How to Stay Alive in the Woods (Melt Stage)
6:15 – VALISystem A (Jakprints Stage)
6:30 – Sudden Onset (Council Of Chiefs Stage)
6:45 – Jaques Jamz (Melt Stage)

~intermission~

7:15 – Disaster Transport (Jakprints Stage)
7:30 – Dinosaur Throat (Council Of Chiefs Stage)
7:45 - Feed Me a Stray Cat (Melt Stage)
8:00 – Canadian Pharmacy (Jakprints Stage)
8:15 – Queen of Hell (Council Of Chiefs Stage)
8:30 – Charlton Heston’s Cold Dead Hands (Melt Stage)
8:45 – SCMODS (Jakprints Stage)
9:00 – Wyld Bal5 (Council Of Chiefs Stage)
9:15 – Louise & ECT 3 (Melt Stage)

~intermission~

9:45 -    Psychic Thrills (Jakprints Stage)
10:00 – Surface of the Earth (Council of Chiefs Stage)
10:15 – Dirty Connotations (Melt Stage)
10:30 -BAANTUU (Jakprints Stage)
10:45 – Evil Astroid (Council of Chiefs Stage)
11:00 – Comet 77 (Melt Stage)

~intermission~

11:30 – Fancy Bastards (Jakprints Stage)
11:45 – and you will gnome us by the trail of bread (Chiefs Stage)
12:00 – E=MC Funk (Melt Stage)
12:15 – Jean-Claude Goddamn (Jakprints Stage)
12:30 – Rustbelt Revival (Council Of Chiefs Stage)
12:45 – The Vanman (Melt Stage)
1:00am – KILL IT WITH FIRE! (Jakprints Stage)
1:15 – Douglas Adam’s Family (Council of Chiefs Stage)

“This is the band I’ve wanted to be in my whole life.”

Jack Storey, sweat beading on his forehead and breathing heavily, had just finished belting out the lyrics to “And What If Kevin Chang Scares the Success Out of You,” one of the driving songs he and Midwestern Electric bandmates Tony Erba and Greg Hyland were working on Friday night.

Storey wrote the song — and for the record, I never heard the words “Kevin Chang” in them — and was going over it with the guys in what began as Band No. 22 in the 2013 Lottery League.

Click here to read the rest of the story on Cleveland.com

Singer-songwriter-guitarist-filmmaker Jack Storey belts out a tune during a rehearsal for the Lottery League 2013 band Midwestern Electric during a rehearsal Friday night.

It’s a good thing the 169 musicians who are participating in Lottery League 2013 are so good at singing and playing; almost to a person, they stink as bowlers.

That was evident Thursday night at Madison Square Lanes in Lakewood as the league held its “Slot Selection” night for April 13’s free “Big Show” at the Agora Theatre and Ballroom, 5000 Euclid Ave., Cleveland.

Click here to read the rest of the story on Cleveland.com

Get even more from Lou…

Lottery League from Lauren Voss on Vimeo.

At the beginning of Lottery League, participating musicians gather together for a party called Draft Night; this is the kick-off event for the Lottery League’s “season.” The lottery system groups musicians in a fully random manner while also ensuring that musicians are placed in groups of people with whom they have never played before. These newly minted bands must then go on to rehearse, record, and perform at the Lottery League’s Big Show, which takes place approximately two months after Draft Night.

The Big Show is the goal and party towards which all of the new bands work for those several weeks — getting to know one another, thinking of a band name, coming up with promotional copy (just like a “real” band!), and composing 10 minutes of original material, to be performed that night. In past years the number of musicians totaled over 100,  distributed into over 30 different combos. Over the course of night, the boundary between audience and performer blurs in the festive atmosphere of The Big Show. Everyone involved eagerly waits for the next band, celebrates their own performance, or just revels in the carnival of of multi-media light and sound that is The Big Show.

Lottery Leagues took place in 2008 and 2010, with similar, but smaller events also taking place in cities such as Los Angeles. After these two Lottery Leagues, The Council of Chiefs decided to wait until an opportunity to make Lottery League bigger and better than ever presented itself. Now, through the efforts of organizations such as The Beachland Ballroom and Tavern, Cleveland Rocks: Past, Present, and Future, and [fill in the blanks] the Lottery League returns to Cleveland in 2013. This year, the goal of the Lottery League is not just to bring more people together; the desired result is to make this act of large-scale creativity an essential part of Cleveland’s cultural life.

The last few years have seen the city of Cleveland emerge as a shining beacon of creativity, whether in the cultural spheres, the culinary worlds, or as a model for sustainable living.  The idea of a “Rust Belt revival” has inspired the rest of the country; meanwhile, inspiration is spilling over among entrepreneurs, artists, and creative people from every possible walk of life.  While Lottery League is supposed to be a lot of fun, it’s also a way to harness and proudly showcase the kind of rule-breaking and resilient energy that makes our city special.

For the 2013 Lottery League, Friday, February 1st is Draft Night, which takes place at the Beachland Ballroom and Tavern (15711 Waterloo Road). The Big Show, on the other hand, will take place on Saturday, April 13th, at The Agora Theatre and Ballroom (5000 Euclid Avenue). Not only does the size of the Agora truly allow for a spectacle like The Big Show, but its historical relevance as one of rock n’ roll’s most famed venues makes clear how Lottery League wants connects the past, present and future of Cleveland’s music history.