It Only Takes Two To Rock For Local H
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Scott Lucas, right, and Ryan Harding of Local H will take the stage on June 3 as part of the Summerland Tour at The Paramount in Huntington.
By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com
When frontman Scott Lucas lost the bass and lead guitar players of his band, Local H, he had a hard time finding replacements in the small town of Zion, Illinois.
“The only bass players that we knew had mullets and mustaches,” Lucas said.
The local options didn’t exactly fit with Local H’s image as an alternative rock band in the early’90s, so Lucas decided to “find a way to do it without a bass player.”
Lucas decided to continue Local H as a “two-piece,” and in the processes pioneered the two-man band format with drummer Joe Daniels. In 1996 Local H released their best-known certified gold album “As Good as Dead,” which reached the top five in the U.S. Alternative Billboard Chart.
In 2013, Lucas brought on drummer Ryan Harding as Local H’s second member, and the duo is set to take the stage at The Paramount in Huntington next month as part of the Summerland tour featuring Everclear.
Once Local H decided to transition to a two-piece band in 1993, Lucas, now 48, said he had to figure out how to write songs that fit the band’s new framework.
“You learn how to write a song for two people and make it not boring, and that’s something I’m still figuring out,” Lucas said.
Lucas added a bass pickup to his guitar and began performing the guitar and bass parts.
“It’s a process of finding the right gear and finding the right pedal set up so that nobody out there goes, ‘Man, I wish this band had a bass player,’ or, ‘I wish this band had another guitar player,’” Lucas said.
A Local H live show leaves fans feeling alive, Lucas said, with an edge that he described as “slightly dangerous.”
“What I prefer are shows that have a kind of spark, there’s an electricity to the atmosphere,” he said. “The idea that anything can happen.”
Local H and Summerland Tour 2018 are scheduled to stop at The Paramount on Sunday, June 3. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for the 7 p.m. show. Tickets are $29.50-$59.50 and can be purchased at the box office or online at Paramountny.com.
