Gaunt

Over the course of their seven-year recording career, Columbus, OH's Gaunt gained a sizeable following in their hometown, as well as across the globe. Fronted by the wisecracking vocalist/guitarist Jerry Wick, the quartet recorded albums for highly esteemed record labels like Thrill Jockey and Amphetamine Reptile before signing to Warner Brothers and eventually splitting up. In 1967, Jerry Wick was born in Parma, OH, to the proud parents of Sharon and Jerry Wick. Years later, during the early '90s, Wick set off to study violin at Kent State University. Upon his arrival, Wick had a general distaste in his mouth about the whole experience. Two weeks after starting classes at Kent State, Wick was in Columbus putting a rock band together. He landed a job at Used Kids Records and performed with the psychedelic band Black Ju Ju, but Wick was itching to be a successful musician and recruited guitarist Jovan Karcic, bassist Eric Barth, and drummer Jeff Regensburger. The foursome became Gaunt in 1991 and immediately recorded a split 7" record with friends the New Bomb Turks. Gaunt's debut to the Columbus music scene was a lo-fi affair. Wick had recorded the material using a Yamaha four-track recorder and a Tascam Porta05. By the time the 7" was preparing to be released, Barth had exited from the bass spot and been replaced by New Bomb Turks' guitarist Jim Weber (aka Jim Motherfucker). Although Barth had played bass for the record, his image was omitted from the band photo on the front sleeve. A former New York resident named Craig Regala had just moved to Columbus when he heard about Gaunt and gave them the opportunity to release the record on his upstart label, Datapanik. As 1992 reared its head, the Columbus scene was starting to gain serious attention due to bands like...