Zach Butcher has been on both sides of the DIY spectrum — fronting bands and running a label. Now 30, he lives “in a spooky castle in Akron, Ohio” and operates The Caller Is In The House, a small operation putting out punk, hardcore, and screamo. “You can send me your demos at tciithrecords at gmail and we can link up,” he says, matter-of-factly. His current band, the jackal, plays emoviolence. “Some days, I think I’m too old and out of shape to be fronting. We can’t all be Justin Pearson.”
Touring has been in his head since middle school, when he picked up Henry Rollins’ “Black Coffee Blues” and “Get In The Van” and thought he knew what life on the road looked like.
The reality, he found out during griphook’s 2023 weekend runs, was less about police brutality or violent confrontations and more about “lots of highways.” This summer, with the jackal and their friends in Porcupine, he hit the East Coast for nine days in support of the new EP “Knife Play” — part label work, part personal mission.
Along the way, he caught and documented a wide range of bands, turning the trip into a running collection of live impressions and recommendations from the road (see below).
The shows stretched from Boston and Providence down through Brooklyn, Newark, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and back home to Ohio. There were gas station meals and IHOP nights, house shows in wealthy neighborhoods where the cops got called, flash flood warnings that turned into sweat-soaked basements, and venue lights that cut out mid-song. Some nights drew small, attentive crowds; others were marked by tense moments, technical issues, or strange incidents — including a white audience member repeatedly calling a white vocalist the N-word “out of excitement and joy.”
Zach kept notes on the road, mixing straightforward documentation with loose, offhand commentary. He talks about watching bands like Snowfall, Oak, Fallen, and Ursa bring chaos and precision in equal measure; about Porcupine, and ability to “control a crowd without trying”; about the generational shift as high-school-aged bands push skramz into new shapes.
The diary below documents about what actually happens: long drives, friendly offers of home-cooked meals that get traded for chain diners, unglamorous load-ins, overheard nonsense, and a few moments that stick. It’s as much about seeing the ocean or H.P. Lovecraft’s grave as it is about playing a tight set. And it’s all filtered through the kind of dry, observational tone you can only get from someone who’s been around enough to know better — but still goes out anyway.
Thursday – Driving
It said it would take 9 hours to get from Akron to Boston. It took us 12. I never want to be in a car again.
Friday- Boston, MA
Saw Salem, wasn’t as spooky as one would hope. But still beautiful. Ate at a Burger King that had Peter Griffin spray painted on it. The cops got called on our show, and the last band almost didn’t play.
Snowfall was amazing, two vocalists, two guitarists, no bass. I’m not entirely convinced the second vocalist was saying anything real, but it worked nonetheless. Aggressive and chaotic screamo. The final song’s intro sounded similar to “Bulletproof Heart” by Placebo, and when I told the person playing it that, they asked if I meant placebo like fake, and didn’t know who the band was. I felt like I was a thousand years older than this kid. I’m 30 years old.
Oak, Fallen had a fill in guitarist, and it felt so natural that I don’t believe it. They played that kind of noise rock like Shellac and Unsane.
Every time you want the breakdown you get something more interesting thrown at you instead. Very tight, very smart, very good.
Night one for us and Porcupine. Our set was okay. It felt like an hour up there because kids didn’t mosh, but people said they liked us so maybe it’s just anxiety. Porcupine continues to be this tidal wave of sound. Everything is measured, it never feels like anything other than a perfect attack.
Sue closed out the night, they played without lights on. I didn’t know there was an option for it to be darker, and I’m jealous.
They put out an EP called For The Love Of The Game but played one song off of it and everything else was new. It was great no matter what it was
The venue was very kind. They offered us a home cooked meal, place to stay, and more. We opted for IHOP to catch up with Porc. Should have eaten the chili instead.
Thank you, Neue Komplex, Sheri, Emily and Haley, and all of the local bands.
Paid a total of $37 and sold no merch. Gotta start ripping off better bands apparently, cause whatever I’m doing isn’t right lol.
Saturday- Providence, RI
Ate a meatball sub at Providence Vegan, supposedly touring bands get free food, we did not. But it was worth the money and the guy running it was very sweet. Spent money at Armageddon Records. Great collection of stuff, and I got to talk about The Ramones for ten minutes too. Killed time in the Providence Mall. Six floors and attached to a hotel. Very strange, but something to do for a few hours.
Alkaline rocked. Their vocalist stated how few songs they had and wore a matching set of a USA headband and armbands. Metallic screamo is the best way I can describe it. Hopefully an EP will be out soon. The bassist is in his late 20s but everyone else is high school age.
Oak, Fallen for a second night. Still fantastic and smart. They helped a lot with the show and I will never be able to repay that. I don’t think they liked us, but it’s okay. We got two shows with them regardless.
Night two for us and Porc. Our set was much better and felt far less nerve wracking. Porcupine was great as always, and it was unbelievable to see kids two-step to something like that.
Ursa kicked major ass. They also seemed extremely young. That new wave of underage kids making screamo is so cool to see.
Aggressive skramz parts matched by chaotic but fun noise. The amount of joy and silliness of screamo is such a breath of fresh air vs how annoyingly serious hardcore kids take everything.
Apparently some kid, who was white, repeatedly called the vocalist of Ursa, also white, the N word and talked directly at her. But I heard it was out of excitement and joy. Being so hyped up you become racist is funny to think about.
Thank you, Kery and The Backyard, Media/David, SB, Kenny, Daisy Cutter, and all of the local bands. Special thanks to the guy who vogue danced to every single band, and Tapped Camera who shot all of the bands sets on a camcorder.
Sunday – Woodbridge, CT
This show was originally going to be in Hamden but got moved last minute. It took 2 hours to get here, traffic was so awful. Almost crashed the car at one point due to hard stopping. Went to Redscroll Records and had a great time. Saw H.P. Lovecraft’s gravesite too.
The Sauce, great band of what I assume are very young, possibly underage, kids. Rollins Band vibes, including the vocalist wearing gym shorts and wrapping a giant mic cable around his hands. They played very well but skipped the last song, their drummer broke the chain on the double kick. They didn’t watch our set and I think they just outright left. That rocks so hard, I’m not even mad.
Dirt Pile whipped, they play that early 00s Boston hc, aggressive and low vocals. They’re a 3 piece and the guitarist split his signal to both a guitar and bass cab.
Us and Porc’s fourth sets. Our guitarist couldn’t hear themself the whole set, but was able to keep it together extremely well. Porcupine continue to shred and kick ass. The venue has silly stage lights that kept going off for both of our sets. Nothing screams mysterious and spooky hc guy like flashing red lights when he least expects it.
Doom Beach are longtime homies so I was looking forward to this. They played very well, James’ tone is so nuts through that cab. Ryan is so fucking heavy and hard on those drums. Both of them together are an unmatchable force.
Ate at Mamoun’s, stayed with James. Got to shower in a house instead of a Planet Fitness. Woke up early to eat breakfast with James Monday morning.
Thank you, everyone.
Monday – Brooklyn, NY
Went to Redscroll Records before we left for Brooklyn. Driving into NY was as annoying as I feared, but it’s fine. Hung out around the venue with Porc until it opened, and then ate some deli sandwich. The city seemed so big that I hesitated to go anywhere. Apparently someone was shooting people up in the city too.
Final Resting Pose started the show off. Metallic hardcore in a very 00s vein. It was really well done and they were very kind.
An unnamed band played next, but their white vocalist got drunk and said the N word during the third band. More on that in a second.
Depressionista came on stage and immediately knew what to do. Their black vocalist said the N word a lot and did bits about the entirely white crowd. All fine and good fun. Then one dude from the unnamed band just got too into it, and went off.
Depressionista played very well, highly recommend seeing them live. Just don’t let your drunk friend be secretly racist I guess
Us and Porcupine went up and I was trying to kill myself on that stage. Playing after such a strong set, playing with a longtime friend like Dale, I was committed to leaving it all out there. I fucked up my back trying to do the Iggy Pop backbends I was capable of doing ten years ago. Dawson did “You Better Be Alone” with us.
Dale Hollow played my favorite song, “Look Mama, I’m Trying To Change”, and a bunch of new songs that will be fantastic when you hear them. He brought a crowd of very kind, but very scared people who suffered through all of our sets just to see the Country Music Superstar(trademark pending) go up there.
Went straight to Aeryn’s after. Watched Twilight with her and her girlfriend.
Thank you, Final Resting Pose, Depressionistas, Dale, Aeryn and Anais, and that deli that let me pee and their bathroom was hidden behind a fake wall.
Tuesday – Newark, DE
I tried to get out of Brooklyn as early as possible. My girlfriend asked that I eat a blueberry bagel for breakfast in their honor, but the band decided it was best to leave and the bagel didn’t happen. We ate at Smiley’s Diner in Newark, and I heavily considered stealing a Sade CD from Goodwill. The show was in a bike shop, so it was a sick change of pace to look at bicycles instead of Bad Religion posters or whatever.
All Your Damage played their first set for this show. Liam from A Paramount, A Love Supreme playing a baritone guitar, a drum sampler to do small interludes, and a drummer. No bass. Just sludge. It rocked. I’ve known the APALS guys for several years so it was exciting to see any of them in their hometown, but the set made it that much more worth it. Something happened to the pedal board and Liam couldn’t finish their last song.
We played and I once again tried to die on that stage. Kids didn’t say we played well, but they didn’t say anything and apparently in Newark you just leave if you dislike something. So I’ll take no contact over playing to nobody. Porc crushed it and played “Pederasty” and “Wedlock”, two of my favorites.
We ate Wawa for the first time with Porc, then drove to South Jersey to stay with Brian from Porcupine’s cousin. Wawa is not better than Sheetz, but better than Getgo. Dreaming of what that banana pudding everyone raved about at Buc-Ees is really like.
Thank you, All Your Damage, Robby, Mitchell, and the kids who didn’t tell me we sucked but didn’t leave either.
Wednesday – Philadelphia, PA
I bought a Peavey Tour 450 bass head off a guy at a Wawa. Towards the end of Type O Negative, Peter started using a Tour 700, and this little brother does just fine for me living in an apartment. The drive is just short enough from Jersey to Philly that we all went to breakfast and Atlantic City to go to the beach. Two girls tried flirting with Brian and he conned them into coming to the show. The beach was fantastic on such a hot day.
All Your Damage played their second set and did even better without the pedalboard issue.
Our guitarist, Jeremy’s guitar got fucked up somehow so our plan of doing the entire first verse of “Black Sabbath” got cut. We used Joey’s guitar and did the set. Porc crushed us into pulp up there. That band is so tight and well tuned it’s impossible to outdo them even at our best. We played to ten people, excluding other bands, but including the two girls from the beach. The promoter did not pay us and Ruben of Soul Glo fame handed me a $20 bill to make up for the show lol.
Get Well had previously played with Porcupine so they knew what to expect. Despite listening to any of these bands’ albums online, I never know what will happen live. Get Well played strong and they played under red lights too. The superior stage setup.
Once again we stayed with Brian’s cousin.
Thank you, Get Well, All Your Damage, the other seven people who watched us, the two beach girls who sadly found out everyone in both bands is madly in love, Ruben for the $20, and the guy who offered me a free slice of pizza while standing next to our car.
Thursday – Baltimore, MD
Flash flood warnings followed us on our tour at this point. It only rained once and we bought a tarp just to make sure everything is safe. S Jersey to Baltimore is roughly 3 hours, and the warnings were there again. 45 minutes into the drive, the sky looked like the end of Donnie Darko, and I entered standstill traffic. I proceeded to spend 30 minutes starting and stopping, going a maximum of 35 mph, in an intense downpour. Finally in Baltimore, we hit a record store. All tour I’ve been on the hunt for any and everything. Got the first Concrete Blonde album for myself and two records for my girlfriend.
The flood warnings continued, we got to the venue at 5 because the food we wanted was a mile away. As we neared the end of load in, the rain finally hit us again. We sat around in this hot church basement waiting for the rain to let up enough to get to the car. Load in was actually supposed to be at 6, so it was just us. As it finally ended, Jeremy and Trey went to get food, Mack hit up a 7-11, and I waited for anyone to show up.
Dogsmiles from FL had to cancel their show under a bridge due to the weather, and got added to ours 45 minutes before the show started instead. Fun 3 piece of bass, keyboard, and drum.
Shock Collar was next, playing what I believe is their second set ever. They whooped some ass and I watched kids stage dive as if they knew every line of the set and the perfect time to do anything.
The rain stopped, and now it’s so humid that any amount of fans we have running in this venue can’t compete. Us and Porcupine are up, and again, it is. so. fucking. hot. We did our thing and I watched kids beat each other’s asses. Porc did their thing and I watched kids straight up kill each other. It never stops being cool watching how well Porcupine can control a crowd without trying. True masters.
Gash played and everyone was ready to have the time of their lives. Kids were moshing, stage diving, dancing, anything was on the table. Just so much fun for them. It’s great.
Once more, just to really sell how hot it was, it was fucking hot. We left and skipped out on going to a diner with Porcupine, opting to shower instead. Better decision imo.
Thank you all. Fantastic time.
Friday – Pittsburgh, PA
It was 4 hours to Pitt from BMore, and Edgar Allan Poe’s grave was here so we made our way out of town by noon to make it into Pitt on time, but I was seeing that fucking grave before I left.
Found out the hard way Trey was driving without tolls on. And just like that 4 hours became 5.5 instead. As we pulled up to the venue, our bassist backed up to park and hit a telephone pole, not even 1000 feet from the finish line. Tensions rose to such an awful degree that it wasn’t clear if we’d even play our set.
Mires went up to that stage and crushed the skulls of everyone. Two piece band supremacy every time. Richie from Mires helped book this show, so an extra shoutout to him.
Us and Porcupine were up, and the first song included me knocking poor Trey on his ass. I wasn’t looking and he tried to move out of my way and instead I clipped him. Dawson and Joey sang on “You Better Be Alone” and “Have You Checked the Children?” During Joey’s verse on “Children”, he and I didn’t see each other, and he wound up punching me in the head. Repercussion for knocking over the guy who’s still rattled from hitting something with a car. Porcupine played the new EP in full, and the last song was played full band for the first time ever. They wrote it separately, recorded it with Dawson miles away, and never practiced it full band. It went off without a hitch.
Princess is a band I’ve been following since the beginning. I played one of their first shows in Cleveland, and have kept up since. A few years under their belts, and that band kicked even more ass than the first time.
Loaded up, talked to the friends who came to see us, unintentionally punished some girl about her clothes because they looked like something my girlfriend would wear, and started heading home. On the drive home, we had to remove the plug for the airbags to work after the accident, and roughly ten minutes onto the highway a semi truck almost crushed us. Finally got home at 2 AM after dropping everyone else off. Fucking A, dude.
Thank you to the bands that played, Elijah, Gigi, Gregg, and the poor girl who I was punishing about vintage clothes.
Saturday – Kent, OH
I woke up in my own bed, I used my own shower, I fed my own cats. Everything was cool. Went to the record store and Home Depot before the show. There was a No Kings protest in Kent that ended right as load in started.
Bumpstock was up first. They have members of Shmux, Chum Lord, Peelsnowy, and Run Your Mouth. Super group of my friends’ bands. They sound similar to Shmux with that fastcore style. It kicked ass.
Trollop played second, featuring at least one member of Brain Cave. Weirdo punk in the best way. I loved every second of their set, and couldn’t wait for the next song to show me what was next.
Because it was more of a hometown show for us, Porcupine went third this show. They played “Hardcore Drones” for me and closed the doors on our tour once and for all. Our set went well enough, we finally did the first verse of “Black Sabbath” instead of just the intro, but Jeremy cut short and we only did 3 of the 4 lines. Oh well. Kids always respond well at home, it’s the only thing I ever count on. This show was no exception. Thank you always, Northeast Ohio.
Trash Mountain closed out the night and did just fine with that job. They’ve been around long enough to know how to work a crowd, and they always do.
As is tradition when Porcupine comes to town, we went to Mr Zubs after the show and hung out for a few hours, then slowly trickled out one by one. I stayed out with some friends at Square Bar and watched them all play pool, finally opting to go home and get some sleep.
Thank you to the bands, to our friends, the guy who looked like Anton LaVey that told me we kicked ass, and all of you who are reading along this far down.
The new jackal ep, Knife Play, is out everywhere and can be bought on tape if you’d like. The entire Caller discography is on our Bandcamp, and Porcupine is out there too.
