Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments

Formed in the early 1990s by ex-Great Plains frontman and Columbus rock gadfly Ron House, the Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments provided an outlet for their founder's insightful-yet-wacky lyrical observations as well as his beer consumption. More straight-ahead punk than Great Plains, the TJSAs could be flat-out skronky one minute and strikingly catchy the next. Seemingly against all odds and bottom-line logic, the band released an album, THE BAIT AND SWITCH, on the Rick Rubin-backed (semi-)major label Onion/American. Kicked back to the underground shortly thereafter, the TJSAs released three more full-lengths before going on hiatus. House also released a solo album around the same time, the decidedly introspective acoustic set OBSESSED. The band would reunite off and on as the 2000s progressed.