Above: Mike Koh (4th from right) with the crew that makes Koh Show Live happen. Photo courtesy Mike Koh.
By Matt Morrissette
When the Jackson Inn closed in March 2023, the legendary Wilmington bar was a mainstay for original live music in northern Delaware. After a lull brought about by pandemic-related venue closures and ownership changes, the scene had finally regained momentum and its sense of community with the Inn as its hub. A key player in that resurgence was Mike Koh, a local musician and booker.
Today, Koh is working to energize the local scene once again by inviting bands into his home in North Wilmington. In Koh’s rough-and-ready basement, he is streaming performances and recording sessions under the Koh Show Live banner.
To call Koh a jack-of-all-trades is a true understatement. He is a one-man, one-stop shop for all things music related in Delaware. Assuming you’re not already in a band with him (he’s an in-demand guitarist as a member of the three-guitar army MEGA, the post-punk quartet STRVWMVN, and as a bassist in the indie rock trio Mothman Properties), he may very well be the skilled luthier that set up or brought new life to your guitar or bass through his imprint, Koh Guitars.
His latest bit of inspiration struck out of necessity — and with a little help from his friends —when in January 2023 (with the closure of The Jackson Inn looming) an otherwise typical Monday night band practice for another of Koh’s bands, Dirt Bagel Fist, was streamed to the Twitch app using a laptop and a couple of webcams. From this casual effort, a new paradigm for giving local original music exposure was created. And Koh is as surprised as he is thankful for the rapid growth and unconditional local embrace of the endeavor.
“Our first real show was February 20th of 2023 and featured Dirt Bagel Fist and punk rockers Penny Death as our first guest artist,” says Koh, who has been playing in bands since age 15. “We didn’t have a name yet, but we had established a two-band format. That first show kicked off a 44-week run featuring 40 live episodes with 79 live performances from 72 different artists.
“None of us knew what we were doing at the time, but we kept moving forward and growing to the crew of 15 that keeps the wheels moving. My biggest takeaway thus far is that building and supporting community is a group effort, and that we have an amazing team.”
Having given bands a new way to share their music with potential new fans and a convenient method for presenting their live show to promoters, it’s logical the Koh Show studio (which has been thoughtfully cobbled together from donated equipment by the very people that put the show together) has become a go-to spot for local bands to record their songs for release.
Mike Koh (r) has been playing in area bands since high school.
And it’s fitting that the first full album release produced, engineered, mixed, and mastered in Mike Koh’s basement features the first band to appear on the first official episode of Koh Show Live — Penny Death. Featuring songwriter Corey Spencer on guitar and vocals (with healthy doses of sarcasm and cultural criticism), Tyler Spencer on drums and Barry Loving on bass, the trio began their journey a decade ago as a guitar-and-drums duo called Digital Detox before adding Loving’s thunderous low-end a few years back.
Not surprisingly, the idea of doing the project together happened long ago at The Jackson Inn, where Koh not only booked the bands but mixed live sound, performed and even tended bar in a pinch. However, mutual affection for Weezer’s Pinkerton record seems to have led to the collaboration.
“Over the months of shows at the Inn, the Penny Death crew and I talked albums and guitar pedals, watched each other’s bands, and lamented the empty nights with great performances,” says Koh. “We talked Weezer one night, and I professed my love for Pinkerton, and how it feels like you’re in the room with the band as they plow through 35 minutes of material from top to bottom. That conversation planted the seed that turned into me producing this record.”
With a common ethos established, Koh and the band recorded basic tracks for the 16 songs live in a couple of days. Vocals and backing vocals were overdubbed in the moment and generally in one take. According to Corey Spencer, the recording process was not only musically fulfilling, but genuinely therapeutic.
“At the risk of being dramatic, the couple of days we took to lay down the instrumental tracks brought me back from a pretty dark place I was in at that time,” says Spencer. “It was an intensely positive and life-affirming experience for everyone in the band, and I credit a lot of that to Mike Koh’s attitude. He’s the nicest guy, and he has a great ear.”
The resulting album, Kind of Like a Home, was released in late 2023 on cassette as well as to all major streaming platforms. The band celebrated with a triumphant pre-Christmas record release show with Delaware garage rock legends, Kitty Rotten.
As for the future of Koh Show Live, the plan is to return on March 4 following a special night of live performances on March 2 at The Kennett Flash in Kennett Square, Pa. Also, expect a slew of new releases this year from Delaware bands featuring Koh’s production touch, including PinWheel, Red Smith, Edgewater Avenue, MEGA, and STRVWMVN.
