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Left
to Right: Cory Penkal; Morgan Carter; Austin White; Joey Koller
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Minor
‘Love; Major Expression
By Paige Burns
“It’s the high of making art and the transcendental feeling of playing
shows,” said Joey Koller of local band, Minor ‘Love. Koller refers to
the band’s live shows as interactive art showcases because of the
energies and performances given separately by each member of the band.
To each of the members, Minor ‘Love is more than just a band.
The band was first put together in January of 2015. At this point,
three young boys named Joey Koller, Cory Penkal, and Devin Limmer had
been hanging out and playing “broken pop-punk” music as a pastime.
While mostly covering other bands’ songs and goofing around with their
instruments, they started to get more attention from friends. Soon
enough, these boys decided to put a name to their hobby. They first
called themselves The Shades of Cool, named after a song written by
their favorite musician, Lana Del Rey.
After becoming serious about their work, Limmer and Koller started
writing lyrics and Penkal composed music to play on his guitar. After
writing a few songs and getting more attention from friends, Koller and
Penkal decided to get another guitarist and a drummer together to make
a real band, which led to the recruitment of Dylan Gilbert as guitarist
and Austin White as drummer.
Now, with White on drums, Gilbert and Penkal on guitar, and Koller as
vocalist, The Shades of Cool was gaining popularity and support. The
band started putting shows together in Penkal’s basement, and inviting
other local bands to come play. This was a common occurrence for quite
a while, before Penkal’s parents had enough of the crazy shows. The
band continued to play at small gigs like Paw’s Bingo Hall and The
Coffee Pot.
Some months later, Gilbert left the band and bassist Morgan Carter was
introduced. As time passed, The Shades of Cool no longer felt like The
Shades of Cool.
“It felt uncomfortable, like an old pair of shoes that are a size too
small,” Koller recalled.
Thus came the changing of the name from The Shades of Cool to Minor
‘Love. The official name change happened on January 1st of 2017, which
was the day they released their first single as Minor ‘Love.
The band has progressed a lot since they were The Shades of Cool. Minor
‘Love has a more solid sound now that sounds fun at the same time.
Koller never misses an opportunity to dance on stage and that makes the
music even more fun.
What makes Minor ‘Love unique from other local bands is their love for
their supporters and their pride of the LGBTQIA+ community. As a gay
artist, Koller feels as though he is helping the minority to accept
themselves. Not only this, but the band loves to interact with their
audience and followers.
“We’re different. Come hangout with us,” Koller said.
Find Minor ‘Love on Facebook as @MINORLOVEOH and Instagram as
@Minorloveohio. All of their music is available for streaming on
YouTube, Spotify, Google Play Music, and iTunes.
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