When the history of rock and roll is finally written by the geeks and the gear-heads, a significant chapter must be dedicated to the year 1990 in Zion, Illinois. That was when Scott Lucas and Joe Daniels decided that a traditional four-piece lineup was simply too crowded. By the time Local H hit the mainstream with their 1996 smash As Good as Dead, they had perfected a high-decibel, high-octane duo dynamic that would change the landscape of alternative rock.
In many ways, Local H paved the golden road that acts like The White Stripes and The Black Keys eventually drove their tour buses down. They proved that one guitar and one drum kit could sound like a god-sized orchestra of distortion. Frankly, Lucas should probably be receiving a small royalty check every time a new rock duo forms in a garage. If he had a nickel for every two-piece band that followed his blueprint of “more gear, more volume, fewer paychecks to split,” he’d likely be retired on a private island instead of preparing for a tour.
But Lucas isn’t interested in royalties or retirement. He’s interested in the work. On April 1, along with Filter and Finger Eleven, Local H returns to Cleveland to play the House of Blues—a venue quite different from the gritty clubs they frequented three decades ago.
The upcoming show is a testament to the band’s improbable survival. Not only have they outlasted the “grunge” label, but they’ve achieved feats that seem statistically impossible for an indie-leaning duo—like the time in 2017 when they were hand-picked by fans to open for Metallica on their stadium tour. It is, quite possibly, the only time in history a band has gone from playing to 200 people in a dive bar to playing for 50,000 people alongside James Hetfield simply because they were that good.
Local H has been a staple of the Cleveland circuit for thirty years. My own introduction to the band’s legend occurred in 2001 at the now-defunct Peabody’s Down Under. It was a chaotic, beautiful night where Lucas performed a significant portion of the set in a full-body gorilla suit.
While Peabody’s is gone (for better or worse), the band’s love for Cleveland remains, though Lucas has a specific preference for the city’s aesthetic. When asked about the transition from the city’s smaller clubs to the more polished House of Blues, he remained loyal to the underground.
“I don’t know if I noticed an upgrade,” Lucas said. “I mean, I guess the bathrooms are nicer, but I mean, I still love the Grog Shop. That’s my kind of place.”
In an era where most 90s alt-rockers have either hung up the flannel or settled into the “nostalgia act” circuit, Lucas has remained remarkably prolific. Local H has never really stopped; they’ve just kept evolving, regardless of whether the industry was looking or not. Lucas attributes this longevity to a lack of grand pretension.
“Maybe it’s just stubbornness? Maybe it’s because I never had a backup plan?” Lucas pondered. “I mean, there’s a lot of reasons, but what it really gets down to is that I want to do it and I always did want to do it. And you know, you can get into bands, especially in the ’90s, you could get into bands for a variety of reasons. And one of the reasons I got into a band was so I could play my own music and I could tour and I could play shows. And so that’s all I really wanted out of this. And I think, sometimes, maybe other people want something else out of it. And so, you know, I’ve gotten what I wanted out of it and I continue to get what I want out of it. And as far as being glamorous, sure, maybe it’s not, but I like traveling. So I mean, all that stuff that’s supposed to be so tough about being on the road really, I don’t think is that tough. I don’t mind doing a little bit of work or getting my hands dirty or going out there and doing things myself.”
Part of that “getting his hands dirty” involved the technical wizardry required to make a duo sound like a wall of sound. To compensate for the lack of a bassist, Lucas famously modified his guitars to handle both duties simultaneously.
“Yeah, that’s a bass pickup in the guitar and that goes out of a separate jack,” Lucas explained. “I have a separate guitar jack into a bass amp. So it’s just a matter of isolating the signal so it can go into a different amp.”
While he was a trailblazer in this regard, Lucas is humble about his place in the lineage of two-man bands.
“I just have to be happy with the fact that it turned out to be a good idea,” Lucas said. “And there are a lot more two-man bands out there than there were when we started. I just think it was a great idea and it continues to be a great idea. We didn’t invent it. I certainly got the idea from others, but I’m happy to be in the tradition.”
That tradition eventually led them to the most improbable gig of all: opening for Metallica. In 2017, Metallica held a “Hit the Stage” contest where fans voted for an opening act. Against all odds, the Local H faithful showed up in droves, and the duo found themselves sharing stages with metal royalty.
When discussing the experience, Lucas—typically a man of many words regarding his craft—kept it simple and respectful.
“I grew up a big Metallica fan, so it was cool,” Lucas said. “It was a lot of fun, those shows. And they’re still a great band and we were just happy to be there.”
As the band prepares to take the stage at the House of Blues on April 1, Lucas isn’t looking toward a finish line or a specific checklist of remaining goals. He’s simply following the music where it leads, much like he has since the Zion days.
“I don’t know,” Lucas said when asked about future ambitions. “I just kind of try to do what I want to do and what I enjoy, and hopefully, things just happen. They do happen. They continue to happen. And I think at this point, I don’t really have bullet points. I just do what we do and we just see where it goes, because, who knows?”
For the fans in Cleveland, where it “goes” is into the loud, sweaty, and cathartic experience that only Local H can provide. Whether in a gorilla suit or a t-shirt, Scott Lucas remains the undisputed king of the two-man wrecking crew.
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