IdleAires performing at The Carnegie on Jan. 22. Photo: Brooke Burkhardt

Cincinnati’s IdleAires is not your average punk rock band. In fact, they like to call themselves a “communications service and information dissemination apparatus” under a disguise. But it’s a lot more simple than it sounds.

Joe Winterhalter, founder of the IdleAires project and lifelong visual artist, says the ensemble’s messaging is “universal.”

IdleAires was created in 2013 after the loss of a close friend, and Winterhalter decided at the age of 49 to pick up a guitar. In the span of six months, a band was formed, and the IdleAires project took the stage at the Weston Art Gallery in Downtown for the first time with fellow band member William Gilmore Weber.

“I picked up the guitar and figured out how to make a noise I liked, put a bunch of words I’d written over the years to the music, and here we are,” says Winterhalter.

Winterhalter, hailing from Over-the-Rhine, spent a few years in Chicago and Louisiana, completing school and visual art performances before heading back to his hometown to take a short break before heading out to New York. “I ended up sticking around [in Cincinnati],” Winterhalter says with a laugh.

On Jan. 22, IdleAires geared up for a performance at The Carnegie in Covington, an organization that hosts a variety of visual arts performances for the surrounding communities. It was a cold, chilly night set ablaze by the music emanating through The Carnegie’s glass doors. Underneath the famous dome, a large white cloth hung from ceiling to floor, covered in unique artistic projections developed by Art Academy of Cincinnati graduate Ian Hayes that rapidly changed with each blink of an eye.

The band takes the stage. Weber casually sat in the right corner next to the drums, strumming away as if it was all second nature. Dory Fox, in a leopard fur hat, rocked (quite literally and figuratively) between a viola and a guitar. Roman Lewis hits hard on drums in the center, smiling with each smack of his stick. Winterhalter jams out on the guitar, stopping every few minutes to provide commentary on facism or paint a visual picture for the audience.

With over 30 years of fine artistry under his belt, Winterhalter says that making music differs drastically from working on an art piece. “Every time you look at a [painting in progress], it’s a different painting, but it’s still a static object, right?” Winterhalter says. “And the beautiful thing about music is that the arrangement and the structure of the songs and the structure of the narrative that the lyrics put together from beginning to end over the course of the record…that is the architecture.”

The crowd is enthralled in each and every movement, chord and word. Composed of family, friends and those just wanting something fun to do on a Wednesday night in the middle of January, not a moment of silence falls between the performers and the crowd.

As the set ends, a round of applause naturally ensues. Winterhalter is quick to greet friends by the bar, before stepping outside to smoke a cigarette (one that was carefully placed behind his ear during the performance.) 

Releasing their first record as a group in December of 2024, IdleAires’ punk rock tells a complete narrative from side A to side B that is reminiscent of “components of everyday life that can appeal to those in relationships, but can appear to someone else as political context,” as stated by Winterhalter. “That’s the information dissemination apparatus, you know, you got to get the word out and have it be as concise but open-ended as possible.” Fellow Cincinnatian Bridget Battle of the band Tweens also performed at The Carnegie that night, citing her friendship with Winterhalter as a driving factor of her appearance.

Both work at the historic Woodward Theater, where they developed a friendship. Having seen Tweens perform at the beginning of their career, Winterhalter was stunned by Battle’s voice and songwriting. 

IdleAires is preparing to disseminate their newest information to the public. “My goal as a writer is to be able to transcend the personal and become universal,” Winterhalter says.

For more information about IdleAires and Winterhalter’s fine art, visit josephwinterhalterfineart.com.

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This article appears in Jan 22 – Feb 4, 2025.

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