Each day more and more people are finding their music from the computer in the form most commonly known as 'mp3s'. As well as nationally known acts, one can also find music by artists from our own community. The biggest and certainly most visable local artist is Randy Lohner, founder of Stray Arrow Productions, Ltd. which not only maintains all of Lohner's projects but also hosts Mythical Nation, an entity dedicated to exposing all the local talent. A graduate of Ashby High School, Lohner came to Fergus Falls in 1993 from Detroit Lakes. Being used to a very public music scene, he was shocked to find a scene that was very "underground", very "unorganized", and basically had no outlet. Fergus is a very artistic conscious community but... "local musicians tend to get left out of the mix". Feeling frustrated, Lohner continued to write and record his own music, looking for the right combination to take him back to the level he was at fronting the upper midwest's biggest underground band... TempesT. In 1999 Lohner was introduced to the world of internet music and soon became one of the first local musicians to upload, and expose his music. Now with over 30 songs available on over a dozen sites worldwide, as well as updates and links to all of his projects at randylohner.com., Lohner is working the internet like none of the other locals. While they work local audiences, his music is being heard worldwide. In 2000 he had two #1 songs on the Australian MP3 charts and topped the 'artists' chart three seperate times. After being pigeon-holed into the AOR Pop/Rock catagory, Lohner released 'Mommy's Mistake' in late 2000, an Alternative Punk Metal project designed to gather attention. Lohner's female audience took exception to it and reacted negatively with many e-mails. "I'm a Mommy's Mistake and I don't look at it as a bad thing" responses Lohner. "I was looking for something to attract attention to my harder edged music, but everyone paid attention to the name instead." So with that lesson under his belt, Lohner proceeded onto his next project in 2001 titled 'AltarEgo', which incorporated industrial metal, gothic & hip hop. Unfortunately the project lost 'major' interset when the scene began to change. Crash-n-Burn! After a little time off, Lohner began 2002 with 'Snakebyte', a project which brought in a more 'blues' influence to Lohner's bubblegum metal and seemed to tie in all of his 'styles'. Along the way Lohner was approached by channel 8 tv about airing his music behind the local announcements. This was matched by an article in the Fergus Falls Daily Journal. This was followed with another article in the 'spring addition'.

Send an email

Local artists provide background music for PEG Access . By Mary Mahoney The Daily Journal

Published Saturday, January 26, 2002 12:27 PM CST

In the coming weeks, PEG Access television will be airing the music of local artists during its "Bulletin Board" segments. From blues to heavy metal, classical to classic rock, and R&B to country, there's a whole lot of talent in Fergus Falls just waiting to be heard. Following is a look at a few of the artists residents can expect to hear on the Bulletin Board.

Randy Lohner Randy Lohner isn't waiting around for other musical artists to contact him; he's out there on the World Wide Web connecting people together through their music. "There's really no gathering point for local musicians, so I created one on the 'net," he said. "And it's really helped us feel like we're not alone in this." Lohner, an Ashby native, has been writing his own music for about 15 years. While he classes himself as predominantly rock, he enjoys writing and listening to all types of music. With his songs on more than a dozen web sites around the world, Lohner's even had a No.1 song on the Australian charts for web hits. "The web's been kind of fun," he said. "I'm always looking for new angles to get my music heard." With his own small studio in his home and doing all of his recording there, Lohner said he's got all of the instruments and everything he needs right at hand. And although he can read and write music, he said he prefers to do it all by ear. "If it looks good on paper, it doesn't always mean it sounds good," he said. "I've got to 'hear' it to know if I like it." Lohner added he's enthused about the number of local artists submitting music to PEG Access and hopes to connect with them for other possible future performing opportunities. "I've been pleasantly surprised at the number of people doing this right here in Fergus Falls - and they're all so different from one another," he said. "That is so fantastic."