Can You See the Sunset? » chicago punk

Noise By Numbers – Yeah, Whatever…

Eric — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:17:10 +0000

One of my favorite albums of all time is Sludgeworth’s Loser’s Of The Year from 1993. It’s a slightly obscure gem full of Chicago pop punk that features the legendary Dan Schafer (aka Danny Vapid from Screeching Weasel and The Riverdales) on vocals. While Schafer is now primarily known as the frontman for The Methadones, he is also fronting a new band called Noise By Numbers. When I first heard the songs posted to the Noise By Numbers Myspace page last year, my initial thoughts were that it sounded more like Sludgeworth than The Methadones of anything else Schafer has done since then. I was totally stoked. I actually ripped the songs from the Myspace page so that I could listen to ‘em on my iPod and meant to post something about Noise By Numbers months ago, but just never got around to it.

Anyhow, Noise By Numbers has a new full-length, Yeah, Whatever… that was recently released by Asian Man Records and it is great. The record full of driving and oftentimes minor-key melodic mid-tempo pop punk and it’s great. Noise By Numbers members also include Jeff Dean (of The Bomb and Certain People I Know) on guitar, Rick Uncapher (of Textbook and Woolworthy fame) on bass, plus Yeah, Whatever… features Neil Hennessy (of The Lawrence Arms and Smoking Popes) on drums even though he isn’t in the band anymore. Even without the nostalgic lyrics about how things used to be, the music itself just has that certain sound. It will have you reminiscing about the shows at MacGregor’s and the Fireside Bowl you grew up going to; about old friends you don’t see anymore and just how different things are now. Those were the days. Go ahead and get a copy for yourself or someone you love. The CD is out now on Asian Man Records and the LP available from Solidarity.

MP3:
Noise By Numbers - Paris In September
Noise By Numbers - Waiting For The Train

An incomplete history of Chicago punk rock (vol. 26)

Eric — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:14:05 +0000

Wow, it’s be quite awhile since I’ve dug into my crates of old records and posted anything in this series, but it just felt like the right time for a little Chicago punk rock. I thought I’d share a little something from a little known band called Thirty Seconds Deep. I won’t go into detail on their history (you can read that here) but I will tell you what I know. The band started in 1990 in Chicago’s Western suburbs as a ska fusion band. I also know that their singer Geoff went to my high school but was a few grades ahead so I never met any of the guys in the band. After thinking a bit about it, I’ll have to admit that Thirty Seconds Deep is the band responsible for getting me into the local punk scene as they were the first real “local” band that I ever went to see live. I saw them in places like church basements and the Elmhurst VFW and from there it just exploded for me.

I liked ‘em but never loved Thirty Seconds Deep the way I loved bands after that but I’ve still got all their releases (the demo tape, the Stereo Sound 7″, the Banana 7″ and (most importantly and most significantly) their awesome Hot Carl 7″). That record was released by the great Harmless Records in 1996. Strangely enough, I was exchanging emails with Scott Harmless last week and he commented, “I feel like every label has that one ‘hidden gem’ in their catalog, and the 3SD 7″ is definitely mine.” I couldn’t agree more. The four songs on that 7″ stand the test of time and sound as good today as they did some 13 years ago. The band broke up shortly after this record came out. It’s a bit of a shame, but that’s what happens. Members of Thirty Seconds Deep went on to play in bands like Lando’s 45, The Story So Far, Racecar, and AM Radio. I also recall seeing AM Radio open for Braid in DeKalb, IL on their Frame & Canvas tour and thought they were pretty good too. Oh well…

Here are a few songs from Thirty Seconds Deep including the whole Hot Carl 7″. If you want more, the band’s entire recorded output is available here.

MP3:
Thirty Seconds Deep - Girl Song from the Thirty Seconds Deep demo tape
Thirty Seconds Deep - Toy Queen from the Stereo Sound 7″
Thirty Seconds Deep - No Harm from the Banana 7″
Thirty Seconds Deep - Ladder from the Hot Carl 7″
Thirty Seconds Deep - Champion from the Hot Carl 7″
Thirty Seconds Deep - Gamble from the Hot Carl 7″
Thirty Seconds Deep - Abdicate My Allegiance from the Hot Carl 7″

Dummy Room – Demo

Eric — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:28:52 +0000

On their 4-song demo, Dummy Room plays the sort of no-frills Chicago-style punk that I grew up listening to. The songs are short, fast, aggressive blasts of punk rock that are uncomplicated and raw but refreshing to hear amidst all the overproduction in today’s so-called “punk” scenes. If you like The Bollweevils or very early Screeching Weasel you’re sure to like Dummy Room. The sound is (in a few words) real Quincy Shanks-y. Supposedly these guys are recording a full-length sometime soon so keep your eyes and ears open. As soon as Ben from the band let’s me know, I’ll pass that info your way. They’ve got the entire demo as well as a few covers available for download over at their site. Oh yeah, Dummy Room is playing at Reggie’s tonight for anyone who is interested.

MP3:
Dummy Room - Rebuild
Dummy Room - Demons
Dummy Room - It's Time
Dummy Room - Discard Of Life