Can You See the Sunset? » chicago punk

An incomplete history of Chicago punk rock (vol. 28)

Eric — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 02:25:25 +0000

I’m not sure what other “category” to put this post in, so it just sorta haphazardly ends up as part of this series. Just go with it. So on what was the sunny afternoon of December 23, 1997 the three guys in Allister (that’s me on bass, John on guitar, and Tim on drums) went into Solid Sound in Hoffman Estates, IL to record the 4 songs that would become our first 7″ record, You Can’t Do That On Vinyl. We were really really stoked to work with Phil Bonnet who had done records for bands such as Smoking Popes, Slapstick, Apocalypse Hoboken, and more. So yeah, in one afternoon we tracked these 4 songs and eventually pressed 500 copies on vinyl. At some point we got signed to Drive-Thru and they handled it from there, but those were the only copies of this 7″ ever pressed.

It’s not available on iTunes or elsewhere so I’m making You Can’t Do That On Vinyl available here. You’re welcome. Now “X-Girlfriend” was on a few comps and “Jimmie’s Dreamgirl” was re-recorded for the first Allister full-length, Dead Ends & Girlfriends but “Forget About Joe” (featuring me on vocals) and John’s masterpiece (not one bit of hyperbole either) about his roommate’s girlfriend, “Debbie” aren’t available anywhere else. I know because I have the original DAT master for this in a box in my garage, which really might not be a bad thing as it seems that we may have been a bit out of tune at the time. Can’t change it now, right? Besides, these are some sloppy and fun pop-punk songs. Anyhow, there are probably 25 people that own this record with a photocopied hand-colored insert instead of the brick red sleeve with Alasdair Gillis’ face on the front. If you’ve got that cover, then you don’t have the other. Cheers.

MP3:
Allister - Jimmie's Dreamgirl
Allister - Forget About Joe
Allister - X-Girlfriend
Allister - Debbie

An incomplete history of Chicago punk rock (vol. 27)

Eric — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 18:04:59 +0000

Division was/is a band from the Western suburbs of Chicago. I’m pretty sure we first heard the band on All Ages Radio. Their first album Who Died | A Working Title was released in (I think) 2001 and their second album Conversational was released a few years later. These guys (Joe and Andy Chavez and drummer Mark Sampson) played emo-tinged pop-punk that garnered them tons of comparisons to bands like Smoking Popes and Alkaline Trio. The music was super-catchy but a little darker than most of the pop-punk that was being released back then. I think we saw Division live 2 or three times including a Halloween show where they played Misfits covers. Although I didn’t know Joe or Andy, I did hand out with Mark a few times (I think he came to our first baby shower) but haven’t seen him for a few years.

Now I’m not sure if the band is officially getting back together and planning on playing with any sort of regularity, but they did play a one-off show last October at Reggie’s in Chicago. Even more remarkable is that all their records (even their split with Open Heart Surgery) are still available either physically or digitally. You should go get ‘em. For $10 bucks you can get both their albums. Here is a song from each of their releases plus a cover of Cap’n Jazz’s “Forget Who We Are” that also features Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath on vocals.

MP3:
Division - Broadcasting from Conversational
Division - Defeatist from split EP with Open Heart Surgery
Division - Forget Who We Are from Sinister Records sampler
Division - Grey Awkward Nights from Who Died | A Working Title

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