Show review & photos: Battlestations at Liar's Club, 1/21

By Mike Sullivan

Battlestations had their debut live show last Friday night at Liar's Club here in Chicago. A few weeks back I had the chance to sit down with the band and pick their brains, and you can read the Q&A here. I could not wait to see what they brought to the table once they were all together on stage.

The six-piece had a lot of instruments and electronic devices that barely fit onto the small stage at Liar's Club. I didn’t think they would have enough room to work with, but they managed. I was immediately blown away once they started. The raw energy and creativity that they put into their debut album, The Unicorn, really came through when played live. They opened the set with a brand new track, "Guns and Robots." They followed with "The Slums," "No Gold in The Crown," "Can't Sell The Light," "Electric Not Religious," and a few other tracks from their debut CD. The set ended with an outstanding performance of "More Money Than Time." I don't think anybody was sitting down when this song was over. It was an excellent debut show, and I can't wait to see what they come up with next. The album is now available for purchase on their Bandcamp site, with a vinyl release hitting the shelves soon.

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Check out more show reviews:
Free Energy at Double Door
TNK 2011: S Carey, Darwin Deez, Young Man, Lionlimb
TNK 2011: Alex Winston, Little Dragon at Lincoln Hall
TNK 2011: Pet Lions, Generationals, Magic Kids at Schubas
TNK 2011: Lia Ices, Generationals, Frankie Rose and the Outs at Lincoln Hall
Netherfriends at the Whistler
Cursive at Subterranean

Interview: Battlestations

By Mike Sullivan

I recently got a chance to sit down with members of up-and-coming Chicago band Battlestations and ask them about their sound, their first live show coming up on Friday, January 21st at Liars Club (9 p.m., 1665 W. Fullerton Ave.) and more. You can check out their music before the show on their website and their Reverb Nation page, and find out what members Mike, Dan and Jason had to say below.

WCR: I know some of you have played in other bands together throughout the years. Can you give us a little bit of history on how Battlestations came about?

Mike: We’re all linked up from Twin Wrecks the Memory and Jesus and the Devil. I have played with Dan and Bob since high school. I met Jason about 10 years ago and played with him in Jesus and the Devil. Left there and joined Dan with Twin Wrecks, ruined that band (laughing) and then came back up here (their studio). I love it up here, I have a lot of cool posters.