Windy City Rock Presents: a Mercy Home benefit at The Burlington, 10/22

By Gene Wagendorf III   

Any time you have a chance to combine great music and the opportunity to raise money for a great cause, how can you say no?

When community organizer Brendon Troutman approached us about helping with a benefit for Mercy Home, we said yes!

Mercy Home provides therapeutic, academic and vocational support to kids who have been neglected, abused and abandoned; giving the, the tools to grow into healthy, successful adults. Through their residential, aftercare, referral, and community-based mentoring programs, they offer critical, life-saving services to more than 650 young men and women every year. The organization has been a solution for kids in crisis in Chicago since 1887, and we here at Windy City Rock are incredibly proud to do anything we can to help them out.

On that note, we're proud to join one of Chicago's best rock clubs, The Burlington, in hosting this benefit concert. The show will take place on Tuesday, October 22nd (9pm, 21+, $8) and proceeds will go directly to Mercy Home for Boys and Girls. You can RSVP and invite your friends on Facebook here. Your donation gets you an evening of excellent music from three of Chicago's most exciting young bands:

Peoples Temple of America

Earth Program

Frozen Pizza Disaster

The bands have generously offered to donate their sets, and The Burlington is joining them by donating the door. With that in mind, we ask you join us, buy some records/tapes, have a few drinks and jam out for a good cause. 

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Show preview: sewingneedle at The Burlington, 3/6

By Gene Wagendorf III

Local emo/post-punk quartet sewingneedle are celebrating their debut EP, entry level position, with a record release show at The Burlington. The 5-track album, out on Aerial Ballet Records, is included with the cost of admission to the March 6th show- a cool two-for-one that ought to be hard to resist.

entry level position kicks off with fervent and fuzzy swagger thanks to the Elvis Costello-esque pop of "make no bones." However, with it's collection of gloomy melodies and singer Calvin Fredrickson's somber delivery, the record quickly drifts into Pedro the Lion territory. On "possession" the band slows it up a bit, letting Danny Cohen's bass push the keys and warm the guitars while Drake Jensen's drums guide the vocals. The result is a melancholy meditation, but one that's startlingly comforting.

Interview: TOPS

By Gene Wagendorf III   

TOPS

Windy City Rock caught up with Montreal's twinkling soft-rock outfit TOPS, who strolled into Chicago this week for two shows- last night at The Empty Bottle and tonight (Thursday) at The Burlington. Touring in support of their debut release Tender Opposites (Arbutus Records), the band excels at crafting tight, kinetic pop songs and spacious, fragile ballads. While it's easy to draw comparisons between TOPS and current/former label-mates Grimes and BRAIDS, the truth lies somewhere in between. Absent is the heavy gloss of the former, and the obtuse structures of the latter. The result is an easily digestible album riddled with catchy melodies and smart songwriting. The band's personality seems to share that dichotomy; a charming combination of whimsy and thoughtful perspective. You can catch TOPS at The Burlington on Thursday, September 27th ($7, 21+). In the meantime, enjoy our chat with Jane Perry [vocals/keyboards] and Riley Fleck [drums].

WCR: To start, where did you all meet? How long have you been playing together?

JANE: We all came to Montreal a few years ago, David [guitar] and I both came from Edmonton and knew each other from before, everyone else met hanging out and going to shows.  We had been playing music with Thom [bass] for a couple years, he used to play drums with us and he wanted to play bass instead, so we asked Riley to jam with us at La Brique to see if it would work out. We got together and played some songs that David and I had started. It was really easy right from the start to finish songs and play together, so we decided to make a band out of it. That was a year and a half ago.

WCR: What role has living in Montreal had in shaping your sound, if any?

JANE: We all came to Montreal to make music and meet other people that make music. Montreal is great because people don’t have a lot of money and don’t aspire to. There’s a lot of creative people, and a lot of opportunities to dance and get fucked up.

Show review: Close Hits, Rambos at The Burlington, 1/4

By Gene Wagendorf III

If the Mayans are right and this really is The Last Year for humanity at least I can say I kicked it off with two of my favorite Chicago bands. Close Hits and Rambos left my ears ringing and had me pumped for a 2012 that ought to be filled with great local music.

Rambos

Gearing up for the release of their debut record Rock and Roll Monsters, garage-rock gang Rambos blasted through a set of old and new material in front of an eager crowd at The Burlington on Wednesday. I don't know what this crew drank on NYE, but whatever it was had them charged with enough energy to level a small town. They didn't actually shatter the walls of the bar, but it wasn't for lack of effort, especially with respect to drummer Ian Tsan. After getting his leg shattered by a car back in October, Tsan seems to have spent his recovery time plotting ways to take it out on his kit. "Terrorize," the band's musical call to arms, lurched from the stage like a drunken, pissed-off Frankenstein's Monster, stumbling and thrashing with drum rolls and fills. Later, "Human Monster" maintained the Svengoolie-esque atmosphere. Washy guitars swirled over a chugging riff, giving vocalists Jeremy David Miller and Julie Meckler a Fright Night playground to yelp and holler over. The on-stage chemistry between those two remains one of Rambos' strong suits, and in a better world it would be the backbone for a Rambos Variety Hour special.

Two reworked (and re-titled) covers were sprinkled into the set, both getting the crowd bouncing- "Faggots," a comic take on the Black Lips' "Bad Kids," and "Do You Want to Die?," a punk take on Bobby Freeman's “Do You Want to Dance?"As I've noted previously, the latter is closer to a Ramones tribute than it is to the dreamy original, allowing it to fit perfectly next to newer Rambos tunes like the jangling punk of "Sweet Mothers of Death." That song tore across The Burlington like a black dust storm, contrasting starkly with some of the more plodding numbers that followed. Drifting away from their punk energy for a bit, Rambos gave their guitar players a chance to shred on some chunky, riff-heavy songs. The set ended with "Arrows," a song that has the musical charm of getting slapped in the face during a really great bout of sex. It hooks you in to the moment, leaving you to wondering whether you should slap back or start laughing. Either way it's hot and I'm comforted to know that this kind of fun has a place in 2012.

The duty of post-coital cuddling fell to Close Hits, who were more than eager to step in and give us a lighter bit of loving. That isn't to say the trio took the stage and eeked out pappy fluff, but their Motown and candy rock influences stir up a whole different kind of musical copulation.