Thanks in part to publications like the tits-n-punk zine Horizontal Action--which throws the annual Chicago Blackout, a festival that last year included the Blackouts as well as the Lost Sounds, A Frames, the Spits, FM Knives, and the Hunches--Chicago's garage/punk scene has started to get a little spotlight shined its way. "Chicago is finally starting to get the attention it deserves," says Cozumel. "A lot of bands are on the verge of getting national recognition, like the Ponys, the Tyrades, Baseball Furies, and Vee Dee, and there are tons of great bands sprouting up, like the Krunchies, Headache City, Manaconda, and many, many others. Unlike Detroit, we don't fight in our ascots."
No danger of ascots here, and you can tell from their raw, impetuous, self-titled full-length (out on Criminal IQ Records) that the only fine fabrics these guys would own would be velvet--and that's only if it lined their guitar cases. This is the second time the Blackouts are playing in Seattle in a week, and occasion numero dos is the Spits' 10-year anniversary show. (To crown the event, the Spits are releasing a DVD compilation of a decade of shows, skits with bloody puppets, and general high jinks crammed into a two-hour time slot.) Check out both bands with the Clorox Girls and the Dead Vampires, a local band I keep hearing good things about, at the Hideaway on Saturday, June 5.
Although the Lights told me that they're going on a little show hiatus soon, in order to record the follow-up to last year's critically acclaimed Beautiful Bird, the trio has been opening for other local CD releases lately, getting on the bill with the Girls, the Catheters, and, last week, Hint Hint. Although they're well paired with any of those groups, the Hint Hint show proved this band has tightened its live performance immensely, and their new songs have (as one friend pointed out) frontman Craig Chambers channeling Ian Curtis more than ever. That's a good thing: The Lights are much less dour than Joy Division but they still maintain a bit of that cold, steely aesthetic. Just out of the studio, the Blood Brothers finished up their next record, Crimes, with producer John Goodmanson, and initial reports are good. (Their label sent out a press release saying the avant-hardcore kids added cello, accordion, and acoustic piano to the mix.) After pairing up with the Liars for tours across Europe (which I would kill to be at, given the Liars' stunning performance at Graceland back in April, and both bands' genre-smashing sound), the Brothers are ready to showcase the new shit on an American tour that'll hit Neumo's June 14 (the band is also slated to be one of the headliners at this year's Capitol Hill Block Party).
I have yet to see them live, but Mechanical Dolls have piqued my interest on CD. As one of the finalists for the Red Hook/ Made in Washington Emerging Artists series, the high-school juniors play ferocious, Runaways-style punk rock, high on energy and low on girlie-group fluff. Keep an eye on these ladies.
Finally, be sure to catch the screening of the "rock-n-roll monster band" B-movie Benny, Marty, & Jerkbeast on Friday, June 4, at the Oddfellows Hall (with cameos from a couple local rockers, see page 86). And on Saturday, June 5, The Stranger's Kelly O (Drunk of the Week columnist/art gal) and I are deejaying at the Eagle for Muscle from 9:00 to 10:00 p.m. Come show us that you can shake it like you broke it--or something to that effect.
