Listen : Cacaw - Live at Crown Liquors

Remember when Cacaw headlined a show with Tinsel Teeth and Running?!

Listen to them beat the hell out of new songs. Turn it up :

Some thoughts on the AIDS benefit, our D.I.Y culture, and a word about Bitchpork video coming soon...

image courtesy of TJ Superfan

This past Saturday, we held a show at Treasure Town. It consisted of six of some of our favorite bands. Call Me Lightning, Paper Mice, Lechuguillas, Unmanned Ship, Magic Milk, and Snacks. Snacks played their last show for a while, as their drummer Evan has moved. It was originally going to be filmed for the Echotone film project that we are constantly looking to get amazing footage for. Nathan Christ ended up having to go off to New York City to start filming the NYC chapter of that. I will find a way to somehow fit these bands in that goddamn movie! So, we ran with what we had going, which was a hell of a show.

Shortly after setting it up, Dave Reminick of Paper Mice called us up and asked if we would mind having his yearly AIDS fundraiser be a part of this. He said he had some good things in line. We immediately said yes, because hell, we love a good cause, and you all were so gracious in helping us with a fundraiser to help out the site. We also really like giving back to the community in any way we can. Big or small. Dave rangled up a bunch of prints by the ever-amazing Ryan Duggan, who also contributed a skateboard deck. Grimes chipped in a painting. Handlebar and Lula Cafe contributed gift certificates.

I had no idea how it was going to do, all I know is that we pushed it, and we pushed it hard. Believe it or not, the DIY culture here is really strong, and Chicago itself, loves social causes. However, in a dirty warehouse in the ghetto, you never know what you're going to get. 20 people could have showed up and scoffed at the idea of buying raffle tickets. You just never know. Our D.I.Y culture is strong, but sometmes the people just don't come. It's a long train bike and train ride out there, and those trains stop running at about the same time the shows start. Nobody wants to ride their bike home from a shitty neighborhood alone at 3 a.m.

...and you know what? Chicago rose up. We raised over $1,000 for funding of housing, employment, and prevention services for over 1400 Chicagoans living with HIV/AIDS. Over twenty people hauled countless amounts of gear, to the ghetto of Chicago, to do something good, on their own time. You took the time to come. Spent your money (even if it was to get cool shit in return). It could have gone the opposite way just as easy.

That makes us feel pretty damn good about what we're doing here. So, thank you, Chicago. A ton of really talented people chipped in, and it was more than worth everyone's time. We had FUN, too. A hell of a lot of it. Every band played for free, and left happy. This was before we knew what we even raised.

When Nathan Christ filmed an interview with the Mortville household for Echotone, they told us how much time they spend on their installations. How much effort goes into it. I knew somewhat the amount of time and effort, and money, these things took. To hear it come out of their own mouths was truly something special. These houses, be it Mortville, Ball Hall, or the venues of the past that are no longer with us....the people are putting their time, money, and effort to create something special. Whether you care or not, they're doing it. Often multiple nights per week. Often to twenty people. Often spending money out of their own pockets. This is aside from their "normal" day-to-day life. To most of us, the house-show scene is about more than just having a place to go to get fucked up on the cheap. It's about community, music, and about sharing musical experiences in an environment that's completely controlled by us. Free of the monetary and regulatory practices of normal venues, we are free to listen. Free to create. Free to, well...do it ourselves.

Are there shitty aspects to this culture? Of course, but there's even worse aspects and even more demoralizing aspects in the "normal" musical community. It's the way it is. This is something very dear to us, and we're extremely happy to be a part of it.

On that note, an entirely amazing, completely ear-obliterating music festival happened the other month.

It was called BITCHPORK, and it was the third installment.

We filmed pieces of every single band that weekend except for two. You all showed massive interest in the subject, and we don't want to keep you waiting on video for 6 months. Please realize that we do not receive any money for what we do here. Hell, we just now registered gonzochicago.com, and it will surely just forward to this shitty blogspot blog for half of it's first year in existence. We can justify spending hundreds of hours of time doing this, because we love to do it. We can't justify going deeper into debt than we already are.

Feel free to reach out : hotmetaldobermans@gmail.com

AIDS Walk + Run Benefit this SATURDAY w/ Paper Mice, Call Me Lightning, Lechuguillas, and more!!!

Alright folks, bringing it hard for this one.

***D. REM is holding an AIDS Walk & Run fundraiser!!!!!***

RAFFLE PRIZES... (raffle: $2/ticket or 20 for $20)

#1 of 65 "The Last Mopery Show" Poster

+ SKATEBOARD DECK by Ryan Duggan (Hated Skateboards)

prints and art from Ryan Duggan, Grimes, and more!

Handlebar + Lula Cafe gift certificates!

Tattoo / piercing gift certificates

Fine quality liquor

+ MORE!


Some will be silent auctioned, some will be raffled off.

THIS WILL BE EVAN'S LAST SHOW WITH SNACKS. SEND HIM OFF RIGHT.

Just don't ask me where those blood stains came from :

PAPER MICE
http://www.myspace.com/papermice

CALL ME LIGHTNING
http://www.myspace.com/callmelightning

LECHUGUILLAS
http://www.lechuguillas.com/music.html

MAGIC MILK
http://www.myspace.com/magicmilk

SNACKS
http://www.dothesnacks.tumblr.com/

UNMANNED SHIP
http://www.myspace.com/unmannedship


9PM. (REALLY. 9PM. SERIOUSLY.) SATURDAY AUGUST 20TH.

TREASURE TOWN.

E-mail us for the address.

$5. Help the AIDS jam and throw more if you want! No jerks. Come and ruin your hearing to all killer, no filler.

Best drummer on the planet award will go to who gets the most sheer screams of joy.

See you Saturday.

Photos : Joy Formidable - Double Door

These are dedicated to Micha Ward, Chirp Radio DJ, and all around good guy. He was generous enough to help with the fundraiser I ran a while back.

The Joy Formidable played a free show at the Double Door, on the eve of Lollapalooza. I hurried there to gain entry with only the knowledge of a few song snippets. Half expecting some nice, quiet pop songs, the band ripped through my expectation with a howl. Almost violent with their energy, the place was packed by the time they loosely started the set. A phenomenal live band, with great presence, and really nice band-members! How refreshing! The bottom two photos are from when they agreed to an off-schedule interview for us during Lollapalooza. Huge sounds fit for arenas, just not in a shitty way. They already made the hop from Schubas to Lincoln Hall. I look forward to them coming back. Little Hurricane and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. also played this show! Double Door really brought it! We were squished in like sardines by the end. Both were fun in their own right. Some of Little Hurricanes songs were amazing.

Thanks to Micha Ward for thrusting this band into our universe. Enjoy :










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LISTEN : Das Boton - Live at Quencher's Saloon

Here's a serious one for you : Bill Dolan again joined by John Herndon! Only a few months after wailing through a dark Beauty Bar set opening for The Lonesome Organist, Das Boton came back to a lightly attended Quencher's Saloon. Opening were Mad Anthony, The Faders, and Three Cheers for One Dead Man. Play this one loud :
buy stuff from them.

Lollapalooza weekend 2011 : Thoughts, aftershows, and too much standing...

Oh, Lollapalooza weekend. You bring thousands of people from all the around the world to herd around our fine city, our smaller venues, restaurants, and aleys. Truly staggering in scope, Lollapalooza is a bastard behemoth of a festival.

We lined up with some swell folks (like lost in concert) to film interviews all weekend. Reptar, Fitz and the Tantrums, Naked and Famous, Slug from Atmosphere, a last minute interview with the wonderful Grace Potter. I snagged the wonderfully nice Joy Formidable by myself last minute on Sunday. It was a weird-lovers festival.

The rain, the mud-pits, beer, unknown fluids, ridiculous amounts of degenerates. Somehow, between interview shoots, I saw great sets by Phantogram, DFA1979. Girl Talk brought some heat to the Perry's tent, but I dared not get up front in such a shit-show. Met a slew of very wonderful people. Walked way too much . Drank way too much. Caught a good Black Lips set at the tiny Empty Bottle, a better set from Titus Andronicus at Reggie's, and probably the best (and surprising) aftershow was the Joy Formidable. I was unfamiliar with their songs, but shot the show for an Indiegogo perk for Micha Ward. Sheer energy! One of the best performances I've seen lately. It made it that much more fun to grab 'em for an interview a few days later.

Let it be known that the front-woman of Joy Formidable was the only one to do a gonzo-style off schedule interview. They were really swell. Did we mention how amazing that Double Door show was? No? Well, we have photos. I'll get to this in a little bit.

Fitz and the Tantrums were great storytellers, saying that George Lopez has the best green room. Conan supposedly has a massage chair that everyone fights over. Chain Gang of 1974's Kamtin Mohager was ridiculously generous with his time. I saw him often, and then finally, on day three when he was in the middle of the herd, frustrated by his cellphone performance. The boys in J. Roddy were hilarious. You will like this footage. The press area was well ran, relaxed and flowed well over the weekend. That fried chicken was the jam. Sunday was a little squishy, but a classic end to the weekend, really.

All in all, on it's 20th anniversary, in what some say was a very mediocre lineup...it was a better Lollapalooza weekend than I can ever remember. Maybe it was the beer, or the fact that i left with two pairs of jeans that are better than anything I will ever purchase anytime soon (thanks Lucky Jean co). Any time you walk two miles, over and over again for three days, you're going to be exhausted. This was a surprisingly relaxed, cool (in comparison), and (mostly) dry weekend in the park, and Chicago's smaller spaces.

Stick around.

Photos :















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Photos : Handsome Furs : Bottom Lounge Chicago

In an interview I did with the band in January, during Tommorow Never Knows 2011, Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry told me of the "sparkly" and aggressive, digital sounds that would be incorporated into their new record.

It's exactly what we all got on Friday night, a hazy, futuristic dance-party, complete with lasers. ...Lasers, people!

Parlovr opened. Their bio says they're "sloppy", but it was definitely in a good way.

Handsome Furs played all but one song off Sound Kapital. Dan left his guitar silent for a good amount of the night and focused on the pummeling, slick chunks of new material. They played a few of these, like "Memories of the Future", live for the first time ever in front of Chicago in January. The new record's songs have only gained potency in those seven months.

Though the crowd took a little warming up, half-way through , when Repatriated kicked in, they had everyone screaming like each song was their last. The Montreal based duo proved once again that they can be fully engaging without a set filled with Dan's guitar slinging. They obviously enjoy playing these songs. They love Chicago.

"Serve the People" is a driving stunner they now call "Fuck the Police." "Agony" didn't make the record, but is still one of their best songs live. They ended the set with an encore of "Legal Tender" and "No Feelings". Dan jumped into the crowd more than once. A Handsome Furs show has some of the best chemistry you'll ever see, and this night, we were all happy to watch it unfold. Smiling and wide-eyed, like little children.

Setlist : 1. When I Get Back 2. Damage 3. All We Want, Baby, Is Everything 4. Memories of the Future 5. Bury Me Standing 6. What About Us 7. Repatriated 8. Radio Kaliningrad 9. Serve the People 10. Agony Encore : 11. Legal Tender 12. No Feelings

Photos :







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