The new album by Ryley Walker, Primrose Green, out Tuesday on Dead Oceans, ebbs and flows effortlessly in all the right ways. It's an album that's easy to lose yourself in, one that helps you travel through time as it streams through your speakers. As a newcomer to the music of Ryley Walker, I was instantly captivated by his unique blend of jazz and folk. Learning that he had his hands involved in the noise and punk scene as a precursor to his current sound came as no surprise. His acoustic influences, paired with an affinity for improvisation make for an album that builds into a wonderful sonic landscape that is well beyond his 25 years and his songs have found their way on my playlist more times than I'd like to admit.

If you've have the pleasure to see him IRL ("in real life" grandpa!) you know that Walker's live  show is like a graceful, audio-enigma. No two shows are the same and you often times leave having bore witness to a genesis of new songs, songs in progress, and favorites that have been re-worked, stretching and expanding beautifully before your very ears. Walker plays alongside a rotating cast of some of the most talented Chicago jazz musicians, a collection of friends and colleagues developed over years of involvement in the underground Chicago music scene. From the first recordings to the photos on the covers, everything is Chicago-centric, showcasing the beauty of a city that collaborates and grows together.

I was fortunate enough to exchange some quick words with Ryley the day after his Chopin Theatre record release (and the day of his solo show at Permanent Records). When talking with Walker his intentions are unspoken but clear, and he intends on continuing to make music he likes, with people he likes. Lucky for us, the product of these collaborations continue to be damn good.

ASHLEIGH DYE: I wasn't too surprised to learn that you started off in more punk, and then noise based scenes, especially after listening songs you'd recorded like that Live in Toronto excerpt and Sweet Satisfaction on your latest album. I do wonder, though, why you think those earlier folks influences like Nick Drake, or all your Zeppelin inspiration, started appearing in your sound when it did. What cause the shift from a more industrially progressive sound to a more organic one?

RYLEY WALKER: There wasn't really a switch that went off. I think I’ve always just liked doing everything at the same time. I was always in punk bands in High School, but I was in jazz band, too. I just like music a lot, they’ve always co-existed. This style has just worked out for me, it’s been more rewarding.AD: It seems like you’ve found your niche at combining the improvisational with the structured.RW: Coming up through the noise and punk scene definitely helped with that. It was really important for me that those things happened first.

AD: The way your music originates live and grows and flows from that moment seems very painterly to me. A lot of painters I know say that a painting is never truly finished and they'll work on them slowly for years. Do you feel the same way about your music?

RW: Yeah, yeah. A song can never really be done or set in stone. It’s kind of painful, especially when you don't have CBD oil for pain like the ones recommended by HMHB.

AD: When do you decide “OK, I feel cool recording this iteration of the song”?RW: Whenever in the band says “Shut up and record the song.” That’s why I like having them around. They’re really good about keeping me in check.

AD: Do you ever find yourself looking back to old songs from years past and revisiting them?

RW: No, I mostly feel embarrassed when I hear an old song, like you get that cringe feeling almost. I like to leave room for new things to grow once that time has passed.

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AD: Primrose Green (Dead Oceans) was recorded and written as a whole band, as opposed to just you alone. How did this very free-form style work when you had a more concrete deadline?RW: Just from the nature of the musicians. We hardly even practiced. We were just like, “Yeah, lets go.” I just had ideas going in, like little seeds and we were sowing them in the ground of the arts, so to speak. We kind of just watched them grow right there. Everyone I'm playing with is really talented and have been around the Chicago music scene for years.AD: How long did you guys record?RW: Just for one day.AD: You recorded with Cooper Crain, right? How was that?

RW: It was great. He did my last record and I’ve known him for a long ass time.

AD: Your sound is obviously very influenced by decades past, but your lyrics seem to evoke more of a sense of nostalgia to me. Do you find yourself writing about things from the past often? I know your lyrics tend to change a lot, but is there are certain moments or memories that you find yourself pulling from more often?RW: It’s all about time and place, really. I like poets like Yeats or even classic American guys like Frost, where instead of telling you a story, they describe a painting to you.AD: So more of an ethereal, elusive experience. Does your writing style change when you’re on the road versus being here, grounded at home base?RW: Totally. I can’t really write in the city of Chicago.AD: Really? I would think it would be the opposite.RW: I like it here and I like being here, but I can’t write here. It’s weird, but it’s like I have too many ties to this place. My brain's too wired around it.AD: Do you think the anonymity of the road inspires your writing?RW: Yeah, that’s what I like about it, it’s really easy. I mostly tour alone a lot. I’ll just be in Europe on the train, like “Duh, classic American in Europe,” but it’s really fun to do because you'll just be alone, like “I don’t fucking know Dutch. I’ll just hang out backstage for four hours.” I think a lot of weird situations present themselves for you in those situations.

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AD: Do you play and write alone still? How to you ebb and flow between playing with the band and playing on your own?RW: Yeah, for sure. I like having them around as much as possible, but I like playing alone a lot, too. It’s like the same songs, but a bunch of different bands playing them, but I get to be in everyone. Sometimes I’ll play with a trio and it’s keys, an electric guitar and me, sometimes I play and it's just me. I really like every live show to be different, that’s something that kind of matters to me.

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AD: I was really glad I saw you live first, before talking with you. It was such a different experience than your album, which is also wonderful. I like when music can have an all encompassing, sensory deprivation sensation, seeing you live was like that.  Do you ever feel inclined to play more true to the record?

RW: Not really, but there’s also only so much I can do live. No one wants to watch me play a 20 minute breakdown alone. It definitely deviates more the more characters you have the in the cast.

AD: Do you see a large variance in the types of crowds between when you were playing more noise-focused shows and playing now?

RW: Uh, there are less dudes, for sure. But, I started playing this kind of music at noise shows and it translates pretty well. I’ve always had pretty open-minded friends so the crowds are wildly different.If you know what's good for you and your ears and your soul, buy Primrose Green here.Watch the new music video for "Sweet Satisfaction" (via Noisey):-------------------------------------WORDS & PHOTOS BY ASHLEIGH DYEhttp://noisey.vice.com/blog/ryley-walker-interview-sweet-satisfaction-video?utm_source=noiseyfbus

In this modern age full of knowledge and wireless Internet it's rare to find a band with a minimal paper trail, but THE SUEVES have achieved just that. What they lack in an E-presence they make up for, in abundance, at their live show. The no-frills trio has been ripping through the Chicago music scene for the last four years and are showing no signs of slowing down, which is good news for you if a unique blend of garage-rockabilly-surf-rock is something your into. I caught up with THE SUEVES for some beers and to exchange some short and sweet words.

ASHLEIGH DYE: I know you’re all Chicago transplants, but how did you guys meet?

ANDY MARTIN: School, commercial class. We had a class where we watched only commercials, it was awesome. I sold you adderall. Then we started jamming.

ROB PISKAC: I saw him tapping his thighs in class and asked him “Hey, do you play the drums?” and he said, “Yeah, want some Adderall?”

AD: How’d Joe get wrapped into the mix?

JOE SCHORGL: Well, I met Andy through Max, who used to be in the band. We got together in Andy’s basement and started playing, then Rob joined later.

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AD: How does JOE & OTIS tie into this. Was it a project you had before THE SUEVES or is it just a comic strip?

JS: That’s a pretty sensitive question. I don’t really know who Otis is. Andy do you know who Otis is?

AM: I’m not Otis.

AD: How have you guys grown since you started THE SUEVES?

AM: OK, so we started as a three piece, then Rob joined the band and we were a four piece, then we lost a member now we’re a three piece again.

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AD: What’s the songwriting process like?

JS: Recently we’ve been playing together and making stuff up on the spot. I used to come in with guitar parts and we’d all just kind of add something to it, then I’d spend a long time trying to out words into it.

AD: You guys have been playing with the same bands for a few years now. How have you seen the scene grow and change in that time?

JS: It’s different. There’s a lot more bands that seem to be doing things. I think that we are slightly more serious. We’ve always been a live band, we’d play any show. I remember the first time the Bottle got upset with us for playing a show a week before a show we had booked there and we just didn't fucking get it. We were like, why do you care? Now I get it.

AM: Now we can rely more on ourselves as opposed to other people. In the past we’d always have to borrow a car or something. Now Joe has his van. We also were really lucky to have people recording our shows and stuff.

AD: Yeah, you guys have so many live videos, it’s nuts. Do you ask people to do that?

AM: No, never.

AD: The Knock Out comp was pretty gnarly. Got any other compilations in the works?

RP: Dogs vomiting.

AD: Out of all the places you’ve played, where is your favorite place to play in Chicago?

JS: Without sounding too cliche, I think I’d have to say the Empty Bottle. It was one of the first bigger shows we played, one of the first screen printed posters I made for a show here.

AD: Do you like to use THE SUEVES as an outlet for your illustrative background?

JS: I’ve always liked to combine the two. One frustration I’ve always had is that people always talk about art and music as if they are two separate things, which really isn’t the case.

AD: So, the name THE SUEVES comes from the name of a tribe you read about. What would your tribe M.O. be?

JS: “Why do a whole 360 when you could go 280.”

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AD: You guys are pretty elusive on the net. Is that intentional?

JS: Not really, but  I do think things at their purest level should just speak for themselves. This is something I struggle with daily, what to fucking think of the internet. I’m learning how to let something speak for itself through the internet, but a live show should be a live show, and I don’t want to hear about your fucking band telling me I need to be there on the internet.

AD: What’s on the horizon for THE SUEVES? The last thing you released was in 2013, right? It’s 2015 now, guys.

JS: Yeah, we’ve got some top secret things in the works, we also have a 7” coming out with HoZac at the end of this month. It’s great, we got the test pressing and are each taking turns having it and listening to it. We’re just waiting for it to get made, waiting for that big brown box.

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--------------------------------------Words & photos by Ashleigh DyeDrawing by Joe SchorglCATCH THE SUEVES FRIDAY NIGHT when they headline The Bottle with LALA LALA, THE FUNS and EARRING. It's ONLY $5 to get in!

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There are times when my life can feel like a fairy tale, and it all started Once Upon A Time in the sunshine filled, rolling hills of Athens, Ohio. Where the town is small, but house shows happen often, where nature reigns supreme and one of the most tight-knit communities finds a home. Athens is also the birthplace of DARK CIRCLES RECORDS, a label and collective devoted to producing and promoting independent music and art.A few years has passed since the genesis of DCR and myself, along with what I will call a power team of friends that make up the masterminds of DCR and half of SODDY DAISY have since transplanted to the one and only Chicago, Illinois. What started as a group of my closest friends loosely putting out albums and throwing a lot of parties, has begun to grow into a driving force in the DIY scene, becoming more efficient and confident every step of the way. From the outside it's easy to dismiss yet another DIY tape label emerging on the scene, but from the inside, knowing that a group of people you love is working towards bettering a community you love, well nothing can bring a tear to your eye more quickly.Tonight DCR is celebrating the release of it's first, of many, compilations and all the hard work it took to put it together. The track lists includes bands from varying genres and locations including some local legends like RABBLE RABBLE, THE LEMONS,  NEGATIVE SCANNER, and new comers SODDY DAISY. To say that this compilation is unique is an understatement, from the tracks to the custom made packing, everything about this comp is special. I got to catch up with my good pal, Maureen Neer of SODDY DAISY to talk about life post-Ohio and the growing musical empire surrounding SODDY DAISY and DCR.ASHLEIGH DYE: Living in Athens made you no stranger to playing shows and being involved in a community based music scene, but what were some of the more major transitions/adjustments that went along with doing the same thing in a much larger place?MAUREEN NEER: I think I got really lucky meeting the Young Camelot dudes so soon after we moved here...it was like, maybe two months in? I came to Chicago with two really specific goals in mind: to play in a band that worked a lot--shows, recording, tour, partying, ya know. Also to get better at cooking. I think we're still in the fledgling stage, but we're all about working hard and building community.AD: How do SODDY DAISY and YOUNG CAMELOT co-exist?MN: There's limited band cross-over at Young Camelot, because we try to showcase a diverse range of music from Chicago and elsewhere. We don't want to constantly book shows with our own bands on the bill, because then people wouldn't come to YC shows. There are so many awesome reasons why I love being involved in YC, and we definitely work with them. Now that we're in the church, YC has gotten REAL. Like, now at YC we print shirts, are potentially partnering with Dark Circles Records for distribution, we can record bands and every live performance, we have film screenings, plays... and the list goes on. We want to come up with a better way of paying performers and helping them record and promote their music. There are also twelve of us that run YC, and we all have different interests and talents, which is why we can offer a band pretty much any service they'll need cheaper than going to a different place for every thing. We want to be a positive part of the community that not only throws bangers, but helps people out. Mostly because we're all weirdos who don't want real jobs, so we're trying to find ways to do what we love. Which is music, art, and having a grand ole time.AD: What do you value most about being apart of a community of people with similar goals?MN: I think the best thing about finding your group, especially in a city as big as Chicago, is that you have so many ideas to bounce off of really talented, creative people. It really produces amazing art and music, and you know, makes life worth living and shit....

AD: SODDY DAISY is barely a year old, but has been making some major headway in Chicago. What have been some of your highs and lows so far?MN: Fighting. We got some stubborn-ass people in our band, I am definitely one of them, so sometimes shit gets, uh, volatile. They flare up quick, but don't last long. I think whenever we play a really awesome show, that's when I feel the happiest. It's the mixture of adrenaline and drugs and shouting and dancing. It's like musical therapy, I think. 

AD: How did you all meet?MN: Well, as you know, Chris Lee was apart of our caravan from Ohio to Chicago. Chris met HoneyHole Johnson and went over to play music at his house, which was the old Young Camelot on Chillwaukee Ave. One night Chris came back to the apartment and was like, "yo, you gotta come over and play with these dudes".  So, eventually I did and it was with Christian and Joey. The very cool dudes over at Situations had booked me for a show already, and I didn't know what to do, so I was like, "you guys wanna play a show in two weeks?" and that was it.

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AD: Why do you think DIY spaces are so valuable?MN: DIY spaces are crucial because they are havens of unfettered creativity. They promote positive community and take care of the people in it. And the music is better .

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AD: You and your drummer, Chris Lee, have been involved with Dark Circles for quite sometime, can you give us a rundown of your guys' history with the label?MN: I've really just recently become actively involved with DCR. Back in Athens, I didn't really do anything with them, other than drugs  (just kidding, mom). They put out two of my old bands--ELTON JOHNNY and M.O.P. Chris Lee was recording a lot of that stuff in his basement; the Danger Room. It was always freezing and I was always there until sun rise and people were always coming through and partying. It also helped that it was a stones throw from my house. One day I remember I was catching some rays on my roof, and I could see and hear Chris playing banjo. Like a creep. Now I'm doing more PR for DCR,  because I'm out at shows a lot and have met a lot of awesome bands, and we're trying to really get situated here in Chicago. We're new, but word's getting out, so it's really exciting to watch that unfold here. I feel like a geek, but I'm starting to do what I've really always wanted to do here in Chicago, and I'm happy as a clam.AD: What's in store for SODDY DAISY'S future?MN: The future of Soddy Daisy? Millions, hookers, rehab, and then hopefully, someday, a reality show on VH1.AD: What are you most excited about for tonight's compilation release?MN: Playing with our dudes from Athens, WEIRD SCIENCE!WORDS & PHOTOS BY: ASHLEIGH DYE

OSHWA is the musical brain child of Alicia Walter, starting as a solo piece, growing into the wondrously chaotic four-piece it is today. OSHWA's sound is a sonic landscape, bursting at the seams with Walter's exuberant and romantic vocals and dynamic instrumentals, all set to an array of erratic and complex time tempos.  I talked with Walter about learning to appreciate the more rigid parts of music and OSHWA's journey to a truer, more stripped down sound.

ASHLEIGH DYE: Do you want to start by telling me how OSHWA got started?

ALICIA WALTER: It started in 2010 as a solo project of mine. I was living in a co-op in Rogers Park and going to Loyola at the time, I had just transferred from Illinois Wesleyan. I was studying piano and decided that I wasn't really into that. So, I transferred to Loyola and moved into this co-op with 16 other people. It was really fun, we all encouraged each others creative process. I started throwing shows there around the same time I started the project. Jordan was the first person to join the band, it was sort of a duo for a while. We were a full band with four members about ten months after that.

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AD: You grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, how did that affect your view on the music scene once you got here?

AW: There was actually a really awesome music scene just in the suburbs, too. In high school I was going to a lot of shows in the suburbs. I remember coming to the city for one show at a DIY space, that I can’t even remember the name of, at the time it was really crazy to me. That wasn't something I did all the time. Its funny, because where I grew up had a really good band scene and I thought that was just how it was for everyone. Some of those people are still active in Chicago now. I think the DIY nature of things really shaped what I thought was possible when coming to Chicago.

AD: Outside of what you are physically able to play, where do you see your classically trained background in OSHWA?

AW: Three of the four of us have a decent background in classical music, I think that informs lot of our decisions in ways we can’t even really see in the moment. I think our ears tend to lean toward certain sounds that they otherwise wouldn't without our classical backgrounds. I definitely, now, really value that education. At the time when I was in college and turning away piano I was all “fuck the system, I’m sick of the rules.” But, now I feel like the rules are there for a reason and I’m so glad I know how to do some of the stuff that I was originally very against.

AD: You had this great thing you said in another interview you did that went something along the lines of “Why am I playing this piece of music for hours that so many other people have played and will play better than I will.” Which was pretty thought provoking for me.

AW: That was one of my major frustrations with studying piano. When you’re studying performance you aren't studying the way people write music, or how to write music, you’re studying how to be a performer. And in terms of piano, classical piano performance has a very limited market for jobs and actual success. Anyone is better than you, if you can do it someone can do it better than you.AD: Would you say that’s what you appreciate about having that background and having OSHWA as an outlet? You get to create your own music and standards.AW: I think studying music so professionally for so long gave me a strong sense of discipline that makes your standards really high, because you’re used to having to prove yourself daily to your professors. I think we all come from that standpoint, we really have high personal standards and high standards as a group for what we put out. And it definitely feels good to be creating and writing what you’re spending so much time playing.

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AD: What’s the songwriting process like for you guys? There is so much layering happening is there a certain line that comes first?

AW: Chamomile Crushis coming from a billion different places and I think we’ll look back on it as the album where we figured out how to do anything. We were recording and writing at the same time and recording ourselves, then we were recording with other people, then we re-recorded everything and recorded again, it was a crazy messed up totally un-guided process. The instrumental parts on Chamomile Crush were written totally by me, which felt nice because I was able to use my degree and the things I've learned. Now the process is a little bit different. We used to write chunks then piece them together, now I’ve been presenting a whole song to the band and we either strip it down, or add to it with other people. I think it’s becoming more streamlined, now that we are getting the rhythm of it.

AD: You’re working on a lot of new stuff right now, right?

AW: Yeah, we haven’t recorded any of it yet, right now most of our live set is new music. It’s exciting to see the new direction we are going in. With this sophomore album I think all the math-rock connotations will be dropped. It’s still rhythmically interesting, but we aren’t doing like crazy time signature changes. Now its way more like, “Here’s a pop song.” I don't think we’re simplifying in a bad way, we’re just figuring out how to do it our way. A lot of our old stuff was very chaotic and I think it was just us trying to figure out how to do something that sounds different. Now we’ve come back around and just want to jam out and take it easy. Everything is so much easier that way, too. Practice is a lot harder when your time tempos are so crazy. Having been exposed to a lot of music I think you get this mentality that “We can do this so differently and crazier”, but then you realize “Oh, I actually can enjoy just cruising around and listening to something like Beach House.”

AD: I think people can get into a mind space where they feel like if their stuff is outwardly different or unique that there isn't as much value to it. You did a block 2 block segment on living in Pilsen and talked about how much art and graffiti is around, which is all so incredible and vibrant. When you talked about that all I could think about was how your music seems to be the sonic interpretation of Pilsen’s vibrant art scene. Do you think that informs or inspires your sound at all?

AW: It does on various levels. You don’t see the street art you do here anywhere else in the city, it’s something you can't ignore, it just seeps into you. Pilsen is still somewhat off the beaten path, we aren’t Wicker Park or Lakeview, it’s still a lot of families. I really value being surrouned by people who aren’t all like me. Also, Pilsen is not centrally located at all. You’re a little bit more closed off and when you’re trying to work on something that can be a really good thing. When we were really heavily writing for Chamomile Crush that was something that really helped.

AD: You guys went on your first big tour last summer, did you have any major first tour band lessons that you learned?

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AW: Oh my god, Jesus Christ yes. We were really ambitious, I booked the tour, and we didn’t stay in a single city for more than a day. We played 20 shows in 18 days. We were constantly moving, there was never any chill time. The nature of doing it DIY and sleeping on people’s couches, getting back at three in the morning then having to leave again at eight caused us all to hit a wall. Like, I can’t physically do this again!words & photos by Ashleigh Dye.Listen to OSHWA here.Don't miss OSHWA tonight with BUKE & GASE and PALM. 

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I was first introduced to Mutual Benefit in late 2009 through some mutual friends Jordan Lee and I shared in a small town in Ohio - the cassette I bought that year has played constantly throughout my life during the last five years. The songs act as a time machine, slowly whisking me away, taking me on a winding voyage back in time to hiking trails and rooftop beers with large groups of friends.For anyone who's listened to Mutual Benefit it's easy to see that it's not the just musical mind space of the prolific Jordan Lee, but a living, breathing musical entity that grows and evolves with each new experience. What started as a group of recordings done in a spider-filled basement, has blossomed into a full-blown lazer-folk dreamscape. With wondrous cameos of both people and instruments sprinkled throughout each song, the discography acts as a map of Mutual Benefit's past and future, tiny clues that shed some light on the journey that Lee has embarked on as Mutual Benefit. I caught up with Jordan before his show at the Bottle to talk about how Mutual Benefit has grown, sources of inspiration, and what being on a larger label means to him.  ASHLEIGH DYE: Your earlier recordings, especially those cassettes you made and put out, were recorded on smaller, more toy-like equipment, which was a huge element to your sound. How has that morphed and grown as Mutual Benefit has grown?JORDAN LEE: On all my recordings I try and just use what's around, so on those earlier recordings I had a lot of stuff that I had picked up at garage sales and thrift stores. For Love’s Crushing Diamond I went back to this recording studio I had interned at in Texas, he had a Moog synth and all these old Korgs from the 80’s. It was fun to be able to use those. People can kind of be low-fi snobs, like they think if it’s a good piece of equipment they won’t use it, but that’s silly. It’s kind of funny, because in some environments when you’re playing a show every day and you have to do efficient sound checks you need things to work really well. So I have this Casio that I love the sound of, but it was giving us a lot of trouble on stage. Our drummer, Dylan, who’s so much smarter than me at most things, sampled the Casio onto a sampling keyboard. So we have this really high-tech keyboard on stage, but it’s just playing a reproduction of an 80’s Casio.AD: Nice, I like the inventiveness! That seems pretty true to MUTUAL BENEFIT as a whole. You’ve traveled around and move so much that you rely on what’s around and what you can make happen. Have you released any other cassettes aside from the Spider Heaven/Drifting split?JL: I did I Saw the Sea on cassette. It was tied into this Kickstarter that we did years ago. We got invited to do a bunch of stuff for SXSW, but we couldn’t afford to get there. We did the Kickstarter for $400 so we could buy a second ticket. I released I Saw the Sea around that time, so if you bought a cassette it just helped us get there. I did a pretty good job getting all the rewards and tapes out to people, but there was one guy named Ben and his cassette came back to me as undeliverable. At the time I was moving a lot and just forgot to resend it, and I guess he lives in DC. This happened three years ago, but he messaged me last week when we played DC and he had donated $50 and was supposed to get all this stuff. He said “you got that I Saw the Sea cassette for me? You’re two years late!” and I totally didn’t have it and he messaged me back saying “you owe me $50!” So I PayPaled him the money back. That’s the dark side to DIY.AD: Have you put anything out on Kassette Klub in a while?JL: It’s pretty much totally defunct. Running a label is the exact opposite of touring. You have to be in one spot for extended periods of time and really diligent. I think a lot of people start labels for the same reason, they have friends who are doing amazing things, but no one knows or cares about it. The older I got the more I realized that someone else would do a way better job with their stuff than I could. I started to feel like I was really fucking up the careers of these people that I cared about. It’s funny because Sam, who’s playing tonight, I put out his cassette tape and totally screwed it up. I sent a corrupted file to the pressing plant and got sent 250 cassettes where side B was blank. That was one of the defining moments where I realized I wasn’t very fit to do this. I had a really interesting conversation with a friend who runs a label called Crash Symbols, they put out a lot of interesting things and are very professional, I was visiting them in West Virginia and thinking that we’re all doing this tape thing, maybe we can all band together and make it a big thing and I told him about it and he said “I definitely don’t want to do that, it sounds awful.” He went on to explain that he didn’t want to get bigger and was more than happy doing runs of 100 tapes. Which was a really interesting thing to think about, that some people are happy and complacent at different levels of action.AD: How often do you go back and listen to your earlier recordings? That Spider Heaven/Drifting cassette you made the year I met you has gotten an insane amount of playtime, it always takes me right back to that time in my life.JL: The further away I get from them, the less I listen to them. I listen to them every six months. They evoke a really strange array of memories for me. Especially Spider Heaven. I had just moved back to Ohio and was bouncing between an apartment in Columbus and living in the basement of my parents’ house. It’s called Spider Heaven because the room I recorded in in my parent’s basement had spiders everywhere. When they have babies they shoot these balloons out that are filled with 100’s of spider babies. I think it’s actually called ballooning.AD: Was MUTUAL BENEFIT your first musical project? Were you doing anything while growing up in Pickerington, Ohio?JL: In Pickerington I had a shitty pop punk band, with a lot of people that I’m actually still friends with. It was kind of Christian pop punk.AD: Where you literally singing about God, or was it just really posi?JL: The vibes were subtle, they were subtle God vibes. My parents let us have shows in the basement, we used to play at this golf course cabin, but the shows got too weird and they stopped letting us book there. I remember my mom was a 5th grade teacher, so she was always using all this clipart, and she printed out this picture of a droopy police dog and it said “Don’t Do Any Drugs.” She hung them up everywhere. Later after that I was recording some pop songs under my name.AD: Cowboy Prayer and your earlier stuff was recorded by just you, but with Love’s Crushing Diamond there were more many more outside influences in the recordings, right?JL: Yeah, the songs started out as shitty demos, then I would end up meeting someone and we would spend three or four pretty intense days together recording and playing and I would take those and fit them into the songs.AD: Did that have a lot to do with how often you moved around? What I really love about MUTUAL BENEFIT is that these cameos of musicians that are throughout the album can kind of pin point you to a certain geographical location.JL: I was starting to feel like the songs would never get done, I had worked on them for over a year. It felt like a thing that I would always be working on. It was really nice to be able to bring in fresh influences. I definitely treated it like a hobby, at times. Like I’d be with a group of people already hanging out with a bunch of guitars around, so lets just play some chords over this and see what happens.AD: You’re pretty stationed in New York right now, correct? You’ve been there about a year? How has that affected your sound, you’ve mentioned a few times that a big part of how you stay so inspired is constantly moving to new places and experiencing new people and things. Have you had to change what inspires you?JL: I’ve been in New York about a year exactly. We’ve been on the road about 70% of this year, so I am still very enamored by New York, it almost feels like I’m visiting when I’m there. When I first got there my living situation was just the worst ever, I was sharing a room with my partner and our friend. We had to air mattresses and a bunch of blankets and just called it Mega Bed. So we just were all sleeping on Mega Bed, then Dylan helped us make a loft so it upgraded to a bunk bed, now we finally have the room to ourselves. I think for a long time I wasn’t very satisfied being in one spot, I would get ansty and if a situation got weird I would think “oh I need to get on the road and be free.” I think I've grown up a little bit, to where if I have conflicts or I feel bored or weird I actually want to work it out, instead of just moving to a new city. This is also the first time I’ve been in a long-term relationship, I’m an aspiring norm.AD: Where do you think you’d want to go post new York?JL: It might seem stereotypical, but I really loved Berlin. We got to stay there for a few days on tour and the people there were so interesting and I felt really at home. There are fun little towns like Portland, or Austin where you meet these great, interesting people. Berlin felt like that, only bigger and weirder.AD: So, obviously the people that you’ve met and the experiences you’re having affect your sound, but do you think the literal geographic location you were in while writing or recording played a large role in the sound of your music?JL: Yeah, definitely. I think it’s both subtle and not subtle. The best example is Statue of a Man is about being on a train, because I was literally on a train. A lot of that album was written in St. Louis and I basically had no idea what I was doing with my life in Boston, it was so expensive and I was starting to really not like it, so I took a break and was in St. Louis for a long time. I kind of didn’t make any friends and had some really cheap rent where I could record, but anytime I went outside, the part of St. Louis I was in was so bleak and desolate and used to be a certain type of way, I think some of the songs about destruction and rebuilding, in retrospect, had a lot to do with where I was living.AD: You mentioned in an interview that being on a label where your requests, musically, can be really easily met is something that makes you feel anxious. Why does the addition of, nearly, limitless opportunity turn you off?JL: The MO for this band forever has just been to let fate somewhat dictate. If there’s not a certain type of instrument around I won’t imagine incorporating it into the song. So, when I started talking to different labels about the next record and they were telling me “figure out what you want it to sound like and we’ll make it happen” it started to really freak me out, because it’s just a totally different way of doing things than I am used to. I think the biggest reason it’s scary is because what I like to do is really take my time on a group of songs, and let life experiences happen, and to have people come in and out of my life, and for this thing to be the product of that. That you can feel that time has passed through the songs, and I think a label wants almost the exact opposite of that. “Write some songs, take a week to record them, we’ll set the release date, hopefully it lines up with festival season so we can get the single out at the right time…” Just hearing all the phrases, makes me feel like “aw, I don’t know if I want to do this.” The people on the label were super nice and helpful, but they just accidentally set off all my anxiety alarms.AD:  How do you plan to keep a sense of spontaneity in your work?JL: I have two ideas. One is to set a pretty good buffer time in between this tour and starting to write again. I want to take on some part time jobs and reincorporate into the human race. I think it really messes with your head, everyday playing a show, marketing people talking to you about how many presales there are for a show, and what blogs you should talk to, and what markets, that’s what they call cities, you need to hit. It can be dehumanizing. I definitely want to get out of that headspace. Another idea I have which started as a whim, which I have whims of ideas all the time, but this one I’ve had for over a year, which is to teach music lessons to kids. I’m not particularly good at any one instrument, but I think it could be great to meet kids and really talk with them about what they are trying to do and build a curriculum around what inspires them, make them do some really hippy stuff like write in a journal.

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Big Dipper's got a one track mind, and it's headed full-force into the depths of his own success and happiness. Ever since releasing his first EP, 2013's They Ain't Ready, the Chicago-bred rapper has quickly become everyone's favorite filth and slime-covered bear. With his inspiring confidence on stage, a personality that is wildly vivacious, his ability to stay true to himself and those around him, and a beats/flow comb that makes you want to shake your booty for the rest of eternity, it's pretty damn easy to see why we fall so hard for Brooklyn's next biggest thing. (He lives in Brooklyn now.)Big Dipper came back to the Bottle last week for a show that started with a panel discussion, hosted by the Illinois Humanities Council, and transitioned - seamlessly, we might add - into celebrations of drag, performance, femininity, and self-expression. In between sets, Big Dipper and I had some sidewalk sausages and talked all things Big Dips. We also saws some really cute dogs and danced in the street.ASHLEIGH DYE: I know hip hop and rap were a big part of your childhood, but when did the performance and visual aspect come into play? When did you realize you wanted to fuse all of those elements into Big Dipper?BIG DIPPER: Well, I went to theater school, so I was also really attracted to performance and showmanship and putting on a spectacle. I was working in Chicago doing video work. I was working as an assistant. We were doing really basic videos for non-profits and I saw the potential for video work. I realized all you need is a vision and access to the equipment. It was immediately after I made my first song as Big Dipper that I wanted to do a video for it. It was originally going to be a one-off, we made Drip Drop, and then we made the Drip Drop video. I even made a Kickstarter for it, it was the first thing I did.  I’ve always been about the music, the visual, the performance, the everything. I don’t see myself as a trained musician. I don’t really have good pitch, I can’t really sing, but I know what sounds good and the type of story telling I want a song to have. That’s what I’m attracted to: The whole picture.AD: Do your live shows have as much planning as your music videos?BD: Absolutely, definitely when I first started. Any time I work with back-up dancers we’ll have a rehearsal, we’ll talk through the entire set list, we’ll talk about all the story telling aspects of each song. Like, this song is about fucking, this next song is about falling in love, this songs about turning up at the party, so how do those feed into one another? I plan my live sets like that.AD: What’s it take to be a Big Dipper back up dancer?BD: You have to have a lot of personality. You have to be pretty fearless, too.  I just did a show up in Ithaca and my three back-up dancers were some of my friends. One runs an organic good company, one is a baker who makes vegan cupcakes, the other one is a teacher’s aid for a special needs class. None of them are trained dancers, but they’re my friends and they’re super down to shake their ass. That’s what it’s about. It’s about attitude and having fun, not who can put their leg highest.AD: The first time I saw you the backup dancers were one of my many favorite parts of the show.  They were throwing it down, but also looked like some normal-ass people.BD: I don’t look like the typical rapper. If you sort of play into 90’s stereotypes of gay men, that very trim, clean shaven man, I don’t look like that either.  I’m not stereotypical across the board, so I don’t strive to have any of the aspects of my show be stereotypical.AD: How does BD existing in Brooklyn differ from BD existing in Chicago?BD: I mean, Brooklyn is a different city, but I feel like I exist the same. The clubs and parties are different in BK and Chicago, but it's all about the people really. I have such a strong home base in Chicago with artists and performers that I want to work with for the rest of my life, but that is growing, too, in the Brooklyn and NYC communities that I am a part of.AD: You have such a commanding confidence about you and your music; it's so compelling. What's the source of your confidence?BD: Hmmm, not sure. I mean I know when I'm good at something I feel confident. But, often times I feel shy or awkward when I don't have a job to do, came to a party alone, or don't know an environment.  When I'm playing a show that is where I am meant to be, up on the stage performing. Knowing that I am doing my job, in the right place, it gives me endless confidence. But, that confidence point can easily waver, and when I get tripped up, I can fall really hard and get down on myself, so when I've got it, I revel in that moment.AD: You've developed such a good amount of grime to your sound! I love "My Phone Go." It's very Missy Elliot circa 2002. How do you keep things so slimy? What comes first, the beats or the raps?BD: The beats always come first. Sometimes I write rhymes here and there on the train, I sort of come up with ideas. But mostly it's when I hear a beat I just start with whatever pops in my head and the song takes shape pretty quickly after that. With the right combo of me and a producer in the studio, I feel like we can make a song in about an hour or less.AD:  Watching and hearing what you’ve done from They Aint Ready to the new stuff you’ve been putting out, it seems like you have really hit your stride. Was there a specific breakthrough moment?BD: Well, I’m not very patient, so They Ain’t Ready is literally the first five songs I ever made. There was nothing made during that time that I was like “No, we aren’t going to use that.” So, I am so hungry to get in the studio and work on new material. I put out a mix tape last October and anyone who has been coasting on a mix tape for over a year, I mean c’mon! A bunch of my new stuff is going to be really crazy and out there. When I first started I had a very narrow version of what I could talk about and what I waned to talk about. That has really evolved, especially since moving to Brooklyn and meeting other artist and musicians, and since gaining my own confidence to be a rapper. My flow is different, what I consider doing is different. I'm just working hard, challenging myself to get better with each track, and pushing my own limits of what I think I'm capable of doing. It is really easy to put yourself in a box after making one song or making one video.... to think "this is all I'm capable of."  So if I continue to challenge myself to grow as an artist and MC, then my shit will only get better.AD: I really love the new tunes you’ve been putting out, especially "Love Jam," literally the best love song I've ever heard; I keep singing it to my boyfriend. It also seems like the first time we've seen a softer side to BD. What inspired you to slow things down a bit?BD: I just wanted to do something different. Everyone always expects me to be so raunchy in person, but it really just comes out of me when I perform or record, so I wanted to challenge myself to do something sweeter. I love "Love Jam," as well.AD: Describe Big Dipper's best date. BD: Sex. Food. Movie on the couch. Sex. Donuts. AD: What’s your dream video collaboration?BD: Oh man, to me it’s always about scale. I feel confident in my artistry, I feel confident in my collaborators, and I think that we think things through well and have good visions. With unlimited budget I just think about everything I could have done with our past videos, everything that we are doing, just blowing it up bigger. It’s like Drake says, "no new friends." Chicago people are people I was making art with three years ago and if anything ever were to pop off and leave me with more financial resources I just want to keep working with the same people I’ve been working with, just on a larger scale.AD: I can’t wait to see "Vibbin'." You’ve been such a tease with all those photos you’re posting!BD: I literally look like a Disney princess in that video. The way that whole thing comes together looks like a Disney situation and then I have another new video that’s such like a green screen, Tumblr, very sort of independent music act type video. Being able to put both those things out in the world, being able to self-fund the green screen video and raise almost $10,000 for the other one, I feel so lucky I can straddle those two worlds. I just want to do it on a much bigger scale.AD: Rap can be so focused on hyperbole and exaggeration. Why is it important to you to stay true to yourself and rap about your life? BD: Rap is about authenticity, and even if other MCs brag about money and cars and sex and whatever, I don't have that lifestyle and I would feel foolish talking about it. I'm broke, I’m an artist, I'm gay, I have a lot of sex, I like to crack jokes, and I like to dance with my friends... and eat donuts and sandwiches... basically, that's what my music is about. I have written for other people before, and I would have to edit myself because I tried hard to make sure it sounded authentic for them, to their experience. That is the most important part of writing, I think. Well, hooks are important, writing stuff that sticks in your head is good, but when it comes to lyrics and subject matter, if you aren't writing from a real place, it is really transparent.AD: What's the significance of keeping your real name obscured?BD: I originally kept my name obscured because I liked the theatricality of it, this sort of mystery performer, but most people know my name at this point, and it isn't too hard to find out. Also, my parents weren't thrilled when I started making youtube videos, but they are into it now... AD: What does your Mom think about your raps? Has she been to a show? Was the intro to "Thick Life" a re-enactment of a real conversation you guys had?BD: The "Thick Life" voicemail is based on MANY conversations I've had with my mom. She hasn't really heard much of the music, but both my parents have watched a few of the tamer YouTube videos. They are supportive because they see that get to travel for shows and play fun gigs and that there are people out there who like what I'm doing. As long as I don't ask for money, I think we are goodAD: Lastly, what has been your favorite part of your journey as Big Dipper?BD: Everyday it is something new. I have played a ton of really amazing gigs, through crowd sourcing I've had the opportunity to shoot a bunch of cool music videos. I mean, I'm basically living out a super fun dream, and surviving.  I'm still alive. Who could really ask for anything more.Words, interview and photos by Ashleigh Dye 

If you ever want to feel like there are rays of sunshine bursting through your eyeballs and have a smile so wide it hurts, than look no further, because The Lemons are here for you. The bubblegum pop sensation is just over a year old, but has quickly become  a Chicago staple. Armed with some of the catchiest songs ever written and a carefree attitude, The Lemons are always a good time. I caught up with three out of six Lemons and talked about the secret to Lemon success, the song they can never play again, and even gave them a little lesson on ICP culture. Plus, after the interview get a sneak peak at a never-heard-before-brand-spanking-new Lemon's song!ASHLEIGH DYE: Do you guys want to start by telling me about the genesis of THE LEMONS?MAX LEMON: We had some jingles, we being Kramer and I. We started SLUSHY together a few years ago, more or less. Then I stopped playing SLUSHY, stopped playing music, and then I said, “Hey, I’ve got some jingles, help me with these jingles, Kram.”AD: What were the jingles about?ML: Ice cream shop, Best Day, Elephant, Kool-Aid Box. The core tunes that are on this tape that we have, before you know it we finished some recordings, before you know it is about five months, by the way. That was it, really. We needed a drummer, and we found the Juice Man.CK: I moved into this apartment in February or so and Max lives above me so we just started hanging out and playing guitar down here, making jingles for the VIKING SHOP, for LOGAN THEATER, for parking meters….JUICY JAMES: I was walking by the right place at the right time.AD: Literally just walking by?JJ: Yeah, well maybe I was on a bike. I saw Chris and told him “I love SLUSHY so much..” Do you remember when I rode my bike by you and told you how much I love SLUSHY? It all happened from there…AD: What’s the most important part of being a Lemon?  You seem to have a ‘don’t take yourselves too seriously’ motto.ML: Oh no, we’re very serious, very, very, very serious.  We have a good time. We hang a little bit.  There’s nothing to it, really. People come and go as they please. We haven’t practiced as a whole band in nine months!AD: How do you guys keep the vibes so posi?CHRIS TWIST: We don’t let people think about things too much. All our songs are 30-60 seconds and out set is 10 or 11 minutes. If we stretched that out and doubled it people would start to get annoyed with The Lemons, but we don’t give them the chance.

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AD: Describe the ‘best day’ for The Lemons.

ML: Today was pretty great; we got our tape re-released. Have we ever had a terrible day as a Lemon?CT: No, everyday as a Lemon is a best day. That’s why we play that song at every show. When we go to Atlantic City and gamble a bunch, when we go swimming in the ocean at midnight, or when we see a seal...

AD: Wait, you saw a seal on tour?

CT: In California. A seal poked its head out of the water and tried to eat my toe.JJ: It was very cute, but we were very afraid of it.  He just had a really funny smile on his face and was way too close.

AD: Seals are like the wolves of the ocean.

CT: Yeah, like wild dogs. If you see one seal, there’s probably three or four.

AD: The video for "Lemoncita", that pretty true to most Lemon shows?

ML: It’s not just a video, it’s a interactive online game. Just tossin' that out there for the airwaves.

AD: How’d you guys make the video, just record a live set?

JJ: Our homie

Jordan Spear

, who has done a lot for us, made it. He also designed the

Tripp Tapes

logo, and 

GARY Records

gave him $100, and he gave us the best video of all time.ML: It’s not just a video…

AD: How has the writing style progressed now that you’re just over a year old?

ML: This is the three, it started out as two, Twist and Lemon, and then Juicy James came in.

AD: Do you have any new material in the works? 

CT: Yeah, we’ve got a new EP we’ve been working on that will come out on

Metal PostCard

, out of Hong Kong.

AD: How did that get set up?

ML:

THE MEMORIES

, who we toured with, has done a couple releases with them. Through them the owner of Metal PostCard found us and said “Hey, I really dig your tunes, would you want to do a release with us? Whatever you guys wanna do.”

AD: How was the rest of your tour with

TWIN PEAKS

? Other than seeing a seal and witnessing part of the roof of

Babys All Right being torn off

…

ML:  MEMORIES tour was the best, and TWIN PEAKS was just as great, if not greater. We sounded, in my mind, tip top on this TWIN PEAKS tour. We finally gelled completely.CT: We were able to have the whole band for each show, which is rare. Having our full line-up for every show was dynamite. We played nice venues where we got free meals, you cant argue with that.

AD: How many times have you guys tripled-scooped at a set?

JJ: Ugh, no…we’ve been quadruple scooping lately.ML: No more. We’re actually done playing Ice Cream Shop. We’ve retired it.CT: Yeah, we played that song, like, 500 times in six months. It’s like the McRibb of The Lemons.

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AD: Would you guys consider spraying your crowd with lemonade, similar to ICP?

CT: What do they spray their crowd with?

AD: You guys don’t know? They get fire hoses and

spray everyone with Faygo

at their shows; it’s mutually desired and loved.

JJ: NO! We would do that; for sure we would do that!

Here's a sneak peak, extra special, first time listen to one of the new tunes The Lemons have in store for us:

Catch them WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27TH with THE DUTCHESS AND THE DUKE and  BRIAN CASE. Tickets

HERE

.

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File this post under 'people to remember.' I'm sitting in the dimly lit store front of  Shake Shop, drummer Tom Cassling's guitar/amp repair shop and I don't know if it's the fact that it feels like October in July, or the giant, docile rottweiler named Gucci Mane we've just befriended outside, but being with the humans that comprise NEGATIVE SCANNER give me a pleasant sense of calm. The group emanates a refreshing sense of ease being together, and their talk of collaborative song writing tells me they work remarkably well together, a trait that's not always easy to come by in bands.The conversation flows seamlessly between us as we talk of the wonder of Athens, Ohio and local music communities, and how NEGATIVE SCANNER has been going so far. From the looks of it, things have been going pretty well. The quartet has been taking Chicago by storm. With it's compelling lyricism paired with dark, haunting vocals, and throbbing beats laced with fierce, fast guitar lines, it's no wonder people are paying attention. Read on to catch up on the deep origins of NEGATIVE SCANNER, what's important to them while on tour, and underage drinkers.ASHLEIGH DYE: How did NEGATIVE SCANNER come to be?  Did that Craigslist ad work out? Are some of you Internet strangers?TOM CASSLING: Not really, we actually didn’t get that many responses; there was one guy who we considered for a minute.AD: So how did Matt & Nick come to join NS?TC: Nick filled in on drums for his other band UH BONES  and we heard him play bass, he’s a good bass player. Then Matt had a party at his place and talked to him  for about 30 seconds and decided he was decent enough and asked him to join the band.AD: How was the transition from TYLER JOHN TYLER to NEGATIVE SCANNER go?REBECCA VALERIANO-FLORES: It’s pretty different. TJT ended because our old bass player moved,  me and Tom wanted to start a new thing. I had a bunch of new songs that were a little bit different; they were darker than the other band. Now with this band we share song writing more.AD: Is that level of darkness something you get from NEGATIVE SCANNER that you didn’t get from TYLER JOHN TYLER?RFV: Yeah, it’s much darker and fuller and being able to share a more collaborative type of song writing is nice.TC: TJT was also a three piece, so it’s nice having a second guitar.AD: You guys formed in 2012, right? TC: Ooof, yeah. Two and a half years and only one 7", dang.AD: That’s ok I just interviewed CIRCLES and asked what took so long for their album to come out and Sirini informed me that one of his bands took 11 years to put anything out, so you’re still ahead of the curve.Those same 7”’s are for Trouble in Mind and Tall Pat, right?. Who recorded those for you guys?TC: Yeah. That was kind of a mis-mash. We had a couple swings and misses with recording before that. So we took drums and guitars from a recording session we did with Kenny, who does sound over at the Bottle, then we did bass and vocals on a 4-track..AD: Why did you decide to do two separate 7”s as apposed to LP?TC: We had recorded enough for an LP, but just chose the best from it and decided to put those out there instead of fitting it all in. There just wasn’t enough that we felt solid about. AD: Do you guys have plans for an LP?TC: It’s in the works, we are doing the recording ourselves.AD: Rebecca, when I heard you on the Empty Bottle podcast a couple months ago you mentioned that you started playing music when you moved here 9 years ago, what inspired you to pick up a guitar?RFV: I never really played music when I lived in California, then I moved here and started going to really shitty garage shows, although I went to some shows in California, it wasn’t until I moved here that music finally seemed accessible. Once I realized that you only really need to know two cords and don’t even need nice stuff I felt good about trying. I met a bunch of really awesome people here that were willing to take a chance on a kid, or whatever.AD: What about you guys? Where’d you get your musical start?NICK BEAUDOIN: Uh, I’m kind of a prodigy. I was just born with an eight string bass in my hand. Nah, I started when I was 13, playing in shitty punk bands with my friends. Once I moved to Chicago I started playing more serious stuff.MATT REVERS: Well I was in my high school band. I played the baritone.AD: Oh yeah? There are not many baritone players, kind of like the French horn.MR: Yeah, that’s why I picked it. We got to use the school’s instruments and it was shitty look and there was only one, I thought it was very cool.RFV: Is it really big?MR: It’s a small tuba.AD: So, probably still pretty large. A small tuba is a bit of an oxymoron.  Rebecca, your lyrics have an abstraction to them, but they also seem inspired by accessible human experiences. Do you tend to write songs based on things happening to you in your everyday life?RFV: At times I might write some things that are a little abstract sounding, but all of it is grounded in life experience. I don’t get too concept-y. Sometimes a phrase will come up, or just one word that sticks out to it me and it will turn into a song. I like trying to trick people, too. Not trick, but songs will sound like they are about something that they aren’t. I don’t know if you could call it a metaphor, or whatever, but sometimes I try and write a song about not what it sounds like its about...does that make sense?AD: Yes! Also on the podcast they were talking about this song that sounded like it was about a younger sister, but really it was just about a doll.RFV: People are always like “what’s that song about” and I could just tell them something it could be about, but I like having it more open, I can change what it’s about later by not saying something now.AD: Totally, it’s more fun when things are left up to the listener’s interpretations. Who did the video for FAN vs WILD? Did you guys work on it together?RFV: A friend of mine, well I guess I didn’t really know him before, but he was a fan of our old band and he came to us and said he wanted to make a music video. We said yeah, totally, just tell us what to do. So he shot it and edited it all and got my wonderful neighbor to be an extra. Really that had nothing to do with us, and it turned out pretty awesome.AD: Do you guys have plans for more music videos?RFV: Well, yes. We don’t have a concept, per say, yet. We’re going to use between 2 and 5 Go-Pros and will probably shoot some of it at the Empty Bottle on Sunday.AD: You guys have a tour coming up at the end of the summer, how was planning that?TC: We mostly set it up based on being in the car the least amount of hours, so our longest leg in the car is only two hours. Since we’re so new it seems like the places we play aren’t as important.AD: That is very strategic! Are you guys rolling through Ohio? You should totally play in Athens.RFV: Our old band TJT played The Union twice!AD: Oh man that’s great! I love Scott, he books some pretty killer shows there. The Union was my second home for so long.TC: Is WHEELS ON FIRE still around? Or WE MARCH?AD: Ah sadly WHEELS ON FIRE is no more. It breaks my heart, seriously. There was some weird shit that went down with them on tour in Europe a few years ago, their drummer  left early and things kind of dissolved from there. They played a few shows after, but Handsome John, or Tall John based off what you’re into, moved to Columbus last year so things have kind of come to a halt.  WE MARCH has played some shows recently, my friend Zach’s been playing with them.TC: I remember him, he was a character!RFV: Athens was a pretty good time, both times.AD: Yeah, Athens cultivates characters. It’s a party snow globe.  Such a good scene there, too. Lots of good house venues and shit. It’s really fun when all your friends are playing shows down the street from where you live and you thoroughly enjoy their music. RFV: Totally, we try to say yes to house shows, always. AD: Yeah, house shows are great; they cultivate such a sense of community. And they’re great for al those underagers.MR: Yeah, teens need a place to get fucked up, too.AD: True, they need a safe place to booze!MR: Oh, I wouldn’t say it was safe.AD: I guess teens could drink in the street if they wanted.TC: Living in this neighborhood has been great for that sense of community. There are so many bands rooted here and most of the places we play aren’t too far away.

 Catch NEGATIVE SCANNER this Sunday at the  Panache Pitchfork After Party ft the Johnathan Toubin Soul Clap Dance Off! Get your dance moves ready.

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       WORDS & PHOTOS BY ASHLEIGH DYE

It's no secret that the members of CIRCLES have been around the Chicago music block a few times. Featuring members of THE PONYS, FOOTBALL, RADAR EYES, THE HOLY GHOSTS, and and even one of our own talent buyers, the band just released their first LP,

Shadowgraph

, out on the band's own label, Diminished Arc. The group has all but perfected that careless, jangly power-pop sound. With upbeat anthems about dead friends, sweet lullabies to newborns, and a report on Marcus Gravey, Shadowgraph takes the listener on a roller coaster ride through self-aware ironies and tender moments, threading them with foot tappin', hip shakin' guitar and organ-driven pop, complete with vocal harmonies. Tomorrow CIRCLES will be celebrating their release that was three years in the making, alongside BARE MUTANTS and OUTER MINDS.

Earlier this week, as I sat and listened to

Shadowgraph

in it's entirety for the third and fourth times, I talked with Sirini and Melissa about their start at Playboy, how having a baby changes your game, and the harsh reality of long distance relationships.All I have to say about it is this: Sirini, I haven't met you but your sass and aura are radiating from the west coast, through my computer screen, blasting me right in the face. If your charisma and wit are even half as pungent IRL as they are via e-mail, then we are all in for a treat when CIRCLES grace our stage Friday night.

ASHLEIGH DYE: CIRCLES has been around for the better part of 3 years, but this is your first full length LP. What was the hold up? How does it feel to have Shadowgraph out now?

SIRINI: RADHAKRISHNA: Hold up??!?  It took 11 years for one of my old bands, THE GUILTY PLEASURES, to have our record released, so 3 years doesn't really seem that long.  Maybe it's a generational thing?  I'm going to assume you're much younger and accustomed to instant gratification?  But yes, it does feel good to have something tangible to show for the minutes that went into making it.

AD: What's the recipe for pop music for educated, upper-middle class, pretentious white people?

SR: It's simple. Put in very little effort, haphazardly place shit together, and call it "art."

AD: What was the best part about recording with Mike Lust? What was the worst part about recording with Mike Lust? Did "The Glove" make an appearance?

SR: Wait, is "the glove" a thing or did you read about that incident in another interview? If it's the latter, you already know the answer. Mike Lust?  Never heard of him. Is he a porn star? Am I supposed to know that because I worked at Playboy 14 years ago?  Oh wait, I do remember him.  Good actor.

AD: What did you all do at Playboy? How is it essential to the CIRCLES history?

SR: I worked in Rights & Permissions, which was as boring as it sounds. Ken was a web designer, and Melissa worked in magazine's photo department. We knew each other beforehand, but that's where we really bonded over our appreciation for the 20 year old, redneck, NASCAR fan's vision of beauty.

AD: In the words of Tyra Banks, how do you all "make it work" living across the country?

SR: It won't. Long distance relationships seldom work, so I replaced them with BAY ARYANS.  It will probably be a bit more pysch-pop sounding now.  Jon Dwyer is already on board to produce the next record.

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AD: Melissa, how has having a baby altered your role in the band? Has it changed the way you create music?

MELISSA ELLIAS: It was originally Srini, Ken and I as a 3-piece. I was playing bass, keyboards and vocals. I knew I wouldn't want to play as much after being a mom, so they replaced me with AJ on bass and Christen on keyboards. Srini asked me to be a part of the new recordings and saved a song for me to take lead vocals on. This record release show is the only time I will have played live with the new line up. It should be fun. The only thing that has changed is subject matter. I write about whatever is consuming me at the time. It used to be darker and now my head is in a different place.

AD: Can your baby play any instruments yet?

ME: My baby plays the drums, guitar and tambourine. All better than me.

AD: What grade would you give your report/song on Marcus Gravey? What other influential character would you write a song abou

t?SR: Marcus Garvey would probably get a B+ as a 5th grade book report.  I've been tempted to write a song about Casey Kasem, but I may have to hold off for a bit because it's "too soon."Get your tickets to the show

here

.[Words & Interview by Ashleigh Dye; Cover photo by:

John Sturdy

]

In a land deep below the Earth's core, where homes are built from the bones of your enemies and acid drips from cave ceilings, where the Bog of Eternal Stench is a reality and The Humungus reigns, there exists RABBLE RABBLE.  The quartet emerged from the slime of the underworld to join me in an exchange of words over the obnoxious hum of a home tattoo gun and a lot of laughter. Read on and find out whose farts belong to who, why you should definitely get in a van with a stranger who's just shit on the street, and what the more mature Rabble Rabble has to say about life in the internet age. Do your research now and prepare yourselves, for RABBLE RABBLE will be summoning a vortex of demons, farts, and out of this world sonic creations that will tear through the Empty Bottle and all of our souls on the eve of Friday the 13th. It's all in celebration of the release of their new album, BRAIN HOLE, and to start their tour of the underworld off right. RSVP here for free entrance to that live music engagement.

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ASHLEIGH DYE: So Andrew this question is for you specifically: You joined RABBLE RABBLE after it had already been a band for a while - what were your thoughts upon joining?ANDREW KETTERING: Ralph actually used to be in a band that I was the front man of called THE GREAT SOCIETY MIND DESTROYERS, we actually went on tour together, RABBLE RABBLE and the Mind Destroyers, so we were kind of like brother-sister bands. It already felt like they were my family, it wasn’t a stretch. Musically it’s very different from what I was doing with the Mind Destroyers, but just playing together felt pretty natural. We kind of just popped right into it.KAYLEE PRESTON: We changed a lot as a band, too.AK: Yeah, yeah. It took a while for everyone to adjust to me.AD: Yeah, this is a two part question - how did you guys adjust to Andrew joining the band?KP: Oh, just hated him. No, it was great. Everything kind of changed, our whole sound got heavier.AK: You guys always say that, but I will say that there are two songs that you guys wrote before I joined the band that are still our heaviest songs.KP: Well sure, we were going that way.MATT CIARLEGLIO: I think you mean heavy, with the amount of riffage, but I think the main thing when Drew joined the band was that we actually started thinking about our songs structurally and musically a lot more. Instead of it being just an onslaught of fucked-upness. Like, instead of seeing who can riff the most in the smallest amount of time, lets spread it out over the course of the song and think about the dynamic.AK: Add some space and groove…RALPH DARSKI: If anything, you’ve brought a lot of groove.AK: Groove is important to me, personally.MC: Also, lots of gas.AD: That is a great segue for another question I have! Ralph, I hear you claim to know each band member by their farts.RD: It’s true!AD: Want to give us a quick description of everyone’s?KP: When do you ever smell my farts? That’s bullshit!RD: Well, that’s the thing, I know if it’s Matt’s because it’ll be a sharp, stingy one. And Drew’s just lingers, it’s just there like a funky fog. And Kaylee’s it happens and it’s gone.MC: A flash in the pan!KP: A funky fog, a flash in the pan!  God, this is hilarious.AD: What are Ralph’s like?KP: SauerkrautMC: Ralph’s are like The Mist, where it’s just moist and you can feel it seeping in and then it just dries. Leaving you like, “aw man."KP: Multiply this by like 1,000 when we are on tour.AD: What’s the grossest thing that has happened on tour?MC: Things grosser than one should ever know...RD: I will say, one time we were on tour and the first night we pull up to Bloomington or something and this guys says “I’m going to take a shit right here!” And he drops his pants and just starts shitting right on the street, right on the street, first night on tour!KP: He was also wearing an America’s Funniest Home Videos shirt.MC: On our first tour we went to Indianapolis and we didn’t really know who we were staying with so we call this guy and we’re like “Hey, we’re at your house…” and he says “OK I’ll be right out.” And this guy pulls up, that we think it's the dude we’re staying with, but it’s a random stranger. And so we are all like “Let's go get some beer” and the guys yells “Yeah, lets get some beer! I’m going to take a shit right here!” And our old bandmate Todd was like “Yeah, I’ll get beer with this guy.” So after he shits on the ground they jump in his van and drive off and five minutes later the dude we were actually staying with shows up. We freaked out and told him that our bandmate Todd is in a van with a stranger who just shit on the ground.AD: And that’s why Todd’s not in your band anymore…just kidding.RD: Yeah, and I’m calling him and he’s not answering...MC: It worked out, he eventual made it back with beer and a really cool video.AD: The "Cole’s Bathroom" video you did, was that based on actual bathroom graffiti?MC: A few years ago before we wrote the song "Cole’s Bathroom," I kept getting text messages that were pretty vile like “Who’s this blah blah, I hear you want to suck my dick” and it went on for over a month. Finally someone told me that my name and phone number were all over the bathroom walls at Cole’s. So finally a bunch of my friends and myself finally scratched them all off, I can’t say for sure who it was, but I have some ideas. So, after that we wrote the song "Cole’s Bathroom."AD: So you guys have done two videos now, "Cole’s Bathroom" and the one Mark just did for "BROKE." How did you guys all work cohesively put them together?RD: The Cole’s one was pretty off the cuff, we just decided we wanted to do it and went to Cole’s after close one night. This one we did for BROKE, we worked on that for a couple weeks figuring out the story and locations before we even started shooting. We learned a lot from "Cole’s Bathroom" on what not to do to make a music video. Even with this one, we learned some more things not to do.KP: It was pretty well organized, but at the end of the night at 3 or 4 in the morning when everyone’s wasted things get a little hairy.AD: How many hours do you think you spent on it collectively, between planning, filming, and editing?KP: I wasn’t there for a lot of it because I got a concussion like the first day.AD: How’d that happen?KP: I got kneed in the face by Hannah Hazard, of Lil Tits fame. It happens.MC: It probably took over 100 hours, at least. Mark did a ton of work with all the major editing and all.AD: If you had an endless budget what kind of story line would you do?RD: Well, one that Mark brought up was sweet. Drew goes to a thrift store and finds an inter-dimensional device. But he only has enough to get the knock off brand, so he gets the generic one and we’re trying to figure it out, but it’s all in a different language.  We decide “Maybe if we play music it will turn on!” So we start playing and it turns on and zaps us to different places.AD: Kaylee, I was reading an interview you did with Tom Tom Magazine where you said you like to take traditional styles and throw your own spit in. How do you keep your spit fresh?KP: The easy answer is that my boyfriend is a fanatic, a drum enthusiast to the max. I can’t get up in the morning and have a coffee without three drums videos waiting for me. I like to practice by myself a lot, too. Not with either of the bands I’m in, just to fine tune and throw some different styles into my playing.AD: So you played a lot of basement shows for a while and I hear you all had an affinity for getting people in their underwear pretty quickly. What’s your secret?MC: We played a couple shows with the SCREAMING FEMALES at the Hideout where some bras and panties got thrown on stage.RD: I think it’s easy when people are drunk and sweaty in a basement, if you start taking off your clothes, they’ll start taking off their clothes, especially if you’re playing raging music.MC: Ralph has definitely gotten naked a couple of times.KP: You have to understand from my perspective on stage that was terrifying. I just look up and see naked Ralph bending over - it was the worst.RD: Still she is in the band though, so...KP: I’m a tough bitch.MC: There was a show a while ago that we played on Cinco de Mayo with Killer Moon at the Mutiny. When you play there you get three drinks of your choice. One of those options is a pitcher of Long Island Ice Tea, so we were all pretty much blacked out when we played.KP: I don’t even remember where this story is going…MC: I remember that in the middle in one of the songs I turned around and looked at Kaylee and Ralph had his pants off and Todd had his pants around his ankles and everyone in the crowd was screaming “Take your pants off!” So we played the rest of our set with our pants off and Todd mooned everyone, I rolled around in some broken glass and ran outside with no pants on.AD: What’s the scariest thing you’ve seen happening from the stage?KP: Matt strangling someone for touching him with their bare butt!AD: From all the crazy basement underwear shows, and brawls, and just the insane amount of people in show photos I've seen it seems like you guys were pretty notoriously wild. How has that energy grown and changed for you guys over the years?RD: In a way we still have that energy, we're still passionate and excited about what we're playing, but I think we've started to move past that whole party band sort of thing. We all grew up a bit and have more things to say and express through music than just having a good time. The feeling is all still there, but we're a little more put together now.AD: Let’s say we’ve hypothetically kept all the blood and sweat that’s been spilled at your shows over the years in giant tubs and you get to use it all at once - what would you do with it? MC: Make it into soap and sell it. Rabble soap, “Made with your own sweat and blood.”KP: We could put it in the Rabble sauce! It could be the special ingredient.AD: Oooh, what’s Rabble sauce? Tell me about that.RD: Yeah, we’re going to sell it on tour. It’s a secret sauce that you put on pizza that we developed.MC: We made this up when we recorded our record with our friend Phil and we bought like 20 pizzas from Aldi and we had all these sauces and condiments and all these special ingredients, maybe they’re illegal, maybe they’re not, but we made them into Rabble Sauce.AD: You guys want to tell me about the recording process for your upcoming album, BRAIN HOLE? I know you recorded one album out in a barn somewhere, right?RD: That was just two songs, out in the barn.MC: Our last 7” was recorded in barn above an antique store.AD: Yeah, you guys put all kinds of prizes in those, right? What kind of prizes were they?RD: We had like radom family photos…KP: And someone’s professional head shots.RD: While we were on tour, this photo studio closed down next to the venue we were playing at and we put in all the photos from the shop.AD: What’s the deal with BRAIN HOLE, where did you record that?RD: We did half at our old studio practice space - it’s called Soapbox. We did the bass and drums there, the other half we did at our friend Phil Karnat's house in Kildeer, IL. AD: How are you guys feeling about BRAIN HOLE?KP: It’s the best yet.RD: I think no ones going to expect  it, in a way.KP: You can actually hear your voice, that’s a big thing.AD: Is that just from you feeling more comfortable showcasing the vocals…RD: It’s mainly the quality of the recording.MC: Also, the idea we had behind it. A lot of our previous records were just off the cuff and not really produced. With this record we decided instead of just rushing through it, let's put layers on it and produce it and add sounds that we can’t really recreate live, but still have that same energy that we have live. We have cello, Emily Cross does background vocals for us...RD: We have synths, which we never play on stage.  I think in terms of vocals we actually had a clear concept of what it was about, instead of it just being “Oh, this is a song about how I got drunk that one night.” We actually had an idea and wanted to use feelings about living today and being online and who are we and all that shit.AD: Yes! I always get so overly passionate when I think about how important our generation is as far as witnessing these insane technological advancements. We’re the bridge generation! We grow up when VHS’s were the top of the line and now I know 7 year olds who have iPads, babies grow up with iPhones in their faces!RD: Right, it's just insane. If you're in to all that, you will definitely get Brain Hole.AD: Do you guys write your songs collaboratively? AK: Unfortunately yes, which is what takes so long.RD: It makes it longer of a process but...AK: It does, but it also allows each of us to have our individual voice in each song.RD: It’s important. It’s always been that way. I started the band, but it’s not MY band, it’s ours.AK: Part of why everything takes longer for us, we’re some of the busiest mother fuckers in the city.AD: Yeah, you guys have other bands, multiple jobs, kids, run businesses. It's very impressive. RSVP for FREE ENTRY to Rabble Rabble's record release hereand head over to Logan Hardware Records to pre-order your very own copy of Brain Hole today!

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If you were to step briefly inside the brain of CHAD VANGAALEN it would no doubt be filled to the brim with unimaginable creatures, piss drawings, incredible home-made instruments, and god knows what else. From animator to sci-fi folk musician to  instrument creator to movie maker to father of two, it's no secret that Chad Vangaalen is a man of many weird hats. I got to sit down with him and talk about discovering music, reed instruments, Moebius, and the super-power kids have.ASHLEIGH DYE: So you seem to be pretty animation based in most of what you do and I know that comics and drawing were a huge part of your life growing up. How did the music aspect get worked in?CHAD VANGAALEN: Well, I guess it was in High School. I was at a new High School and didn’t really know anybody and I started hanging out with all the metal heads, because they were also into drawing etc. From there I met a bunch of dudes who had a jam space. At the time I wasn’t really into music that much, but they started introducing me to bands like SHELLAC, SONIC YOUTH, NIRVANA, stuff that was from that scene happening in the early 90’s. I had never been exposed to music that sounded like people actually making music. It made me realize that anyone can do this, so I went and bought a guitar.AD: Were you always interested in making your own instruments or did that develop later in life?CV: That was later, after meeting all those kids in High School I kind of started getting into free music, like after I got out of High School I started listening to TORTOISE, Sonic Youth introduced me to GLENN BRANCA, and other experimental acts. From there it was sky’s the limit, as far as sound goes. I had access to a really nice wood shop at the time and I really like working with wood, so it came pretty organically.AD: My favorite instrument of yours I’ve seen is this crazy rotating drum that has Legos all over it. How did that come about?CV: That was the first version of that drum machine; there are about five versions of that now. I play a lot of one man band projects and I’m always missing the high hat, the metronome kind of thing. So I wanted to not have a drum machine playing that. I wanted something acoustic. So I was like “Oh, I could make an acoustic drum machine!” That one is really dead now from playing so many shows with it, as I’ve made the more updated versions it’s gotten smaller and smaller. Now it’s a flat top with removable discs so you can put different ‘beats’ on instead of having to change all the pieces.AD: Do you have a favorite instrument that you’ve made?CV: Yeah, I really got into making clarinets at one point; I really like the clarinet. The drummer that I’m playing with tonight was in my first band; I played alto-sax and he played drums. We played a lot of improvised music for years and years and I got really into reed instruments. Bass clarinet is probably my favorite instrument, but I can’t afford one so I got into making different sorts of reed instruments. I use this one instrument I made that I call a Barnswallow, to sort of accompany the sound. If I use a lot of clarinet I’ll throw that one in there, as a sort of phasing in-between notes.AD: You mentioned before that you like to leave traces of human elements in your recordings, hand sliding down the neck of your guitar, finger tapping etc. Do you have the same mentality with your animations? CV: Yeah, for sure. Depending on if I’m down-shooting and just doing straight up cell work I want it to be as bad ass as possible, I really like fluidity and morphological stuff, but I also like seeing the artist’s own mark in the work. I try and not think about it as much as I can and it tends to just expose itself.  It’s harder to leave that mark with stuff like PEACE ON THE RISE, and that METZ video, stuff that’s really colorful and 2D is tri-digital. I do the drawings in black and white and then scan them in and can click fill them, which is a quicker way of working color wise, it’s the same program they use for FUTURAMA and the SIMPSONS.  It’s still traditional animation, but its digital. Even though it’s on a 2D plane there are layers you can work on to create a 3D environment.AD: There’s a lot of morphing and fluidity in your work, as you just said. Is that something that parallels your own life or is it just your preferred form of animating?CV: I think it’s just a byproduct of my animating style. I’m working on my first full length feature right now. It’s the first thing I’ve written a script for and tried to nail down as a linear story line. It’s really hard to stay interested and focused because it’s so labor-intensive that I feel like if I know what’s coming next I get bored of it and am over it, so as far as the morphological stuff goes I’m just always interested to see what can happen. It’s not spiritual or anything, but I’m kind of blown away at what comes out of my subconscious. I try not to think of anything really when working. I’ve noticed that even a year after making something I’ll come back and I’ll watch it and think “Oh man, that’s crazy. That’s totally about this thing that was happening in my life that I was suppressing or not really aware of.”AD: You’ve talk about being very influenced by Moebius and The Incal, which I just finished reading and can totally see in your work. The plot is so fast, you flip ahead ten pages and you’re in a whole other world.CV: It’s totally circular, too! I like the fact that Jodorowsky lets the chaotic elements inform the story telling. The Incal is a weird one, it’s just pure nostalgia for me. As soon as I saw Jean Giraud’s work I was blown away. I realized that this guy was so far beyond anything I had already been exposed to. The American comics that were coming out in the 70’s and early 80’s were so dominated by super heroes. I feel like European comics really nailed that sort of subterranean, post-apocalyptic future-world. It’s like they were seeing what the future was going to be in this crazy sort of rock and roll way. It’s still so organic too, like people are still wearing shitty hats in the future. Those human elements are still there.AD: Exactly, like all the shifty elements of human existence are still present. John Difool, the guy hired to find the Incal is a greedy, gambling man addicted to prostitutes! [Shifting gears] How did your creative lifestyle alter once you became a father?CV: Time just gets more compartmentalized and compressed. I used to be, well I am still a stoner Dad, but I have to pick my times to do things, now. To tell you the truth, it came at a really good time when I needed that focus. It started getting old getting baked and seeing what happened, having kids forced me to take things and time a bit more seriously. I feel like I’m a lot more focused than I was.AD: That’s great. It could have very easily been the other way around and been the thing that really slowed your practice.CV: It was really overwhelming to begin with. The growing pains were crazy. It kind of takes me a long time to work on things. Like I’ll get a lot done, it’ll be nothings getting done, then all of a sudden a shit ton of things will get done because I’d be working on five different things at once.  That amount of time is totally unnecessary, though being able to trim the fat made me a better person.AD: Do your kids inspire a lot of your animations?CV: Yeah, absolutely. I’m a crazy hoarder of drawings. I feel a lot of guilt around that, actually. My daughter is like a super drawer. She’ll just sit down and draw for four or five hours and I just shove food in front of her. Her mind is totally unafraid of what it produces.  I show her videos and she’s just like “yeah I’ve seen you do that character like three times now, you need to make it so they’re outside more. Don’t they ever have any fun?” I feel like Jim Henson did that, once he had kids that’s when he got really focused.  That’s when Dark Crystal got made, that’s when his studio really started taking off.AD: Yeah, kids just tell you what’s up and keep you on your toes.CV: Exactly, she’s just telling me exactly how something makes her feel. I try not to suck too much of that out of them, I don’t want to be a Vampire. Whenever I watch her draw I just think that I would fucking kill to not have this little voice in my head contradicting what I’m doing or critiquing myself. I don’t do it to the point where I’m paralyzed, but kids just don’t care.AD: Do all of the creatures you make exist in the same realm?CV: No, some of them do, but not all. The PEACE ON THE RISE guys exist in the same universe that I’m making this film in.AD: Rad, that’s what most of SHRINK DUST was inspired from, right?CV: Yeah, they definitely inform each other. The last track is about one of the creatures in the film. They were going on at the same time so there are about three songs that relate directly to the movie plot wise, but they aren’t in the movie. It has its own score. I’m going to put that out as its own thing once the movie is done. I think a lot of people think that SHRINK DUST is the score to the movie.AD: This can be the disclaimer: SHRINK DUST is not the score to your movie. Did you record SHRINK DUST alone like your other albums?CV: I did, I’m a crazy control freak about that kind of stuff. I’ve been working on the same tape decks for 20 years now, so it’s so quick. I know exactly what it’s going to sound like. I don’t think I could ever get into a vocal booth and passion sing on command. My studio is right there too, so why wouldn’t I use it? Also I need a lot of time to warm up to things, I would be thinking too much about money and time. My time in my studio is free, in Canada I can apply for a grant to make a record and I’ll get however much money which just does to me subsisting.AD: I read a couple reviews that claim that this sounds like your most confident album so far. What are your thoughts on that? It’s kind of a weird thing for someone to say about someone else.CV: To tell you the truth, I’m amazed that this album even happened in the first place. I don’t know how I feel about the songs, I still think DIAPER ISLAND is my favorite one.  It was really quick. It came out much faster than this album. SHRINK DUST took a lot of time. I was sifting through so many songs that weren’t good, and by the end I couldn’t even really see what it was anymore. 

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Walking down the winding halls of an Avondale warehouse, I am being led by the sound of someone wailing on their drum set. Past the snack machines and the arcade and the questionable pyrotechnic equipment, the sound gets louder as I turn my final corner, open a door, and voilá: VELOCICOPTER. I had the privilege to crash their practice, which was, I must say, the most productive, teamwork-centered, smiley band practice I’ve had the opportunity to photograph.  Just a week away from releasing their latest album, VELOCICOPTER has hit their stride. With a sound that is becoming more electrifying and maturely structured with each day, it’s easy to see what all the smiling is about. Throughout the practice we talked all things hot dogs, taught Matt what Burger Time was, discovered some major realizations about their new found success in collaborative songwriting, and left sometime for some good, old fashioned arts and crafts.If a band that cranks out the good vibes while melting your face with their shredtastic set is what you’re looking for, than look no further. I can honestly say that missing VELOCICOPTER next week at the Notes & Bolts 2nd Anniversary Party will be the dumbest thing you do all year. We’re only four months in people - don’t blow it already.ASHLEIGH DYE: Can you tell me how Velocicopter got started?MEG: Well I was in a band with this girl, Crystal, called the ALRIGHT ALREADYS. We broke up a while ago, and then she started jamming with David. Then, the three of us wanted to start a project so we were trying to get together and start that. She kept flaking out, so David and I just cut out the middleman and got together and said, "Hey, lets see if we can write anything." My old band used to play with his old band back in the day, so once I looked him it up it was like, oh yeah that’s that dude from SWEET POLLY. So I kind of knew him, in passing. Once we got together and started jamming it worked out. I’ve known these guys for while, Brett and I had played in another band together before.MATT: Brett and me had jammed a lot together in the past.AD: Seems like it made sense for you all to start playing together. How long have you been in this practice space?DAVID: Two years.MATT: It’s a great area, bunch of kids playing baseball across the street at Bash, batting cages. I always want to go over there and hit some balls.AD: You haven’t yet? It’s been staring at you for two years now.MEG: Once the album is mastered and done we can have a party at Bash. It can be a pizza party.MATT: Yea, they know me there. I used to go there to use the vending machines before we got ours.AD: That’s one of the best parts about shared warehouse spaces, the snacks and games. It’s like you're in some really dismal school hall or something.MEG: Yeah they kind of suck here; I love the Empty Bottle's Mrs. PacMan because it actually moves fast - this one sucks.AD: Yeah, we’ve got some good game action - we just got Frogger, it replaced Burger Time, sadly. Matt: What's Burger Time?AD: What’s Burger Time? It’s a burger building game, you have to walk over top all the ingredients to get them to fall onto the patties, but it’s also kind of like PacMan.MEG: Yea, there are all sorts of villains walking around. Pickles, saltshakers…DAVID: I’ll tell you who the real villain is, ketchup.AD: You guys are about to send your latest album to be mastered, is that going to be a full length LP?BRETT: Well, it’s a ¾-length LP. We did nix one of the songs, which, it just happens I guess. It wasn’t really gellin.’ But we’re gonna do something with it eventually.AD: It’s just not that song's time yet.BRETT: Definitely.MEG: It was a song we kind of wrote instrumentally and once we added vocals into the mix it became too difficult to coordinate.  One day it’ll see the light of day.AD: Do you guys have a specific writing process that you all collaborate on?DAVID: It depends on the song. Sometimes it’ll be one person saying "I’ve got this idea," and then we just build on it. Sometimes we’ll just be working on something in our practice space, here, and it turns into a song.MEG: I think the EP was a lot different because with that David and I would work together and finish full songs, and then bring it to the table and then we’d add the bass and drums that way. But with this album we wrote everything together, even the lyrics.BRETT: More often times than not, David and Meghan bring the initial ideas, then Matt and I just poked at it.MATT: We like to tear the songs apart.BRETT: It was a cool process, it was kind of the first time we discovered a process, I guess.AD: Seems like sort of a milestone event for you guys.BRETT: Yeah, I don’t know if everyone agrees but…MEG: I would agree. Between the song writing between the last album and this one I think it’s increased a lot with creativity and vocal harmonies.BRETT: Yeah, the first album we did because we felt like we had to, you know what I mean.  Just to have something recorded.AD: You guys claim that you’re taking it up another notch with this new album. Would you say this new found writing process played into that?BRETT: We’ve been playing for like three years almost. I think its just been building up more as we know each other's styles and what they’re capable of doing. Just getting to know each other more.MEG: Like if I bring a riff to the table, that’s too simple, but maybe has a good vocal harmony, Brett isn’t afraid to say "I think you can do better," because we know each other's abilities. That’s helped a lot; we have the balls to tell each other "You can do better than that."DAVID: Honeymoon's over.MEG: Way over.AD: You guys have a pretty high energy set. Any special tricks to get in the zone or whatever?DAVID: Ha, no.BRETT: Just get really focused. Oh and the chemicals….MEG: Matt warms up for a little bit! You’ve got a practice pad now.BRETT: I think we mostly let the music energize us now. If we don’t start off with the right sequence of songs, it takes a bit to get to that certain place. That’s why I love it; it comes pretty naturally, usually.MEG: It also has a lot to do with the venue and what it sounds like on stage. If you can’t feel it, in practice our amps are in a circle and we can really feel the music, so here we get really, really into because you’re inside the song almost. Certain venues you can’t hear what’s going on and I start to freak out sort of.DAVID: Yeah, not being able to hear key parts can really have an effect.AD: Last but not least, could you guys draw what a Velocicopter looks like?

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 Photos, words & interview by Ashleigh Dye.LISTEN TO VELOCICOPTER

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Jeffrey Novak has been perpetually recording, creating, and producing music since the tender age of 14 when he bought his first 4-track. It's over a decade later and he shows no signs of slowing down. With Cheap Time in it's 8th year and it's 4th LP, the group is still going strong. Despite being on tour for Exit Smiles, Cheap Time's next album has already been written and sequenced proving again that just how little time Novak wastes.I got to chat with Jeffrey and Jessica of Cheap Time before their electrifying and impressive no pause  set here at the Empty Bottle. Read on and find out the best kind of friend to have, the most unifying bonds between the trio, and what he loves most about being in Cheap Time. Proving yet again that Jeffrey's passion for analogue is only surpassed by his wild amount of musical energy.ASHLEIGH DYE: Jeff, you’ve been doing analogue recordings since you were 14, what inspired you to do recording this way?JEFFREY NOVAK:  Well at that age stuff like garage band didn’t exist yet, that I can remember. It was the same problem I had when I was younger and I wanted to be a filmmaker.  Video had already started to phase out but digital hadn’t really come in. I grow up in this inopportune time where I was jealous of the generation younger than me and the generation older than me because ‘my first video’ editor was a really easy thing to get for the generation before me, but I could never find one. Cassettes and 4-tracks were still very much being made. There were tons of models available when I got mine; I got the cheapest one on the market. It was $100, it was a fostex, I don’t even have it any more, but a lot of people had them. It wasn’t really something I got into on my own. I borrowed someone’s to see if I would like it, I was recording basic guitar in to my parent’s stereo because I wanted to hear it played back, so getting a 4-track was the next step. Everything has just been a step since then.AD: How did all this analogue recording experience play into you starting Cheap Time?JN:  Well our first two albums were done in a real studio, but on 2-inch tape. The idea of recording digitally never even crossed our minds; it was never something that was an option. I don’t feel like I’m one of those people who’s like “I’m an analogue man” the way Joe Walsh says that, the only digital record I’ve ever made is the one I made with Jay Reatard and I feel that it sounds the worst out of any record I’ve made. That’s the gear I have, that’s the way I record. I don’t know how to use ProTools or GarageBand or any of those things.AD: You mentioned that your first two albums were recorded in a real studio with Mike McHugh in Costa Mesa. How did that experience differ from recording in your home studio?JN: Majorly because we had such a limited time, the first album was done in 4 or 5 days. The second album was done in 9 or 10 days, we didn’t even finish it in those 10 days, it didn’t get mixed. I was pretty disappointed with how they sounded. I was used to how small the heads are on a  4-track and there was a lot less compression. When we finished the records and I played them for my friends they all said they weren’t as good as the demos I had done, so that was always in the back of my head.AD: How did you get in touch with Mike McHugh?JN: He was the In the Red dude. He had done The Black Lip’s Let it Bloom. He’d done the first two Hunches records; he did the Necessary Evils record. He was the in-house producer. We wanted to be on In The Red and when they suggested we go out there and they’d pay for these recordings, and well, that was the dream.AD: How does recording at home work with being on In The Red?JN: Well after the second album a lot of bad things happened one after the other. We didn’t finish the second album because Mike kind of freaked out on us, and then we didn’t get the tapes back for months. We decided as a band that if we didn’t get those tapes back that we wouldn’t re-record any of that and just soldier on. We got the tapes back sometime around Jay’s death. I remember at the funeral we were talking to Larry (our press contact for In The Red) and Poison Ivy, from The Cramps, suggested we record at home, and we had already decided we wanted to do some home recordings, so I think that kind of sealed the deal for Larry. While that was happening I was already starting work on what became Wallpaper Music.  And I had told Larry then, “hey I want to home record this next album." I don’t know how much faith he had in me, but I had gotten this tape machine that Jay had bought but never really used. It was my plan to set up this home studio in Nashville and Larry said "yes I’ll give you money to do that." Between everything that went down with Mike McHugh and Jay’s death I think anything I would have suggested he would have said yes to.Wallpaper Music took a really long time to make, lots of technical problems. The board we used had a lot of problems and completely fried out after we were done. It was an exciting time, I was really excited about the material, I still really like that record. I didn’t know what I was doing, just what I knew from 4-track recording, what I learned from Mike McHugh, and what I learned from Jay saying what he didn’t like about Mike McHugh. Jay had always said he hated how the first two Cheap Time albums sounded, but also said he felt he taught me enough that if I went in and produced the next album and was more pushy about things it’d be a better record. He died before I mixed the record so I could never show him, but he probably wouldn’t have liked it anyway. When you have someone who’s always ready to critique you and put you down and tell you what you did wrong, Jay was one of those friends.AD: Jay was obviously a pretty important friend and mentor for you, so what would you say one of the more valuable things you took away from your relationship with Jay was? How does your friendship live on through Cheap Time?JN; Hm, that’s a hard question. The biggest thing was we went on tour with them a couple times. We played Princeton University and I remember him just screaming at me. I broke a string on the first song, I was stoned, I didn’t have a tuning pedal, I didn’t have a back-up pedal, and he just berated me in front of everyone. “You can never do this ever again. You disrespected me. I brought you on tour. You don’t even bring a back up guitar or tuner. You use my tuner for the rest of the tour, any of my guitars are your back-up guitars until you get your own.”  He treated me very much like this firm older brother. You did wrong. You’re not going to do wrong again, because I won’t let you. That’s the shit that hammered home to me. That’s what I wanted, those are the people I like to have around. The people who are pointing out my flaws so I’m learning from what I’m doing. The first time he ever called me I was cooking sweet potato fries and he was telling me how to cook my sweet potato fries, and what I was doing wrong with my 4-track recording, and why it sounded bad, and how he was going to help me figure out those problems. It was like, this is the phone conversation I’ve been looking for! I’m so glad you got my number! It’s those things. I don’t have another friend who’s always got the tough love opinion that I crave.AD: Jessica, you joined Cheap Time right as Exit Smiles was finishing up recording, how was it coming into a band that was already so far into their third album?Jessica McFarland: I did some vocals on Exit Smiles, its definitely different than anything else I’ve done because I’m not involved creatively. I enjoy playing the songs, and that’s satisfying in a totally different way than I’ve had in other bands. As far as coming in during the album being recorded, it was fun. It was like; oh I get to do this new thing.JN: I remember it being really hectic; there were tons of people there.  The whole atmosphere was great. I got the vibes, like 'yea this was the way everything was supposed to happen, she’s making these songs sound so much better.' My biggest regret is that she’s not seen on more songs in the album.AD: It seems lately, especially with the trio that Cheap Time is now, that you’re moving from more of a one-man band set up to a more collaborative entity. Would you say that’s true?JN: It’s a slow process, because I am very protective of the songs I write. I love and trust Jessica, and I want her to get involved more, and I respect her so much more than other band mates I've had so I definitely value her opinion. Doing a song is a long process from me. I always start out recording a demo tape, then those demos evolve and a lot of times the finished song is a fraction of what the demo was. It’s a hard thing to describe, I always want people to be more involved, but the truth is, it’s very hard that anyone can care more than the sole creator. I really like how or vocals sound together.  That’s what I’m excited about most with the band right now. It has these wider possibilities with melodies with both of our voices in ways that it hasn’t had with other members. Jessica has her own distinctive voice, she’s not writing the lyrics but she knows how to make it her own.AD: You guys have both been very involved with solo projects and other bands, how do you think that tied into playing in Cheap Time?JM: I’m definitely seasoned, you know, I’ve been around the block. Heavy Cream toured for 4 years pretty constantly. I feel pretty professional.JN: That’s the big appeal of how I knew Jessica was the right person for it. We’ve had people in the band who have not toured enough and when you deal with people who aren’t on your same level it can be very annoying. Jessica knows the same annoyance. We had already bonded over this annoyance of other people, even though Jessica didn’t believe me when I asked her to play in the band…JM: He had told me some many times he would never play with a girl!JN: Well I had played in a band with my sister and ex-girl friend so it was a worst-case scenario, but with Jessica it is a best-case scenario.JM: I had also never played bass in a band before, I had jammed with Jeffrey a couple times before that and it was on drums. I never imagined being in a band with Jeffrey.AD: Is it all that you imagined?JN: It is, our relationship is like no other. The three of us, its almost like we know how to get along and not get on each others nerves. I think all of us have so much hate for other people we’ve played with and we build on those experiences, like “we don’t want to be like them”AD: Do you guys have any dates or anything set up for this next album?JN: No specific dates, the label isn’t looking for it to be done anytime soon. I already have it sequenced and the drums down.  Right now, though, I’m working on this idea of re-arranging these songs that I loved as a teen for a cover album. I mentioned it to our label when we were out in LA and they thought it was a fantastic idea. So depending on our schedule this summer that may be the last thing we record in the home studio.AD: Do you have any plans for after the home studio? Why are you looking to move away from that?JN: We made so many records there, and they’re recorded so piece by piece, and we’re a better live band now. You get to this point, where  it's like, how much better can this sound? It would be nice if someone who wanted to produce us, who wanted to work with us in an outside environment, who wanted to bring something out of us. So much of the pressure is just on me to figure out the sonics of everything. With all the mixing and everything by the time we get a test pressing I can maybe listen to it once, I always hope Jessica and Ryan can enjoy the albums more than I can because they haven’t had to listen to them a thousand times.AD: So since it’s the government chosen day of love, tell me: What do you love most about being in Cheap Time?JN: To me it’s always about those magical moments where it is transcending and it seems to be hitting us all at the same time. The truth of being in a band and touring is all about that moment. The drug, sexual moment of it, you can only get to that moment when you’ve stopped thinking about trying to reach that moment. You end up having it at some of the most awkward shows, where there might not even be a great crowd, but you just hit it. Like man we are just there, it's undeniable. That is the one thing that makes everything worth it, because you think of all those shitty shows, all the horrible weather, all the shitty relationships I’ve had to deal with, that’s what its really all about. Its all about this second where you’re just clicking and the notes are just hitting perfectly and the moment builds up through the set, and you come out of it and you’ve won. It’s as if you are on a sports team and you’ve just demolished the other team.  None of us are very jockey people, but you get in this mind set before you play where its like you got to get pumped and were going to destroy the other bands on stage and you got to get worked up like that. Like “We're going to get out there and we’re going to kill! We’re going to kill everything here!” And its like, if you don’t have that in mind what are you even doing there. That’s why I have no interest in touring for those soul records, like yeah, maybe they were fun to record, but that’s not going to transcend live. That’s going to put me asleep. The volume and power and moment, those are the key. Albums are fun to make, and they are what set up being able to tour, and touring is what sets up these power moments.

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Once known for his magical ukulele, Dent May has since proved he's more than just a novelty act. Combining a hyper-awareness of his own mortality with the musical likeness of the Beach Boys, Dent has learned to embrace his anxieties and fears and is more than committed to keeping the south weird.Surrounded by the taxidermy-filled walls of the Sportsman, Dent and I talk about film school, Miley Cyrus, and his favorite part of your best friend's wedding.ASHLEIGH DYE: Your most recent record, Warm Blanket, was recorded while you were isolated in a home in St. Augustine, Florida. Was this something new that you tried just for this album?DENT MAY: It was kind of something I discovered when I was recording my second album, Do Things. I worked on it and worked on it for a year and it still wasn’t finished. My friend had this cabin isolated in this cotton field and I locked myself there for a few weeks and finished the album. I really found out how much harder you can work when you have a deadline and you isolate yourself like that. I always had this romantic idea of going to this old home by myself with recording gear and just making an album in solitude. I don’t think that’s necessarily how I’ll always work but it was totally in an experiment in what can I do and where can I take this if I get away from my friends, and into a old Victorian home with a grand piano.AD: How diligent were you with the solitude aspect, did you have any contacts in St. Augustine before you went?DM: I tweeted ‘I’m in St Augustine for a month, do I know anyone here?” This girl Emily Rio, who’s a really cool musician from Orlando, gave my information for a couple people who ran music blogs, and photographers, and I met a ton of people there. I would work from 10 am to 8 or 9 pm then hang out with people. I try and treat music like a job, I try and get 10 or so hours in a day and then let myself forget about it. Maybe listen to it before I go to bed, then start again tomorrow. So it wasn’t total isolation, I don’t think I could do that. No matter where I am, I have to find a bar or something where I can get out and see some faces, even if I don’t talk to anyone.AD: That’s almost a different form of isolation, being somewhere but not knowing anyone.DM: Definitely. I’m thinking about going to this family cabin on a lake when I get home to do some writing, but that’d be way more isolating.AD: So you went to film school briefly at NYU, and relocated to Oxford, Mississippi, which was not where you were living prior to NYU. What brought you to Oxford instead of returning home?DM: Well, Oxford is where a lot of my friends moved, the State University is there. What really convinced me to move there’s this Southern Studies Program. It’s this inner disciplinary study of the south: culture, art, politics, civil rights, everything. I thought that was an interesting thing to confront, because I grew up hating being from the south, and I wasn’t very comfortable with Mississippi. Being in New York for a couple years really made me evaluate who I am.AD: Do you think your time in New York gave you a better appreciation for the South?DM: It did, but I’m still acutely aware of all the problems in the South. The reason I stay there, not to sound conceited, is because it needs people there who are making weird music.  The main thing I learned at NYU was that I didn’t want to go to art school. I was in film school, but I’ve been writing songs since I was 12 and I spent a lot of time writing songs while in New York and I realized that if I want to be an artist I need to do it on my own terms. I didn’t want to do it in an academic environment. It’s important to have your mentors and heroes, but the first day of class they said “raise your hand if you want to be a director,” and they said “Well, start coming up with a back-up plan now because, statistically, maybe one of you will make a feature film one day.” Crushing people’s dreams on day one. NYU is very much a machine-churning people out to work in the industry. I learned a lot about what I don’t want to do.AD: Do you ever incorporate your film experience into making music videos?DM: I am very hands on with my music videos, I’ve co-directed some of them. I’m always making them with my friends so its already sort of loose delegation of roles. The "Born Too Late" video was all my idea, but, and this is another thing I learned about film school is that, I don’t really want to touch the camera. I just want to write. I would like to be the boss of someone and tell them what I want it to look like.AD: I think that’s everyone’s ideal situation. Which has been your favorite video to work on so far?DM: Definitely the "Born Too Late" one. We just had so much fun making it. I went to the Neshova County Fair and we went water skiing and to a waterfall. That’s kind of my philosophy with things, lets have fun, and then that will translate to everything else.AD: You’ve talked before about how feelings of anxiety you experience paradox your music. Would you say the breezy vibe your music has is an embodiment of how you wish you could feel at times?DM: For sure, I don’t like to use the word escapism, but it is a way to channel my desires. I like a lot of dark stuff, but I want my music that can make people feel better. I feel as if being happy and being sad is something that everyone has to go through, so I want to chew it up and spit it out and go for more of a melancholy, blissful sound. Where it’s like finding comfort in existential anxiety instead of drowning in it. When I first started touring I was so scared, really scared, I’ve totally changed so much and let that go and learned to use the fear, because that’s what makes me human. Now I get a kick out of [it] - I’m thrusting myself out into the unknown and it makes me excited.AD: You’re super connected to your own mortality and aging. It’s something that’s been discussed a lot, but when did this sort of fascination come about for you?DM: I guess it’s not really a conscious decision. I’ve always been a high anxiety person, and as I’ve said I think I’ve really improved a lot in that realm. It’s just something I can’t stop thinking about, I can’t remember not feeling that way. I think everyone is aware of their mortality to a certain degree. I don’t want to focus on that in all my music forever, but its something, as a 28 year-old, that I think about.  Making music is the best response I have to my own mortality, to make a record of my existence. There's this Zen philosophy, to me its about being at peace with the world and yourself.AD: You had a lot of theater and show experience growing up. You were in plays when you were young and had a strong affinity for Olivia Newton John and The Partridge Family. How do you think these interests you had affected your sound today?DM: I think growing up I had absolutely no concept of coolness, or what was cool. My parents had Olivia Newton John records and I wouldn’t be one, now, to say "You gotta check out this Olivia Newton John record!" But I kind of have this anti-cool thing where there are superficial cultural signifiers people apply to music, because it has certain reference points. You know there’s always the question of what is good taste? And I love people like John Waters or Tennessee Williams who challenge good taste. It wasn’t until I started using the Internet in high school when I realized what was “cool.” Part of my motive as an artist is to embrace anything and everything. I fantasized about having a family-band for a long time growing up.[laughter]AD: You have this sort of M.O. about always embracing the mainstream - what are your thoughts on today’s mainstream, with Miley Cryus and twerking, etc?DM: Twerking is hilarious to me because its been going on in the south since like 1995! But I love Miley Cryus, she’s weird and surreal, she’s not typical Hollywood pun-up sexy. You know, you’re pushing people’s buttons so more power to you.AD: Right, she’s so raunchy and it really freaks people out, but you give someone all this power you can’t shame them for what they do with it. Would you say that’s another reason you’re so fascinated with the mainstream, because you have millions of people buying into one person’s act?DM: Yes! I’m always really curious about it. I want to know what the people are into and why. There’s this sociological aspect to it, I just want to know why. There’s also this visceral power of pop music that is undeniable. I DJ a lot of weddings so it’s my job to find the most bearable pop songs. It’s really special when you put on single ladies by Beyonce and everyone goes crazy!AD: The mainstream can be pretty unifying in that way.DM: Exactly, and I’ve always wanted to kind of marry that with a more sonically adventurous kind of thing. To combine that feeling that you get when you’re at your best friend's wedding and that cheesy pop song comes on with a weirder zone.AD: So, Cats Purring, the venue space and sort of collective you ran, is that still existing or is it on more of a hiatus now?DM: I still live there, but we haven’t had a house show in about a year now. Cats Purring was always a sentiment that a group of friends share, and that still very much exists. It’s not really active in the way that it was, but its never going to die. Its my fault. I very specifically wanted to focus on my music and when I was booking shows and keeping the TUMBLR updated I wasn’t really making music. I want to work on writing songs everyday of my life and I’m touring pretty regularly.AD: How do you think this collective affected you creatively?DM: There were a few of us that wanted to get our music out of Mississippi. Whenever you go to a college town it seems there’s always this local music scene full of bands who rarely play outside of their city, who don’t really know or care about touring. So Cats Purring was kind of a way for us to do that; we all shared the account and it was just a way for us to get it out there. Other blogs weren’t picking us up so we made our own and we wanted to meet all these cool bands. We had such a great roster come through there, but spending all this time touring allows me to feel more a part of an international community.

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Unbound by rules or genres, Gordon Stoneheart and Teen River Tapes are turning the standard release process on its ear and loving every minute of it. Teen River proves that if your underlying goal is simply to have fun, not much can go wrong. Operating in Chicago for roughly three years now, the label is a constant source of new life in the home recording community. Leaving no stone unturned, Teen River releases music from the noisy and ambient to poppy bliss, creating a sense of community that transcends the genres involved.After their showcase and Tarnation release show at The Empty Bottle, Gordon Stoneheart and I met for a banana split and some laughs at Margie’s Candies. It quickly became apparent that Gordon is really into doing what he wants, and it just so happens that what he wants tends to be pretty fucking cool.ASHLEIGH DYE: Can you start off by telling me how Teen River came to be? Or, more so, how Headless Horse Head came to be? You’ve said before that Teen River started, initially, as a way to release HHH music.GORDON STONEHART: I met Drew in Kansas. I’m from Kansas City and he was just living there because it was better than his middle Missouri town. We were in really shitty bands that played together, and he went on to this band that was fucking legendary. It was called Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk and they were always my favorite band. They were really noisy, ambient, but good pop songs. There was no one doing what they were doing in Kansas. Then I moved to college and eventually here. Drew was touring with that band non-stop. I went down to SXSW with this band and played this house show and Drew was randomly there and not living anywhere and asked, “Can I go with you?” And I said “Uh, yeah.” Ha, so I was living at Ball Hall at the time, an alternative space that existed near North and Kedzie, and he didn’t really have anywhere to be. He was fine with going wherever, so he moved into Ball Hall with me. He was the person that taught me the most about music, as far as electronics go; so we just jammed nonstop at this warehouse at Diversey and Pulaski.AD: Tell me more about this practice space you had. Was this the place with the soda fountain?GH Yeah, it was weird. This guy who has a clothing line that’s apparently really big in London ran the whole building, I don’t know. It’s called “Dealr.” With no second E. They had a big pool table and a fancier side, and this big soda fountain with this crazy electro-plasmic green soda called “Green River” and we would just stay up drinking that and recording for hours. We mainly moved out because no one paid rent. Then we got out of there and Headless Horse Head had all this music to put out, we basically had like eight volumes we wanted to put out in the course of a year and we ended up putting out eight volumes in the course of three months.AD: How do you think living at Ball Hall affected you creatively?GS: Well we could have shows, so that was rad. And then, basically, when we wanted to put out 20 tapes at once it was the most fun vibe to do it in. There’s no other place where it would be as fun and accommodating. It was a big ballroom, it was really pretty, and every one of our friends was a part of it. People were involved; they felt like they belonged, it wasn’t pretentious at all. We were able to, in December 2011, throw a party where we released 12 tapes, then had another where we released 20 tapes. The next release was at Lake Paradise, another warehouse space I lived in.After we put out a shit ton of stuff and Ball Hall was unfolding a little bit, Drew moved to New York for a while. So I kind of took things over myself.  But now Drew is back and its great because if anyone needs to record anything to be put out Drew is who I would go to for that, so he’s still involved.AD: How do you guys get connected with the bands you release? Was it mostly through the shows you put on at Ball Hall?GS: I think since that was such a long running place, we were having shows a couple times a week. This is such a huge city, and there are so many bands. [Teen River] became this nurturing thing that made people feel comfortable and want to record. So basically the way I get in touch with bands is they get in touch with me. Or I see them live and approach them. I’m a fan of seeing a band live first. That’s where tapes sell the most, at live shows. If bands kill it live their tapes will sell. So that’s a major aspect, as well.AD: You have a really wide range of releases you put out. Tarnation and Headless Horse Head are so experimental and ambient, while The Christmas Bride is super poppy. Do you have any favorites that you’ve put out over the last few years?GS: The Toupee release one is one of my favorites. The Health&Beauty tape, its like singer-songwriter, guitar stuff, but the most well done of any of that shit that’s out there. Nobody does it better than Brian. He recorded it all himself. I’d say the most successful tape, though, is the Julie Byrne tape. She moved away a while ago, but she lived at Ball Hall for a long time. She’s a singer-songwriter, ultra alto voice. It’s instantly captivating.AD: What’s the process for putting out 20 different albums at once? Do you make a certain number of tapes for each artist or is it on an as-needed sort of basis?GS: When we did those releases, the batch of 20, we did 30 of each. So it was about 600 tapes. My set up now is in Roscoe Village. I used to just take my shit everywhere and dub tapes all the time. I do dubbing in real time, and it take me so long. I’m always doing it. Whenever I’m home, now, my machines are always going.AD: A constant humming in the background[laughter]GS: It’s a service really; I have a lot of people asking me to do it. I’m hoping, one day, I won’t have to have a job. There are so many variables with dubbing, the machines are alive and you have to take care of them, because if you don’t they’ll die in a month. These machines have motors and belts; it’s like a car. They all sound insanely different, but I might just be a freak and have listened to tapes every day of my life.AD: What’s Teen River’s relationship with Lillerne Tapes like? You guys seem to have some overlap in releases sometimes.GS: That dude is one of our best friends, Gabe. Drew and Gabe are the dudes I learned how to do everything from. Basically learned how to make things fun, he’s always known how to make things fun.  He started Lillerne when he was back in Kansas just for fun. Gabe’s more of like an internet-savvy person. He doesn’t have showcases in Chicago. He’s based in Chicago, but he’s known more around the country than he is just in Chicago. His batches always sell out.AD: Do you guys have any plans or release dates in mind for 2014?GS: I’m really focusing on vinyl right now, actually. I run this dual label called Lake Paradise with my friend POTIONS, who lives there. We just put out his stuff. Vinyl’s like a biz, there’s a lot more money involved in that. So those are things I have dates for, I’m doing a Toupee 7-inch, I’m doing a Vehicle Blues 7-inch, I’m doing a Hex full-length. Other than that, its super hard for me to see past that.AD: In your bio it says “An on-going project in Chicago to surface volumes of music at confusing rates.” Would you say you’re initially trying to disrupt the current status quo or or do you find that’s just how you work best?GS: When we were releasing so many tapes at once, people were getting angry about it. They think there this specific way to do it. It’s like, look dude, I’m not trying to be a noise label, and I’m not trying to be an ambient label. I’m just doing what I want to do. Tapes are about your fucking friends. That’s what its about. The way Teen River runs does have a lot to do with the pace of my life, but I’m super connected to Chicago music community, so I think its also telling of what’s going on in the community. The variables are those two variables. Whenever something comes out it’s based on my life and what’s coming out in the community. It’s about documenting that whole community. There’s so much music, scenes that are only about one style of music bored me to death. It’s not fun; it’s not fresh, things have to be fresh, they need to be surprising.  People always want to have a release show and have the same bill. Like lets find some other shit that is cool and nobody knows about.

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2013 was a big year for White Mystery: They toured both the States and Europe, wrote and recorded Telepathic while on the road and even made a few music videos along the way. Despite all of this, White Mystery shows no signs of slowing down. After spending New Years Eve playing alongside Roky Erickson, being added to this years SXSW official line-up and  having already written the music for their annual 4/20 release date, it's safe to say that White Mystery is starting 2014 off even stronger. Seeing White Mystery for the first time circa 2010 in Athens, Ohio was electrifying and now three years later White Mystery has all but perfected that alien, 60's-influenced, garage rock sound. Saturday I got to reunite with the old rock and roll pals and snug as bugs on a pretty dirty couch in the Empty Bottle's basement I got to hear what writing an album on tour is like, how growing up in a city like Chicago affected their sound today, and where the hell they found that psychedelic bus for "People Power" music video.ASHLEIGH DYE: So you guys both have been playing music for quite some time, since your early teens. You specifically, Alex, started playing in bands when you were 13 and even started a record label in high school. Why do you guys think you were so musically charged at such an early age? You’ve cited inspirations you’ve had but it’s a totally different story to be so active so young.ALEX WHITE: Well, two things stick out. One is that our parents loved really great rock music so we had access to their record collection and fell in love with Zeppelin and The Stones at an early age. The second is growing up in a city like Chicago, where so many great bands play and all the access to great shows really inspires you. Thirdly, everyone has something inside them that is their passion that inspires them. For some people its art or writing and, ya know, we must have had something inside of us that inspired us to play music.AD: You guys were lucky to find it at such an early age. Speaking of growing up in Chicago, your home seemed like it was very liberal. Your mother’s photos of the Disco Demolition and Gay Pride and strangers on the CTA are stunning! I loved going through them. How do you think her photography and aesthetic affected your sound growing up?AW: She was here tonight! She saw me DJ for the first time.AD: Awe... moms.AW: Usually we DJ from like 10-4am so she can’t make it out to those, so that was cool. But she’s got a great eye. It's cool that she was a photographer and not a musician so she had that whole visual aspect. I’m sort of glad we - my family - are all different instead of her being a musician and us being musicians because we can help each other and collaborate creatively. Our youngest brother, Nick White, does fashion, so we get to wear his clothes. It’s a creative family and we all collaborate. It's really fun.AD: You briefly mentioned this earlier but you said something during an interview with Psychedelic Baby Magazine about the CTA allowing you to fall in love with rock & roll. This really struck me because having only lived in small towns before living here I spend a lot of time thinking about how kids in the city get to utilize public transportation and all the culture around them.  What else, aside from the abundance of transit and rock shows, did you really appreciate about growing up in Chicago?FRANCIS WHITE: I really enjoyed the seasons that would pass when I was a youth. Being stone cold sober and nerdy and being able to make my own fun. All the parks and playgrounds and places you could go that you could walk to, or take the bus to. There are plenty of things to do and places to see and Chicago smells a certain way, it smells delicious, throughout many different seasons. We have alleys that smell another certain way but trash isn’t everywhere.AD: You guys were on tour most of the time when you wrote Telepathic. Do you think this gave you more inspiration since you were constantly somewhere unfamiliar?FW: It definitely was a different avenue for inspiration. As opposed to being cooped up in the winter and trying to just make the best of a cabin fever situation, we were able to really tap our surroundingsAW: We just wrote a whole new record that’s coming out this year.AD: Is it coming out on 4/20?AW: Yes-another 4/20 release. We’re really consistent. And the last record was the first that was entirely written on tour. Its fun, it’s a new challenge and if you’re on tour all time that’s the only time you really can write new things.AD: How was working with Greg Ashley on recording? I always love seeing the Greg Ashley band.AW: Me too! He’s a super old friend of mine. Gris Gris was one of my favorite bands - you’ve probably seen them. It was fun recording with an old friend who knows you super well and can really push you in special ways and understand your sound and embrace it, and know how to encourage you to do your best.FW: Greg provided a very comfortable environment for us.AD: Aside from the previously stated and obvious perk of owning all the rights to your own music, why is it so important for you guys to do self-releases?AW: I mean that 80% of it is having creative control; the other 20% is really enjoying the process. You know, liking wrapping up the records and staying in touch with people, writing personal messages. We like the process and that’s what encourages us to keep doing what we do.FW: And there hasn’t really been anyone that’s approached us with a clear vision of what they want to do with us. I don’t think there’s anyone that can really handle us so we just have to put our own stuff out there.AW: Yeah, people approach us but they want us to do it their way and we aren’t even capable of even doing that. I think even if we tried really hard it wouldn’t be us anymore. We have a lot of values for the band, and rules. Weird rules, but it keeps us on track.AD: I want to know how you guys get so many endorsements! Orange amps, Eye Spy Optical, Lava Cables!AW: Well with Orange amps, their logo is a redheaded woman and a redheaded man so it worked out perfectly. Companies and organizations share a similar vision as us. No matter where you are in the world you gravitate to one another, like our friends who are here from France - we’ve played their city and now they are here. Birds of a feather flock together kind of thing. So I think that’s the case with companies that sponsor us, they're like-minded in the way they do stuff. And we really like them, to0. Francis’s glasses, from Eye Spy, are super cool.AD: This was a perfect segue -You guys have such a unique sense of style and self, do you guys like to coordinate outfits together when you play?AW: Well, we're going to the Grammys in a week - I’ve never looked at fashion as a challenge but that’s a pretty exciting one. You know if Fran's going wear a Bjork dress or something. Like when the two South Park guys showed up in the J-Lo parody.FW: I want to wear fur, like just a lion cloth.AW: It’s cool because we have so many options with the way we represent ourselves visually and we like that part.

AD: I especially love all the music videos you guys put out. Is there a certain process for each one?

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FW: It’s definitely an effort. Coordinating, curate-ing, pulling the right people together, within our community, to execute the plan. Egging my sister on to really put it out. She’s really nailed it this year.AW: We have our longest video coming out this year; it’s going to be almost 7 minutes long. It’s the first time we hired a child actor to act in the video. It’s a young boy and Don Bolles, who’s the drummer from The Germs, the boy is a young Don Bolles. We shot it in LA and it's going come out with our new record. We did it at all these different locations in LA, picked out based on how they looked and the vibe. One place was called Dog Show. It’s this weird vintage clothing store in Silver Lake and in the basement they have Stalagmites and it's light purple and really cool.AD: That sounds beautiful. Two videos I really loved were the ones by Penelope and one that Aidan did for "People Power."FW: Wow, I’m reliving all of that over here.AW: Yeah, flashbacks.AD: Did they come to you or vice versa, what was the collaboration like?AW: They would come to us and then we would propose a concept to them. So Aidan, for instance, worked at JBTV, which is a tv-show for rock music, and he said “I’d love to do a video with you guys” and I was like “Well, my friends have this psychedelic bus and we can shoot it in there."  The people who own Reggie’s have this fleet of painted buses. And we took it out on the town with all of our friends.FW: It was like a psychedelic field trip - tons of beer, we took it on Lake Shore Drive, the Museum campus and were just like setting up drums and playing them and there were dogs barking and people were just like “What’s going on??”AD: Yeah, you even got to ride a pug in a video.AW: We still have those puppets; Penelope’s so talented. We were best friends with her brother who’s the cartoon editor for Vice. I had seen her demo-reel because I’m always looking for people to do projects with us and I was like “Wow, her last name is Gazin, that’s so weird, I wonder if she knows Nick Gazin” and then it turns out they were brother and sister. So once we found out this whole sibling team up situation we fell in love. We call it the three-legged race to the alter because we are trying to get married so we'll all be related.FW: I have a total crush on Penelope. But - In a very professional and creative way.AW: She’s an animator for Fox so since she’s done our music video she now does all the Sunday night cartoons on Fox.AD: So this is my final question and you both have to answer.  You both have become pretty good role models, I’d say, in the sense of independent music and doing things your own way and sticking to your own moral and aesthetic. Alex you especially are a great female musician, but I feel like you get pigeonholed almost in that label too often. What you’re doing is impressive, gender aside. So the question is: What does being a musician in the age of millennials and computers and robots mean to you?AW: Making music in the era of robots. Well, I guess we’re doing it the same way people have for five decades, just in a new century and you just do what feels right and hope that people gravitate to it. Whether they’re androids or mirages of themselves or whatever. You just hope that reality is real and this isn’t all a simulation and what you’re doing is being appreciated by real living humans.FW: Its definitely a privilege; privilege and an honor. And maybe I’d be capable of doing other things in my life, but this is something I feel chose me and I have to offer myself to it.

WHITE MYSTERY

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DJ Editkut & Steady Serve

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Chicken, waffles, and some of Chicago's finest underground rappers - what more could one want? Not much, if you ask me. Saturday I had the pleasure of sitting down with Shawn Childress, the mastermind behind the Waffle Gang - and now, Waffle Fest - to discuss the importance of professionalism, childhood inspirations, and what goes best on a waffle.ASHLEIGH DYE: So first off, can you tell me about how the Waffle Gang got started?SHAWN CHILDRESS: Well I used to go to after hours at Late Night Thai and Hollywood Grille and eat waffles and anything like crazy. So then we’d go to these restaurants and they’d be like it’s the Waffle Gang! Everybody was just like “Waffle Gang, Waffle Gang Waffle Gang!” And I thought-man that’s catchy. We got up to about 24 members and everyone was just doin’ their thing. It was like Purple Ribbon with Big Boi, just a group of artists playing shows together and having fun. Now we’re down to four, but it doesn’t matter because we’re still getting work.AD: How long has Waffle Gang been going on?SC: Three years, we actually just had our three-year anniversary. And let me tell you, from doing all the groundwork from the very beginning-it’s been a rocky road.AD: What do you like most about a collective of people? Do you think it’s beneficial to bounce ideas off other people?SC: If you’re professional.  You can work with ten guys or whatever, but when you have people with hidden agendas and just trying to boost their thing, then you know it’s going to be a wreck. You know the people that mean it. It feels good to have a team unit but if it doesn’t work, then it doesn’t work.AD: What motivated you to start Waffle Fest, the event? Was it just a way to showcase what you and other artists have been working on?SC: You know the SxSW’s and the Pitchforks, what you see is that certain artists are always on the bill. So with Waffle Fest, it’s like, let’s give people you haven’t heard a chance; who don’t really get a lot of shows, because people hadn’t heard of them. I didn’t like that and I really like SxSW and I thought-we can do that in Chicago.AD: How do you choose who gets to perform? Is it anyone who is interested can or do you hand select them?SC: The first two I had people submit music. But this one was personal invites.AD: Ah I see, so now you gotta know somebody who knows somebody.[laughs]AD: What’s your favorite part of Waffle Fest?SC: Hmm…When it’s over![laughs]AD: What’s the most stressful part of organizing the event?SC: You know, most promoters get a hold of people the day of an event. But I gave people set times three weeks ago. People are hitting me about today like “what’s my time slot?” Did you even read your inbox? Some people aren’t used to professionalism. And they get it in their heads and get all stressed out like “I don’t know what time I’m up” when it was in their inbox the whole time.AD: What inspires you to make your own music?SC: Big Daddy Kane. My mother played a lot of Stevie Wonder; she wanted me to be a drummer like my father but that didn’t work out. Then I realized, I could put my words together, pick out my beats; I started in 1988, got on stage in 1989, preformed at the House of Blues by ’92. So my “career”, indie-wise, went pretty crazy. I worked on a lot of stuff, little stuff that people don’t really know. But it all started with Big Daddy Kane.AD: So I have to ask, what’s your favorite Waffle topping?SC: Aaahh-Syrup, just plain ol’ syrup. I’m the kind of guy who gets Pad Thai and takes the peanuts out. I’m picky. But if I had to do something it’d be strawberries and blueberries.

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Fans of horror and synthesizers have a lot to rejoice about in 2013 - legendary synth rockers, ZOMBI, are back after a two-year hiatus for a tour with none other than, Goblin. Serving as long time inspirations for the duo and the masterminds behind the synth-tastic scores to films like Dario Argento's Suspira, and George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, it's no secret that Goblin and Zombi go hand-in-hand. I got to chat with the duo as they kicked off their tour at the Empty Bottle and find out where to go to feel like a rockstar, what it feels like to tour with your idols, and, of course, their Spirit Animals.ASHLEIGH DYE: First off, welcome back to Chicago, and more importantly the Empty Bottle! So you guys have toured, literally, all over. All over the States, Japan, the UK, where has been your favorite so far?A.E PATERRA: Definitely Japan, definitely.AD: It’s so bonkers over there! Did you guys have a residency there? I saw you played the same club a few times.STEVE MOORE: No, so it’s like a chain club. So its ‘Club Quattro” but in different cities, did we play four shows?AP: No, it was just three shows. The level of hospitality there, though, oh you’re just treated so well. The shows are a little different; it’s a little more low-key. The crowds aren’t very rowdy, in Tokyo it was.SM: Very well-behaved.AP: Tokyo was more of a normal show, but the other two were very low-key, very respectful. It was a great time.SM: After you play a song everybody's like [golf claps] and then that’s it! They clap for fifteen seconds then they’re done. Very reserved.AP: Japans great, I really love touring Europe. Touring the US is great, its difficult because the drives are long, but the thing about the US is that we’ve played certain venues a lot, playing here I always have a good time, everyone is so great. In the US I feel like it’s more about the venues than it is the cities and Japan there’s just a different level, we’re respected a little more. It’s a different mentality for how the treat touring acts.SM: There [Japan] they assume you’re a professional, touring band. Where as in the states if you walk into a club and the sound guy doesn’t know you, they assume you’re some schmos. In Japan, the first night we set up all our gear, and there were these two guys watching how we set everything up. After we were done we just left, left everything on stage and they packed everything up and the next day we took a train to the next city and we get there and my stuff would be set up exactly the way I would set it up.AD: So they were taking some pretty thorough notes?SM: That’s like some real rock star shit.AP: It lets you exist on a level that we aren’t at, really.[laughter]AD: So you guys are starting your tour with Goblin tomorrow night. They have been a pretty big influence on you - I mean, your name is even an ode to them. How does it feel to be touring with people that are such huge inspirations for you guys? What’s the anticipation like?AP: Its strange - I don’t even know, I’m just really excited to meet them. I think it’s going to be really neat to meet guys that are so much older than we are, that made such influential music.SM: They made some of my favorite music ever! These guys are absolutely responsible for so much of my iTunes.AD: Yeah, it must be great. I think about it a lot, it’s happened to various bands that they eventually get to team up with someone who inspired their band in the first place. Like you guys don’t just get to meet Goblin, you’re playing with them and existing on the same level, rad shit. Back in 2007, you guys put out Sapphire and worked with Norwegian producer, Prins Thomas. How did that all come about?SM: Well, it’s really funny. I can explain exactly how this came about. Tony and I, we recorded that song in 2005. Our buddy Doug Moserac was saying “look you guys have to do some Italia Disco, you have all the gear and I think you could pull it off, and people are going to love it if you do” and so we were like ‘Oh this could be fun’ so we did it and he said, “you make these songs and I’ll put them out.” He had this label he was running, and they ended up just sitting around for a while. He had them in his Napster folder, then James Freedman, a DJ, grabbed them, and then Prins Thomas grabbed them from him, and then all these European DJs grabbed it from him, and, without us even knowing about it at all, it was playing in all these clubs in Europe. James Friedman runs a label now, and he was like “you guys have to let me put this stuff out”, so we were like, "Yeah, lets do it." AD: You guys have been a part of a lot of cool projects like that, you did a song for a film that Lori Felkner made, was the track made specifically for that movie?AP: Yea I still remember sitting around the tv with our synths [laughter]AD: Do projects like that, and tours with bands like Goblin give you guys a lot of inspiration and motivation to draw from?AP: I think, if anything, it’ll inspire us to keep going and making music.AD: I guess, I just mean that all these collaborations and tours open the doors to working with creatively like-minded, but still different people. Would you say you’ve benefitted from that?AP: I think back when we were touring a lot, like touring with Trans Am - we were able to tour with a lot of really good bands, I think.SM: Yeah, Goblin is not the first band we’ve toured with that was a huge inspiration. The Trans Am tour was a really big one. The Champs.AP: It was neat; all these bands that we really liked and respected were asking us to go on tour. It kind of validated what we were doing, and gave us a lot of confidence in what we were doing.SM: Yeah, in that sense, the fact that we were asked to open for Goblin will make us feel more wanted, needed.[laughter]AP: Its kind of a strange thing, since we’ve started, it's popular for any label to associate a larger band with a newer band to give it some sort of credence. Like this is Zombi, they’re like Goblin. We’re going to be able to go out with a band that we’ve been compared to for so long.SM: When we first started playing Zombi, there weren’t many just solely synthesizer-based acts, so I think its pretty natural for someone to compare us to someone like Goblin because that what the reference. Now there’s a lot, its almost like a scene now.AD: So you guys were both in bands before Zombi, and both do a lot of solo stuff now. How do you balance your solo stuff and Zombi stuff? Are there things you’ll record that you reserve for one or the other, where do you draw that creative line?AP: I think what we realized is that a lot of the ideas we’ve been throwing around with each other exist in our own individual worlds, and what makes Zombi Zombi is the combination of us playing organic music and not so much playing heavily sequenced music.SM: We don’t live in the same city. Tony lives in Pittsburgh and I live in the finger lakes area of New York and when were writing we’ll come up with demos individual and send them back and forth, then a lot of times its like Tony wrote this demo and sent it to me and it sounds like an awesome song already, I don’t know what to do with it, or vice versa. Back when we were both living together we would just get together and rehearse and just start playing, that’s when we were really writing the music that sounds like us, like Zombi.AD: You guys have the VCO label that you run and operate, and you intentionally, from what I take, don’t put Zombi on there. Is that because of timing and lack of new material, or is it something you reserve for your solo projects, and other musicians?AP: We basically started it because we have a lot of stuff, Steve especially, a lot of out-put. And it gets annoying, you have this song you recorded that you like and you send it out and don’t hear anything, so we decided we could do it on this format that’s cheap to put out, and it’s a format that we both like. I grew up with cassettes, so it’s this familiar thing. It’s been a good way to put out some of our own material with no hassle and put out things for other artists that are like-minded, its very limited runs, and its more personal.AD: How do you feel you guys have grown together over the last decade? You’ve gone from living together to living apart - how do you feel you’ve matured?AP: I think we’re in a good spot, all those years of touring, we got to spend a lot of time together.SM: A lot of shows! We spent a lot of time just the two of us in a van across the country.AD: Well you didn’t kill each other, so you’ve surpassed that point at least.[laughter]SM: Yeah, if it were going happen, it would have happened years ago.AP: These past six years, I’ve been able to do things on my own, Steve’s been able to do things on his own. We’ve been able to exist and have our space. I’m very excited for this tour. I wasn’t sure if we’d ever do anything like this again. I’d been playing these solo synth shows were I’m not physically doing anything on stage, it’s nice to physically play an instrument.AD: OK so this is the final, and most important question. What would you say your guys’ Spirit Animals are?SM: OH! Excellent question!AP: According to an online survey, poll thing I did mine was an otter.SM: I think I would be a turtle, a tortoise maybe.AD: Yeah, they’re a little more dignified. The turtles older, more mature cousin.[laughter]Photos, words & interview by ASHLEIGH DYE

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Last Saturday I was able to experience my first ever Windy City Soul Club. I planned ahead and got there early enough to forego any sort of line in the god-forsaken cold and planted myself firmly at the bar. I watched quietly as more and more people rolled in beaming from ear to ear. “Haven’t they been outside” I thought to myself, “What the hell’s wrong with these people?” I sat at the bar a while longer before finally venturing out onto the dance floor. Don’t get me wrong, usually I’m first in line to get down, but somehow being at Windy City alone felt like the most depressing situation on the planet. “Why is everyone so happy?” I grumpily wondered until, that is, I finally made it to the dance floor.It was like I stepped through some invisible wall and transcended into a new room just bursting with good vibes. Everyone around me was pulling out all the best moves with no intention of stopping insight. I couldn’t help but start to smile and get down, even if I was alone. “Windy City Soul, where have you been my whole life?” was the new thought racing through my head.Aside from all the joyous dancing and people watching, I had the pleasure of sitting down with the men behind the turntables. You know, the ones beaming down at you as they watch you experience some of their most loved hits for the first time. Read on and discover the birth of Windy City Soul, where to find the best hits (yeah, right), and the most important part of Windy City Soul (*spoiler alert*: it’s all of you).ASHLEIGH DYE: Can you tell me about the first ever Windy City Soul Club?NICK SOULE: We did it at a loft space in Lincoln Park, it wasn’t really supposed to be having shows, but they did it under the table. The first time we ever did it, it was just our buddies – 80 people, something like that. The next time it was 350 people, they had to kick a bunch of people out.AD: What inspired you guys to start Windy City Soul Club? What was, and still is, the goal?NS: We all collected soul records from various points in our lives. We all came out of some sort of mod scene I guess you could say; it just translated into soul 45’s.  Then we all met somehow, I met Aret and Ben, who was one of the founders, in Milwaukee for the first time at a mutual friend’s birthday party.ARET SAKALIAN: Ben and I had a DJ duo, and then we formed with the rest of the guys it turned into Windy City…XAVIER VELEZ: We all had our own DJ crews or DJ acts that we did. As you’ll see tonight, we tend to have a revolving door of guests, and it got to the point where we were all hosting each other [in our own DJ nights] and it was like, why don’t we just get together.AD: Where is your favorite place to dig up new records and albums?NS: It’s a secret![laughter]XV: All I can say is the dirtiest and dangerous place you can find.AS: I used to go to the south side every Saturday and look for records.XV: When we mean south side we mean really far south, like almost Indiana. For the most part I would say, collectively, the places where we’ve had the most luck weren’t necessarily record shops. They were mom and pop shops. It’s like finding that perfect shirt at the thrift store.AS: The diamond in the rough!AD: I’m all about thrift hunting, so I can totally relate. What are some of your favorite artists to play, ones that really ignite a response from the crowd?AS. I don’t know, I guess anything that I listen to and excites me, I’m hoping it’ll excite the crowd and the other DJSXV: Most of what we play are, not necessarily one-hit-wonders but would be the ‘indie’ of the sixties, you know before indie became this genre of music and just meant independently released. Local one-hit-wonders.AD: What are your favorite records to listen to when you’re not spinning for hundreds of people?NS: Jazz, or punk rock. Reggae.AS: Yeah reggae, dub, jazz, funky stuff. I like house music even.XP: I’m a huge, huge 70’s & 80’s power pop collector.AD: What’s your best Windy City Soul Club moment to date?NS: New Years Eve, I would say. This past New Years Eve we got to go back to the loft space we started at, and that was pretty fun. But New Years Eve, when it turned from 2011-2012, we were at Logan Square Auditorium, which we are doing again this year, and it was like 1,500 people just having a great time.AS: Biggest crowd we’ve ever had.XV: Let me correct this- I say 1,200!AS: It was like 900.XV: Regardless, it was the most people we’ve ever had come out for just us. We’ve played bigger crowds in Seattle, but it wasn’t just us.AD: What’s your favorite part about doing Windy City Soul Club?NS: Just putting on a record and seeing everyone’s reaction to it, exposing people to music they wouldn’t hear otherwise.XV: Yeah, the crowd is what does it for me. I mean us, Windy City Soul Club, we’re really nothing. Without the crowd, we’re just four guys playing obscure recordsAS: Without the line up people waiting to come in, we’d be playing to an empty roomXV: I’ve said it before but, to me, Windy City Soul Club, it’s not the DJs, it’s the people who come out and make up the crowd. That’s Windy City Soul Club.

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Having freshly dropped out of college just as Crocodiles’ debut album was released, I listened to Summer of Hate on repeat for days. Their fuzzy, pop sound and macabre lyrics fueled my angsty soul. Now, three albums later, with Crimes of Passion out on French Kiss Records, Crocodiles are still going strong, honing in on their own individual take on rock & roll.  I got to sit and chat with Brandon Welchez, one of the men behind the Ray Ban’s, and discuss reflections of past lives, recording in the Mojave Desert, and the pros to living 3,500 miles away from your band mate.

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ASHLEIGH DYE: Can you tell me a bit about how you guys got started? You were both living in San Diego at the time, right?BRANDON WELCHEZ: Yea, he and I had been playing in bands for a couple years together and so in 2008 we were bandless, and wanted to start a new project. We couldn’t really find people to play with so we just started as a two piece and in about a year we got these guys, Marco & Robin. We’ve gone through a lot of drummers but we’ve finally settled on Robert.AD: Ah, the golden ticket of drummers. From over the years I have boxes and boxes of photographs I’ve taken over the years. I love going back through them and remembering what kind of place I was in when I took each photo. Now that you guys have been playing together for a while, are your recordings like that for you?BW: Yeah, I guess in a way. They definitely feel like slice of time out of our lives. I don’t think we’d be able to record most of our early stuff now because we’re in a different place.AD: You guys produced Endless Flowers yourselves, along with the B-Sides to Sleep Forever and all of Summer of Hate. So what made you decide to work with Sune Rose Wagner on Crimes of Passion?BW: We’ve actually wanted to work together for a long time. We toured together in 2009, and we talked about it then but it just didn’t work out time-wise. You know, we can produce things ourselves, but I think it’s good to have some other artistic influences involved.AD: For Sleep Forever you recorded with James Ford in the Mojave Desert. What was that like in comparison? I imagine some peyote and white robes.BW: We definitely smoked a lot of weed and drank a lot. It was just a house in the middle of the desert; there was nowhere to go. I think we went out once and we had to drive a couple miles. We were there for ten days.

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AD:

A lot of your songs, lyrically, have darker meanings and intentions then you would think at first listen. Was this juxtaposition intentional or was this just how your sound developed?

BW: No, nothing was really intentional. I think it’s probably easier to write about negative things. I think at the root of it we’re kind of just bitching and moaning, just like it’s easier to do that in real life.AD:

That’s what art is for, right? So you guys put this out on your own label,

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, in the UK. Do you have any plans of doing more self-releases, or collaborations?

BW: Yeah, I definitely want to start putting out more full-length albums as opposed to 7”s. It’s hard though because it’s a much bigger commitment financially, so it’s not as easy. But, yeah it’s a goal.AD:

So you and Charlie are living over 3,000 miles apart now, and everyone loves to talk about all the trials and hardships that come with it, but I’d like to know what some of that positives aspects of it are. You guys are both living in such distinguished and exciting cities, there’s got to be a silver lining.

BW: It’s cool that we have a base camp in two really cool cities. If we want to spend time working on something we have the choice between New York and London, and starting tours is easy in a way, too. If we start a European tour we have somewhere to start from and stay, same for New York in the States.

Polaroid Crocodiles

Photos & Interview by ASHLEIGH DYE