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Welcome to the Empty Bottle podcast, “Everything’s Great?”  Every month your hosts Bob Johnson, Kevin Graves and Christen Thomas will be giving you the front door and back stage stories from the Empty Bottle, inviting members of the Bottle, friends, family and staff up to the back of the office to tell stories, talking to bands that will be playing the Bottle in the coming month and playing tracks from those bands.February 2014 PodcastThis month's soundtrack:Sweet Cobra – “Complaints” February 8Radar Eyes – “Fall Into Place” February 18The Casket Girls – “Same Side” February 24Courtney Barnet – “Avant Gardener” February 18Cheap Time – “Exit Smiles” February 14Lord Dying – “Summoning The Faithless” March 3Party Downers – “No Compromise” February 8A note on Sweet Cobra and Party Downer’s songs from Jason and Grumpy:Both songs are currently unreleased (and unmastered) so they will have a debut on the podcast - they aren't quite finalized.“Complaints” is from our forthcoming full length entitled Earth. Recorded by Matt Talbot of HHUM and Kurt Ballou of CONVERGE at Talbot's Earth Analog Studio near Champaign, IL. Mixed by Kurt Ballou at Godcity in Salem, MA.The song is significant to us because it is the first one we wrote after Mat's passing. We had recently returned from a West Coast tour as a 3 piece with Pelican, and we were able to spend time with Mat before he moved back to the Seattle area to be closer to his family. A few weeks later he passed away on Thanksgiving Day. We didn't play music for close to a month, and when we met up at our rehearsal space and started trying to play music, this song just sort of came out of us from out of nowhere. Generally speaking, the lyrics deal with people that focus too much on the negative aspects of their life and complain about very trivial things in the grand scheme of things– while there are other people out there that are dealing with actual real struggles in life, but still focus more on the positive aspects of things, overcoming obstacles, and enjoying life to the fullest. Even in the face of his sickness, Mat was always motivated and eager to play music and enjoy life with his friends. He was an inspirational person to be around. The song really came together quickly and organically– and it also felt very different from our earlier stuff. There is an earlier recording of the song that will be released on an split 7" with the band Get Rad that will be available at the show.THE PARTY DOWNERS song is called "No Compromise"...which is a Mat Arluck reference...just kind of sums up what he was about.  Case in point the actual phrase Arluck Time originally just referred to the time after he got home from work when he would just relax and decompress for a bit...don't call or knock on his door just yet, it's "Arluck Time." That song is unreleased as of yet.

Our Vinyl Weighs A Ton is a feature-length documentary about avant-garde Los Angeles-based record label Stones ThrowRecords. The film weaves together rare concert footage, never-before-seen archival material, inner-circle home video and photographs and in-depth interviews with the artists who put Stones Throw on the map. Our Vinyl Weighs A Ton gives an exclusive look into the label's left-of-center artists, history, culture, and global following.The film features exclusive interviews with Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Madlib, Common, Questlove, Talib Kweli, Mike D (The Beastie Boys), Tyler the Creator, and many more. This screening will also feature a Q&A following the film.Stones Throw head-honcho PEANUT BUTTER WOLF is headlining a show following the screening and you can bet your ass it's gonna be one of the wildest Sunday dance parties we've had here in ages. PBW has been making beats, putting out records and working behind the scenes of American indie hip-hop since before you were born, son, and he's in the midst of a never ending world tour that offers a consistently astounding audio/visual experience. Fellow labelmates J-ROCC, JONWAYNE and KNX join in on what is guaranteed to be a ridiculously fun night.Tickets for the screening of Our Vinyl Weighs A Ton at The Logan Theatre on Sunday, March 9 at 6:30pmTickets for PEANUT BUTTER WOLF, J-ROCC, JONWAYNE & KNX @ The Empty Bottle on March 9 @ 9pm

CONFESSION:  Some people that work at the Bottle were/are/might be still into the Deftones.  You might be saying to yourself "that's not cool, man." Or you might be saying to yourself, "that's okay, Chino is still pretty cool, man."Whether they themselves are fans of the Deftones or not, True Widow, from Dallas, TX, describe their brand of rock and roll for the kiddies as "stonegaze" and it sure as heck reminds us at times of Chino and the Gang's slower/cerebral moments circa White Pony, guilty pleasure or not.You can hear True Widow's sophomore album As High as the Highest Heavens and From the Center to the Circumfrence of the Earth (Kemado, 2011) on repeat during the Thursday afternoon beer delivery shift, courtesy of our bar manager. If you find yourself in our neck of the woods Thursday around 3PM, stop on in.  But don't come tomorrow, we're not open at 3.Check out a video for "Skull Eyes" by True Widow below.True Widow - "Skull Eyes" from Kemado Records on Vimeo.That’s Amore is a new segment on this here blog where we post about music stuff we like. We love hearing from our friends, so tell us what new bands you’re digging on in the comments section. If a song you recommend to us ends up on the blog, you’ll get one FREE ticket to the show of your choice at the Empty Bottle. Cool!

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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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Most people reading this probably have a good number of records. Nice job, guys – you did it. As you know (if you’re cool), one of the best things about owning records is being able to listen to them on your own damn time in the comfort of your damn home. Certain albums even manage to define the feeling of finally being home and escaping from the cruel world outside, if only for a brief period of time.Erased Tapes is a label that consistently puts out amazing “home records” – textually rich, slow burning LPs that pair great with the oft-desired relaxation. We recently had the pleasure of stumbling across the stunning work of Ukrainian pianist Lubomyr Melnyk. We don’t know much about much, but we’re certain that his "continuous piano music," paired beautifully in the song below with a rising and falling violin, is genuinely entrancing. Give it a listen, you’re gonna love the way you look, we guarantee it.That's Amore is a new segment on this here blog where we post about music stuff we like. We love hearing from our friends, so tell us what new bands you’re digging on in the comments section. If a song you recommend to us ends up on the blog, you’ll get one FREE ticket to the show of your choice at the Empty Bottle. Cool!

Ladies and germs, this here segment dubbed RobotCast, coordinated by our trusty intern Lil Y, showcases what's coming through our little club over the next few days. Let our trusty robotic friend be your spirit guide. Take 20 minutes out of your boring lives to listen to some groups that are stopping by to play our stage this week.Wishgift -- "Drover (Wish for Death Gift)"The Ivorys -- "Drink In, Truth Out"Mac Blackout Band -- "Valley of the Rose"Running -- "This is a You Problem"Al Scorch -- "Working Dream"Gloom Balloon -- "She Was the One That Got Away"

Protomartyr is a band from Detroit who sound a hell of a lot like a band from Detroit. You can throw out terms like "punk" or "garage-rock" to describe their sound, even "post-punk" or "indie-rock," but none of those wimpy terms do the band justice. No, Protomartyr is a beast all its own, mashing each of those genres into something thrilling and unexpected."Scum, Rise!" is the first single off of Protomartyr's sophomore LP, Under Color of Official Light, out April 8 on Hardly Art. The song's jagged, reverbed-to-hell guitars and complex, urgent drumming collide with a hefty dose of feedback, all while singer Joe Casey's drawling snarl details the darker, scarier sides of his crumbling hometown. The first verse concludes with this little gem: "The sports bar exploded and everyone died / Now you know how it feels to be alive. // Scum... Rise." This kind of bleak, chaotic imagery is constant throughout the song. He ends a final rallying-cry by quickly repeating "There's nothing you can do" over and over as piercing guitars, clanging symbols and a wave of feedback crash in on everything, suffocating the words and leaving listeners gasping for breath. It fucking rips - give a listen here:That's Amore is a new segment on this here blog where we post about music stuff we like. We love hearing from our friends, so tell us what new bands you're digging on in the comments section. If a song you recommend to us ends up on the blog, you'll get one FREE ticket to the show of your choice at the Empty Bottle. Cool!

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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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Our friends in the folk-rock band Martin Van Ruin stopped by Thalia Hall in Pilsen to play some songs a few weeks ago and we were lucky enough to get some video footage of their performance... Sure looks pretty in there. It'll look even better when we fill that room with more people. Take a peek for yourself.

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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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It's a rare opportunity to be able to see multiple great shows in one night. Sometimes you get lucky, like the few folks who, just last month, got to catch DIARRHEA PLANET destroy Beat Kitchen right before CROCODILES played an enthralling set of fuzz-pop goodness on our very stage.Well, friends, on Thursday, December 12 you have the opportunity to witness a jam-packed night of amazing live music. There will be two shows, pretty much back to back, taking place in venues that are merely three miles from one another. MIKAL CRONIN, who explored his more introspective side of garagey power-pop on this year's MCII, performs at Logan Square Auditorium mere hours before DISAPPEARS take our stage. Disappears are the Chicago-based space-drone-industrial-punk aliens, whose fourth LP in as many years simultaneously chilled and stole our hearts. They headline night one of kranky twenty, a four-day, multi-venue "festival" celebrating twenty years of Chicago's kranky Records. Over at LSA, newcomer punk thrashers BASIC CABLE and electro-skuzz dream-poppers YAWN open up, while drone-synth loop master LICHENS, aka ROBERT AA LOWE, and crushing drone-rockers IMPLODES open the kranky showcase.Tickets to both shows are still available, and if you buy one before doors, you can get $10 off your first cab ride that night with the mobile app Taxi Magic.Tickets: Mikal Cronin @ Logan Square AuditoriumTickets: Disappears @ Empty Bottle

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.

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Photos & Interview by ASHLEIGH DYE

Scotland-based indie-punk-rockers PAWS were one of our favorite buried treasures of 2012. We caught wind of the band's debut album, Cokegoat, at the end of last year and were blown away by the fury and power of their poppy punk (but not pop-punk) agenda. The band is comprised of Phillip, Josh and Ryan, three friends from the Scottish highlands (Edinburgh & Glasgow, more specifically), and they've been tearing up the Glasgow scene for a few years now. This ain't your dad's Belle & Sebastian Glasgow, kids - these boys have played shows with No Age, Wavves, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Black Lips, and Male Bonding, to name a few, and they made it to the U.S. for their first time this past Spring.A few of us Bottle folk first got to witness the glory of their live show when we traveled to SXSW and stumbled into a Brooklyn Vegan daytime showcase. The short set, 25 minutes or so, was all claws and teeth, engaging the audience with their spontaneous but raw energy that's unmatched in many of bands today (outside of Chicago, of course).Get to know PAWS a little better - check out this live video & interview they recorded back when they were in the U.S. for their first time...On Sunday, November 17 we are pleased as punch to welcome them back for their first headlining gig at the Empty Bottle. Better yet, tickets are only $8 and they're touring with Philly's rough and noisy indie-rockers LITTLE BIG LEAGUE. Chicago's own POLISH GIFTS are a sloppy poppy duo from Chicago who kick off the night's shenanigans.Here's a recording of that same session from the video above. Enjoy and see you Sunday!

Every November, men across America grow out their mustaches to try to raise awareness and funding for men's health, primarily prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health issues. It's a great cause and we love the dudes around here as much as we love the ladies, so help us out, will ya?We like to think we put the "Mo Money, Mo Problems" in Movember, except really it's LESS money because we're raising money for charity, duh! Check out these ugly mugs and donate here - we wanna help raise some sweet, sweet cashola, y'all!Some very generous donors have even taken out a forbrukslån for the occasion. This specific group (a family of four) had lost their father/husband to prostate cancer, and used his inheritance as collateral on the loan. While financial contributions are more than welcome -- you don't have to go to such extreme measures. Just grow out your stache, donate a few bucks, or, if you're feeling generous, try both!

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This year I celebrated  Halloween the right way with three out-of-this-world sets from The Hussy, Outer Minds, and Seattles Night Beats, each of which sent chills down my spine. I got to spend some extra spooky (is there a better word than that?) time with The Hussy and the Night Beats and discuss pyro-technics, the best part of psych fest, and their favorite abnormal creatures...NIGHT BEATS INTERVIEWASHLEIGH DYE: SO YOU GUYS HAVE GOT A SONG ‘DIAL 666’ - WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IF SATAN ACTUALLY PICKED UP?TAREK WAGNER: Fuck you.DANNY LEE: Well, as the song goes I’d have him pull some shit for me. I consider him a hit man.AD: Oh yea, calling in a favor or two. You guys have played Psych Fest the last 4, maybe 5 years. What’s your favorite part of the festival and how it’s evolved over the years?DL: I’d say meeting up with a lot of friends, a lot of bands are coming through town, seeing how they’ve progressed and been up to, trade stories. All that shit.AD: I’m really into collaborations. With projects like The UFO Club, and your roots in the Psych Fest community you’ve gotten to play and work with some cool people. Is there anyone out there you’re dying to work with? What’s your dream collaboration?TW: Kyle MooneyDL: Kyle Mooney, yeah.AD: What would you do with Kyle Mooney?TW: I dunno. I wouldn’t want to put any limitations on it, just see where it goes.DL: King Khan would be sweet, Tim Presley, Ty [Segall], too. AD: If you could live like your favorite undead specimen what would it be?

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DL: Maybe like one of those deep-sea freaky guys with the light bulb.JAMES TRAEGER: I think an alien.TW: A reptilian humanoid sub-creature.AD: You guys are forced to pick a new band mate-Your only choices are Michael Meyers, Jason Voorehes, or Freddy Krueger.DL: Not Michael.JT: Michael Jordan?TW: I don’t wanna hang out with any of those assholes![laughter]DL: I guess I’m gonna have to go with Freddy, he’s got good style.

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ASHLEIGH DYE: Tell me about the first time you lit your guitar on fire.

HEATHER HUSSY: I remember!BOBBY HUSSY: It was at Willy Street Fair in Madison, Wisconsin. Like, 2009? It was an outdoor show and we needed to burn up a lot of time.HH: We prepared for it and everything. Did a test run at home. Then some hippy tried to pee on it to put it out and we were like “no. We know its on fire”.

AD: If you guys had to write an entire album devoted to one spooky creature, what would it be?

BH: Obviously spiders. Just kidding, Heather hates spiders.HH: Maybe like the Chupacabra? Or Sasquatch. Sasquatch hands down.BH: Yeah, definitely Sasquatch! We had this guy in Seattle look over his shoulder at us when he was crossing the street and he looked just like Sasquatch.

AD: You had a Sasquatch sitting! You should have called it in. OK so lets pretend you’ve found an ancient Egyptian book of the dead and in it you find one spell to bring a band back from the grave for one final tour. Who do you bring back?

BH: Nirvana, right?HH: Yeah, totally Nirvana.

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AD: What’s your favorite thing to do during the witching hour?

HH: I think I’m usually sleeping then [laughs]BH: Play guitar, quietly.

AD: What are you most proud about your newest album,

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BH: It’s just the best record we’ve made.HH: Yea it was exciting, we got to tour in EuropeBH: Both coasts of the US, the label did a really good job with everything; they did a big solid for us. I’m happy about all of it.

AD: Look into the crystal ball…what does the future hold for The Hussy?

HH: Another trip to Europe.BH: Yeah. More touring, more records. We making a7” right now, a split with Digital Leather and our own LP all for release next year, then well do a US tour first, then go to Europe again.

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Photos & Interviews by ASHLEIGH DYE

In late September (of 2013), DISAPPEARS played a packed-to-the-gills record release show here with co-headlining tourmates WEEKEND and noisy indie-rocking Chicago trio OUTSIDE WORLD. Our pals at the Chicago Reader came by that afternoon to feature the band for their "Soundcheck" series. They filmed the band's soundcheck (duh), along with some live footage later in the night, and sat down with the four members for an interview...Check out the video here:Anyone who knows us knows how much we love Disappears and you'll be hard-pressed to find a better Chicago release than their fourth LP in as many years, Era, released this past August on kranky Records. We're damn excited to welcome the band back to our stage on December 12, when they headline the first night of kranky twenty, a series of concerts all around town that celebrate the past twenty years of that fine Chicago institution. You can purchase tickets here for only $12.

If I had to describe THE SPITS in one phrase it'd be "short, sweet, and to the point." A philosophy that transcends both their music, and  their daily lives, THE SPITS aren't ones to fuck around. Read on as I carve some jack-o-lanterns with the kings of all things gruesome and discuss what really happens when you crowd surf with a broken leg, the making of their not-so-wholesome merch, and what "Punk for the People" means to them...

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ASHLEIGH DYE: WHY THE MOVE FROM MICHIGAN TO SEATTLE? I KNOW THE BAND ROUGHLY ORIGINATED IN MICHIGAN AND IS NOW BASED IN SEATTLE-HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT?

ERIN WOOD: Well I moved out there in 1990 and Sean soon followed.WAYNE DRAVES: And then I soon followed after that.

AD: So it was a trickle affect?

EW: Yeah, and Josh was already there.

AD: So you guys have successfully mastered the DEVO synth-70s punk revival-hybrid. How did this combo come about? Was it as intentional as that or something that just sort of happened?

SW: Kind of intentional. We wanted to do something different than garage music, and fun, and it just came out the way it did. We’re just music masters.

AD: Seems like it came pretty naturally, you guys have talked before about various tough upbringings or childhoods etc, but what initially drew you to the punk scene, why was this the genre that you found the most release in?

SW: Because everyone else was doing it. [laughs] I think it was just a cross over from being heavy metal and rock and roll, no one was tough anymore. Punk was tough and the music was good, pretty much just kind of slid in there in the 80’s. A natural path, I guess.EW: All of our friends were listening to it, too.SW: Yeah we grew up in the country, it just seemed like an urban, cool thing to do.

AD: Having dropped out of school myself, 1 year and a half in because fuck our education system, I can really relate and vent through listening to your music, especially the song  ‘Dropout’ (obviously). Does writing songs based on your on lives and point of views inspire a lot of moments like this? Do you get a lot of stories like this?

SW: Yea, we’ve always got people coming up to us and saying you know ‘I was listening to your music when I was breaking up with my girl friend’ or when I killed my dad, or when I’m plowing the field. We relate to the people and the people relate to us.  We are music for the people.

AD: On the ‘Spits Punk Philosophy,’ that’s on your very informational website, it says “[The Spits] wanted to play exactly what they wanted to hear.” How does it feel knowing that thousands of people want to hear the same thing?

SW: It feels great. It feels awesome. I think its an honor, I take it as an honor and I’m really thankful. I think its cool.

AD: So guys have some Doomsday Dulls out in circulation. What was the process of making those like? How involved were you?

EW: We handmade them, we hand make all our toys; we are the little elves behind the packaging.

AD: That’s pretty rad – what other kinds of merch have you guys made, or want to make?

SW: Whatever I buy in downtown LA in the toy district, then we manipulate them in our factories. We’ve done wallets, watches, bracelets, urban defense gloves, sunglasses, lighters…EW: We did some toilet seats, 2 custom toilet seats. Sold em both in one night!

was probably Andrew W.K, Misfits, Marky Ramone, it was fun opening with him and filled in for a few songs.AD: Wow, that’s quite the roster.SW: We’ve done it all!EW: Nah, seriously I think TV Ghost was a fun group to tour with, a little off the hook, but they were fun. These kids we’re touring with right now, Useless Eaters, they’re really fun, too.AD: I just moved here from Athens, Ohio and I saw them there a few times, that’s where I saw Nobunny, too, The Useless Eaters have played Blackout Fest there a couple times, I really like them.EW: Yeah, most of the bands we’ve been out with have been pretty fun.AD: So your guys have a philosophy of ‘Punk for the People’, what does this mean to you?EW: A good hamburger?SW: Well it would take 20 minutes for me to give an answer, it’s a very in depth answer. Basically we don’t feel that we are higher than anybody else. If anything we’re lower. Everyone’s equal, lets just rock out and have a good time.

Ladies & gentlemen, it is that time of year - our favorite time of year - when the spooky, scary ghouls and gals crawl out of their graves to take the mean streets of Chicago, descending upon Ye Olde Empty Bottle for night upon night of debauchery and buffoonery. Who will dare to dress as Miley Cyrus and/or Robin Thicke this year? Or rather, who won't dress as Miley Cyrus and/or Robin Thicke this year?? We can only find out on that one special day, All Hallows Eve, or the surrounding days and weekends since it falls on a Thursday this year.Trick... OR treat?!

Poster by Joe Schorgl