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.

DSC_8637

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.

DSC_8634

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?

DSC_8626

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. 

DSC_8390

DSC_8406

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.

In this installment of We Listen, we finally address that 98% of the survey responses ask for free stuff. We understand, you want everything to be free because you were amazed by your recent trek to Burning Man and why can't we all just live in a trade-based economy, you know? Yeah, man, we know... Enough hippie-talk, we have over a dozen shows and events coming up that are FREE or FREE w/ RSVP this fall, so there - free stuff for you all. Now come up with more suggestions about not free things. Also, we would like to address that 100% of the responses request free beer and while we can't do that, we do have special vouchers for drinks in the PRIZE MACHINE and we know that it is technically not free but it is still kind of free. Remember: If everything was free, we would've closed 20 years ago. Think about how sad you'd be! Now wipe those tears and keep reading - there's lots to learn.TONIGHT (9/15) Scott and Charlene’s Wedding make their Empty Bottle debut! These New York-via-Australia rabble-rousers are in the midst of their first US tour and hitting our stage on their way to GONERFEST. Joining in on this international GONER night is Ireland's So Cow, who formed in South Korea and have albums on TIC TAC TOTALLY and an upcoming/tomorrow release on GONER. Check 'em out below.

 TOMORROW (9/16) we're hosting a *SIDEWALK SLAM* before the 

LEE FIELDS & THE EXPRESSIONS

 show w/ food, a dance off, prizes and more! (

MORE INFO HERE

)

lee fields sidewalk slam

 You probably know this by now but EVERY FRIDAY at 5:30 we have the

THE

HOYLE BROTHERS

come in and play honky tonk music. They've been playing the Bottle for over a decade now and it's always a good ol' time if you like country back when it was still

country

(and dancing, lots of dancing). If you don't think this is your thing then why not try something new? IT'S FREE you've got nothing to lose!

 Next MONDAY (9/ 22) North Carolina's husband-wife duo 

Lowland Hum 

grace our stage with the kind of folk-ish music you wanna ring fall in with. Joining them are 

Sünken Ships

(members of SYBRIS, MY COLD DEAD HAND, QUATRE TETE and MUCHACHA) and the sweet, hopeful, tunes of 

Darling. 

TUESDAY (9/23) Portland's

Drunk Dad

turns it up with sludgy hardcore free-jazz noise rock that breaks down the stifling genre walls of yore and rewires the wreckage into a mega-heavy alloy of scuzz, filth, and noise in a knock-down, drag-out war of ill will wrapped in a nasty bow. It rips, it kills, and Portland's

Honduran

join them - powergrind / hardcore / powerviolence / grindcore / noise / thrash - "formed like Voltron to destroy shit, and that about all there is to it." If you have any more adjectives you'd like to see in this description please let us know. This one's

FREE w/ RSVP

and there might be another free thing involved so stay tuned.SATURDAY (10/11) we bring back the

Handmade Market

 because the holidays are coming so you might as well stock up on cool gifts before you spend it all or just treat yoself. Over 30 excellent vendors will be there slanging their wares and it starts at 11 a.m. You could also just make a day of it and grab brunch / mimosas / bloody marys next door at Bite Cafe to aid you in your perusing.MONDAY (10/13) we bring Chicago locals

Lamp

/

Hollow Mountain

/

Le Tour

/ and

Strawberry Jacuzzi

to our stage. And maybe that slug looking thing, who knows? Support your local music scene. We do.

10288729_678212055588625_8861660479792935312_n

THURSDAY (10/16) is the latest curation of

Curbside Splendor (

recently named Best Chicago Indie Publisher in 2014 by Chicago Magazine

) Words+Music

#6

, celebrating their release of their Fall 2014 books, including 

Crazy Horse’s Girlfriend 

by Erika T. Wurth, 

Does Not Love

 by James Tadd Adcox, and 

Kill Manual

 by Cassandra Troyan. Special guests: Chicago best-selling author

Joe Meno

, and touring L.A. author

Jim Ruland

. Performances by

Fashion Brigade

and

The Peekaboos

.

FREE w/ RSVP

.

csfallbooks

 MONDAY (10/20) Chicago synth-punk trio

Absolutely Not

return to headline the Bottle, playing their first show here since we had them twice in one month back in the spring. These enthusiastic, fuzzy, indie-leaning garage rockers are always a delight when they bring their snotty, charismatic and lean punk tunes to our stage. 

Time Out Chicago

 has praised them for generating “infectious one-two beat punk chords. It's an IGGY POP meets KEVIN BARNES approach to jagged garage-rock."

Fire Retarded

is a loud garage-punk band from Madison, Wisconsin. They wowed us with their speedy riffs, big breakdowns and even bigger stage presence last October and we’ve been hoping they’d come back to our fair stage ever since.

Swimsuit Addition

return and are bringing all the shenanigans with their version of dirty surf-pop/cheerleader grunge. These ladies have been hailed by the 

Chicago Reader

 for their "apocryphal-Halloween-scare-story bubblegum that's full of broken glass." YUM.

Mr. Ma'am

is a two-piece garage rock meets surfer grunge band from Chicago - and it's damn good.SUNDAY (10/26) is the Two-Year Anniversary of the Beat Swap Meet and this one's free with a canned food donation. Come dig around and buy / sell / trade records.

MORE INFO HERE

.

BEAT SWAP MEET

 MONDAY (10/27)

Permanent Records

 celebrates their Bronze Anniversary with a FREE 

Oozing Wound

Record Release Show

 with 

Rectal Hygenics

and one more band that's TBA. This is going to be a shit show. Come roll around in it with us.

FRIDAY (11/7)

Tall Pat Records

brings a triple release show w/

Negative Scanner

,

Son of a Gun

,

Hollow Mountain,

and

Comm to Black

. Tall Pat Records has proven to be one of the most important record labels or things to emerge from the brain of Pat Sullivan in the last 20 years. In celebration of its meteoric rise to power in and around Chicago, the label is bringing its epic stable of bands to the Bottle for a night of endless Rock and Roll that will go until we legally have to close our doors at 2am. 

FREE w/ RSVP

.

No weak pits.SUNDAY (11/9)

Curbside Splendor

 presents an afternoon with 30+ of the finest local and regional independent publishers, presses, & booksellers. The bar will be open, the music system will be going, so grab a cocktail as you ogle some books and satiate your bibliophiliac and holiday shopping needs - because we are smart people and smart people read books.

FREE w/ RSVP

.MONDAY (11/10)

Maximum Pelt 

brings

Foul Tip

,

Lil' Tits

, and

Perfume

for another local hot 'n heavy showcase.

SO THERE YOU HAVE IT, FOLKS. FREE STUFF FOR YOU ONLY.

DSC_7710

DSC_7711

DSC_7678

DSC_7740

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.

DSC_7647

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.

DSC_7661

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

.

One of Chicago's greatest bands, The Lemons, have been touring all summer long. We caught up with them on their way back to Chicago from Lexington, KY (finishing up a mini-tour with Twin Peaks). By this point they had attempted to play three shows in less than 24 hours and had almost made it to Indianapolis (if not for rain). Riding in the backseat with The Lemons is all it's cracked up to be. They love each other so very much, they laugh and cry together, hold hands....but really, it's true, how do you think they come up with such sugary songs? They're just a bunch of folks who are lookin' for love, just like us.

twin peaks

At this point we were all pretty sleep deprived, and Kelly Lamone's new found obsession with Nelly and Twitter (100//) resulted in this:

555555

And this:

Then we stopped at a Love's and picked up the best souvenirs EVER - needless to say, Juicy James is/was ecstatic.

And Kelly Lamone felt like this:

britney

But that's not to say they didn't have fun before their drive back. They went in a rowboat in Boston and paddled around in circles for a few hours:

rowboatboston

Chris Twist got some sleep:

chris sleeping

Kelly Lamone and Juicy wore matching

Starfoxxx

tees:

sametee

They played a show right here in Detroit:

detroit

And Juicy SLAM DUNKED in D.C. !!!!!

Which resulted in this and a buncha other bruised band members:

bruises

But he's alright and tough as ever:

james punch

Juicy even wrote a song for us while on tour called "Juicy The 8th"!

"The best part about road trips is finding amazing AM stations that still play the oldies. And the best thing about listening to oldies is replacing normal words with vulgar words. Well, used to be! Now i'm a musician now and as such I replace the vulgar words with less vulgar ones about the same acts. It's great fun! Chris Twist and I just try to rip off as many classics as we can and see what sticks! I tried my hand at a Henry The 8th rip-off and he hated it! So i made it myself!"

“Thanks to a geographical kinship, [Daniel] Bachman – a Virginia native who wrote his debut record in Philadelphia – will likely soon tire of comparisons to Jack Rose,” wrote Pitchfork contributor Grayson Currin way back in 2012 when guitarist Bachman’s Seven Pines LP was released.Guitar-playing greats like Rose and John Fahey are frequently mentioned nearly every time someone discusses his Bachman's, but who knows if Bachman has tired of the comparisons? Bachman’s mastery of his steel-stringed guitar is definitely evocative of his American Primitive forebears, but that’s also definitely not a bad thing. Plus, Bachman was actually friends with Rose, who died of a heart attack in 2009, and has said that he grew up listening to Rose’s recordings. Rose even commissioned Bachman to do the album artwork for Rose’s last album, Luck in the Valley (released posthumously on Thrill Jockey in 2010).Bachman released his most recent album, Orange Co. Serenade, on Asheville's Bathetic Records, a follow-up to 2013’s Jesus I’m A Sinner (which has great album cover art), and has another LP slated to come out in September on Three Lobed Recordings. Busy guy!The 24-year-old Bachman is also quite the endearing performer, as evidenced by the Tiny Desk Concert he did for NPR in 2012: “After a rousing performance of ‘Honeysuckle Reel’…Bachman turned beet-red in the NPR Music office and said, ‘I’m not going to lie. I’m pretty nervous.’”Check out some of Bachman’s older music on this Soundcloud page, and watch a video of him performing “Coming Home,” from Orange Co. Serenade, below...

Marian McLaughlin uses a technique called "dérive", which is a French term/theory created in the 1940's to describe psychogeography (the effect of the geographical environment on individuals) and it was picked up in the 1950's by radical avant-garde artists. If you haven't Google translated already, the technique means "to drift" - and McLaughlin doesn't begin her set with any motives - she allows the landscape to dictate the direction of her song patterns and vocals. According to situationist theorist Guy Debord, "In performing a dérive, the individual in question must first set aside all work and leisure activities and all their other usual motives for movement and action, and let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there." McLaughlin plays the Bottle this Wednesday, August 20th with American Wolf, Gabriel Reid, and Deadbeat. It's gonna be interesting to see how the dérive technique pans out alongside Ms. Pacman, free pizza, and our Radley mural (RIP). But we bet that it's going to be fucking beautiful. Out of Town Films recently filmed Marian McLaughlin at Little Berlin in Philadelphia. Watch the vid after the *jump*.

Brain Case Empty Bottle Podcast

Noah Leger Empty Bottle Podcast

For our 7th Episode, still with a Parental Advisoryon iTunes, we are honored to have Brian Case and Jered Gummere around the table to talk about the various ways they have been musically bowling us over for over a decade. From Brian's time with the 90 Day Men, joining the Ponys - including an amazingly hindsight-hilarious tour story involving Duran Duran's tour bus - Brian's work in Disappears, Jered's work in Bare Mutants and their respective bonkers solo projects, it was pretty great to spend time talking to these regular guys about their killer musical output.  This month we also welcome the drummer that makes the girls weak, Noah Leger, to chat on being the guy to take Steve Shelley's place and the many ways working for Blue Man Group changes lives.A member of the Empty Bottle family, Connor Roche, was recommended to the Bottle staff through Noah because of his rad fucking attitude and ability to grow astounding mustaches. Connor is currently showing cancer who's boss and we are honored to be hosting a benefit for Sweet Relief, a charity that Connor supports, that offers assistance to musicians who are struggling to make ends meet while fighting illness. He's rad - we're lucky to know him and the Bottle and Blue Man staff, as well as the plethora of people who are in his corner, will be celebrating him at the Bottle on August 15.Under all the band talk and shit talk, you’ll hear songs from the following bands who will be playing Empty Bottle shows in the coming month. See you in September.Subscribe/Listen on iTunesStream it herePenicillin Baby - "Daddy Drove A Hearse" - August 23Reigning Sound - "North Cackalacky Girl" - September 1Jacco Gardner - "Chameleon" - August 18New God - "Firework" - August 13Marian McLaughlin - "Arcane Circadian" - August 20Gel Set - "Don't Need $ Cuz I Got A Gun" - August 22Wizard Castle - "10,000 Sword Salute" - Chicago Food Social on August 24

onion_PNG605

onion_PNG605

onion_PNG605

Last week we hinted that party poet James Swanberg of Todayshits would be appearing with "members of a hot young Chicago band, hint hint" - can you guess who? They're on the hit below...Still not sure? Their record release is THIS WEEK...One more clue...read the title of this post.

GREAT JOB! IT'S MEMBERS OF TWIN PEAKS! THEY WILL PLAY AS THE BACKING BAND FOR TODAYSHITS AKA TWINHITS AKA TODAYSPEAKS ON WEDNESDAY!

GET YOUR TIX HERE.

FRANKIE COSMOS and PORCHES will both grace our stage onTuesday, August 5, along with the excellent HOSPITALITY, so we thought we’d give you a handy primer on the two acts (because it can be hard to tell who's who and what's what). Take a look.Porches is the project of Aaron Maine, who also provides drums for Frankie Cosmos. Porches also features backing vocals from Greta Kline, who is the driving force behind Frankie Cosmos and who also happens to be Maine’s girlfriend. Basically, the lines between Frankie Cosmos and Porches are kind of blurry. Do we need to diagram that for you? No? Okay, good.Porches’ album, Slow Dance in the Cosmos, was released last year and Maine/Kline collaborated under the name "Ronald Paris” most recently for a split tape with Mdou Moctar. Here’s “Leather” off that split, which sees Maine “maintaining his typically uneasy harmonies and organ drones while ripping out the low-end that keeps [his] stoned reveries grounded,” according to Pitchfork.Porches’ live performances are bare-bones and captivating. No frills here.Frankie Cosmos, headed by Kline, makes short and sweet songs that usually run no longer than two minutes. The July release, Quick Songs, featured seven tracks, one for each day of the week.Frankie Cosmos’ debut album, Zentropy (a word that Kline made up while recording, according to Noisey) came out in March on Double Double Whammy Records and scored on 8.0 on Pitchfork.Don't miss the show here on Tuesday, August 5th - tickets are still available online!

The road to the Bottle for the band CROCODILES has seen them mostly sliding up and down the East coast this summer, but now they find themselves in the heart of the midwest. From what we can tell this has been the quintessential summer tour for CROCODILES. They have been taking in baseball games (at bars--of course), brushing up on their BEACH BOYS lyrics, snapping selfies in Detroit, and road-tripping sleepily across America. All the makings of a classic summer, but it would not be complete without a stop at ye olde Empty Bottle.

IMG_3465

IMG_5073

IMG_3470

That is not a CAN record you CAN find every day!

IMG_5101

IMG_5107

"Robert loves baseball"It’s no secret to anyone who has listened to Crocodiles that these fellas are some serious record collectors. So we were not surprised to see that their travels included a stop in Ohio at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. While there they took this pic for us of Brian Wilson’s hand written lyrics. Nice!They also scored a nice CAN 7” at Lager House in Detroit. Then they took this selfie out on the streets of Detroit. This band knows how to live it up on tour, and here at the Empty Bottle, we LOVE when bands send us selfies# !CROCODILES played here for the first time back in May of 2009. Since then we have had the pleasure of watching this band grow and refine their unique sound from record to record. Their debut, Summer of Hate was dark, echoing, and promising. A lo-fi and noisy affair that displayed a young band with a long deep love for music.The band’s follow up, Sleep Forever, was even better. While CROCODILES tour with up to five people for their live shows, the band was started by two friends that met at an anti-fascist rally in high school. The original core, BRANDON WELCHEZ and CHARLES ROWELL spent 10 days recording with producer JAMES FORD, (SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO) out in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Ford brought a bit of sun to the band’s shadowy and macabre sound, while keeping everything that was great and raw about their debut. The result is a record that grabs you a minute into opener “Mirrors” and doesn’t let go until the emotional ending to “All My Hate and My Hexes are for You” at the end of the record.

They were not done refining their sound, though. Their latest record Crimes of Passion, out on French Kiss late last year, is their most fully-realized album to date. More cohesive than any of their past works can can claim to be, and with a sunniness peaking out through the grey clouds that the band is known for. It shows the band’s songwriting has truly matured over these past four records. We can't wait to enjoy their energetic live show again!

Catch them here with one of our favorite bands from, “The Good Land” Jaill, and Heavy Times; some of the best local dudes you (or any of us for that matter) could ask for!

There are some tickets still available. Get some at the door TONIGHT!

Japanese chanteuse Ai Aso recently put out her album Lone on Sunn O))) co-founder Stephen O'Malley's Ideologic Organ label, making her label-mates with heavy lifters like Sir Richard Bishop (who will be at the Bottle on September 2nd with Tashi Dorji; tickets here) from Sun City Girls and the monstrous Nazoranai (who played the Bottle earlier this year).Lone is a recorded live set that features seven gorgeous tracks from a 2012 performance, when Ai Aso opened for Boris, Sunn O))) and Chelsea Wolfe. Don't worry if doom metal and drone aren't your jam -- Ai Aso provides an ethereal, quiet counterpoint to many of O'Malley's other musical endeavors. She's a multi-talented wonder woman, deftly playing both keyboards and guitar while providing whispery, delicate vocals.

FACT magazine calls Ai Aso's music "

fragile and spellbinding

," which are pretty accurate words to ascribe to Ai Aso's sparse but beautiful arrangements. 

Editions Mego

, which distributes Ideologic Organ's catalog, says that her live performances evoke "l

ost memories, small flavors of COIL and serial playing on the verge of evaporation." Ai Aso has previously collaborated with Boris guitarist Wata on the 2007 split 

She's So Heavy

, where she provided a cover of King Crimson's "Islands." She also 

co-wrote

 the track "

You Were Holding An Umbrella

" on Boris' 2008 album 

Smile

. Oh, AND she provided the vocals for "Sometimes," a track off the recent 2014 collaboration  between O'Malley, Oren Ambarchi, and Randall Dunn called Shade Themes from Kairos. Girl power!!!

In case y'all didn't know, we have a survey where we ask you questions like "How can we make the concert experience better for you?" (It pops up after you go to buy a ticket on TicketWeb.) A lot of companies don't listen to things like this BUT WE DO DAMMIT, and from now on we're going to fulfill your *~*~*dreams and wishes*~*~* every month. So far, a lot of you have requested free shit (understandable) - including food.We've got ya covered. Did you know that we host FREE PIZZA parties nearly every Wednesday night? Here's some proof from our show last week with The Fresh & Onlys, The Shilohs, and Gravity Waves! Annnd you're welcome.Maybe you should think twice about answering those questions because we could make whatever you want come true...within reason. There are also some secret prizes for the folks who participate...pizza was a good start, what else have ya got for us?Stay tuned for next month!

DSC_5926

DSC_5954

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.

DSC_5946

DSC_5934

       WORDS & PHOTOS BY ASHLEIGH DYE

On Friday, July 25th we're celebrating all things Dark Entries. The San Francisco-based record label was born in the spring of 2009 to release out of print and unreleased underground 80s music as well as contemporary bands referencing that sound. A project of Josh Cheon, a vinyl-focused DJ and collector, Dark Entries takes great care in preserving sound quality and respecting the aesthetics of its artists. All of their releases reflect the DIY days of the 1980s independent record labels. The label entrusts all of their projects with the best engineer in California, George Horn at Fantasy Studios, who has remasters each release using his 50+ years of knowledge in the industry. This showcase is part of a larger tour that features rising stars within the Dark Entries roster.The tour, kicking off tomorrow (July 17th), features REDREDRED, Bézier, Max+Mara and label founder Josh Cheon, who also made a mix celebrating the tour and Dark Entries' 5th Year Anniversary:The Bottle show is on Friday, July 25th, at 9 PM. Advanced tickets are $10 and can be purchased here. It's gonna be siiiiiiiick. And rare, very rare.***Here's a special treat for all yas: Buy an advance ticket to the show and you'll be entered to win a special prize pack from Dark Entries, including a rare DE test pressing, a DE poster, and swag from the fine folks at the SF record label.

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.

943606_467670963325008_1788742142_n

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

]

Road to the Bottle, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Tour, Empty Bottle

Road to the Bottle, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Tour, Empty Bottle, Van herbs,

Road to the Bottle, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Tour, Empty Bottle, Great Scott, Boston, Chicago, Shoegaze, Sunny Pop

Road to the Bottle, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Tour, Empty Bottle, Chicago, Shoegaze, Dream Pop, Best New Music, Ice Cream,

The Road to the Bottle for A Sunny Day in Glasgow doesn’t start in one place, but many. Originally hailing from Philly, but the band’s founder Ben Daniels (guitar) has also been working as a biostatistician in Australia. Vocalist Jen Goma has been living in Brooklyn where she’s been working on a number of other projects, and amongst those projects she lends her vocal talents to the latest Pains of Being Pure at Heart record. Many of the other members of ASDiG are still hanging around in Philadelphia, but there hasn’t been a time when all six members of the current lineup were together for the recording of the latest album, Sea When Absent.This is the first time we’re lucky enough to be hosting A Sunny Day in Glasgow on our stage. Surprising, considering they have been putting out some truly great records since way back in ’06 --yet understandable, considering the band has been spread across multiple continents for the past few years. Just another reason we are extra-stoked to be seeing this show. And, who knows the next time this band will all meet up in one part of the world to play shows?#RoadtotheBottleA Sunny Day in Glasgow are a hard band to pin down, but one of the genre tags most often hung on them is shoegaze-- a genre full of dark brooding music perfect for Fall, Winter, and rainy days. The songs on Sea When Absent, are full of sunny melodies and beautiful harmonies. The vocals are down in the mix slightly at times and have lots of reverb, echo, and effects on them , so it’s why it’s easy to see why people would tag them as shoegaze.Van herbs, of course!A lot of reviews for Sea When Absent have talked about how this is pop music with a lot of “noise” and “cacophony." It’s not a dissonant or harsh type of noise, though, even when the tracks are layered with fuzzy walls of guitar. It’s more like beautiful, joyous noise. ASDiG’s maximalist tunes envelop you. They seem to come at you from all directions with a variety of textures - to keep with the summer theme, it’s like laying on the beach. The sun is beating down. The harsh grainy sand below is creeping in everywhere. The waves crash rhythmically. Relaxing joyous chaos. This is the pretty kind of noise.(Outside the club in Boston)A Sunny Day in Glasgow play Empty Bottle on Tuesday July 8th. Get your tickets here.They've been going fast since Pitchfork gave her the 'ol Best New Music tag.The show starts at 9PM and they are joined by Lightfoils, one of our favorite local Shoegaze groups who are celebrating the release of their debut LP, Hierarchy. Up and coming Chicago quartet Startropics open this dreamy Tuesday night and the Shimmer DJs will be spinning records throughout.This one's going to be a real treat!

Everything's Great?

Welcome back 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.For our 6th Episode, now on iTunes, we are pleased to welcome velvet-voiced old friends Chris Hansen and Mike Lust from Pinebender and Tight Phantomz, talking about how they met, touring together and their shared love for Petty of the Tom variety. Give a listen to discover Bob & Chris’ meaning of “Jagg Off” and why Lust is singing into a Coors bottle in the photo. We also welcome four, count em four, fellas up to the office, sirs Kevin Kujawa, Seth Bohn, Ethan D’Ercole and Jesse Woghin of Mannequin Men to talk about Calibrated Crematorium, friendship, drinkin and WTF. This month we’re sadly missing a dispatch from our favorite roving reporter Ronnie as she is being a five year old at summer camp. It’s a real friendship/funship episode and we hope you enjoy it - under all the hilarity, you’ll hear songs from the following bands who will be playing Empty Bottle shows in the coming month. See you in August.Download/Listen on iTunesStream It HereDeath - "Freakin Out" - July 12 and at the Empty Bottle stage at West Fest on July 13Fresh & Onlys - "Who Let The Devil" - July 16J Fernandez - "Real Flowers" - July 14MSA YSA - "Why" - July 18Crocodiles - "I Wanna Kill" - July 29Heaven - "Colors In the Whites of Your Eyes" - July 23Pinebender and Tight Phantomz - July 15Mannequin Men - West Fest on July 13 and the Empty Bottle on August 9Heavy Times - July 29Photo credit: Robert B. Johnson

Who's gonna be at the Empty Bottle in July? These guys. And more! Give a listen to these bands coming (y)our way and check out our full calendar for more information. And to buy tickets (up and to your left where it says "Shows" - click there). Enjoy!