Chicago? Have You Been to Chicago? Is it Lovely?

Over the past weekend, I spent a great deal of time in my car, listening to music. It all started early Saturday morning with a drive up to Racine Wisconsin with a soundtrack that consisted of Just the Best Party by World/Inferno Friendship Society and This is Satire by None More Black. I did some comparing and contrasting mentally between new and old with both of these albums. The World/Inferno effort compared to their latest album, Red Eyed Soul is an interesting progression. The earlier album was very raw and the ideas were very extreme. The songs were either up beat punk songs or weird gypsy and sideshow songs, where as on the new album, they managed to blend the two into an extremely unique sound. World/Inferno has been an extremely interesting band to watch evolve, because they really came from the under belly of crust and bike punk communities and have picked up a lot of odd balls along the way. Their crowd has changed quite a bit over the years and now a lot of clean suburban kids are listening to them. It will be interesting how they'll keep their ties to the anarcho community with the rise in their popularity at the shopping mall. Honestly, their records are excellent, including the newest one and they really do deserve all the attention they're getting. My question is, will they go the route that AgainstMe! took or are they going to stick it out on the indies? I don't know. Maybe I'm just a cynical bastard, but I'm already assuming they're going to take the jump to the big leagues.
None More Black on the other hand is a totally different story. They seem to write songs for the sake of writting songs. I get the impression that they're very mild mannered about their success and that they're happy where they are. When your pedigree includes Kid Dynamite, Kill Your Idols and Death Cycle, you can pretty much do whatever you want.
When I first heard This is Satire, I was disappointed. I wanted all the blatant hooks of the first album and I wanted the record grab me right away and become one of my instant favorites. What it did instead was creep up on me, like Against Me's Eternal Cowboy album did. I had to put "Satire" down for a little while and on Saturday I pulled it off the shelf and popped it in my player. I don't know if it was my experimental blend of 7-11's regular coffee mixed with their dark blend that washed down the donut gems I had for breakfast (this is an old "waking up way too early on a Saturday" tradition of mine that stems back to high school when I worked for my dad, installing furnances and air conditioners), or if the record genuinely grew hooks over the two months between listens, because the hooks sort of came out of nowhere. Aside from the obvious (but possibly unintentional) tip of the hat to Billy Joel in the vocal melody on the lead off track We Dance on the Ruins of the Stupid Stage, this record just explodes into pop genius and flirts with punk country awesomeness. Where the hooks on File Under Black are very obvious and the songs really get stuck in your head, the songs on "Satire" need to really be nurtured. This record is excellent and if you've already put it down, you should pick it up again and give it a spin. By the way, keep an eye out for the LP version, because the packaging is going to be amazing.

I spent quite a bit of time listening to pop punk this weekend. Teenage Bottlerocket, Copyrights, Screeching Weasel, Queers, etc. I covered a lot of ground. Mostly because I'm horribly excited about and looking forward to the Red Scare fest. Falcon, Methadones, Copyrights, Teenage Bottlerocket and rumor has it the Lillingtons in some towns. All of these bands are great live (I can't really comment on the Falcon, because I've never seen them live) and I'm glad that this style of punk is slowly starting to make it's way up again. I really miss the hooks of Ramones style punk and after the overly fashionable lameness of emo, I think a lot of kids are starting to appreciate honest song writting as opposed to whiney lamenting over anonymous females.

---Rediscovering My Record Collection---

The Bollweevils - Stick Your Neck Out! - Dr Strange
Chicagoans will recognize the album cover of this absolutely essential classic record as the Forest City Auto Parts logo. It doesn't get much more Chicago than that and The Bollweevils embody all that is Chicago. This record is an amazing melodic hardcore album that should be mentioned in the same breath as Hello Bastards by Lifetime as well as the Unraveling by Rise Against when talking about this particular sub genre.
Music aside, the Bollweevils were a band that not only played hardcore, but also really walked the walk. They truly practiced the preachings of five dollar shows, knowing everybody's name and making sure everyone was welcomed. They were the band that would be playing every weekend, whether in someone's basement, a VFW hall or the Metro. It didn't matter, because it was a show and there were kids there. These were the guys who remembered your name after meeting you once. These were the guys who would call out security when they were being rough with the kids. Hands down one of the nicest bands to come out of this town.
I was expecting this to sound somewhat dated, like the History of the Bollweevils record does (a collection of early 7"s and comp. tracks), but this album still holds up and still gets me fired up. I still get that little burst of adrenaline and the urge to run around in circles and jump off my bed like a 15 year old with ADD. This record truly held up over the years, so if you're looking for a classic "Chicago" record, pick up Jettison by Naked Raygun, Easy Instructions for Complex Machinery by Apocalypse Hoboken and Stick Your Neck Out by the Bollweevils. Chicago rules.

On a side note, Naked Raygun, the Blue Meanies and the Bollweevils will be playing Riot Fest this year on November 5th. Along with the Effigies, 7 Seconds, Youth Brigade, Secret Agent Bill, and a crap load of other bands (some less awesome than others).
The Bollweevils will also be playing the night before at the Double Door with Shot Baker, the Tossers and a surprise guest. Some people are saying it's Raygun, others are saying it's Apocalypse Hoboken. I guess you'll just have to go and find out.