A little background on The Hype!

I made a post sometime in early 2009, around the time of the initial talks of this basement BBQ in the works, suggesting that we should include live karaoke. I didn’t expect anyone to care enough to respond, but within a few hours had been contacted by MF Nightmen (guitar), Ruy Lopez (drums), hench (keys, though more on that), and kerble as the MC. I offered to fill the open bass role, though MF thought we’d be better served by 2 guitars and asked the other bassist in his band (-o-), Erik, to join. Wow, we had a karaoke band!

Colonel Panic at The Hype perform Live at PRFBBQ2010

Months later, we’d kind of forgotten about it and realized we needed to get our shit together. The show was about a month away and people we’re actually anticipating my half-assed karaoke concept. Oh boy. Around that time, hench told me he was too busy to do it, then got seriously ill, then moved to LA, so we we’re SOL in the keys dept. Uh oh, no one on EA plays fuckin’ keys (as far as I knew at the time). I even contacted a professional keyboardist through craigslist to fill in as over half of the requests had pianos or synths. Luckily, the dude didn’t write me back (he seemed a little too into Ben Folds anyway) and Noise&Light contacted me 3 weeks before showtime. Saved! We had our first practice about 2 weeks before the BBQ and after some shaky run throughs, we managed to get 19 songs down in 4 or 5 practices @ MF’s Ravenswood Manor bungalow (which is like playing in a 1960s basement, in the best way imaginable).

Read more »

Sirs Boo Hoo EP

Chicago rock band Sirs are releasing their first EP tomorrow Saturday, August 20th at the Saki Record Store. Saki is located at 3716 W. Fullerton in the beautiful west side of Chicago, IL. The fun starts at 4 PM with Sidecar Static & Phoenix 68 filling out the bill.

The four song ep is available as a 12″ vinyl record, or a digital download (or both). Here’s the description:

4-Song EP. A disturbed crooner and a loud electric band pile-drive tales of the late capital era into every available earhole. Escape the post-modern refuse pile by burrowing straight down. Don’t dig with your hands; use this slab of 12″ plastic as a tool

Sirs is Tony Jones, and Rob Warmowski, and Andrew Kosinski. Mike Greenlees played drums on the EP.

A Long-winded Retelling of the Story of Union Rock Yards

To paraphrase the patron saint of the PRF, Mr. Albini: “Basements are what drive the music scene in Chicago.” This sprawling city has music happening in subterranean nooks and crannies on every block: Practice spaces, home recording studios, DIY performance spaces, and sometimes, as was the case of Union Rock Yards, all three.

The history of the space at North and Fairfield is spotty and sometimes sordid. From what we were able to ascertain, it had originally been built as a well-sized banquet hall at the turn of the 20th century. At some point in the subsequent decades the hall was split up, with the main floor becoming commercial spaces, the top floor becoming a loft apartment, and the basement…well, the basement knew many purposes.

Come on in

*Front* Door Photo by Thomas Banks

I truly wish I had a deeper knowledge of the history of what transpired down there. There were names etched in the mortar in the “dungeon” rooms dated in the mid ’70’s. The conduit on the ceiling told of a dozen or more rewiring projects over the years. There was a giant sealed steel door in our practice space that faced underneath the street. Art work and artifacts we discovered in the dank corners left us confused and delighted to the possibilities of their origins.

We do know that in the late 90’s, the spot became a collective known as the Hotel Kafka. The Kafka played host to a bevy of shows and parties at a time when Humboldt Park was truly something of the wild west(side). After the crew with Hotel Kafka moved out, the next tenant brought in a pile of dry wall and subdivided the basement into a dozen or so rooms, creating a serviceable squatter’s motel. By this time a Payless Shoe Store and seasonal tax preparer Jackson Hewitt moved in on the main floor.

Read more »