Chicago Music Scene
It’s a frigid winter night in a quiet, wholesome suburb outlying Chicago. However, single-digit temperatures fail to keep anyone indoors. A cavalcade of teenagers park down the street and approach an unassuming house marked “NO ALCOHOL INSIDE.” Glass bottles are heard clinking in their purses and backpacks. Zak Kleiner, guitarist and songwriter of Bachelor Party Weekend, shakes his head as he takes his gig bag out of the trunk of his car. “I’m so going to get arrested,” he mutters, a cloud of breath visible in the air.
This was the picture before the band played live at a local house party. Bachelor Party Weekend is a quirky rock band from Chicago, Illinois, a place known for its musical diversity and strong do-it-yourself ethic. The band previously released a polished EP, Laserblade, presenting a fun post-punk sound with the danceability of Eagles of Death Metal. Currently the band is working on a full-length film soundtrack while playing scattered local shows when they can, frequenting Reggie’s in Chinatown and The House in DeKalb.
The band was somewhat doubtful that night, fearful of the party getting busted but eager to reach out to a new audience in the busy city. “There are loads of shows every night in Chicago. You can see almost any genre any night of the week,” Kleiner explains. “The scene is very competitive. There are many decent bands all fighting to get good shows at good venues with larger acts. But hey, America is built on competition and trying to outdo the next man, woman, child, or sloth.”
As the cultural hub of the Midwest, Chicago is a city that nurtures experimentation. Improvisational comedy was birthed in Chicago’s Second City, with such notable alumni as Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Steve Carell. A diversity of visual art shows pervade the town, from raw public graffiti demonstrations at Manifest, Columbia College’s Urban Arts Festival, to displays of the refined works of Archibald J. Motley Jr. and Ed Paschke at the Art Institute of Chicago. Zinester bastion Quimby’s hosts regular readings for self-published authors while aspiring writers can sell their own Xeroxed tomes of fiction stories, journal excerpts, comics, and cookbooks. Chicagoans are very keen on sharing their identities with others and this environment has proven hospitable to an innovative independent music scene. Chicago is home to indie label revolutionaries Touch and Go Records and Thrill Jockey, the headquarters of Fearless Radio, and host to dozens of festivals including Lollapalooza and Pitchfork Music Festival.
While classical music thrives indoors with the world-renowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the incomparable circus punk marching band Mucca Pazza brings carefully composed instrumentals to the street. Outfitted in multi-colored thrift store band uniforms, the ragtag crew of thirty plays party music inspired by surf, gypsy, and traditional teachings. The complete band of woodwinds, brass, percussion, mandolins, violins, accordions, and cheerleaders frequent outdoor festivals in the city and are favorites at The Hideout and The Empty Bottle. Though unsigned, the band has performed on Late Night With Conan O’Brien and is just one example of the ingenuity of the local scene.
Metal also has a profound presence in the city, with mainstays like SOiL and SKANK. Amongst throngs of headbangers it can be difficult to stand out but certain local artists are drawing attention with their unique approach to the genre. Stuck Underwater, for instance, combine heavy riff rock, riotous drumbeats, and hardcore growls with the occasional soul melody and jazzy trumpet contributions. This novel range of sounds and rapid tempo shifts make Stuck Underwater a band that appeals to the intellectual as well as the visceral. “We decided to do whatever the fuck we wanted without thinking about it,” says lead singer and trumpet player Chris Shern. “We get heavy but we try to add other elements to the monster that we’ve created.”