This year’s line-up includes Violent Femmes, Motorhead, Rancid, Blondie, Rocket From The Crypt, Atmosphere, The Dismemberment Plan, Best Coast and “a slew of killer bands from every era.” Riot Fest says it’s “on a mission to create a punk rock state fair, this amazing 3-day festival (September 15-17) takes place in historic Humboldt Park in Chicago, where a Ferris wheel, tilt-a-whirl, fire eaters, Lucha Libre and other attractions nestle in a gorgeous setting. Lagoons, shade trees and lovely fields yield to a stunning view of the Chicago skyline.”

Discounted tickets and a full line-up are HERE

Dhani Harrison says his spirit animal would be “something fuzzy.” Maybe a “dire wolf.” Ah, a fellow “Game Of Thrones” fan, but it’s a wonder the son of the quiet Beatle has any time to devote to the bloody fantasy when he seems to pile on side projects like Littlefinger accumulates betrayals.

Harrison brings his full-time group, Thenewno2, to the Vic Theatre on May 17 with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. “They’re really sweet guys it’s really nice to be on the road with them. I think it’s probably my favorite band that they’ve toured with ever,” he gushes.

We talked to Harrison on his way to Detroit about FOMO, Abbey Road and his favorite drinking game.

Illinois Entertainer: You’re releasing a deluxe edition of The Fear Of Missing Out. We’ve always loved that title because so many friends and colleagues are afflicted by that notion. Is it something you struggle with.
Dhani Harrison: Everyone has. It’s a force of nature. It’s kind of like an elemental thing. In the society that we live in that’s – it’s more based on where you aren’t as opped tow here you are. When I was talking about FOMO, it was more before even like Instagram. Now we’ve got Instagram. That’s like the ultimate FOMO-inducing weapon. I was posting stuff on Facebook – I used to always say, “Oh, look here, I’m up on a mountain” or “I’m on a boat!” It can be used for good, I suppose, but more often than not, it’s just like, “Look at me in a bikini” or “I’m up in a mountain,” and everyone’s like, “I wish I was in a bikini or up a mountain.”

IE: Is your fear of missing out the reason you have so many side projects?
DH: It’s true. I love collaborating. I have so mnay friends – especially living in L.A. – everyone’s in four bands and everyone’s girlfriend is going out with someone that you played with. Everyone’s girlfriend in in another band and then that band has a guy that’s in your band it’s very incestuous, but it’s really good because it means that you can play with a lot of different styles. Thenewno2 was kind of a way of including everyone from the start, but hen I managed to accidentally get into Fistful Of Mercy and that created itself. So, I think I even gave myself FOMO with that one. But then once you’ve played with Ben Harper and you’ve heard that onstage every night standing next to you with those incredible riffs, then when we went to make The Fear Of Missing Out, I had FOMO that Ben wasn’t going to be on it, but then he came and played on that. We just did the soundtrack for this film, Beautiful Creatures, that was very interesting because I used to have very bad FOMO for The Duke Spirit. I don’t know if you know them. They’re a fantastic band. I think they’re on hiatus, but [singer] Liela Moss . . . ended up on the soundtrack and it’s funny, when we went to perform it live we had a violinist replace Jessy Green and that was Anna Bulbrook from Airborne Toxic Event and Anna Bulbrook’s boyfriend is Marc Sallis from The Duke Spirit. Liela and Toby [Butler] have a side project called Roman Remains, which is excellent, so I signed them onto my label. So it’s just all the bands that I’m friends with all kind of starting to come together in a really interesting way.

IE: Kevin Bacon is going to have to move over.
DH: Exactly! Who isn’t in The Newno2 now?

IE: Paul Hicks is in The Newno2 with you and you’re going to start a project with him called pHd . . .
DH: [Interrupts] It’s not going to be called pHd anymore?

IE: What’s it going to be called?
DH: I’m not sure ’cause we had a bit of trouble with the name pHd. I think there was a big ’80s project called pHd. That is going to be really fun. We’ve actually started working on a few tracks and it sounds – it’s actually very filmic. It’s very cinematic. It’s kind of a combination of all the sort of electro-swamp stuff we were doing for Beautiful Creatures, so we’ll see. I’ll have to announce the name of that when it comes out.

IE: You coined the term “swamptronica” for your work on *Beautiful Creatures. Have you invented any other genres since?
DH: There was a really good one the other day. Oh, I can’t remember what it was. Oh what was it? There’s been a couple of interesting games that we’ve been playing on the road which usually leads to amazing genre names or band names.

IE: Like what?
DH: There was an interesting game we were playing the other night because someone was given a bottle of Russian Prince Vodka and then suddenly it became reciting Prince lyrics in a Russian accent like it was Russian Prince. Singing Prince songs in a Russian accent may be one of the most hysterical things that I’ve seen. Very, very, very thick Russian accents. Yeah, that’s a game for the whole family.

IE: You recorded the soundtrack to Beautiful Creatures at Abbey Road. How was it to be there working on your own material?
DH: That room is probably the best-sounding room in the world. I really, really love everyone at Abbey Road. They’re so sweet. I mean, because I’ve been best friends with Paul for so long . . . he was always working, so I’d have to go see him at Abbey Road. Part of the Anthology was done there as well. It’s kind of like a second home. You know all of the dinner ladies. I used to do a lot of web design and stuff. The old building, Abbey Road Interactive, is where I used to work out of, but that was my first time recording there and it’s really funny. It’s like Paul’s dad used to be in Studio 3. My dad was in Studio 2 and there’s a lot of family history there. It was quite emotional actually. When you hear the orchestra start playing, it was a proud moment. I was very proud.

– Janine Schaults

Lana Del Rey

A curious pattern emerges when studying the just-released hour-by-hour schedule for Lollapalooza 2013: female artists getting the shaft. Before you go tearing your hair out about having to decide whether to see the old guard The Cure (who knows how many lipstick-streaked touring years Robert Smith has left in him) or French younglings Phoenix on the closing night of the three-day, sold-out festival, notice Cat Power sandwiched between the two powerhouses as an afterthought. Lana Del Rey suffers the same fate on Friday night when the puffy-lipped chanteuse competes with Nine Inch Nails and The Killers. Saturday night’s schedule shows no difference with Harlem rapper Azealia Banks going up against the touted reunion of the Postal Service and banjo bangers Mumford And Sons. While Del Rey needs to release another full-length and sharpen her shtick before she’s deserving of top billing, a mid-day spot would draw an admirable sun-soaked crowd. Instead she’s regulated to Sandworm land.

Stray observations:

Gut-wrenching conflicts: On Friday, British belter Emeli Sande and Father John Misty coincide at 3:15 p.m. while moody, but exuberant Scotsmen Frightened Rabbit go toe-to-toe with brainy British beatmakers Hot Chip at 7:15 and 7:25 p.m. respectively. On Saturday, Foals get a 15-minute head start before The National at 5:45 p.m. and on Sunday, hometown electro-reggae heroes Wild Belle brave the sunshine (crossing fingers) along with English upstart Jake Bugg.

Reason to enter the gates early: Don’t go into the set of stomping husband-and-wife duo Shovels & Rope on Saturday at 12:45 p.m. nursing a hangover, but their slick harmonies are well worth setting the alarm. Former James Brown impersonator and beacon of soulful wonder Charles Bradley hits the stage at 2:45 p.m. after this month’s postponed Metro appearance.

Lollapalooza takes place in Grant Park between Aug. 2 and 4. Click to read the full schedule.

– Janine Schaults

Check out the May issue of Illinois Entertainer to read the entire Spins section for reviews of the latest releases.

VS.

– Janine Schaults

While visiting in Florida, I had the opportunity to cover the Welcome To Rockville tour in Jacksonville, Fla., not only as a photographer for Illinois Entertainer but I had the pleasure of interviewing Jacoby Shaddix and Jerry Horton from Papa Roach. The band will appear at Mojoes in Joliet on May 14.

Illinois Entertainer: Thanks for taking the time to speak with me and welcome to Florida. What is the best part of touring for you both?

Jacoby Shaddix: Best part? Getting’ on stage man, you know? I mean, we get to do some cool stuff too. Yesterday, I got to take a day off in Baton Rouge and go fishing and then we caught a college basketball game, which was kind of cool. But mainly it’s all about getting on stage man.

IE: Do a lot of people notice you when you go to places like that?

JS: I definitely stand out like a turd in a punch bowl down in Louisiana! You know what I’m sayin’? People don’t dress like me down there so I hear a lot of, ‘Hey man, you in a band?’ I’m like, ‘What do you think? No, I’m a gynecologist.’

IE: So you guys were touring with Stone Sour, how was it being on the road with them and how is Cory Taylor?

Jerry Horton: It was great.

JS: He’s nuts; he’s a character, such a great guy.

JH: They are all great guys.

JS: They have an odd sense of humor, kinda goofy. They are just good people. They’re cool shit. We’ve known them for years and became really good friends with the rhythm section: [Johnny] Chow and Roy [Mayorga]; bass player, drummer. Those guys are really fucking cool . . . we get to talk football with Josh [Rand]. My 49ers just beat the fuck out of the Falcons, so that was tight.

IE: Describe the band’s writing process? Who writes most of the music and lyrics?

JH: Jacoby does the lyrics and our bass player Tobin [Esperance] does most of the music

JS: Writing songs for Papa Roach happens in so many different ways. Sometimes it’s like a riff or an idea, or it may be an electric loop. Sometimes it’s just all of us in a room jamming it out – a couple of songs on the record were born that way. With the Leader Of The Broken Hearts, the guys sat down with acoustic guitars and started building. So if you really think about how this last record was written, it was done in so many different ways that there was no magical formula. That’s kind of how we approach writing now, it’s not like we just get in a room and bash it out. It’s always evolving.

IE: Jacoby, it’s no secret to that there were trials during the recording of Connection. Does your music help you through the trials of your life?

JS: Most definitely man. For me, it’s the music and also getting spiritual. That has really been what has helped me through, relying on a greater power other than myself. It’s the music and my spirituality; those two things have really helped me through this last year.

IE: You gotta hit rock bottom in order to crawl out.

JS: That’s exactly where I was man. I’ve been sober for 14 months right now. That’s a big thing for me. My sobriety is very important to me and also maintaining and being there for my band.

IE: Did it create a lot of friction with the band?

JH: There wasn’t any friction actually; we were all pulling for him.

JS: Yeah, they would all be jamming and saying, ‘When is he gonna show up? Is Jacoby here yet?’

IE: That’s great man. You guys have obviously been together from the beginning, so you guys are like brothers. It had to have been hard seeing someone go through stuff like that. I read about your old drummer, Dave Buckner, too. Is he doing good?

JS: Yeah, he is doing great! He got another band he is putting together. It is called Halo Method. It is with the old guitar player from Evanescence. So they got something going on right now, which is cool man.

IE: Exactly how long have you two been together?

JS: 20 years man.

IE: Both you and Tobin have been together pretty much from the beginning? How is the new drummer, Tony Palermo, working out?

JS: Tony Palermo is fuckin’ crazy! A fuckin’ Italian, ya know? He is awesome. Jerry and Tony are much like water and me and Tobin are like two battleships floating in their water, ya know what I’m saying? But it’s cool man, it just seems like me and Tobin have battleships floating in the same direction; which is to go and destroy someone else’s. It’s a good dynamic right now.”

IE: What was the inspiration behind your new video for “Leader Of The Broken Hearts” and are you pleased with the outcome of it?

JH: Oh, we love it!

JS: Visually pleased, special effects are amazing, storyline is great and the band looks awesome in the video. With that video, we just wanted to make something very positive, ya know? It kind of stems from the movie Pay It Forward where it’s like, ‘If someone is in need, like let’s go and help them out. It really goes in line with where I’m at in my life. It’s like giving back, helping somebody else out that is in need. That’s really what that video is all about.

IE: Who directed the video?

JS: Ezio Lucido, our Italiano!

IE: Was it good working with him?

JS: Oh yeah, it was great. He also did “Before I Die” and Where Did The Angels Go.”

IE: Jerry, who were your favorite guitarists growing up?

JH: Definitely [David] Gilmour and [James] Hetfield.

IE: Great Answer. Jacoby, two vocalists that you grew up with and really liked?

JS: If we take it back, Mike Ness and Mike Patton were two that I really liked. I liked Ness’ honesty and his storytelling – he wore his heart on his sleeve. Mike Patton, well he is the total opposite, his is just nuts! He is a nutty technician and an amazing vocalist with a wacky personality. Although I am not like either one of those guys, I definitely drew from them.

– John Affinito & Sheri Archambeau

David Lowery provides the double bill Friday in Wrigleyville as his outfits Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker join forces at the Cubby Bear. Camper Van Beethoven is touring in support of their first album in almost 10 years, La Costa Perdida.

Although Cracker is the group that hit MTV, spawned a No. 1 modern rock single and went platinum with its debut album, it’s fairly obvious that Camper Van Beethoven is Mr. Lowery’s first and true love. Almost completely unclassifiable (except by the band themselves, who named it “surrealist absurdist folk”), CVB dabbled in punk, folk, country, ska, world music and prog rock and all-around quirkiness through the course of five albums in the ’80s. The new record, La Costa Perdida, is more accessible to newcomers than one might expect, and should satisfy the long-time diehards that willingly follow the group’s wandering muse. The country-rock opener “Come Down The Coast” opens with some easygoing fingerpicking and pedal steel, while the seven-minute “Northern California Girls” is the climax of the set highlighted by Lowery’s breezy lyrics and Jonathon Segel’s violin. As evidenced by the record’s title and subject matter, this collection of songs seems like an (mostly) un-ironic ode to the group’s Northern California roots.

Friday should also satisfy fans of Cracker, Lowery’s more straightforward alt-country group, who burned up the ’90s airwaves with hits like “Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now),” “Low,” and “I Hate My Generation.” Jaik Willis, local self-described “freak show,” opens up. (Friday@Cubby Bear.)

– John R. Worth

Conceived and written by Bowie and directed by Floria Sigismundi, the edgy clip already conflicted with YouTube’s Terms of Service with Billboard reporting its removal from the site. Those pointed, gold pasties must have pushed the envelope. No worries, you can watch the not-so-holy event below through Vevo.

– Janine Schaults

Big Boi tweeted in anticipation of his Chicago stop just hours before the ATL legend showed up at Park West on Wednesday to deliver a brilliant evening of hip-hop that never lacked direction.

A video intro announced Big Boi’s impending arrival and soon enough the ATLien landed.  Strolling onstage with C-Bone by his side, Big Boi launched right into Outkast’s hit catalog, banging out “ATLiens,” “Skew It On The Bar-B,” plus “Rosa Parks,” and worked the frenzied crowd into a lather (although “So Fresh, So Clean” didn’t come until later in the set). After a satisfying chunk of Outkast hits, Big Boi turned his attention to a few of his personal best, such as “Apple Of My Eye,” “General Patton,” and “Daddy Fat Sax.”  Rarely pausing to let the audience catch a breather between tracks, Big Boi transitioned flawlessly from the powerful “Ghetto Musick” to the slick “Da Art Of Storytellin’” and “So Fresh, So Clean.” It’s impossible to keep Andre 3000 out of mind when hearing the latter or its ilk, but his absence didn’t cast a shadow at Park West.  Big Boi and Andre remain forever linked, but the former proved he’s more than capable of elite performances with or without Mr. Benjamin.

Big Boi opened it up to requests and a girl in front suggested “Ms. Jackson”(surprise, surprise). Daddy Fat Sax must’ve been expecting it, because the DJ had the Stankonia smash hit cued up instantly with the video to match.  Big Boi spit fire with an impassioned delivery about baby mama drama and letting bygones be bygones. Opener Killer Mike reappeared alongside Big Boi and the two displayed tremendous chemistry, even when simply conversing about Big Boi throwing out the first pitch before the Cubs game earlier in the day. (Big Boi even re-enacted his delivery from the Wrigley Field mound.)  The duo also provided those in attendance with a rare treat: a performance of Grammy-winning “The Whole World.” (The original music video is available on YouTube, but just try and seek it out on iTunes.  Only karaoke versions are available, for some unfortunate reason.)  “The Whole World” was a highlight in a night full of them. Far from finished, Big Boi invited multiple women up on stage to grind to his mega-hit, “The Way You Move,” from Speakerboxxx/The Love Below before continuing to remind everyone just how deep the Outkast hit factory runs.  He wasn’t about to leave without busting out “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik,” “Player’s Ball,” and “Elevators”.

The hip-hop extravaganza closed with favorites like “Shine Blockas” and “Fo Yo Sorrows,” and soon all the ladies in the house climbed back up on stage as the Park West burst out in full party mode. Big Boi reveled momentarily in the A-town-quality atmosphere he created, a clinic in live hip-hop entertainment for anyone taking notes.  He implored everyone to put their “A’s up” in tribute to his Atlanta hometown, and then he was out.

Longtime collaborator Killer Mike preceded Big Boi on the stage and he was in attack mode from takeoff.  Opening with “Big Beast,” the lead track off his 2012 masterpiece R.A.P. Music, KM set the tone for the night with his unrelenting, commanding presence.  Killa Kill engaged the crowd with a throwback hit, “Never Scared,” and hammered home his total audience domination with a rousing rendition of “Burn.”  As pleasing as the hard backing beats were, Killer Mike may actually be even better without musical accompaniment.  A bare bones version of his anti-government manifesto “Reagan” proved to be the unequivocal high point.  His rhymes remained raw, focused, and purposeful and the credibility behind them resonated. Killer Mike’s material possesses a rare retro charm that deserves a better descriptor than the overused “old school” tag. More accurately, he incorporates rap methodology of the past and makes it feel modern.  After 40 tenacious minutes, Killer Mike decided to seek out equal footing with fans. Deep amongst the crowd, he concluded with the title track from his aforementioned album and actually expended so much energy he labored to retake the stage. Once finally managing to hoist up his massive frame, he rested briefly on his back. The heavyweight MC caught his breath before exiting to make way for his mentor.

– Brendan Greeley

(Brendan co-hosts a weekly podcast with Pet Lions drummer Matt Dahl.  Available at mattandbrendan.com)

It’s a sunny Friday afternoon in Austin, Texas two days before St. Patrick’s Day. While most attendees of the South by Southwest Music Conference are wandering from one venue to another, checking out an endless supply of hype-fueled showcases, a handful of music fans are waiting outside Vice Bar – a 6th Street club that will be filled to capacity in just a few hours – to gain entry into a Crush Management event.

“I don’t think anyone knows what this is,” I state while passing the line, referring to the fact that recently reunited Fall Out Boy – vocalist and guitarist Patrick Stump, guitarist Joe Trohman, bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz, and drummer Andy Hurley – will play a largely unannounced headlining set there later that night. “Good,” one of the die-hards replies. “They don’t need to.”

Fast forward to long after sunset. SXSW wanderers eventually got the message and packed the club to see Fall Out Boy crush its own showcase following sets by Butch Walker and the hyperkinetic New Politics. It’s been a little over a month since the band first returned to active duty, and for many in the room, it’s their first time getting to see the group perform since the hiatus went into effect in 2009. For many more, it’s their first time seeing the band perform live ever. Fall Out Boy blasts through a crowd-pleasing set of both hits (“Dance, Dance”) and fan favorites (“What A Catch, Donnie”). One thing becomes abundantly clear throughout the performance, as the band never stops running across the stage, switching places, and swirling around under the venue’s blue and violet lights: This isn’t a victory lap for Fall Out Boy or a way to cash in on its already established track record. There’s an unmistakable urgency at work here. The band that’s performing at Vice is hungry and isn’t taking any of the room’s rabid goodwill for granted.

That wasn’t the case about three years ago. While it’s undeniable that Fall Out Boy was a juggernaut on the rock and pop scene for the mid-to-late 2000s, the group’s absolute ubiquity also started to work against it. The tabloid coverage of Wentz’s marriage to pop singer Ashlee Simpson proved equally distracting. It became hard to connect the group in this state to the pop-punk underdogs who emerged from Wilmette early in the millennium.

“I feel like sometimes when it gets into other areas of your life, it can kind of spiral and you lose the focus and, it can get negative,” Wentz says of the paparazzi attention when we connect on the phone a few weeks out from SXSW. “Having it be where the music’s central has been really important for us. And really cool! That’s how the band started, and it’s good for it to get back to that.”

A relentless and seemingly endless cycle of recording, releasing, and touring behind full-length albums that stretched across the better part of the last decade also worked against the group.

“I think that everybody was pretty burnt,” Wentz admits when looking back on the group’s final days before the break. “It’s hard to really think and you’re so jet lagged, but it was like this kind of permanent jet lag. It was just – a lot. I think that we’d done so much but we’d compacted it into so few years that it took its toll. And I think it was good that a couple people, like, pointed out that we should probably take a break. Because, otherwise, it would’ve just ended very messily, I think.

“[When] we started out, we were outsiders and we were counterculture,” the bassist continues, “and then eventually, when you win enough, then all of a sudden you’re like the hometown team and you’re part of it. And you’re the status quo. And then all of a sudden you can’t be counterculture, because you are the status quo. And I think that taking the break and the time off – nobody expects Fall Out Boy to be a certain thing. And the world doesn’t owe us anything. If anything, this is us trying to kick the door in and trying to come in from the outside again.”

Fall Out Boy announced its reformation on the morning of Feb. 4, but rumors had been building well before that. Most notably on pop-punk blog PropertyOfZack, which loudly boasted in a late January posting that the band was set to reunite. By the time the group made a formal announcement on Chicago’s Q87.7 (WKQX-FM) on that cold February morning, the cat was already halfway out of the bag. But surprises were still in store. The band was returning fully locked and loaded, with a brand new album titled Save Rock And Roll already completed and ready to drop on April 16.

“We thought about how we would want it as fans,” Wentz explains. “And to me, when I thought of The Smiths, I would want them to come back, have a song right away, have a record actually finished. I don’t think anybody even believed us when we were like, ‘It’s done.’ I can’t imagine what it’s like to come back after a big break, and then write a record, after you’ve, like, announced it. Just the amount of pressure’s insane. We definitely wouldn’t have come out with this album, I don’t think, under that kind of pressure.”

While Save Rock And Roll is undeniably a Fall Out Boy record, it’s not the Fall Out Boy record fans may have been expecting. Gone is the suburban pop punk of the group’s 2003 milestone and fan bible, Take This To Your Grave. Same goes for the sardonic scene focus of 2005 commercial powerhouse, From Under The Cork Tree. If anything, Save Rock And Roll continues the growth and experimentation prominently displayed on the act’s underrated 2008 full-length, Folie à Deux, which turned off many fans who only wanted more of the same from the band.

“We haven’t ever even tried to be hard to pin down, but I think we change on every album. We take a lot from hip-hop, we take a lot from heavy rock – all these different things,” Wentz says of the band’s sonic evolution. “I think even putting out Save Rock And Roll, [there are] a lot of people who’re like, ‘Oh, man, I really love “Miss Missing You” and I love “Just One Yesterday.”‘ And then there’s other people who’re like, ‘I just love “Rat A Tat” and “Phoenix.”‘ And for us, it’s great, because we’ve been a band that’s always kind of put out these things that push the envelope a little bit, and I think that the world’s a little bit more welcoming to it, especially in America now.”

Save Rock And Roll succeeds in being both disparate and increasingly accessible with each new listen. The band’s immediate comeback single, “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up),” is boisterous and massively arena-ready, while “Young Volcanoes” sees the band embracing a breezy pop aesthetic for one of the album’s most melodic offerings. The infectious “Miss Missing You” goes unabashedly big and ends soft and sweet, while “Rat A Tat” opens with Courtney Love snarling, “It’s Courtney, bitch,” for the album’s most assaultive selection. The effort’s closing title track features none other than Sir Elton John.

“I just thought that if you’re going to put out something that’s so ambitious as Save Rock And Roll, you need to have, like, a female rock ‘n’ roll voice on there, and Courtney literally is the perfect example of that,” the songwriter explains of the album’s unexpected guest appearances. Meanwhile, Elton John’s inclusion came from the band’s involvement with an anniversary project for the legacy artist. “We heard he was a fan and we asked him . . . That was crazy that happened,” Wentz exclaims. As for Big Sean, who shows up on “The Mighty Fall,” the rapper came to collaborate with the group after they “just ran into him.” And with Foxes, who can be heard on “Just One Yesterday,” the bassist admits, “I just, like, fell in love with her voice over the past year and knew that I kind of wanted her to duet with Patrick at some point, and Patrick loved the idea of it, too.”

At least part of the album’s disparity can be attributed to the band making the album in secret, before fans knew they were once again active, a situation that Wentz describes as “really freeing.”

“I think that we haven’t been able to do anything under the radar in a long time,” he admits, “and I think that it allowed us to make the album that we wanted to make, and make the changes that we wanted to make, and build it the way we wanted to do it. Doing art on your own terms is one of the best ways to do it, and I think you don’t often get a chance to. If you have success with it once, you don’t often have the chance to do that.”

The members of Fall Out Boy did get to exercise a sense of sonic freedom in the band’s downtime, with the group all pursuing individual solo ventures. Most visible from that time was Stump’s solo work, which in 2011 saw him drop both the Truant Wave EP and Soul Punk full-length. Wentz, meanwhile, explored more electronic elements with his Black Cards project. And both Trohman and Hurley dug into their heavier tendencies with The Damned Things, which also featured Anthrax’s Rob Caggiano and Scott Ian, as well as Josh Newton and Keith Buckley, formerly and presently of Every Time I Die, respectfully. Despite the name recognition involved with all the above projects, none of them ever approached anywhere near the level of success of the foursome’s work together as Fall Out Boy. Given the projects’ failure to launch, it’s not surprising that “a series of conversations” between Stump and Wentz took place throughout the hiatus.

“Me and Patrick had constant dialogue about it,” Wentz reveals of the discussions to reactivate Fall Out Boy. “I think throughout the course of the break there was different times when, towards the beginning, where I was like, ‘Let’s do this, let’s try to do it,’ and we wrote some songs and they just didn’t seem right. And then, there was a period where Patrick was like, ‘Let’s try to do this,’ and that was like the last time, and the songs seemed pretty cool and pretty interesting and more like Fall Out Boy, and it was definitely compelling.”

The band enlisted producer extraordinaire Butch Walker to sit behind the board for the record. Aside from his role as producer, Walker also impacted the tone of the album, even helping do away with a hallmark of past Fall Out Boy records: overly long wordplay song titles, such as “Champagne For My Real Friends, Real Pain For My Sham Friends.”

“I was writing lyrics for Patrick and we were going over the stuff, and Butch was like, ‘Hey, that means you can’t just be piling words on top of words just to make it complex or make it feel like it’s complicated. Like, that’s not poetry, that’s not lyrics. Like, it’s gotta come from the heart and it’s gotta be a projection of where you are right now,’” Wentz recalls. “And I think where I am and where the band is, is vastly different than where we were in 2006. I think that we’re bolder, older, maybe a little bit more fearless, and I think that that was an important tone in making the album. Like, it’s not supposed to be bitter, it’s not supposed to be angsty. It’s supposed to be where we are right now, and it’s supposed to give the message of rock ‘n’ roll.”

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Fall Out Boy record without a little bit of self-awareness. Lest you think the Save Rock And Roll album title is a straight-faced mission statement, Wentz is quick to clarify.

“I think it’s not to be taken in a literal sense, necessarily,” he affirms when asked about the album’s name, “but at the same time, like during the break, I would drive around and I’d listen to the radio, and it’s just like a lot of this stuff sounds really similar on the radio. And, to me, it was exciting when I heard Gotye, and it was exciting when I heard bands that were pushing the edges a little bit, and that’s what is rock ‘n’ roll to me. To me, rock ‘n’ roll is an idea, it’s a lifestyle or a culture or a counterculture, and it needs to be different and it needs to be strange. And that doesn’t mean, like, we’re ever going to be a Pitchfork band. We don’t think that we are. We’re not trying to be the coolest kids on the block, we’re just trying to say that it’s O.K. to be a little different.

“For me, when I listened to Green Day and I listened to Dookie, I was like, ‘Oh, this is weird. This is cool.’ ‘Cause like, I’m a weird kid, and this makes me feel O.K. to be weird,” he continues. “And I think if it wasn’t for Dookie, I don’t get into Screeching Weasel and the Descendents and Lifetime and therefore start playing in a band myself. So to me, like, Save Rock And Roll is about that next generation of kids. Hopefully we can inspire or, like, unlock something inside them to want to play in a band too.”

Which is where the band was once upon a time, back in their suburban Chicago days, give or take a decade ago. What’s unique about Fall Out Boy’s return is that, for the length of their run in the public eye, it’s been the core four together: Stump, Hurley, Trohman, and Wentz. Generally, when popular acts step down and return, it’s rarely with the same lineup. Which might be why the group’s comeback blasted forward right out of the gate. The members have been in this together for over ten years. This isn’t starting over as much as it’s moving ahead together.

“We kind of all realized that we did this because we were having fun and because we were friends originally,” Wentz says, reflecting on his partners-in-arms. “And it’s crazy that we got to play at [Obama's] Inauguration, and it’s cool that we’ve gotten to do all the things that we’ve gotten to do. But at the end of the day, if we’re not friends, it doesn’t really matter.”
Reunited, and it feels so good.

Appearing: 5/16 at Riviera Theatre (4746 N. Racine) Chicago.

– Jaime “Black” de’Medici

Hayley Williams – sweetheart of the country music rodeo? Or radio? Hey, it could have happened, chuckles the plucky Paramore vixen, whose life story has already had some surprising twists at the tender age of 24. Not the least of which was surviving the 2010 departure of two founding band members, guitarist Josh Farro and his drumming brother Zac, to make the triumphant new 17-track epic, Paramore, which just debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart. But there was a time not so long ago when she easily could have become the next Taylor Swift. “Because I actually did a couple of things that I don’t know if a lot of people know about when I first moved to Nashville,” she reveals.

It happened like this: When Williams and her mother first moved from Meridian, Miss., in 2002, after her parents’ divorce, it felt like they were on the run, she recalls. But they soon settled into their new environment, and her mom took a teaching job to pay the rent. Summer was fast approaching, and the antsy youngster – then only 13 – declared that she wanted to do something to while away the free hours. Something fun.

Appearing: 5/9 at Chicago Theatre (175 N. State) Chicago with Kitten.

“So it wasn’t really like a ’starting-out’ thing – it was more like a ‘me, after-school, extracurricular’ sort of thing,” she explains. “So I started doing country demos for fifty bucks. So I did that, and that’s how I met some random people, and I was like, ‘Yeah! Let’s write some songs!’ So I found really quickly when I moved to Nashville that I just liked being around creative people that did music, in any shape or form or fashion. And I guess I really quickly discovered how much I loved writing songs.”

What tear-in-your-beer demos did the kid drawl? She laughs. She doesn’t remember all the awkward titles, she admits. “But there were some pretty great ones, and I definitely remember being a little embarrassed – I definitely didn’t want to show them to anyone.” As an ugly-duckling teen, this future proto-punk swan was constantly bullied. “So I ended up in home school tutorial, because I didn’t make it in public school very long, and that’s where I met the guys [the Farros],” she says. “So when I finally had friends, I was like, ‘Uhh, mom? Don’t talk about the country demos, O.K.? Don’t tell them – I want to make friends, not lose them!’”

Within a year, Williams was signed to a two-year pop production deal. Soon, she landed a solo contract with Atlantic Records. It was the era of Avril Lavigne, she recollects, and every manager and record label wanted to sign the next smoky-eyed musical minx. “And I guess I looked the part,” she says. “I was the girl singer-songwriter who could play guitar, and I had written some songs. But little did they know that I was in a band, and I had my own sort of agenda and my own plan – that me and the guys had already set in motion. Which basically meant that we were practicing in the garage once a week. So by the time labels started calling me, I had already made up my mind that, “Yeah, I can write on my own. I could probably do this on my own. But why would I want to do that?’”

The vocalist pauses, thinking back to that era, in which she was hobnobbing with much older professional songwriters. She’d even paid her soulful dues in an all-funk cover band, where she met future Paramore bassist Jeremy Davis (who, along with more recent addition, guitarist Taylor York, comprise the core of Paramore today). “It’s crazy to think about that now, because at the time, I didn’t imagine that those people were all that older than me,” she says. “I just thought, ‘I want to play songs tonight!’ or ‘I want to sing a Chaka Khan song tonight!’ You know, my dream my whole life was . . .” She trails off for a minute, then decides to reiterate.

“I remember being in second grade and assigning friends instruments,” she continues. “Like, ‘We’re going to be in a band! We’re going to do this!’ I just have always wanted to be a part of this, and I just would much rather play music with my friends. So I got lucky that I somehow made a good case for myself and people listened. And the guys and I got to go on this ride and be Paramore.” Another judicious pause interrupts her thoughts. “And to be honest with you, there’s no way that ‘Hayley Williams’ would be around as long as Paramore’s been around. It just would never work. I think people want what’s real and what’s genuine, and what’s genuine for me is being the singer of this band. It wouldn’t be selling my name on a billboard or on the cover of a CD – that just wouldn’t be me.”

Cut to that other strange twist of fate: the recent exit of the Farros, followed by a nasty online spat where Josh characterized Paramore in a blog post as “a manufactured product of a major label.” Williams doesn’t have any clear-cut answers when it comes to explaining the drama.

“Quite honestly, the story that we told from day one is still the story today,” says Williams, who stayed busy during the upheaval by collaborating with Weezer (“Rainbow Connection” from Muppets: The Green Album); B.O.B. (the smash international hit “Airplanes”); and Mewithoutyou (“All Circles” and “Fox’s Dream Of The Log Flume” from 2012’s Ten Stories). “They [the Farros] weren’t happy, and we aren’t in the business of forcing people into doing things that they don’t want to do. So Taylor and Jeremy and I, we sort of had a few talks about it without actually having talked about it, and we decided that we weren’t finished and that we still wanted to move forward as Paramore. And that we had a lot more to say, just as human beings on the face of the planet. And that’s how album four came out. So I guess I feel like – and it’s super-cliché – but everything does happen for a reason. And if Josh and Zac weren’t happy, well, it made Taylor and Jeremy and I realize that we are absolutely happy doing this. So I’m pleased with everything that’s happened.”

For the full story, visit the issue through our partners at ShadeTree, or grab a copy available free throughout Chicagoland.

– Tom Lanham

Native American tradition holds that upon exiting a plane you should set aside a reflective moment to sit in the terminal and give your soul a chance to catch up to your body, since humans weren’t meant to travel at speeds of 500 mph. Offering concrete proof of that kernel of wisdom or its origin gets tricky, but Glen Hansard likes to reference it in his onstage banter during shows and if anyone can testify to the physical and mental effects of nonstop globe-trotting, it’s a road-weary musician.

Fellow journeyman Cory Chisel murmurs in agreement when asked if his soul could use a breather. He spent the last 12 months reeling in frequent flyer miles with his band – The Wandering Sons – promoting their second full-length, the stunning, worn-in (and IE’s top album pick for 2012) Old Believers. An opening slot on Norah Jones’ tour took him overseas where he drank from the fruit of the vine in Madrid, splayed out on the beaches of Thailand, and nestled a koala in Australia.

“I’d say right now I’m at a maxed out point where I’ll eventually need to stop,” Chisel confesses over the phone during a rushed visit to his old Appleton, Wis., stomping grounds with only 24 hours to squeeze in face time with family and friends. But he’s not quite ready yet. The tattooed 30-year-old with a Humphrey Bogart-like commitment to donning fedoras revels in his nomadic lifestyle and admits to feeling great relief at finally circumnavigating the planet.

“Something definitely feels a little lifted off now that I feel I made my way around [the world], like I can relax a little bit. I’ve had anxiety my whole life surrounding not being able to see so many things. You get only one go-around, as far as I know, and there’s just so much to encounter,” he says. “I set out really early to try to create an existence that would foster the things I knew were necessary for me. I always found that if I stayed too long in one place, in order to make that one place interesting, I just brought a lot of drama to my life just to make it seem exciting.”

Appearing: 5/3 at City Winery (1200 W. Randolph) Chicago with Rebecca Rego.

No matter where he lays his head or guitar, the son of a preacher man who grew up humming hymns and Johnny Cash (there’s always room for the Man in Black) always strives to achieve the status of “universal local.”

“I love to find one restaurant where you really get to know the people working behind the bar, behind the counter,” Chisel explains. “When we got to Thailand, we quickly sought out a place where we felt connected with this bartender who could take us to the parts of Thailand that were the real Thailand, away from the beaches, and play with local musicians that we couldn’t speak to.”

He also acknowledges that a cheese-loving Packers fan, even one with an adventurous palate, sometimes needs to force the cuisine of exotic locales down his gullet. “I didn’t eat a whole lot of chicken hearts growing up,” he jokes. While keeping that delicacy at bay during his Thailand excursion, he did consume eyeballs – “I don’t usually like eating something that at one point could’ve acknowledged me” – and a guinea pig. Chisel swears, with all of his Midwestern sincerity, the furry household pet tastes delicious – a critique achieved once he got “over the fact that it’s bizarre.” One wonders how many strange creatures have passed his lips in the name of politeness. Table manners take on greater importance for a man enamored with cultivating a sense of home in each port complete with a community to anticipate visiting on return trips. “When somebody offers you something that they’ve made specially for you, you have a pretty hard time saying, ‘I’m not into this,’” he concedes.

An upcoming sojourn to Jamaica for the nuptials of a close friend will give Chisel another stamp on his passport and time to decompress in order to “file away” these “insanely intense experiences” that will inform the songs, already in-progress, for the follow-up to Old Believers.

“I have dozens of pieces of songs, which is usually how it starts. I just haven’t had enough alone time, I think, to clear my thoughts and decide what the hell I’m really trying to say. I have these sort of reoccurring lines and melodies,” he imparts, “and the way it works for me is I sort of have to give space for the songs to tell me what they are. I have an idea that they’re very good and that they’re very meaningful, but it’s less like writing and more like listening in my case.”

No doubt, his muse and foil onstage and in the studio, the spritely Adriel Denae will assist in transforming those snippets into full-fledged barnburners. After all, her ghostly vocals, not his, open Old Believers on “This Is How It Goes,” and she gives him a combustible edge on the revivalist “Over Jordan” while softening his Dylan-esque phrasing on “Never Meant To Love You.”

For the full feature, click on the issue cover or grab a copy of Illinois Entertainer, available free throughout Chicagoland.

– Janine Schaults

Illinois Entertainer: You announced a big tour supporting Wakin’ On A Pretty Daze that brings you to Chicago on May 14 at Lincoln Hall. You’ve mentioned that it’s hard to leave your wife and kids to go out on the road. How do you balance the two?
Kurt Vile: I’m sad to go away, but also, I mean, I’ve been playing music my whole life and I love it. I have to go away, but when I get in the mode of playing I know that’s what I’m supposed to be doing, so it’s like bittersweet, you know? I have a balance. It’s not like I put it out on a scale or something, because the reality is right now the record came out and we have to like, we don’t have to, but the smart thing would be to destroy it and tour a lot. I guess I’ve done it enough now that the [heaviness] on your heart – it’s not exactly in the past, but we’re used to it.

IE: The album contains really beautiful textures and it seems like you’re very comfortable in your own skin on this one. Is that just a part of getting older?
KV: I’m always a little paranoid. Honestly, certain songs I’d be like, “Is this really dark?” Looking back, it was kind of comfortable and honest. I just tend to write my best songs . . . I think my best ones of all are when I’m super bummed, like on the road or something. And then I write a song like “Goldtone” – I was, like, super low. I don’t know, I just tapped into that a little while ago, but yeah, it’s getting older and fine-tuning or whatever.

IE: Is writing therapeutic for you or do you do it because it’s an uncontrollable urge?
KV: Sometimes it’s that and sometimes it’s super inspiration. Like, take a bite out of the world kind of thing. You just feel super inspired. It’s funny ’cause it’s not like I’m always writing lately. I feel like I want to really bad right now. I feel like there’s some kind of imbalance going on in my head right now. It’s like a combination of excitement and, like, I don’t know, ups and downs. I think that’s always my world.

IE: Some of the songs on the album span 10 minutes. How do you know when to stop? When is a track finished?
KV: I just know by listening back. You just listen back enough and add stuff enough. I get so into it. I just remember “Wakin’ On A Pretty Day” – sure, we kept adding stuff to it, but other times I was like, “Alright, let’s listen again.” It just felt good to just keep listening. Decide what it needs and you just know after a while – basically, if your head is bobbing. Towards the end of making the record even, there was a little spot on “Too Hard,” for instance, that I was like, all of the sudden, “It just gets old here,” and I flew in the live, original vocal to the last verse. It’s the most subtle thing. It’s a little more psychedelic, there’s more delay, something happens, but you probably wouldn’t notice unless you listened over and over again obsessively, kind of like what I do with music. It’s just from listening and making sure every little nook is correct in it’s own sort of . . . it doesn’t have to be perfect, it’s gotta have that thing.

IE: There’s a line on “Was All Talk” where you say, “Making music is easy.” Is it?
KV: It is – especially when I wrote that. I wrote that lyric [and] I put it in another song ’cause I thought it was funny, but then when ["Was All Talk"] was really coming together, it has that take a bite out of the world [quality] that I was telling you about. So it just felt perfect to say it then. It was, like, in the moment, especially ’cause I had my mojo going. It felt especially true exactly then.

IE: You recently extended your partnership with Matador Records.
KV: I could have signed to, like, a major label or something. I mean, Matador is one of the biggest indie labels. I’m, like, high priority on that label. They all believe in me and it’s really nice. We’re just like a little family at this point.

Kurt Vile And The Violators appear at Lincoln Hall (2424 N. Lincoln) in Chicago on May 14 with Steve Gunn.

– Janine Schaults

Illinois Entertainer: How are you?
John Wicks: I’m just finishing up a run here in Athens, Georgia. It’s gorgeous.

IE: Oh, like a literal run?
JW: Yeah, I run a lot. When I’m not drumming [in Fitz And The Tantrums], I’m running. It’s like my hobby. I’m doing ultra marathons now. I’ve got a 15 miler coming up next month and then I’m training for the Cascade Crest run in Washington, which is a 100 miler, and it’s totally insane amounts of running building up for that.

IE: So the life of a traveling rock star isn’t enough, you need to push your body to the limit too?
JW: I will say, it’s definitely helped me with playing in this band, ’cause the show is so high energy that when I’m not in shape I definitely notice it. And Fitz [Michael Fitzpatrick] and Noelle [Scaggs] and myself are moving [constantly] for the hour and a half show . . . so it helps me to be in shape, that’s for sure.

IE: One of the hallmarks of a Fitz And The Tantrums show is the dance party atmosphere. I read that a choreographer was brought in to stage the new songs to give Fitz some moves?
JW: I don’t think Fitz has any lack of moves. They’re kind of strange moves, but there’s definitely no lack of them, but yeah, we brought in a friend of Noelle. So yeah, we’ve got some really cool moments of in sync choreography between Fitz and Noelle and the band. It’s pretty fun.

IE: You’ve been slapped with the throwback label, but after listening to the new album, More Than Just A Dream, that doesn’t really apply anymore. Why stray from something that worked so well?
JW: Once all of us came into the band and it wasn’t just solely Fitz’s baby anymore, all of the different influences came in from all the different band members and sort of set the compass a different way. Now we have a lot of synthesizers and drum machines and all of those things and the rule going into this next record was that there’s no rules. There’s nothing that’s off the table sonically or musically, and we can’t say, “Well, we can’t do that ’cause it doesn’t sound like us or it doesn’t sound like Motown or it doesn’t sound like soul.” The only rule going in is that there’s no rule. I think . . . the reasoning for getting away from that Motown world is that [once] you get lumped there, you’re stuck and none of us really wanted that.

IE: The band wrote 40 songs in 30 days for this record? Was that as exhausting as it sounds?
JW: That’s about right, yeah. Everyone went to their home studios and cranked out ideas. It might have been just a little bass line or some of them came in with complete written songs and we all convened in the studio and did some writing together where we were just jamming and hoping that we would find something that worked. Yeah, it was exhausting and, in a way, it was kind of competitive because we were all trying to write and, in a way, try to better one another. It’s a healthy competition, I think. We were all working hard trying to get some stuff that we thought was good. You kind of have to . . . put your ego in check.

IE: The band is notorious for its no-guitar rule. Is that still in effect?
JW: As I said before, we said there’s no rules this time around, so we broke that golden rule of no guitars. I think there’s guitars on two songs – very minimal. But our saxophonist is now covering that, because you’ll notice on this record that there’s less saxophone.

IE: Was that decision hard to make?
JW: It was, definitely. It got to the point where we listened to the songs that we had a guitar on and pulled the guitars out and it just didn’t sound good anymore, so we kind of just had to say, “You know what, this is a guitar song. Tough. We gotta do it.” It’s a total drag, but also, just for convenience sake, we didn’t want to lug another piece of gear. Guitarists are notorious noodlers and they just never shut up on their guitar. So thankfully, our guitarist is not a guitarist so he doesn’t have that problem.

IE: On this album you made the jump to Atlantic/Elektra. For a band with such a strong DIY ethic, how has that jived with moving to a major label?
JW: I was actually very nervous about that. I haven’t really noticed, to be honest, that much of a difference between being on Atlantic or Elektra than being on Dangerbird. We’re still in the bus hitting the road hard, playing every night. That business model is still there and that’s the one that’s always been there since the very beginning, so you just have to get in the bus and go tour and get your songs on the radio. Believe it or not, the power of radio is still there. I didn’t think it was. I thought radio was dead. I thought the Internet killed radio a long time ago. But the truth of the matter is the reason we’re a successful band is we had “MoneyGrabber” on the radio. So now, it’s still the same thing. We’re still on the bus; we’re still trying to get our songs on the radio. The only difference between being on Atlantic and being on Dangerbird is that instead of seven people doing the work in the office, we have 300 people doing it. And that makes a world of difference.

IE: Speaking of being on the bus, what do you all watch on the road?
JW: Fitz is definitely all about “Walking Dead.” I think he’s all caught up now. Personally, I’m a “Boardwalk Empire” freak. I love that show and I love “Dexter,” so I try to get caught up on “Dexter” when I’m on the bus and then we just found out that James King, our saxophonist, has never seen The Godfather series, which blows my mind. It’s a classic and none of us could believe he had never seen it. We just started this bus tour last night, so this tour is definitely going to be dedicated, at least the first part of it, to getting him caught up on The Godfather.

Fitz And The Tantrums release More Than Just A Dream on May 7 and appear at Metro (3730 N. Clark) in Chicago on June 18 and 19.

Sycosis

On its third project, This Is Grand, The Dirty Rooks join forces with the production team of Mike Hagler, Jon Langford, and James Elkington for a bluesy, Brit rock-flavored record circa the ’60s or ’70s. Not only does the horn-heavy group nail the feat with flying colors, its smartly constructed songs are sharp enough to fit alongside any of today’s top retro revivalists. (reverbnation.com/thedirtyrooks)
– Andy Argyrakis

Listening to South Bend, Ind.-based trio Driven’s latest full-length, Abstract(ion), one definitely hears a sound rooted in grunge yet laced with more improv/prog aspirations – say, as if Nirvana were crossed with King Crimson. Not necessarily danceable, mind you, but still within a recognizable rock structure/melody. Topping it off are vocals that bring to mind Gavin Rossdale, perhaps making this band a thinking person’s Bush? (reverbnation.com/drivenband3)
– David C. Eldredge

Guerilla describes its music as a mix of garage rock and punk, but the evidence is mixed on the quartet’s three-song EP, The Devil’s Tit. The quick title track leans more toward speed metal with garbled vocals and is pretty much a throw away. Things improve quite a bit with the melodic rock of “Garbage,” while the descriptive “LA Sun” is a slow and compelling portrait of life on the streets of Los Angeles. (guerilla.bandcamp.com)
– Terrence Flamm

Given the wide availability of free/inexpensive close-to-pro-level DIY production software, the sonic quality of local metal vets Hemi’s first live (culled from gigs at both Abbey Pub and Double Door) recording, The Chosen Ones: Live In The Fire, is a surprising disappointment. Flashes of guitar aside, the mix is virtually non-existent – resulting in mostly indecipherable, mushy vocals and drums reduced to a metronomic crash. The eight cuts jump in fits and starts, seemingly assembled with neither rhyme nor reason.  A definite step backward for the band, unfortunately. (hemimusic.com)
– David C. Eldredge

Similar in spirit, if not in sound, to comic-folk artist Pat McCurdy, Homer Marrs trades in ludicrous lyrics, offbeat themes, and impeccable melodies on his four-song EP, Prom King. You’ll find the zinging songs stuck in your head, despite (or, is it because of?) the ridiculous lyrics. “Bear411″ makes hideous rhymes from silly lines, sharing an irreverent sensibility that Al Bundy would appreciate. (homermarrs.com)
– Patrick Conlan

Aurora, Ill.-based quartet Kadooge starts each of the three tracks on its self-titled debut EP with a basic hard rock arrangement before shifting into more active and elaborate instrumental passages. Lead vocalist/guitarist Pat Goode conveys his emotionally-charged lyrics with a strong voice while guitarist Quentin Dover frequently takes off on new adventures. Bassist Aerie Dover and drummer Tony Montana also help listeners navigate the shifting tempos on the engaging “No Surprise” and “Broken Up In Pieces.” (kadooge.com)
– Terrence Flamm

The results of Soft Speaker’s sessions with Cooper Crain (of Cave) proved so productive that they yielded both an EP and full-length album. In terms of the long-player, Turkish Mindbathers, the indie rockers come out swinging with the electric blues swagger of “Showdown,” the jangly strut of “Expressions (For Men),” and the mid-tempo chug of “Greenhouse Instance” – all wound snugly with the troupe’s melodic sensibility.(softspeaker.com)
– Andy Argyrakis

Sometimes the whole can be less than the sum of its parts, and regrettably that’s the case with Burn Like A Field, the debut of acclaimed singer-songwriter Emily Hurd’s new band, Stone Blind Valentine. The bluegrass-infused instrumentation doesn’t effectively augment her exquisite voice, and while players Colby Maddox and Gregg Ostrom are skilled, their accompaniment isn’t exceptional. “Extra Extra” is arguably the best of the dozen cuts, but nothing compares to hearing Hurd on her own. (stoneblindvalentine.com)
– Jeff Berkwits

Chicago hip-hop artist Sycosis is a working man’s rapper. His Tri-Polar mixtape offers instantly sing-able choruses aplenty. From “Black Whip,” which extols the virtues of a favorite ride, to “About My Business,” which challenges listeners to move beyond merely smoking and drinking, Sycosis shows he can deliver a memorable hook. Void of sparkling production and without sugarcoating the subject matter, he takes listeners on a socially conscious insider’s tour of his hometown in  “My City.” (sycosismusic.com)
– Jason Scales

Ursa, Ill., (pop. 627) isn’t known for its music scene (or much of anything else), but that hasn’t stopped resident misfits Tieken from putting out an impressive 14-song set. Hints of Rob Zombie and vintage Alice Cooper permeate Not So Innocent, most powerfully on tunes like “The Cutting” and the inventive “Narcis-Cysts.” To paraphrase The Boss: From small towns, mama, big things may one day come.
(tiekenband.com)
– Jeff Berkwits

I went to the mall and the record stores were gone. The place where I discovered Integrity sells prom dresses. No System Of A Down at the jeweler. No Slayer. Inside the Hot Topic where I bought Nachtmystium’s Worldfall EP, the CDs that once dominated the middle of the shop had been reduced to a couple of dozen titles pushed to the wall. Don’t see what you like? Look online, kid.

Last decade, Mosh had it pretty good, even in the suburbs. I rewind to Ozzfest 2005, which, unlike last year’s Lollapalooza, featured Black Sabbath complete with Bill Ward. “Viva La Bam” is on at the designated driver’s house, and we hear the most distinct, lovesick voice in Finnish metal since Hanoi Rocks vocalist Michael Monroe covered “Ain’t It Fun” with Guns N’ Roses 10 years prior. What happened to that ever-present friend of Bam Margera, the one with the gloomy baritone who fronted the MTV staple that sounded a bit too much like Blue Oyster Cult via Alkaline Trio. What ever happened to H.I.M.?

“I’ve been hanging on the telephone for the past five hours or something,” says a weary Ville Valo at home in Helsinki. The singing sidekick is promoting H.I.M.’s eighth studio full-length, Tears On Tape, out now on three different labels internationally (Razor & Tie domestically). The group left Sire/Warner Music in 2011 after six years and three albums. As recently as last Halloween, H.I.M. was without a label, and Valo says the band self-financed the new record.

Working today with three labels “obviously triples the amount of emails,” he explains, but he’s not complaining. The frontman adds, that voice rich with humility, “I’m happy there are still people interested in what we do.” See H.I.M. perform on May 8 at House of Blues. H.I.M.  canceled its North American tour in response to Ville Valo’s diagnosis of severe asthma with presumptive pneumonia.

Mosh: How did your drummer’s hand injury affect the band and the new album?
Ville Valo: Everything is fine now, which is great. But we started working on stuff two and a half years ago, and then, all of a sudden, it got so painful for him to play that he had to take a breather. We thought it would be two weeks off or something, but then it ended up being eight months of waiting. And during that time, there was this sort of existential crisis going on within the band because we didn’t know whether he was going to be able to play ever again. And if he wouldn’t be able to play ever again, would the band still exist or not? Existentialist problematics [sic], I guess. We decided to wait it out because . . . H.I.M. is so much more than just eight albums. It’s a bunch of friends who met when they were kids and grew up together. We’ve been friends for such a long time that it’s not just something that you can throw away easily.

M: When H.I.M. played The Rave in Milwaukee in 2010, you lamented in an interview with the venue that people aren’t buying very many albums anymore, and you’re “just drinking water and writing sentimental, miserable songs.” Are the cassette-tape noises heard throughout Tears On Tape (e.g., the sound of a cassette being inserted into a deck on album intro “Unleash The Red”) evidence of more nostalgia?
VV: I’ve always been a nostalgic bastard. The title is like a tribute to my idols, thinking of the music that has given me and the band and a lot of other people the energy and the passion to go on in their lives. Also, Gas [Lipstick's] ailment had something to do with it. It was time to reflect upon who the hell we are, how long are we going to do this, and where did we come from – like looking beyond our own roots and into the bands that actually inspired us to start working on music. I’ve always been nostalgic; it’s just maybe a bit more deliberate this time around. For the past five albums, we’ve wanted to have an intro as a kind of ’80s tribute. A lot of hard rock bands and metal bands had these massive pseudo-classical pieces in front of their albums that they would be able to use when touring. And those little interludes in between: Black Sabbath had “FX” on Vol. 4. They had all these little odd pieces: “Orchid” [on Masters Of Reality]. We wanted to ape our idols again.

M: And how much longer are you going to do this?
VV: [It depends] on how everybody in the band is doing and obviously how people are going to react to the album. If everybody is going to hate it, obviously that means we can’t really tour that much. And if we can’t tour that much, it means we have more time on our hands, and then we have to really speculate what can we do because we’re not sonic whores. We can’t just shed our skin and change into something that’s cool or trendy at the moment. We’re way too old to be hipsters. We just need to knock on wood and hope for the best. If the vibe stays good in the band and everybody’s great, obviously we’re going to continue. But life is tough and life is hard, and it’s full of surprises, so it’s tough to say what’s going to happen next.

M: The 16-year-old who walked into her nearest Hot Topic to buy Dark Light when it was released is now 24. Is this still the band for her?
VV: If you’re not a jaded 24-year-old. If you still have high hopes and you’re sentimental enough and still dig David Lynch, then I think you’ll be safe. We can’t force people to listen to what we do, and we don’t have any influence on it. What we can do is write the best songs that we can and perform them as well as we can, and try to create our own mini-universe, sonically, with our own palette, and then everybody else is invited along for the ride.

M: Do you find it ironic that some have compared the new Ghost single to H.I.M.?
VV: No, but this is the first time I’m hearing about it.

M: You told The Rave that you’re good friends with Lee Dorrian from Rise Above Records. What are your thoughts on Ghost?
VV: I’m more of a fan of Lee’s own band, Cathedral. They’re going to release their last album at the same time that we are. Lee has always been sending me albums and stuff like that, but Ghost for me is a bit too retro. It’s not my cup of tea, really. I love Rise Above’s other bands, like Electric Wizard. I love Orange Goblin – the more stonery, Sabbathy type of stuff. Ghost [are] just peculiarly dressed gentlemen playing Uriah Heep with a slightly more satanic twist.

M: Couldn’t the same be said for H.I.M.?
VV: Without the peculiarly dressed [laughs]. At the end of the day, we draw our inspiration more from bands like Type O Negative. We have a bit more of a gothic influence and a bit more of a really heavy-duty guitar riff kind of thing going on. So, musically, I don’t find us that similar. It might be the sense of mystery or the sense of the otherworld. The otherworldliness of Ghost might be interpreted as being similar. Then again, you know, when there’s a new band coming out, you always have to compare it to somebody or make some comparison. I don’t mind, as long as we’re not compared to, like, Justin Bieber.

M: You close the album with a couple of tracks that sound like Type O Negative: heavy, mid-’90s doom guitars; breathy, Peter Steele-esque vocals; mournful keys; and a bit of studio wankery. Steele died three years ago. Do you still miss the guy?
VV: Yeah, indeed. I had the pleasure of meeting him a few times, but I never knew him. Bloody Kisses and October Rust . . . they were like highly, highly super influential in what we did, and we never hid that fact. For example, “When Love Starts To Die,” at the end of Tears On Tape, is a Type O Negative tribute. I remember we were driving, I think from Edmonton to Vancouver, and in the middle of the night we got a call that Peter had passed away. We couldn’t believe it. Within two days our bass player had the Type O Negative symbol tattooed on his body, and I had it tattooed as well, on my lower back. It was our tribute to the late, great Peter Steele. That’s life, I guess.

M: What do you miss about listening to your favorite albums on cassette? Certainly not the time it took to rewind or fast-forward.
VV: When you listen to an album on vinyl or cassette, you usually listen to the entire side. These days with iTunes or whatever, you always skip the stuff you don’t want to listen to. And it’s bad, especially for rock albums, because there has to be a sense of drama. And there’s usually a reason for songs to be in a particular order, and that’s really important to the whole listening experience . . . I remember back in 1996, we got the October Rust promo tape that had like four songs: “My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend,” “Love You To Death,” “Wolf Moon,” and something else. I remember we heard that we might be getting this cassette [at] my friend’s club. He was a DJ. So we’re waiting for like two weeks to get the cassette. And then, he called everybody up and said: “I got the cassette. Let’s meet tonight at 9.” There was a boombox in the center of the bar. We closed all the windows and all the doors so nobody could get in and we would have our peace. And like the Knights of the Round Table, we’re sitting around our table just listening to it and nobody would say a word.

M: Is Tears On Tape coming out on tape?
VV: Well, there are a few places that used to still release cassettes in Eastern Europe, like Poland and [the Czech Republic]. I’m hoping that they still have the opportunity. But I was actually thinking it’d be great to release an 8-track or a reel-to-reel version of it one day. It’d be a nice thing to have. I’m really glad there’s a cool vinyl coming, and that’s kind of enough for me. I don’t mind digital. The good thing about digital is the fact that you can have on your phone like 100,000 songs, which you can carry wherever in the world with you. That’s something we weren’t able to do back in the day. When we toured for the first time, everybody had their CD wallets. We all put our pennies together and bought a boombox for the tour bus, and everybody would bring their 10 favorite CDs or whatever, and we just listened to them constantly for weeks on end. These days, it’s way different.

SPEAKING OF EUROPE: “I kind of skipped all the hard rock, punk, and even American thrash metal and went straight to the Scandinavian metal scene, where it’s super heavy and orchestral, but still really technical,” says Parker Jameson, lead guitarist/vocalist of Starkill, the latest Chicagoland metal band to sign with Century Media. The Cary-based multi-instrumentalist developed an ear for jazz and classical when he and drummer Spencer Weidner (his brother) were juveniles, playing saxophone before submitting to Yngwie Malmsteen-style shred guitar. “There were not very many people who were aware of or into that style in the area,” he continues, “so most of the bands that we listen to and draw influence from are from Finland, Norway, and Sweden.”

When the virtuoso turned 18, he enrolled in the recording arts program at Indiana University, where he met guitarist Charlie Federici, who lived in the same dorm. They formed what would become Starkill, first under the moniker Ballistika and then Massakren, based on their mutual academic appreciation of Children Of Bodom, Nightwish, Dimmu Borgir, and Amon Amarth. And one U.S. band, however virtual: Dethklok. “If all it takes is a cartoon show to convince these people that they like the music, then that just shows that people like the music,” the 22-year-old insists. “You just give them a medium to understand.” Starkill hasn’t been animated yet, but if you’d like to check out the melodic death metal group in real life, the act opens for Krisiun on May 6 at Reggie’s. The larger-than-life Fires Of Life dropped last month.

MOSH-WORTHY . . . LIVE: Opeth, Katatonia (Mojoes, 5/11); Macabre, Funeral Nation (Bobby McGee’s, 5/18); The Murder Junkies (Reggie’s, 5/26); Cannibal Corpse, Napalm Death (Bottom Lounge, 5/28); Bolt Thrower, Benediction (Reggie’s, 6/1 and 6/2).

MOSH-WORTHY: Ghost B.C. Infestissumam (Loma Vista); Cathedral The Last Spire (Metal Blade); ASG Blood Drive (Relapse); Agrimonia Rites Of Separation (Southern Lord); Kingdom Come Outlier (Steamhammer/SPV).

– Mike Meyer

First up: Side Effects
Dir. Steven Soderbergh, 2013
Blu-ray/DVD – available 5/21

It wells up inside her from nowhere, rattles her nerves, and pushes her alarmingly close to destruction. A doctor approaches her in an emergency room and asks her jarringly direct questions that reveal her secret – that she is dangerous to herself and to others. They set up an appointment. He has her try a brand new pill, a lucky combination of chemicals that actually works. Ablixa controls her uncontrollable urges.

But you can tell there is still something very wrong, that things will soon take a nasty turn.

Rooney Mara, who stamped a big impression with just one scene in 2010’s The Social Network and went on to nab an Oscar nomination for 2011’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, plays this antidepressant-dependant woman with a nerve-racking instability. She infests the very normal, very modern life of prescription medication with a queasy dread.

It seems at first as though Steven Soderbergh is using Side Effects to set ablaze the troubles of a society addicted to pills pushed by doctors who are supported by drug companies that live and die by profit margins. He spins a frightening, fascinating yarn with those elements for a while before twisting the story into something much smaller.

It’s almost disappointing how logical and confined the scope becomes – except that it turns into such a wild, even tawdry, game of chess.

Jude Law, in particular, has a lot of fun as the doctor, sliding from authority-figure-in-a-white-jacket to conspiracy-crackpot. He knows how to play by the rules, knows he must keep his family above the upper-middle class line or risk losing them. He is not made into some symbol of our corporate culture. He and the other players of this devious game are all just some possible side effects of it.

Next up: Michael Clayton
Dir. Tony Gilroy, 2007
Blu-ray/DVD – available now

Michael Clayton mops up side effects for a living. He moves in and makes problems go away quietly, with as little damage to the company image as possible. A fixer. One day he finds himself cleaning up after a friend.

Arthur Edens was defending one of these companies, U-North, against a class-action lawsuit, when he suddenly has a meltdown in a spectacularly embarrassing way. Later, he breathlessly confides to Clayton that he has discovered documents that prove the company knowingly allowed carcinogens in their products, causing widespread illness.

This bit of news is the sort of truth Clayton has always suspected about his clients, but would rather not acknowledge.

At its headquarters, U-North plays a promotional video on a loop with soothing music, green pastures, and tilled soil. Its logo depicts a delicate plant above the words: “We grow your world together.” Ablixa, from Side Effects, flaunts the words “Take back tomorrow” during a commercial showing a series of people in dark rooms plagued by hovering animated rain clouds, awaiting a miracle drug to bring them a sunny picnic.

Idyllic fantasies painted for the consumer.

Both movies delve into the disturbing sides of these fantasies, much in the way of great ’70s paranoia flicks like Three Days Of The Condor and The Parallax View. But where Condor and Parallax conclude that something cold and wicked must be controlling our world, Effects and Clayton both just assume that the world is cold and wicked, focusing instead on what a handful of individuals decide to do within it. The only way to win is to play the game.

Michael Clayton is one of the first great thrillers about an unsettling way of life in the 21st century. It is the earnest plea to Side Effects‘ bleak humor. Writer-director Tony Gilroy opens Clayton by framing thousands of anonymous business windows and ends it with a long, calm close-up of a human being’s face.

Celebrate Ebert – For 46 years, Roger Ebert brought an unprecedented mix of wit and passion to the art of watching movies. In his final ballot for Sight & Sound’s “Ten Greatest Movies of All Time” poll, he publicly argued with himself whether to include Synecdoche, New York or The Tree Of Life as his one new entry. Both movies are hugely ambitious, basically taking on life as a whole, but in utterly different ways: Synecdoche oozes a whimsical dreariness while Tree swims in an aching, loving soul.

– Rob Fagin

Knaggs Guitar
Steve Stevens Signature Guitar

The question on many musicians’ lips these days probably isn’t, “When is Steve Stevens coming out with a collector’s guitar?” But, his collaboration with the former Paul Reed Smith Guitars bigwigs now at Knaggs Guitars is a pretty big deal whether you’re a fan of Billy Idol’s longtime, underrated raven-haired guitarist or not.

Tailored to Stevens’ specs and preferences, the sleek instrument will be a leading character on Billy Idol’s 2013 Anniversary Rebel Yell tour.

Recreating the mojo that PRS guitars arguably had in their late ’90s heyday, Knaggs’ Stevens Signature guitar is finished in opaque black with pink binding. But wait, there’s more pink. The guitar’s mahogany body features a carved maple top and set mahogany neck with custom pink “morning star” inlays on a rosewood finger board. Still more pink ahead. A pink ray gun head stock inlay is included along with Knaggs’ proprietary two-in-one bridge, combining a tune-o-matic and string holder into one unit. This increases harmonics and sustain only the player can feel. The Stevens model’s two volume and tone controls drive specially designed Signature Bareknuckle pick-ups with engraved ray guns not available in any other guitar.

Only 99 guitars will be available to the public in 2013. Each guitar comes with an exclusive certificate outlining specs and serial-number and will be hand-signed by Steve. A black form fit case with pink lining (again with the pink!) completes this limited offering.

“This instrument really came together out of a genuine friendship rather than a business venture. It is the combination of an artist and a company who want to put a very high quality guitar out there. I love picking up and playing this guitar; it puts a huge smile on my face,” Stevens said in a recent press release.

MSRP is in the $5,000 range, according to Stevens’ fan websites. Info can be found at Knaggsguitars.com.

Yamaha
Pocketrak PR7 PCM Recorder

Pocket recorders continue to grow in popularity and Yamaha’s Pocketrak PR7 is the company’s newest PCM recorder geared towards capturing live recordings, song sketches, or just plain ol’ speech. Equipped with a newly developed crossed XY stereo microphone that Yamaha says will achieve  “consistent quality and natural sound,” manufacturers continue to battle it out to put a little recording studio in musicians’ pockets.

Like its competition from Roland/Boss, the PR7 offers essential features like an onboard tuner and metronome, as well as critical recording functions like overdubbing and marker editing, accessed via Yamaha’s interface. It also features five recording presets tailored to multiple applications, including rehearsing, songwriting, or making a live recording. The recorder includes built-in 2GB memory, an extra microSD card slot, and can record PCM in 24-Bit/96kHz frequency. It also records MP3s. Street price is $149; info is available at Yamaha.com.

News & Notes

We look forward to the month of May every year because it marks the return of the 4 Amigos Texas Guitar Shows annual “Chicago Show” in St. Charles at the DuPage Expo Center. Dealers from all over the U.S. converge on the suburb to show some of the most beautiful vintage and custom guitars you’ll ever see or play. This year’s show takes place on May 18 and 19. Info is at Texasguitarshows.com.

Not to be left out that same weekend is another long-running show for drummers: Rebeats Chicago Drum Show at the Kane County Fairgrounds in St. Charles. The show offers master classes with drummers Rick Latham and Daniel Glass on the schedule for Saturday and Sunday, respectively, as well as many other clinics, demos, and buy & sell sessions. Details can be found at Rebeats.com. Both shows have a $10 to $15 cover charge. It’s worth it!

– David Gedge

Photo by Cherie Breaux

Toyota Park Or Bust

Wouldn’t it just fall in line with Bob Dylan’s sardonic wit and sly sense of humor to base the name of his summer jaunt with Wilco and My Morning Jacket on that bastion of frilly ’80s excess, Bananarama? Only those within spitting distance of his iTunes account can say if “Cruel Summer” shows up anywhere on a playlist, and they probably signed some sort of non-disclosure agreement tighter than Oprah’s suits could draft. Truly, we’re not concerned with who pitched the Americanarama Festival of Music moniker to the Grammy winner as much as how to divvy up our paycheck to attend both Illinois stops on the 26-date tour (July 11 at Chiefs Stadium in Peoria and July 12 at Toyota Park in Bridgeview). To reiterate, the blockbuster of a lineup includes Dylan, homegrown wonders Wilco, the coolest group ever to feature a cape-wearing frontman, My Morning Jacket, and, as an extra bonus for the Land of Lincoln, the Richard Thompson Electric Trio. As a dyed-in-the-wool South Sider, it’s nice to see such a prestigious roster hitting closer to home. We might even be able to snag a ride to and from the venue (thanks Mom!) or revert to the old days and rent a big ol’ yellow school bus to transport us and 40 of our closest friends.

Spring Ritual

Two guitars, a bass, and drums. That’s all The Butchershop Quartet needs to recreate Igor Stravinsky’s classic ballet score, “The Rite Of Spring.” Brothers Dan and Rob Sullivan of Arriver, Frames/Swell Season guitarist Rob Bochnik, and Dan Sylvester haven’t performed the piece live since 2005. Who can blame them? It’s a doozy. Hell, it took the band (along with original instigator Dylan Posa and Nathaniel Braddock) four years alone to come up with and master the intricate arrangement. “Somehow the ambitiousness made the whole thing more enticing,” Dan Sullivan explains via email. Since May marks the centennial of the symphony’s Paris debut, it seemed like the perfect time to dust off the cobwebs and once again tackle the opus. “We can’t recreate the broad timbral range of an orchestra, but the music translates surprisingly well. Our arrangement is note accurate – we take no liberties with the score, nor do we try and make it more ‘rock’ in the phrasing or rhythms. When we [play] it I lose all sense of time: 35 minutes never felt so long or so fleeting,” Sullivan writes. Listening to The Butchershop Quartet’s unique take has the same effect. As to why the music endures, Sullivan can only say, “It is really one of the most iconic pieces of art of the 20th century. Its influence can’t be overstated. It still manages to sound modern, and its appeal reaches far beyond classical music.” See the foursome create a ruckus at Township on May 26.

Meet ‘N’ Greet

The first of many Jeff Buckley flicks (there’s also a musical in San Diego being groomed for an eventual Broadway run) hits theaters this month, but – newsflash! – Greetings From Tim Buckley showed up on video on demand a few weeks ago, thanks to its participation in the Tribeca Film Festival. If you’re keeping score, this one is notable for casting Penn Badgley of “Gossip Girl” loathing as Jeff and failed to gain permission to use the late singer’s music. Surprisingly, count Badgley as the least of the film’s problems. Sure, he’s still skulking around Manhattan with all of his “Dan-isms” intact, but show us an actor capable of tapping into Jeff’s goofy electricity. Admittedly, his octave jumping warrants a golf clap. A shot of espresso can’t save the plot from clunking along. Centered on Jeff’s unofficial New York coming out as a performer at a 1991 tribute to his father, Tim Buckley, with flashbacks of the elder Buckley chasing tail in the ’60s while his pregnant wife waits at home, the film never explores Tim’s motivation for abandoning his family or why Jeff decides to participate in an event celebrating a man he saw twice before an overdose killed him at age 28. A meet-cute and a confusing train ride kill time until the film’s penultimate scene where Jeff finally showcases his heavenly voice on his father’s “Once I Was.” It’s remarkable and reason to stay until the end. Too bad AOL posted the clip early in March.

Etc, Etc . . .

Ever feel like no one takes your suggestions seriously? Are you always outvoted when it comes to choosing a dinner spot or what band to see on a Friday night? Well, fight for a few of your favorite Chicago things by filling out the Chicago Reader’s annual Best of Chicago survey. And the next time someone doesn’t want to get tacos at the joint you offer up, maybe you’ll be able to point to the completed list and say, “Hey, obviously a whole bunch of people agree with me! Now put a lid on it!” Lots of music categories here: Best Record Store, Best Musical Instrument Shop, Best Local Label, Best Band Name, and Best Gig Poster Designer. However, we don’t see an option for Best Free Music Magazine. What gives? Let’s start a write-in campaign. Ballot closes on May 22 at chicagoreader.com.

When Andy Downing landed a plum gig covering the music beat at Madison’s 77 Square, Wisconsin’s win was Chicago’s loss. However, we’re not completely devoid of Downing’s astute observations – his name routinely pops up in Redeye. It seems the Milwaukee Press Club shares our admiration. Downing received awards for both Best Beat Coverage and Best Critical Review for a write-up of a Bonnie Raitt/Mavis Staples show. Congrats!

MOBFest takes over Wicker Park (or at least two of the neighborhood’s most popular venues) on Aug. 9 and 10. Double Door and Subterranean host the annual weekend of showcases by unsigned up-and-comers and industry panels. Bands hoping to get in front of the conference’s “bigwigs” should submit music through Sonic Bids (sonicbids.com) before June 19.

Our date to senior dance ended up playing regularly with Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater after high school, proving we had impeccable taste in both music and escorts even back then. We actually never thanked that fella for introducing us to the music of the West Side blues legend. Regrets, we have a few. Don’t say the same thing about never catching Clearwater live. You have two chances this month: May 10 at Buddy Guy’s Legends and May 17 at Viper Alley in Lincolnshire . . . With the wealth of artists playing here on any given night, having to make tough choices just goes with the territory. Master of the mouth harp, James Cotton appears at Mayne Stage on May 10. We know it’s the same night as Clearwater. What are you gonna do about it?

When a hankering for the ’90s uncontrollably bubbles up, step away from the flannel and put down the Zima. The key to satisfying the craving to revisit the past without succumbing to its power lies in the music. The tunes will never let you down. Enter in The Neighborhoodlums, a local cover band specializing in the alternative favorites of yesterday (Smashing Pumpkins) and the indie soon-to-be classics of today (Two Door Cinema Club). When you feel the urge, know that you can find the seven-piece collective at TwelveWest Nightclub (May 1 and 15) and Elbo Room (May 24).

Soon, countless college seniors will leave the warm cocoon of academic life and head out into the terrifying unknown. Many will return home to their old bedrooms and old curfews while competing with applicants with more experience, more degrees, and more bills for a dwindling pool of jobs. At least that’s what the media says. For now, until the fear sets in (and it will by August), let’s celebrate the achievements of Columbia College’s graduating class. Manifest, the school’s annual end of the year urban arts festival lands in the South Loop on May 17 with performances by Chance The Rapper, Electric Guest, Now Now, Legit, and Carbon Tigers. The music starts at 2:30 p.m. on the main stage at the Wabash campus.

Winning “American Idol” does not a career make. Good thing someone’s got Lee DeWyze’s back. The Mount Prospect native and 2010’s champion signed with Vanguard Records, which will release his sophomore album later this summer. If first single “Silver Lining” is any indication, DeWyze will be waving to Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks from the cool kids table at the next “Idol” reunion . . . Lights Over Bridgeport signed with Chicago’s Stayposi Records and will head into the studio on May 6 to record an EP. Keep tabs on the quartet’s progress at lightsoverbridgeport.tumblr.com . . . Chicago duo The-Drum defy categorization with their mix of hip-hop, R&B, and spooky blips and burps. We don’t envy the person in charge of assigning a filing genre to the band’s June 25 debut, Contact.

Some things will be forever synonymous with the late Mouseketeer Annette Funicello: those cute little ears, the beach, and Frankie Avalon. Those two crazy kids made everyone watching wish summer lasted all year. Avalon will honor his onscreen sweetheart on May 4 during his appearance at Arcada Theatre in St. Charles. A portion of the ticket sales will benefit the Annette Funicello Research Foundation for Neurological Disorders.

When Richard Marx headlines the second annual National Piano Conference at the Raue Center for the Performing Arts in Crystal Lake on June 29, will he be allowed to touch his guitar or are strings off-limits? That’s probably unlikely, but we’ll use any excuse to convince Lake Bluff’s favorite crooner to belly up to the ivories and belt out “Right Here Waiting” on a repeating loop.

Time for the monthly roundup of dearly departed musical luminaries. Howling Woodstock opener Richie Havens died at the age of 72 on April 22 after suffering a heart attack . . . Australian rocker Christina Amphlett, famous for fronting the Divinyls and that ode to self-pleasure – “I Touch Myself” – succumbed to breast cancer and multiple sclerosis on April 21. She was 53 . . . British graphic designer Storm Thorgerson died on April 18 from cancer. Thorgerson designed album covers, most notably for Pink Floyd, including the band’s iconic The Dark Side Of The Moon image . . . Chicago singer-songwriter John McCandless took a spill in his North Side home and died on April 16 at age 68. He released his most recent album, Lucky Day, in February. The WNUR Folk Show on WNUR-FM (89.3) paid tribute to the singer. That episode can be found, along with a January 2012 interview with McCandless, in the archives at wnurfolk.org.

– Janine Schaults

If the name Bobby Skafish rings a bell, there’s a good reason for that. He’s been on the air in Chicago now for 37 years. Skafish currently holds down The Drive’s afternoon slot (3 to 8 p.m.) on WDRV-FM (97.1), but his start in the radio business was slightly less glamorous. After graduating with a radio/television degree from Indiana University, Skafish was having a hard time getting his foot in the door.

“I was living in Hammond working at Carson Pirie Scott,” he recalls. “A local record store called S&J Stereo brokered a 10 to midnight show on a Crown Point radio station. On the strength of my college tape, I got the job to host it. It was a one-man operation. I sold some spots, recorded commercials, picked my own music, and was the only disc jockey.”

Though the job only lasted a few months, it gave him the kind of experience he needed to capture the attention of WXRT-FM (93.1).

“They hired me in November of 1976 to do all nights on Saturday, and I gradually moved up the food chain to better slots.”

His calling card has always been his flair for language – an almost beatnik jazz approach – but it’s never been an act. The Bobby Skafish you hear on the air is the same man you’ll meet off the air.

“Yes,” he says with a laugh. “I really do talk that way in real life. Daddy-O, for instance, became a big savior for me when I couldn’t remember someone’s name. I’m not that good with names, so I started calling people Daddy-O.”

Of all the FM disc jockeys in Chicago, few Daddy-Os have had the kind of storied career enjoyed by Skafish since he first arrived in ‘76. He established himself at ‘XRT, moved down the dial and rode the wave of The Loop’s meteoric rise in the 1980s and early ’90s, returned for another successful run at ‘XRT, and has been an important part of The Drive’s success since he arrived there in 2007.

All of those iconic rock “n” roll stations that employed Skafish over the years have had one thing in common: The disc jockeys were not an afterthought. They were integral to the sound of the station.

“A DJ gives a format flesh and blood,” Skafish points out. “Pandora isn’t a format, it’s a playlist. I’m not knocking that, but a good disc jockey can enhance the pleasure of the music. We’re a diversion – someone to make you laugh and think, someone that entertains you.”

At The Drive, that entertainment often comes in the form of information about the music. When your audience has been listening to your music for many decades, finding new information is no easy task. Yet Skafish and the other on-air personalities at The Drive manage to do it every day.

“The specials and the artist portraits – you can credit [Hubbard senior vice president of programming and format creator] Greg Solk for that,” Skafish explains. “This is the way he envisioned the format. It’s important to respect the music, and these things enhance the experience.”

The music just happens to be the preferred choice of the advertiser’s dream – the demo with money to spend. That’s why no fewer than four other stations in Chicago are playing the same or similar artists. The Drive routinely beats them in the ratings, and Skafish claims to know why.

“I think it’s a complete package. From the imaging to the jocks, who legitimately care about the music, to the respectful presentation and the specials we do. We give a sense of history about the music without doing it in a dry scholarly way. We paint a picture that accompanies the music and put it in context.”

And The Drive is also very active in social media. Skafish admits that he and his colleagues were gently nudged in that direction by station management, but any trepidation he might have had is long gone.

“Being on Facebook during the show has enhanced the experience for me. It’s a great way to link with listeners. It’s immediate. It’s interactive. I do quizzes and teases and start discussions about songs. These things have really grown organically. It’s great to have it going alongside the radio show. I no longer have to say everything on the air – I have this other outlet for doing it. It means I can be more concise on the air, but I can still solicit opinions from the listeners. I really like that.”

After close to four decades in Chicago radio, Skafish has been around long enough to know there’s something very special going on at his current home. He considers it his happiest experience yet, both professionally and personally.

“One thing I love about The Drive on a personal level – no one’s on an ego trip. Everyone treats each other with respect. There aren’t any teacher’s pets. It’s a great work experience in that regard. Any criticism I receive from Greg Solk or [program director] Patty Martin, I know there isn’t a hidden agenda there. They have a vision for how they want the station to sound, and if they feel you’re besmirching it or not doing it justice, they will let you know. They have an idea of what sounds good and what doesn’t.”

Judging by the ratings figures over the last decade, it’s hard to argue with that.

– Rick Kaempfer

Fifteen Quiet Years is a celebratory, four-years-in-the-making box set from Louisville’s Rodan; a repository for all of the band’s important recordings, including their seminal 1994 album, Rusty. The collection, masterered at Chicago Mastering Service and released on Chicago-based Touch And Go/Quarterstick Records, also features the band’s 1994 BBC Peel session and out-of-print 7-inch recordings and compilation tracks.

In 2009, band members Bob Weston, Jeff Mueller, and Jason Noble lovingly re-mastered the tracks at CMS. All formats of the album include a digital download of 10 bonus live recordings selected by Noble, Mueller, and remaining Rodan members Tara Jane O’Neil and Kevin Coultas. The packaging for the vinyl album and CD was designed by Noble and Mueller, and has been letterpress printed at Mueller’s Dexterity Press studio.

Tragically, in August 2012, Jason Noble lost a three-year battle with cancer and passed away at the all-too-young age of 40. In February of this year, Rodan drummer Jon Cook also passed away, after 20 years of continuous involvement in the Louisville music scene. Both Jason and Jon will be greatly missed.

Elgin-based heavy rockers Psycho Sister entered the studio with Larry Kriz at LnL Recording in Elgin. The band told us they’re just finishing the mixes on their first six-song EP and are scheduled to go back into LNL with Kriz this month to start work on “tracking the next set of tunes.”

Chicago’s Delamancha recorded songs recently with Rick Barnes and Mike Tholen (engineer for Ministry) at Rax Trax Recording. David Delamancha told us that only “custom handmade microphones were used in the recording.”

Lasting Vengeance, a thrash/death metal outfit from Batavia, is recording both an EP and a full-length at Gremlen Studios in Aurora with Sam Beckley. The band told us that “both albums are expected out by mid-July 2013.”

It’s been a busy couple of months at Chicago’s IV Lab with AM Taxi tracking an upcoming release, Caroline Davis finessing a solo record, and Dave Miller and W.W. Lowman laying down some sounds in studio “C” for the upcoming W.W. Loman record. Bluegrass fans will be happy to hear the new Henhouse Prowlers record was mixed in the IV Lab vault last month while Taggart Transcontinental and Sidewalk Chalk tracked in March and April. Chicago’s Janus, who recorded 2009’s Red Light Return at IV Lab, checked in recently as well. Dave Brandwein also recorded tracks.

Log on to YouTube and check out some of the amazing performances from Coachella.  Chicago’s American Mobile Studio had a major hand in the amazing sound that was recorded at the California festival in April.

At Chicago Recording Company, Frank Lucas recorded a song, “Melodies Of Life,” in Studio 4 with Mat Lejeune.

Hey Studiophiler: To get your studio or band listed in “Studiophile,” just email info on who you’re recording or who’s recording you to ed@illinoisentertainer.com, subject Studiophile, or fax (773) 751-5051. We reserve the right to edit submissions for space. Deadline for June 2013 issue is May 15.

It’s generally accepted that blues women need big voices and big personalities to kick a dent into the male-dominated blues industry. But if you’ve ever witnessed the phenomenon called Graná Louise (pronounced gra-nay) perform – her five-octave voice soaring, her dramatic stage presence commandeering the spotlight as she belts and purrs self-penned tunes – you’ll realize there’s one thing in the mix that sets her apart. “I come from a long line of women with backbone,” Graná explains of her dynamic attitude. “My mother was an activist, so I learned to stand up for myself early on. I am a professional. I’m an artist and bandleader; I don’t have time for 13-year-old antics [of blues industry bigwigs].” Fully aware of the way history has mistreated the legacy of blues women, Graná has no intention of continuing in that direction.

Although she didn’t take a direct route to the blues, there were some signs of her future career path while growing up in Columbus, Ohio. “My favorite song at 3 years old was Billie Holiday’s ‘God Bless The Child,’” she says. “I couldn’t even pronounce her name; I’d tell my mother to ‘play the pretty lady.’” Young Graná startled her mother when she sang along to the blues classic. “My voice didn’t sound like a little girl’s voice,” she recalls. Indeed, she trained in opera and classical music during her formative years. Even though she came from a musical family (her mother “had a voice that could make angels weep” and her older brother taught her how to keep a beat and harmonize), she wasn’t clear about what she wanted to do professionally. She acted in plays, danced ballet, and sang, but she couldn’t choose just one to focus on. “I had no clue about what I wanted to do. I was doing what I was supposed to do; it wasn’t even a choice. I was told, ‘You have this talent, you’re going to use it.’”

And use it she did, until a car accident sidelined her career at 22. Hit by a drunk driver, she laid in traction for two months. “I was broadsided; I had whiplash, muscle spasms. My extension was gone, so my ballet career was taken away. I was bitter about that for quite a few years.”

The disappointment and pain stemming from that accident would eventually serve her well, but in the meantime, she decided to explore options outside of performing. “I wanted to see what else I could do,” she says. “I think I did every type of job but dress up in drag and do the hula.” She wound up settling in the medical field, working in the industry for 14 years.

People continued to ask her about where she was performing, but Graná avoided the questions. “Music never left me alone. I enjoyed listening to it; I just didn’t sing it.” One day, Rose Royce’s classic ’70s tune, “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore” was playing on the radio and there was another voice singing along with it. “I learned that that adage – ‘If you don’t use it, you lose it’ – isn’t true,” she says. “It hit me that that was my voice singing along to the song. I still had it. I sat down and cried because I thought it was gone.”

Listening to her recent album, Gettin’ Kinda Rough (Delmark), Graná’s voice is anything but gone. Showcasing her range with a diverse offering of classics, originals, and nuanced interpretations of R&B and rock hits, she delivers on every level. Offering up covers with a twist, “Stagger Lee” gains her rich and assured delivery and “Back Door Blues” is elevated by her crescendoing wailing and belting. Graná’s originals showcase her clever songwriting and forceful personality. The bouncy “Lead Foot Mama” is based on her comical experiences learning how to drive from her less than spry-footed parents and the hilariously raunchy “Big Dick, M’isipi” conjures up the bawdy and commanding tradition of great blues women like Big Mama Thornton and Bessie Smith.

Upon discovering that she hadn’t lost her voice after more than a decade of not singing, she decided to become a professional vocalist at 33. “I liked classic blues, Billie Holiday, Alberta Hunter, Bessie Smith. I learned [vocal technique] from the greats like Billie and Scatman Crothers. I started going to nightclubs just to see if I could do it.” Soon she was singing in Ohio clubs and then she moved to Minnesota venues. In 1998, she found herself performing in Chicago.

“A blues fan, David Murford, would come hear me play in St. Paul and he arranged for me to play at Kingston Mines. He told [owner] Doc [Pellegrino] all about me. I sat in with J. W. Williams and after I opened my mouth that’s all she wrote. They treated me like Patti LaBelle. Doc hired me and I was still living in Minnesota. He was working me so much that I had to move here.”

Graná’s career immediately sparked in Chicago. “When I first got here my name spread like wildfire because I was singing real blues. Not rhythm and blues, not contemporary blues, stone blues. We would stomp a hole in the floor. We played blues popularized by Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, not soul blues. I wasn’t trying to step on anybody’s toes. I just did what I knew. People wouldn’t believe that I was from Ohio. They said, ‘People from Ohio don’t sing blues like that. She’s from Louisiana and don’t want people to know.’”

Graná will appear at the 30th annual Chicago Blues Festival on June 9 in Grant Park, performing her signature repertoire of blues classics and cutting-edge originals with her band, The Troublemakers. It’s her way of making sure the music doesn’t keep heading down what she sees as a dangerous path. “I see the danger in how the blues has been represented,” she says. “They are not showing enough real blues artists. Too many newbies are being allowed to perpetrate it. This has put the music in dire straits. It’s not being performed from the soul. It’s being mutated. The imitators have taken it and run with it and the real artists are not being hired.” How can a turning point be reached? Graná says, “Sometimes you got to jab the devil with his own pitchfork.”

– Rosalind Cummings-Yeates

The last time IE spoke to The Veils’ Finn Andrews, we accused him of conducting the interview from inside a closet. The singer – son of XTC’s Barry Andrews – talked in a hushed manner as if someone were about to throw the door open at any second, and it mirrored some of the more intimately tense moments of the album he was promoting.

On the new, self-released Time Stays, We Go, however, the doors, sash, and roof have been removed and a lightning current powers a light show. Though Veils have shown a propensity to electrify this way in the past, they’ve always been tempered by a highly self-aware Andrews kicking the bottom out. Following album opener “Through The Deep, Dark Wood,” the ebbs are less precipitous and the pensiveness is less thorough than on recent efforts.

A cocktail like this has the potential to streamline a band’s sound and de-fang it – which, in truth, partially occurs through the echo on the guitars. But, as evidenced in the Cash-esque chugging of “Train With No Name,” Andrews and co. have found a reliable companion in Americana, and sound like they visited border towns in a broke-ass pickup truck and not a tour bus. Despite the richness of his Richard Ashcroftian pipes, Andrews frequently shreds and cracks his voice to come off like Jack White: White light, White heat. (Thursday@Subterranean with Lantern and Island Of Misfit Toys.)

– Steve Forstneger