Chicago's festival season is upon us and local imprint Eye Vybe has their 3rd annual fest running thru town this weekend at the Empty Bottle, stacked with great local nasties as well as a few rare chances to see bands that haven't been seen in ages. Saturday's rock-solid lineup storms through the gates and ushers forth three bands that are dangerous in any capacity, but combined like this, you might need to bring a chaperone, you just don't know what kind of unpredictability can result, and no one can be held responsible but yourself.
MAMA are one of the best new bands in the Midwest (or anywhere else) and have a sick and nefarious reputation for throwing down good times anywhere they land, and this will be no exception. Raw pop strained through a hard rock filter like this isn't easily swallowed by simps that think they know their rock'n roll, so you might want to stand back if you can't handle the heat, as sometimes cornered animals like this can gnaw the meat off your cheeks before you can even remember if you're hardcore or not. Their 'Speed Trap' 7" EP is long sold-out but you can still grab their 'Night Shoot' 2x7" if you act fast, but you probably can't handle this type of refined power anyway, better leave that to the pros who know, like Joe. Joe Schorgl from The Sueves that is, the other raw and noxious Chicago trio gracing the stage has no room left for weakness, as The Sueves new songs and explosive live performances just get nastier and more aggressive as each day passes. Their debut LP is in the pipe and coming to light this summer and you can still grab a copy of their debut 7" if you know the right handshake. It all coalesces into a ball of fiery fury, jagged guitar slashings and insurmountable anger, thrusting forward into an unavoidable web of purified noise you won't be able to wash off for days. It's one thing for these two lethal Chicago bands to be in the same room together, but on stage together means one thing, MORE SECURITY GUARDS. Get up front early.
Deadly Vipers are Detroit upstarts with all the energy and vitriol you want in a band of outsiders just rolling into town, and after witnessing them tear through their set at Wally's World a few weeks back, it's time to direct your attention to the heat they're blasting. Snotty and tight, brooding and uncivilized, this gang of heathens are more muscle than you could normally handle without help from mom & dad, so don't let that debut 7" EP on Mauvaise Foi Records slip past your hands and be sure to pick one up. The new blood of Detroit is congealing on your arms & legs and it really looks good on you, don't wipe it off.
Saturday's headliners are none other than long-gone late-90's-early-00's Toledo, OH garage bangers Soledad Brothers, who made some serious waves in the pre-White Stripes era utilizing the most primitive means of simplistic guitar/drums/vocals to great effect. Their debut LP on Estrus Records in 2000 even featured Jack White on the cover dressed as Uncle Sam, tied to a chair and blindfolded, and included some of the best modern primal blues of the era. Founding members Johnny Walker and Ben Swank took their surly and intimate minimalism to dizzying heights on that now-classic debut LP and continued over the next half-decade over a string of LPs and singles. And now after an criminally long hiatus, Soledad Brothers are back in Chicago for one night only, and you really need to witness their testimonial. After all, the MC5's manager John Sinclair did write the liner notes on their first album. So dust off those eardrums and get your body parts down to the Empty Bottle for a killer night of rawness you'd normally be poisoned from, just make sure to have enough scotch to kill that bacteria and you'll be all set.
Check out a full set from Soledad Brother's 2003 show at the Magic Stick in Detroit right here:
