Here we are nearly 30 years since the punk craze should have set fire here in Chicago, and the aged patriarchs have made their way out of the mud to finally let the rest of the world know they did indeed exist. With the recent screening of the feature-length documentary You Weren't There, another documentary in the works, and both Naked Raygun and Effigies playing out regularly, it seems like the renewed interest in the early Chicago punk scene is more potent now than when it was actually happening. This new regard for Chicago's punk dawning has given us the chance to see some of the bands, many of which haven't played together in decades, that pooled around the underground music scene years ago.
This Saturday at the Lucky Gator loft space on the illustrious strip of Milwaukee Avenue that smells as much like bum piss as it does dollar stores, three of Chicago's early punk bands, Silver Abuse, Toothpaste and The Wayouts, will be playing a reunion show that can't be missed. Headlining are the mysterious Silver Abuse, whose only recorded output from their time was a hard to come by single and a short set on the Busted at Oz album. Playing with a sound that aligns to no-wave, Silver Abuse level it off with the sort of polarizing, sarcastic corniness that legends are made off. It was just three decades ago that they played their first show at another North Side loft space, Tutu's Placenta, that spawned the folklore of starting riots at their shows.
Toothpaste, an equally enigmatic outfit, along with Silver Abuse and the Wayouts featured members of Naked Raygun, and released one lone single in 1983. Playing with more sparse rhythms and roguish arrangements than many of their cronies of the time period, Toothpaste were as hard to pin down then as they are now.
Opening the show is The Wayouts, and without any recorded material to speak of they are most veiled band of the line up. Forming out of the ashes of Silver Abuse's original line up after their first initial break up, The Wayouts were only officially a band for about six months in 1980. But as we all know, longevity is about as important to great underground music as cold sores.
Bring some beer along as Lucky Gator is BYOB, and we'll see you there.
Here's a nice Silver Abuse video of them doing a song named “Fine & Private Place” that has a creepy guitar riff.
