My goal is to see one show per week. Yes, I might be that annoying friend that just has to tell you about the thing you missed, but I’m also catching every great show in the city of Chicago–with plenty more ahead of me. Welcome to the Chicago Concert Dispatch.
At the time of this show, it is 20 weeks into the year and I have seen 88 shows.
I got to the Bottle just in time to see Waltzer take the stage. A thrill ran through me when I saw the better part of Rookie on stage as backing band for Sophie Sputnik, the creative force behind Waltzer. Sputnik is singer and songwriter and plays guitar. Even with a stage full of stellar musicians, she stood out. Clearly, she’s the one this is all about (might be that gorgeous blue suit).
Sputnik exchanged riffs with guitarist Max Loebman. She felt the beat with her feet and hitched her leg in instinctual emphasis. She craved more stage, moving away from the mic and playing her guitar in the open space. The music was lo-fi, old school rock ‘n’ roll, reminiscent of early ’60s crooners—the kind of music that makes you feel the joy, love, and pain of the performance.
Some highlights of their set:
- “We’re all Gunna Die” is so fun and bouncy, but is obviously not so happy in message.
- “Eugene” had a really killer psych jam with a guitar solo by Max. I will definitely be looking forward to the recording on that one–they are in studio at Treehouse Records now! Lucky us!
A few songs into their set, Basement Family guitarist Alex Auby said, “Thanks to Waltzer for opening. Thank God they brought some soul, because we certainly don’t have any.” Good way to describe the darkness they brought to the Empty Bottle’s stage. They were heavy and fuzzy and the vocals had a spacious reverb on them. Jesse Skolmoski played the drums with power and a smile. He was a happy animal. Joel Schafer, on bass, bent and threw his body around. He seemed to have an unending supply of anger he was trying to exorcise. Auby manipulated his guitar harshly, strumming with force and hitting it on the sides and back to make it ring out. “Florescent Face” caught my attention, starting with a heavy dose of feedback and ending with the drums going into overdrive.
I was sold.
In their traditional forms, psych and punk are two of the more disparate music genres. One is languid and washy, while the other is angry and punchy. The blend Acid Dad mixed up was so seamless it stopped being one or the other (or any of the other genres you could throw at them) and the music became purely them. Two vocalists brought different flavors to the music, almost seeming to rep these two most prevalent sounds in their music. Vaughn Hunt had a more staccato sound to his vocals, whereas Sean Fahey sang more of the breathy, hazy stuff. Just as I loved the songs that had that special blend, I loved when Fahey took the lyrics from leisurely to quick, and when Hunt brought a husk and softened tone to his.
The vocalists are set up on the two far ends of the stage with a large empty area in the middle. Trevor Mustoe held down the beat on drums, in the typical upstage center spot. His work shimmered with cymbals. Working the center stage area was bass player, JP Basileo. He caught my attention with moves that were everything between thrashing, rock god posturing, elegant sweeps, bends, sways, and almost sashay-like steps. He was doing it because he had to, not just for our benefit. There was a hesitancy sometimes, a disdainful glance, like maybe we didn’t deserve his elegance. I totally dug it. He sometimes shared a smile with us or his bandmates, too. Especially with Fahey, as they did some deep knee bend plies.
“Mister Major” was a great tune and got the crowd excited, but my favorite was “Living with the Creature.” I think it had a truly excellent blend of psych effects and punk attitude. I also loved the next song, as-of-yet unreleased “Dejembe.” But, couldn’t help but yelp with excitement when they kicked into “Die Hard” and “Marine” at the end. Long story short, I love this band. I hope you’ll check them out and love them, too.
Waltzer Facebook | Instagram
Basement Family Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
Acid Dad Facebook | Soundcloud | Spotify | Instagram
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