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| From | bob_hutton@standardlife.com |
| Subject | IPO Chicago (Long) |
| Date | Wed, 27 Apr 2005 16:50:28 +0100 |
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Well, well, well .... springtime again so I had to make the annual
pilgrimage westward to IPO Chicago. This time "the family comes too" (in
true subtitled sequel stylee). Anyway, this year, for the family's sake, I
had to re-do a lot of tourist stuff during daytime, leaving the evening
free for IPO gigs.
Here's my run-down on what I can remember of the gigs - I won't bore you
with the family holiday stuff:
15th
Got to the gig just in time to catch the very end of the last song by Freak
City Soundtrack - a shame cos they sounded good, and had been excellent
when I'd seen them before. I can't remember a lot about the other bands
other than Kelly's Heels who were as energetic as ever (and they're my
mates so I felt honour bound to listen to their set).
The Bradburys played a slow Vanilla Fudge styled "Shakin' All Over" which
to be honest didn't do much for me. Sadly I missed the last two bands, as
I had to bail out due to jet-lag and alcohol fogginess. I was disappointed
to have missed Ted Ansani, but picked up his CD at the merch table before
leaving.
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16th
Daytime show was out of the question, cos the kids wanted to go to the zoo.
Again, I felt tired for the evening show but went along anyway. Annoyingly
I missed Sun Sawed in Half: I'd thought this was gonna be a solo
performance by Doug Bobenhouse, who I'd seen before, and acoustic sets are
NOT my thing. Anyway, next time, can we be clear up front on when it will
be A BAND playing, rather than A SOLO PERFORMANCE BY A BAND MEMBER. Pretty
annoying.
8th Grade sounded good, reminiscent of Splitsville to my humble ears (and
that is no mean feat). Sparkwood, despite Dave Bash's recommendation of
their CD being his fave of the past few years, were INCREDIBLY annoying.
Every band member seemed to be trying to outdo each other in the "Look what
a pop geek I am" stakes. Plus their bass player had the cheek to put his
pedals and stuff onto the stage, from stage-front, in the middle of the
previous band's set! Maybe its just me, but I found that downright rude.
In the event, they cleared the room as quick as any band I'd seen in a
while.
The Elms were the main band I wanted to see, never having caught them live
before. Sadly they didn't show up - a worryingly prevalent theme of the
evenings I attended. Come on guys, if you say you're going to play, then
turn up and PLAY.
Feathergun were supposedly playing their first set - they were awful
anyway, all RAWK and no POP.
Piper Downs were OK, but nothing more.
Drysdales started off with a decent first number, but again tiredness
kicked in and I had to leave.
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17th
Nothing on the bill grabbed me so I had a well deserved night off and early
to bed.
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18th
Janice was intending on going out tonight and I was gonna stay in the hotel
to mind the kids: this plan was in effect until the last minute when both
kids started throwing tantrums about wanting their mum to stay with them.
So we both stayed in again. A shame, as according to my chums, The Crash
Moderns were rather good.
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19th
Jam records night. This was actually a pretty good evening, the Crash
Moderns reprised their set from the previous night. Unfortunately I missed
most of their set again due to my late arrival. Glowfriends were low-key
and quite relaxing. Herb Eimermann was pretty good with his backing band,
I'm not sure of how strong his voice is in a "live" setting though.
Big plus for me tonight was Chris Richards and the Subtractions - I knew
nothing about this dude, and, truth be told, he is one of the least likely
looking rockers you'll ever see - but he sings like a bird and his tunes
rocked the house, sorta Who-like in bits. I bought his last CD, "Mystery
Spot" and on first hearing it really is an excellent disc.
Phil Angotti also played a strong live set with the band augmented by a
cellist who rounded out the sound beautifully. I am looking forward to his
next album which promises the same band-plus-cello set up. As always, his
voice sounded exceptional.
The Ringles didn't do much for me, but Jeremy's closing set was good fun,
even if I think he does overdo the "Let's swap Hell for Heaven" metaphors -
eg. Highway to Heaven, Heaven to Pay. He's obviously a good bloke as
evidenced by the tribute CD acts on the Jam label had put together for him.
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20th
The first band, The Explosives, started off promisingly with a
Shadows-styled jungle instrumental (complete with monkey cries). Sadly it
was all downhill from there though - no tunes, poor singing.
Suzy Brack was her usual hot ball of colour and energy. She radiates
showbiz, but I think there is a clash between her style and her band's
style. Too much sludgey guitar, when they should be going for more twang,
I think.
The Webstirs were pretty good. They had the largest man I have ever seen
playing bass for them, I was praying he didn't start pogo-ing on stage.
Nice tunes tightly played though.
Barry Holdship was very cool - he brought the sound of the 50s and early
60s to IPO, he has a really sweet rock and roll voice, and songs that lend
themselves to be sung in that style. Very enjoyable, I picked up his CD
tonight.
The rest of the evening's music is vague. The Citizens were dreadful arty
rock and sent me scurrying to the bar. Wonderdrug had a hot female singer,
but were no better than average, 92 Degrees looked like they had played
with no rehearsals at all before-hand (was the drummer drunk?). Middle 8
were consummate professionals, but irredeemably dull.
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21st
Another night where I spent most of the evening in the bar, easily the
standout for me tonight was Frisbie. I missed them last year, but they
sounded like a really confident young band who knew exactly what they were
doing. I look forward to picking up some of their stuff (they had no merch
on the evening). It was also good to see Jocelyn and Shawn at this show:
only Kelly Cronin was missing, lost forever to Karaoke nights, so it would
seem.
The Snaggs featured Robin Zander's daughter on lead vox: "So what?", says I
- they were still formulaic and dreary.
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22nd
Rainbow Quartz night. Disappointingly, Andy Bopp was another no-show (see
comments above). The Lackloves kicked off the evening, and I thought they
were excellent. Live, the songs seemed to rock that little bit harder,
Mike Jarvis' vocals sounded tougher, the Peggy-Sue drums on Star Spangled
Satellites were just that wee bit more pronounced. A tough act to follow.
The Get Quick didn't cut it for me at all, I retired to the safety of the
bar. Next band up, the Telepathic Butterflies, from Canada, were a much
better prospect. Real tunes and character. I picked up one of their CDs
on the evening. The Three-4-Tens seemed to court controversy by getting
unceremoniously ejected from Beat Kitchen, for messing with the lighting
rig, I believe. Has this ever happened to any other IPO band previously?
The last band on this evening were the GripWeeds, who rocked long and hard.
They're not the hookiest band in my opinion, but I bought their most recent
disc to give it a chance.
Big kudos should go out to the Rainbow Quartz label who handed out a pile
of free 2CD label samplers, 40-odd tracks in all.
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23rd
Missed the afternoon show altogether but made it along for the evening
show.
This was quite a strong night. Atlas never showed up, so first up was The
Hatch - a kind of LA pop/soul amalgam. They reminded me of a bland wedding
band.
Golden BewB were OK, but oversold themselves by some ridiculous rock
posturing by the bass player, who reminded me of the guy who played Shaggy
in the Scooby-Doo film.
Admiral Twin were GREAT - I came away from this gig with no CDs of theirs,
but will have to track some down (can anyone recommend their best album?)
Johnny Monaco - OK if you like middle-aged men dressed up as young girls.
Seriously, Johnny's songs were OK and he had a full backing band this time
around, but my mate noticed he was still using tapes to overdub lead and
backing vocals.
Second Saturday were FAB. I have and love their last elpee and picked up
the Mount Rockmore ep at the show. They did a storming version of
Silver-Sun's "I'll See You Around". Someone whispered to me that this band
are breaking up .... is this true?
Orange Park - another great young band, I saw them at Maxwell's NJ a couple
of years ago. During their set, tiredness kicked in with a vengeance and I
had to leave, but this was no reflection on the band.
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24th
Oh Canada! night. Was there some kind of US protest against Canadian pop?
There was virtually NO audience at all (I would not be surprised if I was
the only paying audience member there). Despite a couple of the by now
all-too-familiar no-shows, the bands tonight played well, esp. Dave Rave
who put on a really energetic final set. It just seemed such a shame that
no-one was there to see it.
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Anyway, that's my sketchy review of the bands I saw. Overall impressions
are that IPO quality control is not as tight as it used to be. On talking
to a few other people, the concensus seems to be that each IPO is now
tending to draw local bands rather than attract bands from far and wide.
There are still gems to be found, perhaps not in such a high ratio as in
years gone by.
On the other hand, Chicago the city is still my fave city on the planet,
and it was a real pleasure to meet all the Chicago Pop Mafia yet again.
Bob
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