Fuck a Record Company

The first time we played Chicago was a fucking trip.

We wound up freestyling for like 4 hours backed by an impromptu band featuring Johnny Marks and members of the other bands that played that night.

The owner of the bar was late and left us out in the hail for like 45 minutes. But then he totally redeemed by being huge and drunk staying open and feeding us booze until 5 am.

Comptroller Records hosted us for their Comptrollin’ On a Saturday Night series. And they we’re gracious enough to let us crash with them again this time. Check them out. They run almost everything sweet in CHI (pronounced “shy”) except Hey Champ but we’ll get to them later

This time was a little bit more serious, though narry more fun. We played KEXP’s Equalizer Series @ darkroom which is a dope venue. Half photo gallery, half bar, half music venue. I instantly felt at home when I walked in an saw a 3ftx5ft picture of tits. Gloriously concentric; infinite in their precision yet simple x^2 +y^2 = 1.

The other acts were Doc Watson, Nikki Lynette, and Shala esq. Everyone was held down by Dj La *Jesus. Doc can flow, and Nikki has mastered an indefatigable pop groove, and frankly I thought Shala Esq.’s hype man was more talented that he was.

We stopped by a kickass local record shop called Dusty Groove which as it turns out is much less of a local record shop and much more of a national distribution channel. They’ve got pandamenisonal in stock.

We had some of the dankest pizza ever made. It was from a restaurant that is the retirement project of one if Chicago’s premiere chefs. You have to place your order when you make reseravtions. No kids allowed. Just serious Midwestern pizza feeding. I passed out in the car on the way home.

Your haberdashery are belong to us.

It’s cold in Chicago – cold enough that these weird stratified ice shelves form every night in gutters. Threw this southern boy for a loop.

We haven’t traveled that much with the metaphysical so when he started talking in his sleep it kinda freaked us out. Especially when he intoned “MURDER” twixt snores. He sure can spin a set though…

We spent the rest of the time in CHI hanging with friends. Our friend Dan of Le Loup fame just moved out there and the aforementioned Johnny Marks is a native son. Johnathon Marks is the best drummer of our generation. I say that without any reservations. He is rhythm. If you don’t know what I’m talking about you will soon. Naturally he’s in all sorts of musical projects. The best known is Hey Champ. The other guys in Hey Champ are rad too. I don’t know Saam that well, but his voice is clear and strong yet has an almost plaintiff wail that I find very sympathetic. He strikes me as the perfect front man for Hey Champ, plus he’s a siick DJ/producer (all of them are — be sure to inspect their remix/electronic side). Crazy Pete and Jonathon were both involved with the formation of mathpanda. Ryn and I got serious about rapping after a series of jam sessions involving the both of them. A bunch of good bands grew out of that time and place. Their manager Brandon is a beast too. They just signed with Lupe Fiasco’s Label FnF. Sky’s the limit mane.

The next day we drove up to Milwaukee and played at a bar called Stonefly brewery. Another dope venue; two small opposing stages, microbrews, and cute waitresses. The other acts were Fresh Cut Collective, and some dude who was completely unmemorable except for the fact that one of his hype men had the sickest shades I’ve ever seen. LED Oakleys SO kitschy – pure gold. Fresh Cut Collective however was outstanding. I think there are like 9 of them and every single performer was awesome. The front man Adebisi killed it. They are one of the best live hip hop bands I’ve ever seen. Hopefully we’ll see them east this summer.

After Milwaukee we went out to do a session with Sean and the boys of Daytrotter.

I cannot say enough about those guys and what they are doing… Spread the word – THIS IS REAL MUSIC for MUSIC’s sake; aural meritocracy. I get blissfully lost for hours every time I visit the site. They epitomize indie credibility and have built an awesome collection of recordings and stories. The whole operation feels like home to so many traveling musicians. Thankyou Daytrotter for keeping it blisteringly real

Hopefully our session will be up in a few months. We recorded some freestyle and hearing that esp. months later is always fun. Good little sprint tour.