Walking Bicycles on a Free Monday at Empty Bottle

 Ideally I would have seen Walking Bicycles and then hauled ass to see Nina Diaz from Girl In A Coma do a solo show at Livewire. That was not to be. There was a friend I was to meet there at Livewire, the same one that I met at a FEA/Kristeen Young show at this venue on Lincoln Ave. We bonded after we noticed how we were the only two Mexicans to stay for Kristeen Young. This time I stayed at Empty Bottle and I chilled and talked to the Bicycles later. I stayed and saw the main acts that night. They are such awesome people. I feel at ease around them. I always feel I'm one awkward moment from fucking it all up and looking weird, and its not like that around them. The drummer  Deric originally came from Aleks And The Drummer and now he's with the Bicycles. I keep remembering the shows I missed with Aleks. There was one at the Museum Of Contemporary Art just north of downtown. I got there so late I missed A& the D all together. I was so damn pissed off. This last Monday Deric assured me that was their worst performance ever and that I did not miss a thing.  Jocelyn from the Bicycles talked to me about the show Shameless....I think, that's the name of it. It stars William H Macy and its about people from The Back Of The Yards, my old neighborhood. Its such a novelty for me to hear that they are even filming there or anywhere on Chicago's south side. People don't seem to go there until they absolutely have to....or live there.
  To Him That Wills The Way is the latest release but they are continuing to write new music, some of which they played that Monday at the Bottle. I'm really into their latest. The song that sparked this intense interest in them was Welcome To The Future. It's not in Wills The Way but every song in the newest LP recreates the feeling of discovering that first favorite track. In a way they are similar to another brilliant local act Staring Problem, bassy and energetic. Yet while the voice of Staring Problem is relaxed, almost casual. Jocelyn's is aggressive and powerful....with just a little smokey husk, and the same urgency as the drums and bass. The lyrics are bleak black, and in so many shades of it. I've only bothered to read them now. They are good enough to provide them on the sleeve of the vinyl LP. Impending Doom is not named like that for nothing. In it, innocence is ended at the end of a rope. War Paint welcomes the downpour and the thunder that comes with it. Badada knows setbacks, letdowns, victims and knows contacts and is haunted by them all. I remember seeing Man On Fire with Denzel Washington. They did this clever way of translating the spanish spoken in the movie. Subtitles jumped at you instead of just appearing at the bottom of the screen. Certain statements on Wills The Way jump at you like 3D headlines.  I can really go on believing I can analyze all this and in the end its fun to do it. The lyrics are deep, dark, resonant and dare I say timeless. And I don't feel old for liking this. This is music written by adults for adults.
Zig