This is the band
Regenerator, an industrial band from California. They played Chicago about a year ago, during
Gothfest held at of all places Excalibur. The choice of venue was odd in some ways because it is an established mainstream type of place, and it's in such a busy touristy area. It's really hard to park in there. The place itself looks fabulous like it was made for
gothic-industrial type of events and in fact did host an industrial night ages ago, but trendies in that area are a little less tolerant.....well anyway, this is about seeing and hanging with
Regenerator. It was Friday, and I went a little less for the bands than for the festival as a whole. My friend Natalie from work could not make it with me that night. To gothic-industrial events, I'm OK going alone. This is I feel, my native habitat. I have friends in this environment, and I can just follow my own whim this way. Goths just dance beautifully. They make an extra effort to dress up for festivals. American goths can be so casual and lazy, but how American goths dance is something to admire. The custom is to dance alone and so people feel free to dance any way they please. It's all about superimposing your own individual rhythm to the music. And I can tell roughly how old a person is by how they dance. People that learned their movements in the early to mid 90's are slower and more ornate, elaborate. What ever movements are locked in, is what influenced you to dance when you first learned.
Prior to this night. I did not know who
Regenerator was. I did not go to see them. So this night was far more special than I expected.
The festival took over two stages and a whole area dedicated to merchandise. So when a band finishes here, another band is ready to start in the next stage, while a DJ takes over from the first band, no waiting for whoever, and my whim is impatient. You can go in and out of rooms, wander about the merch area and go broke, have their watered down drinks, and go broke. Excalibur is said to be haunted but there was so many trad goths out that ghosts would appear like under dressed Renaissance Fair people. This is me on the left, and next to me is Patrice, the female lead singer. Wrex is the male lead, he is the guy in the black mesh shirt above along with Patrice and the rest of the touring band. Regenerator was actually one of the headliners, along with Black Tape For A Blue Girl, Attrition, and Redflag. It was nice to see the bands just hang around like everyone else. And many seemed to know each other, it's very trans-local the gothic-industrial scene. So I see Regenerator, and I take pictures and video. I recall hearing "Apnea" and "Organism" from the Disease CD. They are old pros at creating danceable rhythms. And they are not formulaic. They are the Faith and The Muse of the industrial scene, old pros with a well deep enough to defy time. They have been around for I think over 10 years. They've put out a lot of music over those years. Their songs are thought provoking. There is a passion behind every song. I would later discover that they are vegan, and I can see how that would peek out in some of the songs. Yet, this passion is part of what drives the urgency of the words without being preachy. They are just so intelligent and also well traveled. I was not knowing this when I saw them play. My opinion was still unshaped when I first saw them.
In performance, Patrice dances and sings like she knows she looks good. Yet she does not over state, just merely confirms what the audience already knows. And I'm getting this all on camera. And there were so many cameras on her in that performance. Regenerator look good and they sing good, what else do you want? You want to hang around with them? Sure...they are meeting with some of the Projekt people, including some from Black Tape at Greektown. I took them there. They were originally going to take a taxi there, but I took them instead. A cabbie ain't gonna give a shit. Regenerator are incredibly sweet people. We all dined on Vegan burgers. Bullshitted about casual stuff, like how long they've performed, and where, the oddness of my real name and it's origins. I didn't like my name growing up. It was odd and it was long. Now when people hear it, they are pleasantly intrigued by it. It's nice to have that happen. I drove them back to their hotel, sleepy after just eating. Patrice noticed the car smelled like roses. Rose is like my favorite scent, and it's sweet when it is noticed around me. There was one scary moment, brief but scary. A truck was on my left and leaned right into my lane. I veered to avoid him, in mid conversation. Patrice noticed that too, and said "good driving." By the time they entered back into their hotel, I was a fan fortunate enough to spend time with them. I wanted to know everything but you can't just ask this ask that. Let the conversation go, whatever they are inclined to tell you is good enough. Many things seemed to go right on that Friday, yet sometimes I wish I had the conversational skills of an NPR interviewer.
Kaspar-Zig
Ok, this is just to remind...perhaps just myself that Wallking Bicycles are playing the Empty Bottle this Monday 1st December. For those of you that have seen British post-punk bands like The Violets, and Ipso Facto on YouTube and long to see those bands live put away your passport 'cause we have an answer for them here in Chicago. I bet they won't even bitch about being compared to Siouxsie and The Banshees like The Violets do. Go see them.
It's not a deliberate thing going to the Empty Bottle like every other week. Last year I probably went like once. A lot of bands I like happen to gravitate to there, now. The venue is small, well Ronnie's on California (I think) is far smaller. The 'Bottle just knows what resonates. On this Wednesday night in October Asobi Seksu played. Post Honeymoon opened and damn I just went blank as to who the middle band was. I liked all of them but my resources were limited to one thing. The name Asobi Seksu I believe means "playful sex" in Japanese. This is a loud shoegaze muscle car driving down 26th street in Little Village. 
This is Ms Erica, drummer and singer for Faceless Werewolves. She was so cool. Part of why I go to see these bands live is to see how they handle the unexpected. The drum kit had a set of spare drum sticks handy just in case. And it happened. During a song she lost one of the sticks. It just flew out of her hand, she grabbed the spare, and saved the song. That was a cool recovery. I met her later on to ask her to sign the poster. She did that and left lipstick on it, as well. I hope they come back to Chicago.
Years ago I saw Love and a 45 . This movie stars Renee Zelleweger. I don't know if it's because I heard the band say that their from Texas that suddenly I put them and this movie together, but they so belong on the soundtrack to it. Their Texas identity casts such a large shadow that it reaches all the way to Illinois. Some states can do that, and Faceless Werewolves are great ambassadors for Texas. I just loved them that much. Listening to "Get Me Howlin'", and "Money, You Ain't Got Enough" gets you driving way over the speed limit on I90/I94. 
If one is curious about them, they can go to their websites facelesswerewolves.com
These are from the latest performance of I:Scintilla. This was at Reggies on the Southside of Chicago. They played first in support of Cruxshadowes and Ayria. It was a Saturday night. Normally I work on that night but I did not want to miss this, a fabulous local industrial band performing with two awesome touring bands. Cruxshadowes as much as I like them, will not draw me by themselves. I am often influenced by who comes with them in support, yet I'm always glad to see Rogue, his wife, and everyone else perform. You can just tell how authentic their energy is, how spontaneous it feels. And they do it all the time, all over the world. I shall write on them and Ayria later, but for now I just wanted to unload this few shots of Ms Brittany. I:Scintilla is the kind of goth/industrial band that comes out of that subculture as well as supports it like any fan would. I've seen Ms Brittany at the local goth/industrial places like Neo and Nocturna. There are bands that goths like and then there are bands that goths are in. This one I'd say is of the second variety. I've seen them perform at least 5 times. Each time in a different context that will never be repeated. How many times will I:S perform along a burlesque troupe? In that event, it seemed to me like the host was unfamiliar with the band when she presented them. It was a little outside the box and it was more wonderful for it. In this night at Reggies it was with an audience more familiar with them, and that is good too. I've so many more pictures to unload, but for now this will do. I don't want to exhaust all that I have to say.
There was this Sunday I took off from work. It was a cool down shoegazer Sunday at The Abbey Pub in Chicago. A core group of local goths I know go for everything from industrial to shoegaze, goth and punk...post-punk, deathrock, Norwegian black metal. It's amazing what you can find inside a goth's ipod. All of us went to see local bands Star and pictured here, Panda Riot. They moved here form somewhere else. I don't know where. I just love this band. They are just an easy sell for me. I can so see this in a shoegaze set in a goth club. I love shoegaze. It's not the grey fog most people take it for. I noticed I use the term "shoegaze" a lot. It's just that it is the quickest, most efficient way of describing this band. And I do believe that this band can have a wider audience than that word may suggest. Rebecca Scott's voice comes out clearly over the music. "She Dares All Things" caught me wanting to dance, and it's so unintentional about it. It just wakes you up like a spray of rose water. "Plateau" begins softly enough to not see this pick up early in the song. The guitar, the excellent use of drum machine, Rebecca's voice all then convince you to love this 6 minute song. You don't even feel the time. I like it when songs sort of sneak in this rhythm, this need to dance. Indeed, this is what brightens a goths day. This is not for brooding like Poe. Indeed, this is for when you are done with that. The "She Dares All Things" CD is consistent with songs that awaken this sense of wonder. They just keep you engaged and listening. In a goth club, which is the only context I know to put it in and play most successfully, this band would have fans. Well at the least it is what happens when I hear it. I bring this band up because they are headlining Tuesday night at the Empty Bottle. I'm glad to see them as the headliner. I'm going to see this band again.
This is the band Regenerator, an industrial band from California. They played Chicago about a year ago, during Gothfest held at of all places Excalibur. The choice of venue was odd in some ways because it is an established mainstream type of place, and it's in such a busy touristy area. It's really hard to park in there. The place itself looks fabulous like it was made for gothic-industrial type of events and in fact did host an industrial night ages ago, but trendies in that area are a little less tolerant.....well anyway, this is about seeing and hanging with Regenerator. It was Friday, and I went a little less for the bands than for the festival as a whole. My friend Natalie from work could not make it with me that night. To gothic-industrial events, I'm OK going alone. This is I feel, my native habitat. I have friends in this environment, and I can just follow my own whim this way. Goths just dance beautifully. They make an extra effort to dress up for festivals. American goths can be so casual and lazy, but how American goths dance is something to admire. The custom is to dance alone and so people feel free to dance any way they please. It's all about superimposing your own individual rhythm to the music. And I can tell roughly how old a person is by how they dance. People that learned their movements in the early to mid 90's are slower and more ornate, elaborate. What ever movements are locked in, is what influenced you to dance when you first learned. 
This is Puerto Muerto. A band I'm so glad lives in Chicago. Tim Kelley and Christa Meyer are married and formed this band together. Tim sings and plays guitar. Christa sings and plays drums. Their music has been described as "artsy country, gothic cabaret" by Monica Kendrick from the Reader. I tend to agree. But what kind of gothic and what kind of country? How about Nick Cave street in unincorporated Johnny Cash County. They put this manly tension in songs that on paper can sound just plain too sweet. Their dark folk impulses are effortless, and are in everything they play. They don't even need to dress all in black. Imagine them to be not fans of Nick Cave, but his former roommates. Chicago has to wake the fuck up and support this local stand out of a band. They deserve to live off their music in a charming somewhat haunted house in Willow Springs. They deserve renown from all over.
This is Haale. She is from New York. I believe I wrote about her before. Last year she came to Chicago during the World Music Festival to promote her two powerhouse eps "Paratrooper" and "Morning", and again last March to tour for the full length "No Celling". I missed her during the festival and even to the free performance at Borders on Broadway. I finally was able to see her play at the Kinetic Playground, on Lawrence in March. When you see her, get her CD's get her shirt, poster, mug, pen, magnetic sticker. It's all entirely worth it. Go broke. You'll be bragging that you did years to come. This girl needs to keep writing and performing because....she ain't done yet. With everything that she has out, I get this feeling like that is not all. The well is deep and it is evident in every song. You buy the CD because you want to keep hearing, and preserving. You go to the concert to experience the fleeting performance, and to see it drift from the recording. This is not a bad thing with Haale. "Ay Del", from "Paratrooper" did sound different, but in this fabulous way. The guitar just took charge. On the recording the percussion stands out to me. 
