SHORT VERSION:
Sun, Aug. 6
Fake Fictions w/ Bunnygrunt, the Smittens
@ Red Line Tap, 7006 N. Glenwood
heartlandcafe.com
LONG VERSION:
We have greased up our snowshoes with whale blubber in
preparation for the long trek up north to Rogers Park
this Sunday. We will traverse this barren, icy
landscape in search of the North Pole, Santa's
workshop and awesome pop music. Come join us on the
expedition to the Red Line Tap, where we shall be
playing with the Smittens
(myspace.com/thesmittens) from Burlington,
Vermont, and Bunnygrunt from St. Louis
(myspace.com/therealbunnygrunt). We're
doing kind of a different set, with a brand new song
featuring Sarah on vocals and some older songs we
haven't played in a while. Plus we will feature a
back-up chorus of natives, who are known as Eskimos or
Inuits. Hope to see you there!
SHORT VERSION *
Thurs. June 29 - Fake Fictions at Betty's Blue Star Lounge (1600 W. Grand) w/ Canasta, the Pumps, All City Affairs - part of the Music With Meaning 7 benefit concert series *
Thurs. July 13 - Fake Fictions CD RELEASE SHOW for "Raw Yang" at Subterranean (2011 W. North) w/ Penthouse Sweets, Dark Country and Nueva Cats
LONG VERSION
Quo vadis? We know it's summertime, when a young
person's mind is distracted by thoughts of air
conditioning, fresh grapefruit and Henry Miller
novels, so we thought we'd take the time to remind you
of two important upcoming FF shows. Tomorrow,
Thursday, is the all-star Music With Meaning benefit
concert at Betty's Blue Star with Canasta (our Obi Wan
Kenobes), the Pumps, and All City Affairs. But even
more important, it seems like we finally have our cd
release show for "Raw Yang" all lined up and ready to
go: July 13, at Subterranean with a pretty awesome
lineup of Penthouse Sweets, Dark City, and the
triumphant return of Nueva Cats. The FF will be
featuring a special secret guest musician filling out
some of the extra album parts, so be prepared for a
one-time-only four-headed FAKE FICTIONS.
Also, we wanted to remind you to call into your radio
stations and request songs from Raw Yang. We were
featured on Local Anesthetic on WXRT last week, sorry
we forgot to warn you. Oops. Oh, and there is now an
OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO for "Do the Dance" on YouTube, as
well as some footage of us playing live in WHPK's
studio. Search for Fake Fictions. Do it.
"Raw Yang," online from the FP Records Web site,
BEFORE its official release date. It's like some kind
of crazy time warp. Just go to:
http://fprecords.com/ffbuy.htm, and click the cute
PayPal logo.
2. If you live in the Chicago area, any of your
quality local community and/or college radio stations
should now have copies of "Raw Yang." Please please
please call in and request songs from it, as many as
1,000 times per day. For example, if you live on the
North Side of Chicago, the request number for WLUW is
773-508-9589. If you live on the South Side, the
request number for WHPK is 773-702-8424. And that's
just to start you off. Don't be afraid to dial phone
numbers at random and shriek "I WANT MY RAW YANG!"
3. The Fake Fictions are on YouTube. Just go to
www.youtube.com and search for fake fictions, and you
can see a really dark, pixelated video of us playing
"After Hours" for the first time at the Hideout a few
months ago. Yeah, it's not the greatest video. But we
will be adding more. Including one directed by Dionne
Warwick.
4. Two show heads-ups:
a. Fri., June 29 at Betty's Blue Star Lounge (1600 W.
Grand) w/ Canasta, the Pumps, and All City Affairs -
Presented by Music with Meaning 7, it's a benefit for
America's Second Harvest & Rape Victim Advocate.
b. Thurs., July 13 will be the OFFICIAL RAW YANG
RELEASE SHOW. We're not sure exactly where it will be
or who will be playing, but it will definitely be on
July 13. Please purchase a strong pair of antique
garters prior to the show, lest your socks be blown
off.
WHO: Mannequin Men, Fake Fictions
WHAT: Rock show
WHEN: Fri, Jun. 2 at 9:00 PM
WHERE: Bar Vertigo, 853 N. Western
WHY: Because we like you
AND SOMETIMES HOW: Through the will of Vishnu
We will have some RAW YANG for you. Only the rawest.
And Mannequin Men, though I have not seen them live,
sound awesome on audio. One of the Men will be dj-ing
post-show.
Don't be afraid.
Sat., May 6 - The Like Young ("Last Secrets" CD release), the Fake Fictions @ the Hideout (1354 W. Wabansia), 9 PM, $8
* followed by a dance party featuring DJ MR, DJ Brian Wilson, and the Stoned Soul Picnic
Mon., May 15 - Office, the Fake Fictions, the Saturday Nights @ Schuba's (3159 N. Southport), 8 PM, $6
LONG VERSION:
Huzzah, it's May, and the beginning of a somewhat intense couple of months for the Fake Fictions. Intensely awesome, that is! First off, on May 6 we are honored to be opening for the Like Young for the release of ther new album "Last Secrets," which is coming out on Polyvinyl. It's at the cozy yet majestic
Hideout. Afterwords, there's going to be a mega-insane dance party, so make sure and pack your gauze and your Icy-Hot. Next up, on May 15, we are opening for Chicago superstar legends Office at the second installment of their May residency at Schuba's. They are going to be famous and are going to buy us solid gold, diamond-encrusted capos. We have never played at Schuba's before, I hope they're ready to be INITIATED. And HAZED. YEAH. May 15 is also Nick's birthday, so be prepared for a slightly more haggard and aged-looking guitar player. In other news, we have an interview up on Badresa.com. We encourage you to explore Badresa.com in great detail, but for now, here's a link directly to the gold.
Thanks to John for asking us stuff and to Kenan for letting us use his photos without asking him or crediting him. In "Raw Yang" news, the album has been sent off to be manufactured, and hopefully, HOPEFULLY may be back in time for us to start selling it at one of the aforementioned shows, though it probably won't. But maybe? But probably not. It still sounds awesome.
That's all for now, we hope to see you soon.
Love,
the Fake Fictions
In which we co-opt the slang of 2003 for our own nefarious purposes
March 24: Fake Fictions at Ice Factory (526 N.
Ashland)
w/ Eshu, DJ Intel, DJ SP, DJ Seth Vanek for Juan's
birthday - 9 PM
April 8: Fake Fictions at Ronny's (2101 N. California)
w/ Sharks
April 28: Fake Fictions live on WHPK (88.5 FM) for
"Pure Hype" at 9 PM
LONG VERSION:
Hi. So much stuff going on. So busy. Too busy for complete sentences. Yeah, so you see the shows up there. Ice Factory, you know it's as real as real can be...OR IS IT? Because we have been guaranteed that Ronny's, where we are playing on April 8, is a TRUE DIVE BAR - and that's pretty real, my friends. And then on April 28, our triumphant return to the University of Chicago's radio
station, WHPK, for "Pure Hype." Yes, one-two-three for April so far. And we've got some crazy stuff going on
in May, BIG STUFF, but I'll save that for later. (Hint: buy a raincoat and don't forget to stretch.) So what else have we been doing? Finishing up our NEW ALBUM, which is entitled "Raw Yang." And which is scheduled to be sent off to the manufacturers within the week. And which is officially scheduled to "drop" (as they say) in June, though you may start seeing it on our merch tables before then. It's a shining beacon of truth and love. Seriously. We hope to see you around soon.
Love,
the Fake Fictions
"Chicago's Finest Hour"
@ the Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia
Thurs., March 2, 9 PM
Fake Fictions, Phil Rockrohr & the Lifters, Tuffy UK,
Million Yen
LONG VERSION
Hi. We are playing this crazy thing called Chicago's Finest Hour on Thursday. Here's what's happening: four bands each play a 15 minute set. But within that set, they must cover a song by one of the other bands playing that evening. So, for instance, we, the Fake
Fictions, will be covering a song by Phil Rockrohr &the Lifters, and they will have the honor of covering a song by we, the Fake Fictions. It's insane! If you need extra incentives to come: 1. It's at the Hideout, which is always a good time, 2. It's only 5 bucks, 3.
Besides the cover song, the two other songs we will be playing are totally brand new and practically unheard anywhere, and 4. It's on the second of the month, so you probably just got paid, am I right?
We hope to see you there.
The Fake Fictions Saturday, February 11th @ The Wheaton Grand Theatre w/ Question Mark Zero, Canasta, The Lesser Scene, Tank Engine and Rumbubber 6 PM / $7 / All Ages 123 N. Hale (Wheaton, IL) (630) 221-0667
www.wheatongrand.net
www.myspace.com/wheatongrand
LONG VERSION:
The suburbs. The 'burbs. "The Burbs," starring Tom Hanks. We are playing there for the first time. At a big theater. In Wheaton. At like 6:30 in the afternoon. If you live out there, this is your chance to, how you say? Ah yes, REPRAZENT. Please come. This place looks huge. And as it says up there, it's an ALL AGES SHOW. So bring your baby and your cousin and your illegitimate foster niece and your unborn embryo (is 'unborn' an age?) and a picnic. We will be playing one new song, which is called "Esperanto," and we have another one that we are saving for another show. Other news: Recording is DONE on our new album. We have a loose release date of mid-May. Artwork is being done, mixing is being done, tour dates are being planned. Just because our hearts our frozen doesn't mean we're not in motion. That's a pretty good lyric, I should use that for something. I just totally freestyled that. Seriously. More news soon hopefully if we don't explode or congeal.
Love
THE FAKE FICTIONS
[posted 02/07/2006 by Nick ]
HI PALS
Oh hey! You might as well rename December "Fake
Fictionsember" because we have a load of stuff going
on this month, including four (4) shows!
Firstly and most urgently, we will be playing Cleary's
on Clark (3438 N. Clark) this Sunday, Dec. 4th at 8:00
PM. We will be playing a FULL HOUR of music (a long
set for us), as will Chicago's premiere
singer-songwriter, ERIC ZIEGENHAGEN (who is seriously
great and who we personally requested for this bill
because he is so great). Cleary's is new but don't be
scared. Fake Fictions are playing first because they
want to keep the racket down later so come down early.
Please. Yes.
THEN THEN THEN on Dec. 18th, we will be playing at the
Darkroom (2210 W. Chicago) with Scale Model and the
Manners, two local pop bands that we've been hearing a
lot about lately. Again, we will be playing first, so
again, you have an excuse for your annoying tendency
to show up everywhere an hour earlier than everyone
else. Oh wait, that's me, not you, nevermind.
OK and then at the VERY END OF THE YEAR, we will be
playing TWO (2) more shows (including a New Year's
party), but you know what, I'm going to save that info
up because I don't want to overwhelm you and because I
love sending these mass emails so much and so I'll
have an excuse to send another one in a few weeks.
Miscellania:
You all know www.thefakefictions.com is our primary
website, and it's great and all. But just to let you
know, we have a myspace page now too, so you can go on
there for the most recent show list, if you want some
streaming audio, or if you want to be our myspace
friends. The URL is
http://www.myspace.com/thefakefictionsband.
Also, we are still in the process of recording our new
album (which we think has a name, but that's a secret
at this point) and things are going swimmingly. We're
almost done with instrumental overdubs, and we should
be doing vocals soon. This isn't really news, per se,
I just wanted to brag.
Anyways, until next time, we remain
THE FAKE FICTIONS
[posted 12/01/2005 by Nick ]
We jumped out of a plane but our parachutes broke. We landed in the foaming waters of the Niagara. We floated downstream perched on guitar cases. We discovered the source of the Amazon. Oh, and we recorded a new song, called "Mess." Here is a review that Punk Planet published, of the "Experimental Cheerleading" EP, of which there are still copies available. Keep an eye on this website for winter shows and other news which will hopefully be arriving by phony express. Love, the Fake Fictions.
Fake Fictions, - Experimental Cheerleading
reviewed by Chris Burkhalter, Punk Planet
This lo-fi garage-pop trio from Chicago stirred up
more than a little nostalgia for the K records and
Kill Rock Stars seven-inches that brought me so much
happiness in the mid-90's. No mere knockoff,
Experimental Cheerleading could probably hold its own
beside releases back then and sounds plenty good in
the here and now, too. Jangly guitars, minimalist
drumming, boy/girl harmonizing, some keyboards, and a
little tasteful tamborine contribute to a summery pop
sound that verges on the precious, but won me over
because, well, the songs are just really good.
Unpretentious and thoroughly listenable, it sounds
like the Fake Fictions had fun recording these songs.
More important, it's fun to listen too. The opening
track "Lasso the Moon" is the strongest of the five,
and thoroughly embedded itself in my brain (you can
hear it on their website). At times, the song is
simultaneously morose and sing-songy, but catchy from
start to finish. The remaining four songs should
further please anyone impressed by that one.
SAT, AUG 13th at ICE FACTORY (526 N. Ashland) with CRAP ENGINE. Yes. Our triumphant third show at the Ice Factory, our first show with incredible pop band Crap Engine. Followed by a SUPER DANCE PARTY. If you have been to the Ice Factory before, you know it's always a blast.
THURS, AUG 25th at THE HIDEOUT (1354 W. Wabansia) with THE SUPER-EIGHTS and CHARLEMAGNE. Hey, another awesome venue. We are bowling 300 with these venues, guys. What's up with that? We are opening for two great Madison bands, including the Super-Eights, of whom Ben (FF drummer) used to be a member (I believe he was keyboardist #21 out of the 153 keyboardists they have had to date). Come teach Madison how to rock, and in return, they will teach us how to crochet.
After those shows, it looks like we may be doing some recording. More mysterious news on that later...
We hope to see you at the shows. KEEP IN TOUCH, LYLAS!
The Fake Fictions
[posted 8/1/2005 by Nick ]
It is now officially "Summertime" (ho ho) and so we have a couple of brief musical endeavours of which to inform you. FIRST OF ALL, the Fake Fictions are playing Wicker Park Social Club on June 30, 2005. If you don't know, Wicker Park Social Club is this dealy where six bands of different musical genres and types play 15-minute sets. It's kind of like a Whitman's Sampler of local Chicago bands. It takes place at Phyllis's Musical Inn at 1800 W. Division, and it only costs TWO DOLLARS. We hope to see you there. Yeah. And then this next show, this is like WAY WAY advance notice, but the Ice Factory show we had had listed on the website has been moved to AUGUST 13th. Check it out: Ice Factory=awesome good time. We are playing with Crap Engine, who are a fucking incredible band. And afterwords...DANCE PARTY. So eat the chocolate in your advent calendar for that day, so when it gets to be August, you're like "Hey, who the fuck ate my chocolate for August 13th?" and then you're like "Oh yeah, I'm supposed to remember to go see the Fake Fictions, and I really need to lose some weight anyways." We're working on setting up some other BIG TIME CHICAGO SHOWS, so we'll keep you updated.
[posted 6/23/2005 by Nick ]
Sorry we haven't written in a while, we've been holed up in our Fortress of Awesometude, working on a whole bunch of new songs. But then we remembered that writing new songs implies an audience, which necessitates playing a show. Hence, we will be playing at Silvie's, which is located at 1902 W. Irving Park Rd., on FRIDAY, JUNE 10th, with Driftless Pony Club (formerly of Madison, WI and now of Chicago, IL) and Middlepicker. We will be playing second, and it looks like we might be playing two new original songs, in addition to another original song and a cover song that have only been played live ONCE. So this is a prime opportunity to either be the among the first people to hear us debut the song that makes us into champagne-guzzling, no-brown-M&M-eating rock star celebrity assholes, or watch us overextend ourselves and fall flat on our asses. Either way, it will be another tally mark next to your name in the "GOOD" category in Buddha's Big Book of Who Gets Into Heaven. We would love to see you there.
[posted 6/3/2005 by Nick ]
HI GANG! First of all, this Friday, April 1st, the Fake Fictions will be featured on "Pure Hype," a show on University of Chicago's radio station. We will be playing a bunch of our songs live in the studio and talking about our favorite subject, us and how much we rock. It's on WHPK 88.5 FM from 9 - 10:30 PM. Here's the Pure Hype website: whpk.uchicago.edu/rock/hype. We're not listed on there or anything, so I hope this isn't all some cruel April Fool's Day joke. I don't think my fragile psyche could take it.
SHOW UPDATES/REMINDERS:
Thurs., Mar. 31st at Sylvie's with Age of the Rifle, Capital Eye, and the Dirty Blue. Sat., April 9th at Beat Kitchen with Nueva Cats(YAY!), the Returnables, Greenlight, and Boys on Trial, all presented by badresa.com.
NEW SHOW: Fri., April 29th at Cal's (which is down inthe Loop somewhere) with Spectaculo and the Touchers. Come meet my parents, they'll be in town and at this show!
THE FAKE RECORDING CO. page is finally up on the website, so you can now mail-order CDs by the Fake Fictions and by our various side projects. You should pick up the new
"Experimental Cheerleading" EP if you haven't already, it's pretty darn good.
I think that's everything for now. Yeah.
[posted 6/3/2005 by Nick ]
For Chicagoans - Our dear and good friend band, Ric Rac Attack, from Madison, WI, is playing at the Ice Factory this Friday, March 4th. This is their first out-of-town show, and not only are they really cool people who set us up with shows in Madison and let us stay in their houses, they are a really awesome pop band. Plus, the Ice Factory is the best place to go see shows in Chicago, so you should really come check them out. The Ice Factory is at 526 N. Ashland, the show starts at 10 and Ric Rac Attack is playing first, followed by Inlieuof.
The Fake Fictions have a new EP coming out very soon. It will be called "Experimental Cheerleading EP" and it should have 5 songs on it, none of which are on the Fact Friction album. We still have some remixing and packaging stuff to do, but it tentatively should be available at our shows starting at the end of the month. We realize this is kind of crazy, given that we just put out a full-length a little over a month ago, but we just got really excited about our new recordings and wanted to put them out there. Dudes, it sounds so much better. There is Farfisa and tambourine on EVERY SINGLE SONG. We are loons.
Also, we started our own CD-R label, which makes sense because we already put out our own album, so we might as well go ahead and slap a name on there, which is The Fake Recording Co. We will also use this label to release some side-project and older stuff that we've done individually, all for very very low prices. There should be more information and a catalog on our website soon.
Shows: Still about a month until our next "real" show, but we will be playing three songs (two originals and a cover) as the Fake Fake Fictions at Squeezed, the variety show put together by the Tangerine Arts Group (see link on our website), at the Beat Kitchen on March 15th. Squeezed is always a lot of fun, with comedy, improv, music, and a whole bunch of other crazy stuff, so yeah, you should come to that. IT'S A HAPPENING!
[posted 2/5/2005 by Nick ]
The Fake Fictions debut CD is now available. We will be celebrating the release at the Ice Factory with Nueva Cats and The Hidden Mittens this friday, check the shows page for details. Twelve songs/five bucks.
TRACK LISTING:
summertime
cough cough coffin
treble shock
go get 'em tiger
all night
red balloons
plenty
do the dance
gotta get a record out
i miss the dark
nouns & verbs
we coould destroy you
All songs by Nick Ammerman, Ben Bilow, and Sarah Johnson except "Gotta Get a Record Out" by Jeff Lescher and originally performed by Green. Recorded by the band partially above the video store and primarily across from the pretzel factory with digital and analogue devices (special thanks to kim and scott, your love is a salted twist). Mastered by Ed Ballinger.
[posted 1/17/2005 by Ben ]
Tuesday, December 28, 2004 posted 2:52 PM by El Hombre Bombilla at Mira El Pendulo: "Canciones pop, pegadizas, cortas, desentonadas, divertidas al m? puro estilo del indiepop. Estos chicos de Chicago tienen a disposición nuestra su primer demo en su p?ina web. Cinco estúpendos temas que no tienen pierde. Recomendables."
[posted 1/7/2005 by Ben ]
Nov. 19: I spent half of my work day moving heavy, dusty boxes around a poorly-ventilated storage room, which wasnıt the best preparation for moving amps and drums around all weekend. I left work at 3:30, took the El home, met Sarah outside the El stop, walked to our apartment, met Ben, fed the cats, turned down the heat, checked the stove multiple times despite not having used it all day, grabbed our toothbrushes, packed the last of the stuff into the car, and got on the road. This being late autumn/early winter, it was already dark as we got on the highway, and this, combined with a light drizzle, crappy windshield wipers, traffic, and my not having driven on the highway in the past year, made for a less-than-relaxing driving experience. Sarahıs Toyota Corolla was solidly packed with our instruments, despite leaving the guitar cabinet at the practice space to make room. Also, the car has no stereo, since it was stolen a few months after we moved to Chicago, so we tried to make do with shitty unpowered speakers plugged into Sarahıs iPod. It was the trebliest version of Basement Jaxx ever.
So we finally pulled into lovely Milwaukee, Wisconsin at about 7 PM and found the place we were to play with no difficulty at all. But no one was there. So we wandered around the neighborhood a bit and saw the Polish Falcons club, which emitted the sound of bowling and the smell of beer, and an awesome giant Polish church which towered over everything. The houses all look different from each other, giving the area a nice hodgepodge feel. Then we went to the Fuel coffee shop for sandwiches and the first person we saw was the dude from 90 Day Men who I always see at the Empty Bottle and around our neighborhood in Chicago. It was disorienting. Then we headed back to the Corn Club/Green Gallery (Iım still not sure which one we played) and met everyone who lives there, interrupting their trout dinner. They showed us up to the performance space, which was basically a large unfinished attic filled with awesome old furniture and instruments. We admired their painting of a three-eyed naked transsexual and loaded in. Soon after, Master Zaster Blaster arrived with their electronic drum kit and giant speakers, and then Ric Rac Attack, an awesome band from Madison who hooked us up with the show. Ben knew all the RRA dudes and dudettes and introduced us around. They reminisced about old times and the 300 bands that they were apparently all in together. The attic was kind of cold so we huddled under our winter coats.
It got to be about 10:00 and there was still not really anyone there except the bands and the people who lived there, so we were kind of worried, but a bunch of artsy Milwaukee hipsters all showed up in a bunch and so Ric Rac Attack decided to play. This was their first show but they basically blew us off the stage with their twee pop tastiness. It became obvious that they were the band that people were there to see, as manic dancing ensued, making the floor bounce (which was a little scary). But they were really really good. Hi Ric Rac Attack! They borrowed our drum set and bass amp so setting up was pretty fast. We played. We werenıt very good. We can attribute this to several factors: 1. Using a borrowed guitar cabinet from Master Zaster Blaster, which somehow made the guitar sound really quiet and tinny, so Ben couldnıt hear it. 2. I felt really tense and angry for some reason and I think I was acting like an asshole on stage. I mean, I always act like an asshole on stage, but this time, it wasnıt a good thing. 3. It was cold. 4. It was our first out-of-state show. And I donıt know, we can make lots of excuses, but basically we fucked up a lot and didnıt sound that great. But the crowd must have still been high off the RIC RAC ATTACK because they were positive and energetic and even danced a fair amount, giving us way more than we deserved. And afterwards, people were really nice and said good things, so who knows, maybe we werenıt totally awful. We were jerks and unloaded while MZB played, but we could hear them through the window. They sounded like crazy dance punk music and were probably entertaining, but we werenıt really in the mood.
Our place to stay in Milwaukee fell through, so we followed RRA back to Madison. We went to Nathan and Abbyıs house, met their cute and unbelievably soft bunnies Dottie and Otis, and collapsed on the futon.
Nov. 20: We woke up bright and early and played with the bunnies some more. You wouldnıt even believe how soft they were. It blew my mind. Nathan made us some yummy French toast and eggs, Abby went off to study, Nathan went out to run some errands, and we were on our own in the big city of Madison, Wisconsin. Sarah called up her old friend Sarah and she came and picked us up. We went to this crazy music store with all these old banjos and violins and guitars and made the lavish purchase of 10 guitar pics. Then we went over to Madisonıs big shopping area, State Street, and looked at the huge supply of cheap (compared to Chicago) clothes. I bought the new DFA compilation at a record store, and then we ate some delicious Mediterranean food. Mmm, hummus. Then we went to Sarahıs apartment and decided that we needed some merch for the show that night, so we downloaded our own songs off of our website, burned some cds, and created some hand-drawn covers. We had six cds to sell, all right! Ben went off to visit a friend, and Sarah, Sarah, our other friend Adan, and I all sat around and listened to music for a while. We headed back to Nathan and Abbyıs house to meet up with Nathan and Ben, who went off to the co-op and bought us a nice selection of dinner foods, including some great sesame kale. Then we went off to an art show opening featuring artwork by the keyboard player from RRA (whose name I canıt remember but I think it was Ann). I drank some sangria from a box and it tasted like Manishevitz.
So finally we went back to the Slipper Club where we would be playing that night. The Slipper Club is awesome. First of all, the bathrooms are really clean. Secondly, itıs a beautiful bar with a fireplace and a back room with a stage, not too big but not too small. Thirdly, apparently they mostly have cabaret shows, so thereıs a backstage/dressing room area full of costumes, boas, wigs, and assorted junk. We got to hang out ³back stage.² Because we are rock stars. Unfortunately, when we were loading in, we realized that we had left Benıs cymbals in Milwaukee. This was bad, because cymbals are expensive. Also, we didnıt have the phone number of the Corn Club. This resulted in some tension, but the Dials lent us their cymbals (and their guitar cabinet) and we decided to swing through Milwaukee on the way back the next day and see if they were still at the place. We ended up having a lot of time to kill, so we sat around chatting and calling various people in Milwaukee.
Blah blah blah, and then the show started. Charlemagne played first, they were acoustic pop songs with a little hint of country, which makes them sound terrible, but really they were very good. Nathan sat in on drums, and one of the band members knitted while she sang. Unfortunately I was suffering from pre-show jitters, so I couldnıt really sit still long enough to watch them for more than a couple of minutes at a time, but they were great. Then we played, and hey, we were actually good! No major fuck-ups, solid energy, and slight drunkenness combined to create a pleasant time. Due to the odd arrangement of the Slipper Club, I couldnıt really tell if the audience was getting into it, but people said nice things afterwards and we sold all of our cds and Nathan sold several of the beautiful silk-screened posters he had made for the show. Jordan Cohen of Cleft & Cloven joined us on stage to play tambourine on ³Gotta Get a Record Out,² our Green cover, which was sporting of him since he had never heard the song before. And then Chicagoıs own, the Dials, got on stage and totally kicked our asses. This band rules, you should go see them. They have a Farfisa. They have incredible chops and catchy songs. And on top of that, we chatted with them before and after the show, and they were the friendliest, nicest people youıll ever meet. That was the cherry on the ice cream sundae. So anyway, the Dials rule.
After the show, we hung out for a while and got more drunk. The Slipper Club gave us a bunch of money. Then we went back to Nathanıs and crashed on the futon again. Awesome.
Nov. 21: This was just a traveling day, getting back to Chicago, so Iıll summarize. Was overly hung-over for the reasonable amount of beer drunk the night before. Tasty greasy breakfast at Clevelandıs with Nathan and Abby, which helped a lot. The waitress was one of the people from Charlemagne. Hi! Drove back to Milwaukee, attempted to meet up with someone to let us in to get the cymbals, failed. Walked back over to Fuel, got some coffee drinks and veggie chili. Walked over to a crazy artsy store to try and meet someone who lives at that place, failed. Played with a tiny kitten, took pictures of the streets of Milwaukee. Finally got someone on the phone who would meet us at the Corn Club. Walked over there. Ben kept saying that Milwaukee was ³crafty,² in that there were lots of sculptures and artworks around. GOT THE CYMBALS BACK YAY! Drove back to Chicago, eating Doritos and weird blueberry candies. Started to get nauseous from being in the car and being hung over, but got home just in time. Took a hot bath. Much better.
MUCHOS MUCHOS GRACIAS TO ALL THESE PEOPLE WHO HELPED US ON WISCONSIN MINI-TOUR 2004: Nathan and Abby, the true heroes of the tour, for their hospitality, food, and hard work put into making the shows happen. The Corn Club/Green Gallery and the Slipper Club for having us play. Sarah, Adan, John, and all the other locals who hung out with us and took us places. Ric Rac Attack, Master Zaster Blaster, Charlemagne, and the Dials for playing with us and lending us equipment. THANK YOU ALL.
[posted 11/23/2004 by Nick ]
Saturday, November 13, 2004 Posted 3:46 AM by Anthony Miccio at anthonyisright.blogspot.com: "Nick A. from ILX sent me two CDs in exchange for Warrant and AC/DC mixes. I haven't listened to the Animal Collective yet but I checked out the other one, which opened with songs by his band, The Fake Fictions. They're great. Plug on my precious blog great. When I thought they'd finally dropped some tracks that were as embarassing, sluggish and painfully amateurish as "songs by people you've met" can be (you should hear mine sometime), it turned out to be music he liked that he'd filled the rest of the CD with. Nick enjoys listening to bands his is better than. Despite this smuggery, you should download the tracks on their site. They split the difference between new wave and twee without falling into the usual traps; Let's Active without the pretension and more drive."
[posted 11/23/2004 by Ben ]
Working out the kinks and building a better site. The Ice factory show was a blast!!! Nick wore a tie. Sarah brought her sister Heather. John Cunningham from Canasta played keyboards on "Gotta Get a Record Out". Check out the photo taken by Colin Sheaff(canasta drummer). I'll post more of Colin's photos of the band as soon as I figure out where to put them.
[posted 11/15/2004 by Ben ]