Guest Post for Sassafras: ABC's and 123's: Thigh High!

http://sassafraschic.blogspot.com/2009/09/thigh-high.html

Guest Post for Sassafras: ABC's and 123's: Updated Fall Basics that Won't Break Your Budget

http://sassafraschic.blogspot.com/2009/09/abcs-and-123s-updated-fall-basics-that.html

Guest Post for Sassafras: Marc by Marc and Chairlift for Saks: Fall '09 Goes Back to Brooklyn

http://sassafraschic.blogspot.com/2009/08/marc-by-marc-and-chairlift-for-saks.html

Cobalt and the Hired Guns

Colbalt and The Hired Guns

The Deli's Erin Keane sits down Colbalt and the Hired Guns When asked what the over-arching metaphor or philosophy of their band is,Cobalt and Hired Guns will respond resoundingly "Love and Fun!" And when you watch them live this becomes apparent. Jumping around on stage to a punchy bass drum guitarists Tom Fort and Matt Hart sing their infectious, roots infused pop songs with half-moon smiles on their faces. Formed at Oberlin College in Ohio, Cobalt is made up of the previously mentioned Fort and Hart, as well as Jesse Alexander on drums and Mike Roth on Bass. The band has been rocking for 6 years, joining us in Chicago by virtue of Fort and Hart's hometown connections. 2009 saw the release of their 4th E.P. Double Single to a sold out crowd at Schubas in the end of May. Double Single was the perfect way to kick off a Chicago summer. You Left Your Sweater is a boot stomping anthem about the transitory nature of summer love and Of Chicago is a Jason Mraz meets Dashboard Confessionals anthem. The addition Alexander's sweet vocals on Of Chicago is delightful and fills the track with the sort of tension that tugs at your heart strings. Last Wednesday at Schubas Cobalt played alongside Robot Lounge and Welcome to Ashley. Their much touted live show was a little less fun than expected as we saw the band playing with a darker, harder, and slightly more serious side, trying out new material that has yet to be nurtured to fit in with the established aesthetic of their oeuvre. Also, a loss of momentum between songs for adjustments or chatter made it difficult to really get down and rock. Perfect for the Midwestern set, Cobalt and the Hired Guns sound like a mix of John Mayer and Jason Mraz with a touch of ska and a hint of Wilco. They are a bunch of down to earth guys who just want to make you dance to songs that remind you of that time in college when you ran down to the lake on a hot night and jumped in with your clothes on. The Deli Chicago had a chance to sit down with Cobalt before the show on Wednesday to talk about the beginning of the band, formation of the Chicago Roots Collective, and to ask, Who are the Hired Guns? The Deli: How did Cobalt and the Hired Guns come to be? Mike Roth: We all went to Oberlin. I guess Tom and Matt knew each other from Unitarian stuff before they went to college and they were doing this acoustic duo type of deal. Tom and I lived across the hall freshman year and we both knew that we both played music. Tom Fort: So basically Matt and I met Mike and got to know him really well over the course of that first year and became good friends with him. At the end of the year he turned to me and said, "Hey if I buy a bass and learn to play it over the course of the summer, do you think I can join you guys?" And I was like yeah, but you have to really learn how to play it, and low and behold he showed up in the fall with a bass and an amp and had been taking lessons. So Mike joined the beginning of our Sophomore year and then we started to throw the word out for a drummer. Matt Hart: I got an email from Jesse right before we put our posters up around campus. We put up posters that featured Animal from the Muppet Show and when we finally ended up checking Jesse out, we went to his high school band's website and instead of a bio picture of him, it was a bio picture of Animal. TD: It was fate. MH: Yeah, and then a drum kit magically appeared in the shitty practice space we used on campus that hadn't been there when we tried out other drummers. It was amazing. That was all 6 years ago. TD: Wow, you guys have already been together that long? What about the name? Have you been Cobalt and the Hired Guns since the inception? Jesse Alexander: We were Cobalt for all of college and when we came here and put out Jump the Fence, our record from last year, we started to step it up a little bit and add some more flavor and the Hired Guns joined us for that record. And to maybe anticipate your next question, or rather to elaborate on that, while we were making the record we were largely about having our friends come in the studio and play horns, piano, organ, cello, and working with our producer. It was very much a group creative process. It was just a really magical, collective experience. So that's what the hired guns are all about. TD: What bands have you been hanging around with or sharing bills with? Who are the Hired Guns? MH: That's actually a good lead in to tell you about a project we're working on right now that's pretty exciting. It's a project called the Chicago Roots Collective that just started, and what it is is a group of 10 bands that are inspired by Americana and Roots music. We're very much the upbeat sort of punk infused version of that. There are some that are more on the folk side of that, some that are more on the blues side of that, but it grew out of the Chicago Bluegrass and Blues festival that we were a part of last year. It's this cool thing that we're trying to do using the Model of the Chicago Noise Machine that went on this summer. A collective of bands that can pool resources and bring fans together with other music that they're gonna love. TD: Getting that grass roots following built up? MH: Exactly, and the community. That's the really cool part about it. We're going to have a big debut show at the Cubby Bear on September 19th. It's 10 bands for 10 dollars, Saturday night. That should be really awesome. TD: Things are starting to blow up, that's exciting! So, would you guys say you have an over arching musical, performance, band philosophy you are working with? TF: Love and fun. We love each other, we love what we're doing, we love the people that come to the shows. We love playing the venues. MH: I mean, you'll see, like when we play, it's all about having a great time and not pretending that we're not. We're doing exactly what we want to be doing. So we try to share that. Catch Cobalt and the Hired Guns at the end of their Midwest Tour and in Chicago next for the Chicago Roots Collective Festival at theCubby Bear on September 19th. http://www.thedelimagazine.com/chicago/artists/colbalt/

Circle of Fate: Rock Band Much?

The infiltration of the popular virtual reality video games, Guitar Hero and Rock Band, into the dorms, apartments, and homes of much of America have found many of us yielding plastic versions of classic guitars and jamming out to butchered versions of popular classics like Smoke on the Water and Hit Me With Your Best Shot. Circle of Fate's latest effort, Back to Life, sounds unfortunately elementary, as if they used the music from these video games as their primary inspiration.

The tracks are barely distinguishable from one another, for instance "Sanctify Me" and "Unshattered" have almost the same chord progression during the chorus. Lead singer, Michele Caruso's vocals are trying to be somewhere between Evanesence's Amy Lee and Pat Benatar, but instead end up sounding like a Marlboro strained Joan Jett. Based on the press pictures from the band's official website, it seems she delivers more in the way of donning leather pants at the band's live shows than she does to the quality of the band itself.

Touting references such as Prince, Journey, and Joe Satriani, one seeks the infectious pop or brilliant riffs reminiscent of these artists. Unfortunately, when it comes to Back to Life, the listener's search is in vain. Their ingenuity is weak, as the same textbook metal chords and distortions are used throughout the album, bringing to mind influences like Nickelback and Linkin Park instead. "What If" sounds so distinctly as if it was stolen from an Iron Maiden record that I thought it was a cover.

Back to Life's single and supposed hit track, "My Religion", is about television. Caruso sings, "TV destroys me, it corrupts me, it engulfs me, it's my religion." This sort of surface poetry and trite social media commentary is the through line of the album, even less impressive when backed by a mediocre three-piece band.

Circle of Fate, a 10 year old band, sounds newly formed and has yet to come into their own. Back to Life borrows too heavily from recent popular metal bands without creating a sound that is uniquely their own, ultimately leading this reviewer to hope that none of these musicians is without a day job. Circle of Fate can be seen at Silvie's on August 29th at 9pm and Back to Life can be purchased at CD Baby and Amazon.com. - Erin Keane

Published on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:22:10

http://www.thedelimagazine.com/chicago/index.php?name=thedelichicago&itemId=220676&mode=comments#post

Concert Review: Mucca Pazza @ The Empty Bottle on 4/9/2009

Imagine a bunch of ex-marching band geeks coming together for a reunion with a lot of drinking, and a lot more life experience than they had at age 17 and you will find Mucca Pazza. The Empty Bottle was as hopping as I've seen it last Wednesday for the Chicago based, 31- piece, marching-band extravaganza.

Opening with gypsy rocker Jason Webley, the stage was set for more than just a concert, but an experience. Covering Neutral Milk Hotel, directing the audience to participate as the strings and horns sections of another song, and then guiding everyone in 12 twirls to being wasted, The Empty Bottle was transformed from a Chicago, garage rock main-stay to the seedy underbelly of an early, 20th century, Paris bal-musette. Webley's aura was other worldly and acted as the perfect precursor to what can only be described as sheer spectacle.

Enter the trombones, saxophones, trumpets, drums, and cheerleaders, infiltrating the audience and enveloping the entire joint in sound. Jubilant yet dark, Mucca Pazza's marching band gone wrong motif hearkens to the current popularity of gypsy rock in the vein of Golgol Bordello and Devotchka. The nostalgia of their theme, twisted by sheer nerd-dom and the love of play is contagious and the audience was further transported. Away from the Empty Bottle and into an atmosphere of their own making, Mucca Pazza demanded that we engage in their world. How can one ignore a tuba player in full marching regalia ooompah-ing out a tune right next to him?

The dramatics of their act seem to be as important as ever this day in age, when we are all seeking imaginative and escapist entertainment. Mucca Pazza offers it up, a portal to another time, to days past when the was future still so far ahead of us. I left the Empty Bottle last Wednesday, sated, yet feeling that I was on the brink of something. Watching strings and electric guitars and bass drums beat rigorously around the small space, I couldn't help but be touched by the innovation that is the music collective and what the need for community with other artists can produce. One might say I "drank the Kool-Aid," but why not? Mucca Pazza has fully earned the reputation that precedes them and their performance April 9th was no exception.

Published on Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:56:51 www.thedelimagazine.com/chicago

Very Truly Yours Concert Preview

Very Truly Yours at first listen can be likened to riding a wave of nostalgia. Sweet, lilting, late summer pop-songs give away the band's August inception and make a body yearn for a warm and hazy afternoon. Reminiscent of early Belle and Sebastian, the band sets the scene for their sound in story form on their myspace page, writing:

"One day a girl found a message in a bottle. The message was from a person she'd never met in a place she'd never been. Every day, the girl would read the message and every night she would write a song. She would imagine all the things the person would do, the things they would see and the sounds they would hear. This went on for some time until one day the little girl took all of the songs and put them in a bottle. She went down to the ocean where she found the message and wrote a letter telling the person about all the songs she'd written about them. She signed the letter "Very Truly Yours" and threw the bottle into the ocean, hoping it might one day it might reach that place she'd never been and find the person she'd never met."

Opening for The Pains of Being Pure at Heart at Schuba's in February and recently catching the eye of The Sun Times', Jim Derogatis, Very Truly Yours has created quite a buzz in their 8 months as a band. Catch them this Thursday, April 9th at 9pm at the Bottom Lounge with Peter Adams and Nathan Xander. Show is 21+ and tickets are $5 in advance, $8 at the door.

Published on 4/8/09 at www.thedelimagazine.com/Chicago