Q: A lot of people your age who came up in punk rock - some bands that were peers to yours - are now several years into the reunion racket. There is the inescapable desire to make something I have not made yet. Q: After being in punk bands for decades, why start another?Ī: It’s just my passion, and a drive to create stuff. That was the challenge that allowed us to be really creative. We could do things that were ugly and weird sounding and know we could work on them until they felt comfortable, playing things until they just came together. If you have that, the ideas are easy.Ī: It was a great place for us to come and humble ourselves. Once you have been around the block a few times, you know that with a band good music can really only come from good relationships. We were all looking to do something different and liked the idea of getting together with other people who had some real band experience. Our singer, Ryan Durkin, was in the grindcore band He Who Corrupts, and he was looking to do something outside of that sound. Bassist/vocalist Douglas Ward talked about the band last week.Ī: We are an assortment of old veterans - some of us had played together before in our previous bands - 8 Bark, V Reverse, Fourth Rotor. Now, older and maybe wiser, they are moving forward in 97-shiki, hewing close to the young punk spirit but with a more adventurous sound. Their previous bands - 8 Bark, V Reverse, He Who Corrupts - played at the Fireside Bowl or Underdog loft back in the day. “Someone probably ordered some Moons Over My Hammy,” recalls Siska.Anyone who grew up in the Chicago punk scene of the late ’80s and early ’90s would recognize a few faces in the 97-shiki lineup. Music is no longer Siska’s full-time gig, but he recalls growing up around diners on tours with his bandmates including lead guitarist (and former Curbed Chicago editor) A.J. LaTrace, receiving advice from Wentz, and mingling with other underage kids who listened to punk rock.Ī limbo exists for teens who attend shows at bowling alleys, basements, and dives: They’re too young to go to bars and too cool for fast-food restaurants, which aren’t open all that late anyway. And when the concert gets out, it always feels too early to go back to mom and dad in their suburban homes. Why not gather at the late-night diner? With their all-ages approach and reasonably priced menus, diners were and, and to an extent remain, integral to local punk scenes - in Chicago and beyond. In similar pockets across the country, diners represent an underappreciated tradition as a third-place escape where all ages commune. The all-ages punk rock scene in Chicago encompassed venues like Fireside Bowl in Logan Square, the Riviera in Uptown, and the Metro in Wrigleyville. The Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl has talked about seeing his first show at the Cubby Bear, which created a punk haven away from jocks in the ’70 and ’80s. Ironically, these types of sports fans now pack the bar across the street from Wrigley Field, representing a mainstream audience and even warranting a mention in Ted Lasso. The legendary artist Steve Albini came to the Chicago area as a teen from Montana to enroll at Northwestern University in Evanston in 1980. “You’d be traveling with your cohort - you wouldn’t be by yourself that often - but when you were, meatheads would drive by and shout ‘Devo’ out the window.” Albini - who went on to tour with bandmates in Big Black and Shellac before producing iconic albums for Nirvana, the Pixies, the Stooges, and Helmet - recalls how he and his friends were treated by jocks and others for their mohawks, dyed hair, piercings, and leather jackets. “You’d be traveling with your cohort - you wouldn’t be by yourself that often - but when you were, meatheads would drive by and shout ‘Devo’ out the window. “Devo had appeared on television and they were sort of the archetype for weirdo bands.
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