Company of Thieves - Illini Union - Champaign,IL - 1/25/09

Company of Thieves - Under the Umbrella.m4a


MySpace

Tonight was the night. The show I have been awaiting for about a month. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin; a new and upcoming band doing a Midwest tour right in my town, and wouldn’t ya know it, I had THEE GREATEST NIGHT EVER!

Chicago bands Unicycle Loves You and Company of Thieves opened for Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin in an extravagant show of atmosphere, vocals and musicianship. All three acts were top notch and are about to be very well known, but one just grabbed my heart and ran with it. Imagine Bjork and Missy Higgins’s voices having a kid together and it turns out to be the best front woman since Janis Joplin. She leads a southern rock band composed of jazz musicians who bring back the lost art of tasteful guitar solos that will have you craving for more(pretty cool huh?). Here you have Chicago’s very own Company of Thieves.

For those who don’t know Champaign, Illinois, there is a great venue inside of the Illini Union and some awesome events that have taken place there ranging from the U.K.’s Fuck Buttons to comedic acts such as Eugene Mirman. There are tables, chairs, Wi-Fi and even a great little coffee bar next to the performance area. Imagine an open mic bar except classier. The stage is even outlined in color-changing neon lights.

The adorable and petite singer, Miss Genevieve Schatz, is able to make you love everything in the room with her presence. But the best part may be when she belts out those full rich songs that make you chant along, such as the end of “Under the Umbrella” and the haunting whisper of the song “Old Letters.” She handles the stage like she is Alanis Morissette and gets everyone singing. If that isn’t enough, every other song includes a guitar solo powerful enough to make “Free Bird” look like a bitch.

Look below and if you see anything within 100 miles you and 8 friends need to take a road trip:
Jan 30 2009 7:00P
Legends (of Notre Dame) Notre Dame, Indiana
Feb 2 2009 6:00P
Backbooth w/ Thriving Ivory Orlando, Florida
Feb 3 2009 7:00P
Common Grounds w/ Thriving Ivory Gainesville, Florida
Feb 5 2009 8:00P
Soul Kitchen w/ Thriving Ivory Mobile, Alabama
Feb 6 2009 8:00P
Jack Rabbits w/ Thriving Ivory Jacksonville, Florida
Feb 7 2009 6:00P
The Dive w/ Thriving Ivory Goose Creek, South Carolina
Feb 9 2009 7:00P
Vinyl w/ Thriving Ivory Atlanta, Georgia
Feb 11 2009 7:00P
Mad Hatter w/ Thriving Ivory Covington, Kentucky
Feb 12 2009 7:00P
CINEMAT Bloomington, Indiana
Feb 13 2009 7:00P
ES Jungle Indianapolis, Indiana
Feb 14 2009 8:00P
The Majestic Theatre w/ Thriving Ivory Madison, Wisconsin
Feb 16 2009 6:00P
Varsity Theatre - Minneapolis w/ Thriving Ivory Minneapolis, Minnesota
Feb 17 2009 8:00P
Revolutions Ballroom w/ Thriving Ivory Neenah, Wisconsin
Feb 18 2009 7:00P
Newport Music Hall w/ Thriving Ivory Columbus, Ohio
Feb 19 2009 8:00P
Double Door w/ Thriving Ivory Chicago, Illinois
Feb 22 2009 7:00P
Paradise Lounge w/ Thriving Ivory Boston, Massachusetts
Feb 23 2009 7:00P
Bowery Ballroom w/ Thriving Ivory New York, New York
Feb 25 2009 6:00P
Tinks w/ Thriving Ivory Scranton, Pennsylvania
Feb 26 2009 7:00P
Theatre of Living Arts w/ Thriving Ivory Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Feb 27 2009 7:00P
Chameleon w/ Thriving Ivory Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Feb 28 2009 8:00P
IOTA Cafe w/ Thriving Ivory Arlington, Virginia
Mar 1 2009 7:00P
Local 506 w/ Thriving Ivory Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Mar 3 2009 7:00P
Neighborhood Theater w/ Thriving Ivory Charlotte, North Carolina
Mar 5 2009 7:00P
Remmingtons Downtown w/ Thriving Ivory Springfield, Missouri
Mar 6 2009 7:00P
Midland Theatre w/ Thriving Ivory Kansas City, Missouri
Mar 7 2009 7:00P
Juanita’s Cantina Ballroom w/ Thriving Ivory Little Rock, Arkansas
Mar 8 2009 7:00P
FIRE w/ Thriving Ivory Jackson, Mississippi
Mar 11 2009 8:00P
Scoutbar w/ Thriving Ivory Houston, Texas
Mar 12 2009 7:00P
The Loft (Dallas) w/ Thriving Ivory Dallas, Texas
Mar 14 2009 7:00P
Take 2 w/ Thriving Ivory El Paso, Texas
Mar 15 2009 7:00P
Launchpad w/ Thriving Ivory Albuquerque, New Mexico
Mar 17 2009 7:00P
Bluebird Theatre w/ Thriving Ivory Denver, Colorado
Mar 18 2009 6:30P
Murray Theater w/ Thriving Ivory Murray, Utah
Mar 20 2009 6:30P
Martini Ranch w/ Thriving Ivory Scottsdale, Arizona

Posted by Darwin Keup edited by Leah Tallon

The Reptilian - Error House - Champaign,IL - 1/11/09

The Reptilian - I Cant Drink This Its Warm.mp3


MySpace

Well, I was planning on doing an inaugural review later this week but once a band like this falls into your lap, you don’t really have a choice but to tell everyone about them. Ladies and Gentleman, I give you The Reptilian, a four-piece group from my favorite fake-sounding town, Kalamazoo, Michigan. They’ve created a great mixture of Modest Mouse’s vocal work and Minus the Bear’s instrumentals, and with better dance moves. Go check them out and watch singer/guitarist Jon Sacha’s fancy foot work and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about.

For those that don’t know there happens to be a little venue that my roommate runs in my basement called Error House where we have local and touring bands come and play. Looking at the booked bands for the night I was expecting a pretty good hardcore show, but when The Reptilian was setting up I noticed an uber twangy Danelectro and more delay pedals than you could shake a stick at. I decided that they were probably a little different than the rest of the bill and boy was I right. They requested that the lights be shut off and that blue and green flood lights be turned on. This is when I noticed their main difference from most bands: While playing they faced each other instead of the crowd. When asked in a short interview why this was done, drummer Dan Riehl said, “It’s just something that we do when we practice so we just play like that at shows.” This may be the reason an easy connection is established between the band and the audience when they play. You get the feeling that they are playing for themselves, no matter how many people are in the room.

On top of that you will also notice that the guitarists rebelled against the section about power chords when they had guitar lessons. being as both of them use a spacey tapping version of playing(as does the bass player from time to time). It gives them a unique sound that is hard to come by. Lastly, their voice work range from gang vocals about tall tales to John Sacha's "really excited to tell you something and getting pissed off that your not listening to him, but in a good way” style of singing about being in a crowd or being face down on the pavement. I would strong recommend standing in the front for this show and not moving.


With songs entitled “I'll Ram My Ovopositor down Your Throat and Lay my Eggs in Your Chest...But I'm Not an Alien” and the gem “I Can't Drink This, it’s Warm!” you can’t really go wrong. They have a tour starting in the later part of February and I highly recommend traveling to the nearest place they are playing…twice.

Posted by Darwin Keup edited by Leah Tallon

You have to start somewhere

Music is the mastering of wave lengths, it becomes an art after science.

Music is more than just sounds put together in a matching rhythm and tone, it's a feeling. The thing about it is that these simple pitches and beats carry an emotion along with them and for the most part, a memory. Music can build you up or destroy you with the right blast, it is the true language of the soul. Something this important can't be contained on a piece of plastic or trapped inside an iPod, the true way to get every essence of music is to go and see it and be there when it's raw, when you and the artist are sharing that single frame in time.

That is the mission of this blog, to get out and let the people know what they are missing. You need to know that there is amazing act that you didn't see so that you won't miss the next chance you have or that maybe you were right and staying home and catching up on Heroes was a better idea. With that said I can only hope that you enjoy what you are about to read and continue to do such. Feel free to contribute and give us a heads up to any shows because if it's worth it we will go to it.

Thank You
The Gonzo Radio Team