Archives:
Shot Baker – “Ode to Kerouac”
This Saturday, Shot Baker is playing at Beat Kitchen with Vacation Bible School, The Eradicator, No Enemy!, and Mofaza. They’re also releasing a new EP on the same day, courtesy of Underground Communiqué Records, called Crack in the Code. When asked about the origins of this EP, singer Tony Kovacs provided a detailed backstory. He said, “In 2009, we were on an East coast tour with Naked Raygun when we parted ways with our guitarist John Krohn over retrospectively stupid shit that we probably could have mended. But, tensions can run high on tour. We had a bunch of good material we wrote with John that we ended up scrapping. In his place we got Steven Jenkins and started fresh, writing all new material. In 2011, we were very close to recording a full-length, but I kind of freaked out and decided to quit the band and move to Colorado. At that point we had good material with both John and Steven that never saw the light of day.” He continued, “Since then we’ve all made up and become friends again. In 2017, we did a reunion show with John and promoted the show as the “original lineup,” with the understanding that anything we do after that show will be a five-piece with both John and Steven on guitar. So, Crack in the Code is a handful of stuff we wrote with Steven and some stuff we wrote with John to sort of merge talents on one release and solidify Shot Baker as a five-piece band.”
We’re premiering the video for one of the EP’s songs below, called “Ode to Kerouac.” When describing his motivations for writing the song, Kovacs said “At surface level, it’s a huge dis to Jack Kerouac. But despite the scornful lyrics, I view it as a proper homage. It’s really just a dis on myself. When I study Kerouac, I notice patterns, fears and mistakes that remind me of myself. I read the ramblings of a guy who had his head and heart pointed in the right direction, but ultimately flopped. His adventures in Buddhism and his glorification of society’s undesirables is hugely influential, but he wasn’t able to maintain his convictions. He ended up dying a lonely, anti-Semitic, right-wing alcoholic.” He added, “In one of his books, a Zen master told him that he has ‘Zen flesh but no Zen bones,’ (a line I use in the song) which really shook him to his core. Turns out the Zen master was right. So, through my own Buddhist studies and other adventures, I’ve picked up on certain insights that I know have to be properly cultivated or they’ll be lost. I don’t think I’ll become an anti-Semitic alcoholic, but I’m pretty lousy at converting insights into lifestyle.”
When looking ahead to Saturday’s show, Kovacs commented “I used to work at Beat Kitchen and Shot Baker had some of our most memorable shows there, so I’m excited to play for nostalgic reasons. But mostly I’m looking forward to the energy of a roomful of people who care about these songs we made. That’s an amazing feeling.” The show starts at 8:00 PM, is 17+ and tickets can be purchased here.
Ian’s Party 2019 Announces Daily Lineups
Artwork by Frank Okay // Photos by Katie Hovland
We’re happy to unveil the single day lineups for this year’s Ian’s Party, which kicks off on Friday, January 4th. Opening night will feature Salvation, Montrose Man, Fitness, Absolutely Not, ONO, Ganser, and others at Subterranean. Bands will be playing both upstairs and downstairs stages. On the same evening, Chop Shop will host Toys That Kill, Drilling For Blasting, The Brokedowns, Bust!, The Slow Death, Butcher’s Union and more. Chop Shop will divide its stage in half for the event, with bands playing on either side to limit downtime between sets. There’s also a late show on Friday at Chop Shop with Canadian Rifle and others. Continue Reading…
The Eradicator – “The Court’s Closed…”
On November 23rd, The Eradicator will release its new EP, called The Court’s Closed on Christmas. It will be made available by three different labels: Underground Communiqué Records, Programme Skate & Sound, and Stonewalled. For those unfamiliar with the band, their identity is centered around a sketch from Kids in the Hall by the same name. According to singer/guitarist Andy Slania, the idea for this EP stemmed from a desire to put out new music between LPs, as they plan on releasing their second full-length next year. He further detailed the EP’s concept, stating “I’ve had the idea for a while in terms of approaching this character doing cover songs, but adapting the lyrics to fit the character. I only had one or two songs off the bat that I was looking to interject into the live show, but then with the idea of doing a ‘midterm’ release and the concept of the holiday song, it just made sense to record a bunch of covers and continue the build out of the character as to why he wants to do cover songs.”
The EP was recorded by Pete Grossmann at Bricktop Recording, who also recorded the band’s debut album. When asked to describe their time in the studio, Slania said “Recording with Pete is always a treat, especially since this band is made up of people from different locations with different schedules. Our songwriting process is me writing everything in my practice space and then emailing it out to everyone to learn, so the majority of the time we don’t actually play the song as a band before it’s recorded. Pete has a lot of patience for us to learn songs as we’re recording them. If we went with someone who wasn’t patient with us, it would be way more difficult and a downer.”
We’re streaming the title track off the EP below, which was inspired by Slania wondering how the Eradicator character would feel about Christmas. He explained, “I just imagined him going on with his usual day and then realizing on his way to the squash court that it was closed, and focusing on that moment in time and writing the song about his reaction to that. I also thought the melody of ‘Frosty the Snowman’ would fit, so I went with that from a structural perspective.” The band’s next scheduled show is December 22nd at the Cactus Club in Milwaukee, followed by a special Christmas Day show in Union, IL. Take a listen to the song now and preorder the record here.
Follow Us
-
