Chicago’s first punk band and one of Chicago’s current best team up for a four-song home run. This is punk rock gold!
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Tutu and the Pirates/Hotlips Messiah – Get Weird split 7″
Sexy Baby Records
Chicago’s first punk band teamed up with one of Chicago’s best current punk bands to put out a split 7″ to remedy the fact that the former never put out a record back in the day when they were a full-time active band and the latter never released anything on vinyl in their career thus far.
Tutu and the Pirates was Chicago’s first punk rock band. They started in the 1970’s and stuck around for a few years playing gigs regularly. They recorded a bunch of demos but they never released a record back then which goes down in history as one of the biggest crimes against musical humanity. Their disbanding was never permanent as they would get together somewhat regularly to do reunion shows in the city and since the release of the Chicago punk documentary film, You Weren’t There, they’ve been playing around a lot more often and they even finally released an album of their old demo recordings. This single features their first new studio recordings since they’ve been active again. If you told me these were songs from their old days I’d believe you, it sounds as if time stood still for this band and they can still write the great kind of punk songs they did over 30 years ago. They’ve got a great 70’s punk sound with catchy hooks and punchy guitars. They also retain their quirky sense of humor and are just a fun band. If these two songs came out on a 7″ back when they were young people would likely be paying hundreds of dollars for them now as they’d be cherished punk rock gems in the eyes of record collectors. Everyone should be thankful these guys are still playing, let alone putting out more music (or at the very least making up for the fact they didn’t release anything in the past). These two songs warrant the price of purchase alone but wait, that’s not all!
Hotlips Messiah is perhaps Chicago’s best kept secret in regards to current punk bands. They are a secret that shouldn’t be a secret though as they are too good not to be heard by more people. Their songs are fast tempo, sci-fi fueled punk numbers with sing along choruses and great keyboards layered with the driving guitar sound. Their singer, Traci Trouble, has a great voice and delivery and the male backing vocals add a nice depth to their sound. Their influences clearly include 1970’s SoCal punk rock such as the Screamers and the Nuns. The fact that so few bands these days seem to draw any kind of influence from that era makes Hotlips Messiah sound refreshing and they really stand out from the mass of current punk bands in Chicago or just about anywhere. They too provide two songs on this record and they are guaranteed to be stuck in your head for days on end.
This record comes inside a color fold-over sleeve. Inside the record comes on colored vinyl (it was pressed on a random assortment of colors). There is a two-sided insert with artwork and band information/credits. The record sounds great so whoever mastered it did a fine job. Each band has two songs and both sides will leave you wanting more from each band. The two bands compliment each other nicely and hopefully it’s not the last we see or hear of either one of them. Buy this immediately as this is punk rock gold and likely won’t be around very long before people snap them all up.
