Friday night the snow stopped just in time for people willing to go out to head to Sleeping Village for an opportunity to see Ghostforest. They were headlining a four band bill.
It took a little while for the club to start filling up. so the latecomers missed Surgery Cult. This Chicago based four-piece played atmospheric indie rock that at times had a bit of a country twang to it. The vocals were melodic and their songs were mostly mid-tempo. There was some interesting guitar work going on and overall they were pretty ear pleasing. Those of you who showed up late should be ashamed of yourselves for missing a good band.
Next up was Denude. This Milwaukee based trio had some really interesting songs that mix noise-rock, math rock, and indie rock. Lots of great changes, heavy percussion, and cool vocals. Sadly the guitar player/vocalist broke a string and spend about a third of their set time changing it, which cheated us out of at least a couple of songs. It was a shame because they were really good and unfortunately they didn’t get to play more songs. If you were a fan of the types of bands that played at Lounge Ax back in the day, you’ll find a lot to like about this band.
Cougars was up next and they are also a Chicago based band. These guys have been around for many years now. They played noise-rock and their singer was very animated during their performance. They were super heavy, super loud, and pretty intense. The band must be huge Shorty fans because they sound almost like a Shorty tribute band, so much so that some of the singer’s stage mannerisms started to borderline on copying Al Johnson. When he started singing into the mic while holding it sideways, all that was missing was him chewing tobacco and sticking the mic into his pocket during the parts of songs where he doesn’t sing. The band wasn’t bad at all, they were entertaining, but they seemed so hugely derivative of other bands from around here, including one the drummer is also in and has been for decades. If you miss 90’s noise rock though, these guys may scratch that itch, especially if you didn’t hold on to your Shorty records.
Ghostforest soon followed. For those of you unfamiliar with this band, they are made up of Gub (Gauge/Ivy League/Even In Blackouts) on guitar/vocals, James Kimball (Mule/Laughing Hyenas/ Denison Kimball Trio) on drums and Brant McCrea on bass/vocals. This trio has been around for a few years now and released their first album a little over a year ago. If they aren’t on your radar you should fix that now. They play really great post-punk/punk that somehow blends Chicago punk guitars with a bit of DC styled post-punk. The songs are mid to fast tempo and the vocals, while melodic, still pack a punch. The band is almost like a lost link between labels like Dischord and Touch and Go once they evolved past hardcore, but still maintaining a bit more of a punk edge.
The band opened with “Le Savage” which is on their debut album and that really got their set off to a great start. They played a little less than half of the songs from their album, and they played a bunch of great newer songs too that presumably will be on the next one. The band didn’t talk much between songs, they just concentrated on delivering a really excellent 45 minute set that was more than worth going out and traversing crappy winter weather to see. The next time Ghostforest plays, don’t pass up the opportunity to see these guys, they have to be one of Chicago’s best kept secrets at the moment and it’s s secret that needs to be told!
