Tankboy resides in the body of Jim Kopeny and lives in Mayfair with Pickle the Kitten and a beagle named Betty (RIP) who may actually be slightly more famous than most of the musicians slogging through the local scene. He's written about music for much longer than most bands you hear on the radio have even existed. He also swears that it wasn't him who did that and has learned that "deny everything" is a basic tenet of existence.
The Smoking Popes opened up the Sunday show at The Aragon Ballroom half an hour before tickets even said bands would play. Luckily there were so many folks who showed up when […]
Let’s get this out of the way at the outset; I fucking hate The Grateful Dead. I made a concerted effort in my freshman year of college to like them. Albums. Bootlegs. […]
Ryan Allen’s previous bands Thunderbirds Are Now! and Friendly Foes were lauded but terribly under-appreciated. The through-line between all those projects was Allen’s uncanny knack for mining impossibly catchy hooks and latching […]
The Dirty Nil are a trio out of Canada, but their noise is anything but polite. Most groups of this configuration mine the blues for source material—whatever you do, don’t call ’em […]
HotLips Messiah is a Chicago quartet well known for their raucous live sets, led by their mesmerizing singer Traci Trouble. In a band where every member is careening around the stage, Trouble’s […]
Liz Phair‘s Riot Fest set a few weeks ago was a triumphant full band return to her hometown. It was preceded by a stripped down set at The Empty Bottle that proved […]
Tove Styrke is striking. Stadium act in waiting. Don’t miss out dummy. Tove Styrke is a Swedish singer songwriter creating some of the most interesting electropop in years. She is currently on […]
This year’s Riot Fest is a wealth of riches. Yup, that’s a cliché but it’s so true. When you’re done with your whining over this or that headliner going up against each […]
The last time Foo Fighters played Wrigley Field, Dave Grohl was confined to an oversized throne due to a broken leg. When the band returned July 29, Grohl was unfettered and all […]
How does one even write about Lollapalooza nowadays? I’ve been going to the festival since its inception in 1991, and have only missed a couple, during the fest’s darker years between 1996 […]
O.K., I’ll admit upfront that headline is a bit histrionic. But The Phonographs don’t shy away from hyperbole. Anyone who drops Big Star and The Redwalls in their pitch to listen to […]
Craig Wedren made his name in the influential Shudder To Think, a band whose distinctive and sometimes knotty sound still sounds fresh and new today. Over the years, though, he proved to […]
