Alkaline Trio, Girl Talk, Magic Slim and the Tear Drops, Russian Circles

ALKALINE TRIO
Alkaline Trio’s sound has changed a bit since its first album came out in 1998; mainly, the production is tighter and the songs are gloomier. But over the course of five full length records and a few EPs, the same drug-and-death obsessed blood still runs in its veins. Guitarist Matt Skiba and bassist Dan Andriano split the lead singer responsibilities down the middle, but each has a tendency to pepper his songs with a fixation on the deceased and discussion of everything from alcohol to heroin, depending on the mood. With the help of drummer Derek Grant, they play music that is both punk-rock at its poppiest and pop at its most morbid. Though the band is no longer based in Chicago, you can tell that the members call the city a second home by how often they visit. The fans, in response, wear their appreciation on their sleeves. Literally, that is: Half of the crowd seems to have Alkaline Trio’s patented skull-inside-a-heart logo tattooed on his forearm, and enough of them were willing to shell out $66 to see them this New Year’s Eve to sell out Metro. (Appearing with the Smoking Popes at Metro on Dec. 31) –text: Mark Byrne–photo: Ben Goetting

GIRL TALK
Girl Talk is a mash-up artist. If you’re the type that wants to debate endlessly about whether or not that constitutes art, this show isn’t likely for you. In terms of straight-up unadulterated fun, however, there isn’t another show this New Year’s that’s likely to come close. At his recent CMJ show at New York’s Mercury Lounge, Girl Talk’s Gregg Gillis invited revelers on stage, and by the time the show reached the 10-minute mark the DJ was barely visible amongst the throng of pulsing bodies in various states of undress. The relentlessly catchy sample fest, taken largely from his album Night Ripper, relies on snippets of hipster icons like MIA to provide cover for indulging the guilty pleasures of the ’80s anthems interspersed throughout his set. When it was all said and done, the air was moist with sweat and Girl Talk had been stripped down to his jockey shorts. He’s not going to change the world anytime soon, but for a few hours he damn sure makes it a hell of a fun place to be. (Appearing at Empty Bottle on Dec. 31) –text: Don Bartlett

MAGIC SLIM & THE TEAR DROPS
I’ve grown up less than three blocks from Kingston Mines and B.L.U.E.S. here on the North Side, and sadly I’ve only been a patron at the Mines three times. All that is about to change, big time, especially when I hear blues artists like Magic Slim and the Teardrops. Everybody bills themselves as the real Chicago blues, but not everyone plays like Slim. Sure, most all of his songs have that blues progression that everyone knows, but he doesn’t seem to give a whoop because it’s a damn good progression that suits him fine and he plays them the Magic Slim way. Why would he fix something that ain’t broke? Believe me from hearing his guitar solos peppered over his solid backbeats: what he does don’t need no fixin’. At his age, true players like the near-70-year-old Slim have a simple mantra — if you don’t dig their blues, you can “mind your own business, and leave my business alone.” (Appearing with Joanna Connor at Kingston Mines on Dec. 31) –text: Billy Kenefick

RUSSIAN CIRCLES
Like most bands who find themselves described with the post-rock moniker, Chicago’s own Russian Circles owe a debt to their metal forefathers, and have even recorded their first full-length, Enter, (Flameshovel Records) with Greg Norman — the man responsible for fleshing out the sounds of both Neurosis and local thrashers Pelican. Russian Circles are loud. They are a trio. They are purely instrumental. But drummer Dave Turncrantz, bassist Colin DeKuiper and guitarist Mike Sullivan get the formula right. They are able to piece together astoundingly heavy songs punctuated by a gracefulness that many outfits spend years plodding through sludge and getting soaked in sonic rain trying to achieve. With ominous song titles like “Death Rides A Horse” and “New Macabre”, there’s a sinister kind of beauty enveloping this band. These are heavy compositions that actually go somewhere. You can’t space out to it — you must pay attention. Impressively, it’s both good “thinking” and good “feeling” music. (Appearing with Maps & Atlases and Teith at Beat Kitchen on Dec. 31) –text: Brendan Dabkowski

Alkaline Trio

The band is communicating better than we ever have.

story by Chris McNamara

They’re labeled a Chicago band. Their fan base here is as fervent as anywhere in the nation. And while references to the Windy City litter their lyrics, Alkaline Trio’s zip code contains more than five digits.

While the band was born in Chicago in 1997, guitarist/vocalist Matt Skiba now lives in Los Angeles and drummer Derek Grant calls Indianapolis home. Bassist/vocalist Daniel Andriano is the only member who stayed local, living in the shadow of Wrigley Field. And yet, somehow, that distance has produced a new album, Crimson, (Vagrant) that is more uniform, more fluid, more “Alkaline Trio” than anything the band has produced in its 9-year existence.

“We didn’t set out to write a different album, we set out to write a more cohesive album,” says Andriano, who replaced the first Alkaline Trio bassist early in the band’s randomly rostered history and, along with Skiba, writes the songs. “We wanted it to flow a little better.”

Flow can be tricky to achieve when multiple members of a band contribute their own music and lyrics. Andriano is often labeled the “pop-oriented” songwriter (at which he bristles), while Skiba, according to the bassist, leans toward the funerary. “We never sit down and say, ‘We need to write this kind of song’,” he explains.

In fact, they rarely sit down to write any kind of song. The 13 tracks on Crimson were birthed of technology – they’re bastards of digital communication via DSL connections linking California, Indiana and Illinois. “We do a lot of home recording,” says the 28-year old. “When I write something, it’s easy to e-mail an mp3 to Matt and Derek. They let me know if it’s something they want to work on or if it’s fine the way it is. And Matt does the same thing. When we do get together as a band, then it becomes an Alkaline Trio song.”

Andriano admits that the long-distance arrangement can be a bit of a hassle, but he believes the band is comfortable enough in its sound, and each member in his particular role, to forgo the bandmate-as-roommate arrangement. (His wife undoubtedly agrees.) “Matt and I generally write the music and lyrics, but Derek has a huge impact on the structure of songs. He’s responsible for the extra-curricular parts, the strings and piano. He almost gets to listen to the songs from an outsider’s perspective.”

Skiba sings the words he writes, Andriano sings his. “That policy is not set in stone, but Matt and I feel our lyrics are pretty personal. We feel more comfortable singing what we write.” Skiba’s crisp vocal style complements his bandmate’s more affected, nasally sound – a pure Chicagoan’s voice.

As the songwriting process has evolved, so too have the songs. Early Alkaline Trio tracks often focused on booze and cartoonishly morbid topics – “smart assy lyrics”, as Andriano calls some of them. The current lyrical focus is much more mature and introspective. In “Smoke” Andriano writes, “I wish I don’t wish I still smoked/I wish I wrote you one original note/Take me home, tuck me in/Moon go down, do it again.”

And for a band that takes such care in crafting lyrical landscapes, there is no editing of one another’s words. “I think Matt is one of my favorite lyricists – I’m lucky to be in a band with him,” says Andriano. “And he has never been put off by anything I’ve written. We’re receptive to each other’s ideas. The band is communicating better than we ever have.”

Through miles and miles of DSL lines.

Alkaline Trio :: with Rufio :: Riviera :: June 18.