Over the course of 14 records and countless singles, Kevin Barnes — the driving force and sole constant creator behind legendary Athens glam-pop patriarchs Of Montreal — has laid waste his most personal feelings to the point where the listener at times may feel like a priest in the confessional booth or a therapist scribbling notes as Barnes lays supine on a Freudian couch. The erstwhile Of Montreal frontman was just as forthcoming in a recent conversation with Chicago INNERVIEW as we plied him with questions about his creative process, his nonchalant attitude towards turning his personal life into art, and the direction he sees his prolific project moving towards.
Read Full Innerview
If you thought Chance the Rapper couldn’t have possibly cast a bigger shadow over the entire Chicago hip-hop community in recent years, just imagine being his little brother. While just two years younger than the Grammy-winning, Obama-meeting, violence-fighting local phenomenon, Chance’s little brother Taylor is just beginning to carve out his own place from behind his brother’s massive shadow — most recently coming out as bisexual on Twitter in advance of his 21st birthday in January, telling fans “I’d like to be more open about myself to help others that struggle with the same issue.”
Read Full Innerview
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s 2005 self-titled release almost broke the blogosphere with instant breathless acclaim from pretty much every indie media outlet on Earth to big-time musicians like David Bowie and David Byrne, who you might even be so lucky as to spot in the crowd at one of their early shows. The band’s upbeat indie rock sound and pleadingly melodic vocals became signatures of the group, which reached the peak of its success with that debut. Over the past 10 years, it’s been largely downhill as the band has seen anniversary tours, lineup changes and eventually the paring down of members to its one original, Alec Ounsworth. But that doesn’t mean CYHSY isn’t still enjoying the ride. On the eve of the new Clap Your Hands Say Yeah album The Tourist, Chicago INNERVIEW hit up Ounsworth with some burning questions about the new album, the band’s living room tours, and what’s next.
Read Full Innerview
After releasing two solid arena rock-sized records chock full of head-banging, youth-angst anthems about getting drunk and falling in and out of love — while touring those records pretty much nonstop for nearly four years — Vancouver duo Japandroids took a brief breather before commencing work on their newly minted record, the more mature-sounding but equally fun Near to the Wild Heart of Life. Chicago INNERVIEW spoke to drummer Dave Prowse about this latest chapter in the ever-evolving Japandroids history.