- Photos:
-
By now, you probably know our top four Rock 'n' Vote bands: epic indie rockers Butterfly Assassins, old-school soulsters JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound, energetic punk outfit The Sapiens and radio-ready pop-punk rockers Goodbye Satellite. But how well do you really know these bands?
Before Wednesday’s free show at Double Door, here’s a closer look at the acts you voted onto the stage (Below MP3s from each band). And not that you need one, but there’s yet another reason to come to the concert: Your text votes at the show will determine the 2008 Rock ’n’ Vote champion. The winner gets to film a music video with Metromix to debut on metromix.com. Check back Thursday to see who won.
Butterfly Assassins - "Sylvia II"
Goodbye Satellite - "A Picture of You"
JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound - "Baltimore is the New Brooklyn"
The Sapiens - "Push Me"
If you could be the house band for any restaurant in the city, what would it be and why?
Butterfly Assassins (BA): The BK Lounge (Burger King) in Evanston. Northing tastes better than calories at 3 a.m., and it’s the only place we’d get adequate security guards.
Goodbye Satellite (GS): Portillo’s (100 W. Ontario St.), ’cause it’s delicious.
JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound (JC): Soul Vegetarian East (205 E. 75th St.) Because they make the best food in Chicago and we don’t mind having bigger thighs than your average indie rocker.
The Sapiens (SAP): I would love to open up for the Lazo’s (2009 N. Western Ave.) house band. We could borrow their Casio keyboards.
What’s the craziest moment you’ve ever had on stage? Backstage?
BA: One time [singer/keyboardist Brian Trahan’s] Farfisa organ collapsed at Metro and it made a deafening boom. The best part was he switched keyboards in less than a beat.
GS: Backstage? [We’re advised] by [our] attorney not to answer this question
JC: One time at an Alicia Keys concert, Alicia invited us backstage to party with her. Then she asks [guitarist Bill Bungeroth], if he’d go out with her, like, long-term, but he’s already got a lady so we just watched CNN and drank her Scotch.
SAP: On-stage: [Drummer David Fine] puking while keeping perfect time.
What superstitions does the band have?
BA: If we practice or think about practicing the day of a show, we’ll suck. If we all get into an argument before the show, we’ll rock.
GS: Walking under a ladder, breaking a mirror, black cats, spilling salt and Candyman.
JC: Great Question! We are all superstitious of Republicans, Sam Zell, Rupert Murdoch and Hillary Clinton.
SAP: The only superstition we have is to not eat right before playing. Some of us have actually puked while playing.
What Lollapalooza band would be your dream collaborator?
BA: Radiohead. Hands down.
GS: Foo Fighters, yay! [Editor’s note: Foo Fighters are not playing Lolla.]
JC: Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction. We’d collaborate on throwing a festival where all the good bands don’t play at the exact same time, and the stages aren’t so far you miss everything. And we’d make sure The Cool Kids and Noam Chomsky headline this year and every year from now on.
SAP: First choice: Mark Ronson. Second choice: The Black Keys.
If you became a worldwide phenomenon, what’s something you’d want to avoid?
BA: Being put after the puppet show.
GS: To get married.
JC: We are a worldwide phenomenon. The world just doesn’t know it yet.
SAP: Any and all STIs.
What’s something the band (or a particular band member) can’t live without?
BA: [Drummer Dylan Fischer] will actually die next time he eats a peanut. EpiPens are his only true friend.
GS: Talcum powder (singer Raul Mendoza), iPhone (guitarist Danie Rey), beer (bassist Carl Kusch), cigs (drummer Adam Malachek)
JC: We can’t live without universal healthcare, Libertarian Socialism, racial equality, or pornography like they used to make in the 1960s. Unfortunately, however, we are all forced to.
SAP: [Keyboardist Matt Witt] simply cannot live without green Jolly Ranchers.
“Sex and the City: The Movie” comes out May 30. Are you more of a Carrie, Samantha, Miranda or Charlotte?
BA: We love Miranda because we enjoy litigation.
GS: This isn’t the [right question for us]!
JC: The black one. We hate having too much stage time.
SAP: We’re more of Stephen King’s “Carrie” mixed with Samantha from “Bewitched,” reading Miranda Rights to the characters of “Charlotte’s Web.”
Matt Pais is the Metromix music and movies producer.
mpais@tribune.com
