Compared to other big cities, Chicago arrived late to the punk rock scene, but when it did, it was first embraced in gay bars such The Greenleaf (which later became Oz) and La Mere Vipere. It was in these venues that bands such as the Effigies and Verböten first got their start.
Praised by the late, great musician and audio engineer Steve Albini, the Effigies return with "Burned" (BFD), the band's first new album in 17 years, and the final release featuring vocals by the late lead singer John Kezdy, who died in a 2023 bicycling accident during the recording of "Burned."
The Effigies driving, scorched sound, which has more in common with LA punk than New York punk (say, Black Flag as opposed to the Ramones), is in full force on the album. The mood and view is unsurprisingly political, particularly given the age of the band members and what they've lived through. This comes through loud and clear on the songs "Incident on Lost Nation Road," "Manifesto," "Everything's Coming Off," "Johnny and Dan," and "Cede the City." www.effigies.com
In addition to playing shows at La Mere Vipere, Verböten has other connections to the LGBTQ community. Lead vocalist Tracey Bradford, who also happens to be the cousin of Dave Grohl (of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame), is a queer woman. Guitarist and vocalist Jason Narducy, a longtime friend of the community, is known for recording and touring with queer music legend Bob Mould.
Considering Narducy's collaboration with Mould, it's not surprising that some of the songs on Verböten's long-awaited self-titled debut album, on Inside Outside Records, have a sound reminiscent of Hüsker Dü. Of course, there's an art to sustaining this kind of musical blast, and the band members aren't as young as they were in the early 1980s, so they deserve kudos creating this record.
Additionally, with age comes rage and wisdom, two things that the album has in abundance, as you can hear "Dark Things," "Bodily Autonomy," "Full Disruption," "No More Indecision," "Kicking Away," "Human Division," "Radiate," and "Conviction of Youth." This album could easily be the resistance soundtrack we need.
www.instagram.com/verbotentheband
After the early days of the Effigies and Verböten, a lot occurred in the Chicago music scene, especially during the 1990s with the rise of huge acts such as Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair, Fall Out Boy, and Wilco, as well as the comeback of Mavis Staples.
Chicago continues to be fertile ground for new musical acts including Dehd and Friko. It's unclear if the members of Friko, led by Niko Kapetan and Bailey Minzenberg (who identifies as queer and uses they/them pronouns), ever listened to the Effigies or were aware of Verböten before making their debut album "Where We've Been, Where We Go From Here" (ATO), but they travel a similar punk rocking path on songs such as "Chemical," "Crashing Through," and "Crimson to Chrome."
In other places, Friko makes some of the most unexpectedly lovely sounds, especially on "For Ella," "Until I'm With You Again," and "Cardinal."
Friko performs on May 7 in San Francisco at Rickshaw Stop.
www.whoisfriko.com
If you didn't know better, the first time you hear the song "Dog Days," the opening track on "Poetry" by Dehd (Fat Possum), you might think you were listening to a new song by queer band The Drums. But you'd be wrong. Of the Chicago bands included here, Dehd could be described as the most sonically accessible.
The song "Mood Ring" (with the music video starring a couple of drag queens) continues to be in regular rotation Sirius XMU. From the subtle country punk of "Hard To Love" to the other worldly "Alien" to the heights of "Don't Look Down" to the cutting edge of "Knife," Dehd give listeners reasons to live, in spite of the current state of the world. www.fatpossum.com
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