26 Sept 09

"....monogamy is dead..."

Hey, my blogspot readers, this Chicago machine was makin' some serious noise recently at the legendary Cubby Bear. Now into its second year, Chicago Noise Machine inducted six new members expanding the current list of nine to a proud fifteen. It was already a party atmosphere when SouthSide arrived. Each band was ready to rock the stage to a possible sellout crowd like it predecessor did last year. And just to be clear, the Chicago Noise Machine does not consider itself to be an elitist group. They have an open door policy promoting as well as supporting other local bands who work hard in the music scene. In other words, anyone is welcome to join. For more information about Chicago Noise Machine, visit them at www.myspace.com/chicagonoisemachine or www.chicagonoisemachine.com.

Newest inductee, Aktar Aktar (www.myspace.com/aktaraktar) opened this nine band lineup with a rockin' bang! SouthSide recently saw them a week before at Reggie's Rock Club performing in front of a packed crowd. The audience enjoyed this band's unique flavor of rock/alternative jammed with a touch of country and blues. Meanwhile, Visionaire (www.myspace.com/visionaireband) literally blew away the crowd with its twist of neo-soul/R&B/funk fusion. There was an eclectic mixture of groove, rock and lyrical hip hop smashed within their music too. This had the crowd including SouthSide dancing during their performance. Camera (www.myspace.com/camerachange or www.cameraband.com) is no stranger to the CNM scene after having rocked the Congress Theatre during the I AM Fest earlier this summer. Rock fans will enjoy their intense performance especially watching the bassist move about and across the stage. There's no way to contain the energy pumping from this band. It can get very wicked with its heart-pounding psychedelic/emo/dark rock sound.

Here's another band that's no stranger to the CNM either. However in SouthSide's opinion, Phat Cats (www.myspace.com/wearephatcats) brought the show to a gradual crawl. This reviewer noticed they performed the exact playlist as they did for the CNM band battles and I AM Fest. She highly suggests its time to spice up the list by adding a few surprises not heard before. Current CNM members, Bullet Called Life (www.bulletcalledlife.com or www.myspace.com/bclrock), 72 Hours (www.72hours.us or www.myspace.com/72hours), and Echo Son (www.echosonband.com or www.myspace.com/echosonband) held down the middle of the lineup. Members, Karl (of front man for Lucid Ground) and Stephen (front man/guitarist of Reverie) had rousing performances when joined with Bullet Called Life on stage. The audience went wild when many current and new CNM members joined this band for the closing song. Meanwhile 72 Hours was celebrating a CD release as well as saying "goodbye" to their long-time drummer, Ben. He certainly deserved the rousing applause at the close of this set when he took his final bow on stage. And let's not forget the sexiness that rocked the Cubby Bear either. Echo Son and Brian Bender (front man of A Birdsong Valentine) jammed together with lots of sexy moves and gut-busting screams to tear down Clark and Addison.

In between sets, good friends, JaGoFF (www.therecordindustry.com or www.facebook.com/jagoffproductions) were on tap to remind the audience about the serious impact the Chicago Promoter's Ordinance would have on the local music scene. This duo, with a new EP coming out soon, encouraged everyone to continue supporting the scene and help join the fight of keeping the ordinance off the books. Closing out the night's fantastic lineup was A Friend Called Fire (www.myspace.com/afriendcalledfire) and Along The Parallel (www.myspace.com/alongtheparallel). AFCF literally set the Cubby Bear stage on fire by their awesome guitar rock sound. Their song, ironically titled Untitled, definitely impressed the avid guitar rock fans with hardcore riffs and sudden chord changes. ATP, meanwhile, introduced new bassist member, Nemo, and guitarist member, Pep (Elbo Room's cutie on lights) to the audience. As always, this band jammed extremely hard from beginning to end in the early morning hours.

Overall, it was an induction of diverse members to the CNM community and SouthSide highly recommends her blogspot readers giving each one a listen. She encourages one and all to support their local bands - lots of local talent doing it for themselves without MTV, or any recognizable big name company.

Peace,

SouthSide