03 May 13

“...possession is 9/10 of my cock...” ~ Joel West of Illusion Fate

Hey, blogspot readers, let’s rock!

After spending an afternoon at the SAIC Fashion Show 2013, SouthSide spent her Friday night rockin’ West Loop’s Cobra Lounge to see Italian rockers Dope Stars Inc and Canadian band The Rabid Whole perform live on stage. This hot lineup also included local support from Illusions Fate and The Obscene Kiss with Radio Creeps opening the show. This reviewer was briefly able to check the first two acts – Radio Creeps and Illusions Fate before exclusively chatting with the member of Dope Stars Inc and The Rabid Whole before performing later in front of a late night crowd.

SouthSide highly recommends checking out all bands mentioned in this review. She enjoyed the angered frustration conveyed during Radio Creeps’ (on Facebook) performance that also featured a highly intensified industrial rock sound by front man Kryss KReaper. This type of rock music wasn’t solely limited to the industrial side, blogspot readers, since it also incorporated the that hardcore metal vibe and some alternative rhythms. So go ahead and rock out to this band’s loudness of the heart-pounding music while feeling the rawness of heated rage dripping over the microphone which had this reviewer banging her head. Meanwhile Illusions Fate (http://www.illusionsfate.com) appears to have found their rock niche after taking a year to tour outside the Chicago area, blogspot readers. Pumping the audience with their signature alternative/metal sound, Joel and the guys kicked it up a notch in which you felt more of the music’s fierce intensity off each guitar riff and percussion rhythm as well as Joel’s vocals. This reviewer liked the “new” feel to his pure rage and aggression flowing from the microphone that at times she got “smacked” in the face though the backing vocals harmonized a little to cut into the Joel’s razor sharp edginess in his voice. This also brought more depth and dimension while popping the lyrics to life especially while performing SouthSide’s favorite Illusions’ song – Dying Anthem. Compared to the other versions of this song, this reviewer enjoyed this one the best because Joel’s voice had a way of becoming hauntingly creepy and evil before bringing you to the knees with his fierce scream at the bridge during “...let me die...” Lastly, The Obscene Kiss (http://www.reverbnation.com/theobscenekiss) took more of a dramatic approach with swirls of misty fog lured SouthSide to their dark music while opening their set, blogspot readers. The subtle atmosphere like the fog was merely a smoke screen just when the band shocked the ears with a frightening blast of intensified sound and energy that surrounded front man Michael’s haunting presence (think Marilyn Manson) on the microphone. Here is where he pounded raw, primal rage into the Obscene’s lyrics despite noticing moments when the band’s hardcore mnetal sound nearly having the tendency to overshadow him. Still this front man didn’t disappoint fans as he vented fierce anger especially while ripping pages out of a Bible during a song about the rigid politics of religion ...to merely demonstrate a point of how it tries to control us. He even fed a page or two to his guitarist to his right before quipping “...judge that...” to the crowd.

Billed as “...21st Century high energy rock...”, this Canadian band have what “...a lot of other bands haven’t [got]...”, blogspot readers. However, don’t take that opening statement by The Rabid Whole as being conceited but as the sense they feel “...there should be more progression...” in one’s music instead of trying to be their influences. “...a lot of people say we feel fresh...” said Andreas, front man and guitarist of The Rabid Whole during SouthSide’s interview with him along with other Rabid members Chalsey (keyboards/backing vocals) and Oscar (bass). Also according to the band, they do try to make each show even while constantly looking at areas to improve their stage performance. Also you may not notice this but the band does watch the audience to see if you’re digging the music or not. During Rabid’s Chicago appearance, this reviewer noticed they were big on making dramatic yet thunderous intros to not only gain your focus but also to get your energy levels pumped and ready to rock to their intensified hardcore electro sound. She did have some difficulty hearing Chalsey on the microphone because she was being overshadowed by the rest of the band sometimes (mostly the drums) but there were moments during Rabid’s set when she aided with Andreas pumped intensity into their songs yet not to the point where it was primal animalistic screaming. Through the unique combination of piano-driven synths rhythms, fans will like how this band uses it to balance (a little) the sharp industrial rock sound though keeping you energized within the electro momentum. SouthSide says you’ll definitely feel it during Rabid’s two “get up and go” song – Future and Stargazer in which was richly enhanced by the band’s lighting fx running in sync with the songs. Even while taking the energy down a bit, Andreas and Chalsey had the musical appearance of a haunting Evanescence-like essence on stage that this reviewer felt chills down the spine in between the bursts of energy to keep the energy flowing throughout the lounge. In the near future, blogspot readers, be on the lookout for a music video for Stargazer on The Rabid Whole’s Youtube page as well as seeing them on tour again with KingDoom (featuring ex-Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna!). For more information about The Rabid Whole, visit http://www.therabidwhole.com.

Ciao to my Italian blogspot readers! SouthSide recently had the extreme chance in meeting three handsome men who described themselves as “...young loud [with] synthesizers...” before adding they would be “...soon old loud [with] synthesizers...” During her interview with Dope Stars Inc.’s Darin (Bass), Victor (front man) and Mark (acoustic drums), this reviewer was told (repeatedly) how much they love this country (especially when passing by the cows and yellow school buses on the highway) though still loving Italia. Being here, US DIY (do-it-yourself) musicians have one major advantage over their Italian counterparts – we have a music scene.”...not so many rock [bands] ...not so much of a music business going on... or real agencies [in Italy]...” according to the guys of Dope Stars Inc. that they have been touring 4 times as much in Europe. Their last tour was in Russia in which they did 5 shows “...[it’s] a cool country ...their [Russia’s] scene is growing compared to Italy...” Besides wanted to move here, the band also told SouthSide they love everything about the 80s! From sci-fi / action movies like Terminator, Aliens, Blade Runner, and many more as well as bands like Depeche, Mode, Duran Duran, New Order and Bow Wow Wow, this band can easily switch from syn-pop and punk to industrial, rave and more in a blink of an eye while performing on stage, blogspot readers. For this tour, the entire band couldn’t be together (due to bureaucratic entanglement) however, don’t despair ...Dope Stars Inc. promises to be in full force when they return to the US the next time. “...we miss them so much ...have a good time with them...” Oh yeah, at the time of this interview, they wanted to know what happened to Chicago’s spring weather because it was too cold for the guys saying it was similar to their Christmas-time weather in Italy. This reviewer highly recommends seeing Dope Stars Inc live, up close and personal at their next scheduled performance at a venue near your. Even without the entire band there, this trio managed to produce high energy and rock momentum to rock out the evening’s lineup after stepping on stage to John Williams’ Imperial theme song (from Star Wars) to psyche up the crowd. Quickly, Dope Stars Inc moved straight into their playlist which covered a wide spectrum of rock genres as promised during the interview and didn’t stop rockin’ until the very end ...whew – it was nonstop excitement and action featuring a hot drum solo number even though the stage wasn’t large enough for them to really move about like they usually do during their live shows. Performing songs like Can You Imagine (listen for the Depeche Mode influence in this particular song), Phantasma Black and Fire Defcon 5, Dope Stars Inc knew how to appeal to the music senses of their audience with their unique genre combination, blogspot readers, that had many rockin’ along with the band. Even SouthSide wasn’t sitting still while reviewing them ...she spent a good deal of time rockin’ out a few songs like one dedicated to Michael J. Fox and another to JP Morgan and other banks. Beware of the F-bombs (which are the same in Italian) flying around whenever front man Victor gets a little political in the lyrics while the music gets intense and dramatic. For more information about Dope Stars Inc, visit http://www.dopestarsinc.com.

Until next time, support your local scene,

SouthSide