Ian’s Party
Sunday
Chop Shop
January 5th
Meat Wave : 📷 : Tina Mead
Ian’s Party is the largest local festival in Chicago hands down. A slam bam, take no prisoners, speed freak’s dream of epic proportions. Seventy bands, almost all from our insanely diverse scene, descend on Chop Shop and the Subterranean for three days of music and $4 Half Acre tall boys in what is the most outrageous start to any year, but now in it’s thirteenth year Ian’s Party has grown into a colossus of marathon proportions. Members of our crew flocked to North and Milwaukee last weekend to take in what can only be described as a heroic endeavor of musical madness. Three days, 70 bands, an untold amount of Half Acre, and so much to say about it all…
Sunday
All band names link to Bandcamp. Support the scene buy their music!!
Clickbait had a mixture of surf vibes along with cymbals and a baby xylophone played by their lead vox. She showed some real attitude, stirring up feels similar to other Chicago performers like Alex White from White Mystery. -AP
Signal’s frontwoman dominated the piss outta the stage, so much so that she played most of the set in the crowd. Most notably, she classily coughed into the mic before singing “Virus.” -AP
This set was a broody, power core massif, corrupting the soul with dank riffs. These guys are all over 6 foot 2, and it seemed like I was getting concert lore from middle-earth giants. -AP
Aitis Band was one of the better acts of the evening. Theirs was post-industrial art metal redefined with a contact mic-fronted establishment. Their talent comes through in musical trade-offs and subtleties in expertises. They’re about as pared-down as a four-piece can be but still brought a full sound. -AP
Ganser’s set was tough as shit. Their hard-hitting riffs and spirited stage presence was very Chicago. Their guitarist was wielding his guitar like a weapon, adding oomph to their power punk sound. -AP
Character is an understatement for this dynamic group. They had a horn and a bass-heavy, operatic avant-garage jazz fusion sound. That was a mouthful, and so were they. -AP
This last-minute addition was loud and fast hardcore with smoke and lights. Their short songs and a hilarious attitude was less talk, more rock. I really loved the trade-off between the lead vox and bassist. It was very reminiscent of the chemistry between D Boon and Mike Watt from Minutemen. RIP D. -AP
Musical guests Howardian brought their double drums, sax, and guitar to the final night of Ian’s Party. They didn’t look like a normal set-up, but damn if it didn’t sound right. -AP
Spun Out
Another band born of the ashes of NE-HI, but with a completely different atmospheric rock sound. A big sonic hug, Spun Out spins orchestrated rock gems for the acid head in us all. Only one single so far, but much more to come from this project fronted by Mikey Wells. -KL
Chicago hardcore with machine gun riffs and sweaty-assed blue color punk. They were the seminal “go a million miles an hour” band of the evening. -AP
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Meat Wave closed Ian’s Party in classic post rock fashion. Their set was an unrelenting journey showcasing frontman Chris Sutter’s searing voice and charging guitar riffs. I look forward to the next time I get to see these guys. Truly a magical set. - AP
-Aaron Pylinski : AP
-Kyle Land: KL
-Tina Mead: ALL PHOTOS