Tagged chicago bands

Hi All - Mike Vogus here, guitarist for Chicago band Burnside & Hooker and founder of Localpalooza Chicago. Anyone who has ever lived in or visited Chicago knows that there is no better city in...

The beautiful city lights in Chicago sparked a romantic story that led me to write the song “City Lights” for my band, Ryan Powers and The Secret Weapons. On Saturday, May 18th at Lincoln Hall, I couldn’t be happier to be releasing the album that song is on. “City Lights” is romance in the darkness, infatuation in the rain, all set to the backdrop of this city that I call home. The city has inspired this vintage pop, romantic escape, lifting someone’s spirits, and trying to lift my own.

Unless you’re some sort of magic snowman reading this blog in a Wi-Fi equipped freezer somewhere, you probably don’t want summer in Chicago to end. Part of the problem of losing the warm weather is it means we have to temporarily say goodbye to the gajillion music festivals that take place here. But before winter hits and the magic snowmen reclaim the streets, the pop-culture/entertainment website The A.V. Club is bringing us one more outdoor festival.

Hungry for some new music to listen to? Then let me point your attention to the band Material Issue. Although technically not “new” per se, this amazing band formed in 1985 right here in Chicago. In 1991, Material Issue released one of the best pop albums ever, International Pop Overthrow, and broke on to the national music scene. Unfortunately, it seems as if the band had either arrived too early or too late with their fresh take on straight forward pop music. By the time they released their second (and equally great) album, grunge bands like Nirvana and new alternative sounds from the likes of fellow Chicago band The Smashing Pumpkins had taken hold. Sadly, the world never got to see Material Issue recover their popularity as frontman Jim Ellison committed suicide in 1996.