Third Gear Scratch

Blake Smith and his rock band Figdish from the 90's Chicago scene has never taken things too seriously; never been careerists, and in fact went out of their way to indulge in hijinx and sabotage, despite ending up with 2 hugely influential records and a solid major label record deal. This was the band that came of age with Varuca Salt, Local H and Smoking Popes with comparisons to Replacements and Husker Du that intentionally played a set of Neil Diamond covers at a label showcase in front of A&R from all the biggies. The same band that threw a sandwich off their hotel balcony and covered Marilyn Manson and his crew in hoagie. Blake Smith and band mate Mike Wilison went on to start the electronica based project Caviar with pretty solid success with lots of TV and film placement. But its the music that was written before they lost their record deal with Polygram that is the focus of a new Figdish release, the first in over 25 years, called Feels Like The Very First Two Times (Forge Again). These apocryphal songs complete the journey of this band and round out a top flight collection of powerful chicago indierock of the 90's scene that left a lasting impact on rock today, despite the hijinx and sabotage. 

The service industry has always been in actor Vasily Deris' blood, seeing as how his family owned a group of restaurants in Crown Point IN just south of Chicago. He had been working 12 hours a day in multiple restaurants each for more than a decade but his true calling is on the stage; any and all stages. Since deciding to refocus his existence into the lights he's taken his powerful singing and acting talents to many hallowed Chicago stages in performaces of Bat Out Of Hell: the Meatloaf Musical, Groundhog Day, Kinky Boots, and is currently finishing a 2 month run at Writers Theater in Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812. But his biggest break may have been landing an agent which pretty quickly turned around into impactful screentime on FX's The Bear, Shining Girls Apple TV+, Showtimes Shameless  and now a holiday feature film with Ben Stiller coming later this year. The SAG-AFTRA strike stuck a dagger in not just his work but the entire biz and Vasily still has a toe in the service industry. But you may want to put your order in quick because soon he'll be too busy. 

Going back to school to study World Religions just seemed like the right thing to do for Chris Simpson, the hugely talented solo artist operating under Mountain Time and formerly of the bands Mineral and later The Gloria Record. Minerals influence and impact from the late 90's cannot be overstated from their albums the Power of Failing and then EndSerenading, before getting signed to Interscope Records and then promptly disbanding. Dream Homes (Spartan Records) is the new record from Mountain Time and it sprawls and inspires awe with walls of sound including horn and string sections and loose arrangements that Chris danced with for over a decade while also raising four kids with his wife in Austin. oh and now going back to school. Dream Homes of course reflects his love of giants like Big Star, Neil Young, the Band, George Harrison, Leonard Cohen. But mostly if reflects Chris at his best. 

Gerald Dowd is the rare working musician who is actually making his living directly from his drumming gigs with an extremely wide range of musicians, from Eddie Vedder to Mavis Staples to Robbie Fulks to Neko Case to Justin Roberts, not to mention fantastic players that you may not have heard or be aware of. In addition, he's a songwriter of the first order playing a brand of country music that tips its cap just slightly without ever aping a certain artist or style. On his most recent solo release Fathers Day, his songs are straight from his soul and reflect exactly who he's become as a father and husband making his way in life, with narratives sometimes hilarious but also achingly poignent and heartfelt. After graduating from music school in Boston in the late 90's studying jazz and classical percussion, he found his way to Chicago and spent 20 years traveling the US and the world playing every small venue with various outfits, at which point he'd embedded himself within the Chicago scene and became the go-to hire for so many. Gerald is also a crazy man by staging fundraising events called the Day Of The Dowd in which he plays drums for 13 hours straight with 12 different bands to raise money for local food banks, pantries and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Great rap with the real deal. 

After 13 years of teaching percussion as an adjunct faculty member at a nearby college in upstate New York, Blake Fleming was unceremoniously let go, common with many colleges and shrinking enrollment that is plaguing the academic world. But the loss of this relatively low-paying gig was a blessing of sorts for Blake, a ground breaking drummer who entered the collective conscious with his avant punk band of the 90's Dazzling Killmen, then Laddio Bolocko, followed directly by a stint as a founding member and drummer in The Mars Volta. He used his new-found freedom to channel his creative energies into finishing and releasing a new album of percussion-only music, one that forges an EP from 2020 called Drum Killah with new material that has become his newest release called The Beat Fantastic. It's an eclectic and powerful testament to the tones created by only percussion instruments, revealing much more nuance and melody and actual note from each drum in pieces that feature no stringed instruments or keys of any sort. Blake is also an author of note after he released his first book in 2017 called The Book Of Rhythm (Skin and Stick Publishing) an exhaustive archive of rhythms containing every possible rhythmic combination derived from a 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9-beat grouping as well as every combination derived from a 12-beat grouping. With The Beat Fantastic he's offering rock-solid proof of the power of percussive music. 

When the highly respected label The Numero Group approached Brandon Butler, the voice and heart of KC heart throbs Boy's Life, about doing a retrospective of his influential band, his initial thought might've been there's not enough material to reissue, considering they only released 2 full lenths in their short tenure. What he hadn't considered was they were purchasing their entire catalog of 7" recordings and split collabs with bands like Christie Front Drive and Vitreous Humor, turning their rerelease into a 4 LP celebration of this foundational band from Kansas City MO. His career is one of a troubador and seeker always pushing and growing. His evolution over the years of his different bands from The Farewell Bend, to Canyon and on to Six Bells and through a prolific solo career that has seen him blossom from indie rocker to thoughtful and knowledgable musician with command over not only his lyrical narrative but also his voice and the machinations of theory, allowing him to make the music he hears in his head. He's a dedicated father, husband, a talented luthier and a hardass worker with a growing remodeling business in his adopted town of Louisville KY. With the reissues and a few Boy's Life shows in the near future, Brandon's at the top of his game indeed. 

In September of 2020, deep into a pandemic that seemingly had no end in sight, Life and Times bassist Eric Abert made a big decision to move from the place he'd called home for most of a decade, Chicago, and to move back to Collinsville IL outside of St Louis. It wasn't for nothing; in fact it was for a lot of reasons. He and his new bride wanted stability, a house, a solid job, and a child in a time when there was very little stability and no one was certain what the future would hold. He landed a great job at his brothers' digital printing business Pic The Gift, they soon found an amazing house there that would have cost $750k in Chi, and at the same time realised they were pregnant and welcomed a beautiful baby boy 3 years ago. Erics previous band Ring, Cicada (54 40 Or Fight!) had disbanded or gone dormant since his departure to join Life and Times in KC, but now they were all back in the St Louis area. But grown men have grown up life things to do and rocking ain't always at the top of the to-do list. The pandemic, the recent release and rebirth of Shiner also put off the opportunities to get back with Life and Times, so Eric has been missing a big part of his life up to that point: rocking. Well things are looking up in that dept with a recent Ring, Cicada reunion show and now BROASIS, (our Oasis cover band btw) is back in the swing. Could it be that L&T will live again in the near future? Eric has been living his best life and now it seems to only be getting better. 

Guitarist Coley Dennis is the heartbeat of his band Maserati since their inception in very early 00's and continues to be that even when they have to play live and tour without him. It would appear almost like a franchise to the uninitiated until you realize how connected this band is and has been over the years, slowly growing their Athens/ATL fanbase internationally and in the states. Now the shows are much bigger, more fests, more attention, but Coley, as a chef and restaurant owner of The Local with his wife in LuSaunne Switzerland and also a faither of two young children, has to pick and choose his time away. Nevertheless he's steered this ship over the years as the now celebrate the anniversary edition of Pyramid Of The Sun (Temporary Residence LTD) record, originally released in 2010 after the tragic death of their outlandishly talented and beloved drummer Jerry Fuchs (!!!, LCD Soundsystem) after he fell down an empty elevator shaft. In grief, the band waited a year or more before releasing POTS and deciding to move forward as a band with Mike Albanese on the kit ever since. Coley has guided the band through the tumult while maturing as a father, husband and business owner but one who is clearly married to his band of brothers. 

In 2021, in full pandemic tilt, Timothy Showalter aka Strand Of Oaks, released a brilliant  record in the vein of much of his stratospheric catalog called In Heaven (Dead Oceans) but decided not to tour on it, because that's what you didn't do during those heavy days; tour. Instead, he shut it all down. Stopped strumming and humming and stopped checking his emails and all other things that create anxiety for an artist who's been busting his ass for most of 20 years and who's making quite a dent in the music world with his intoxicating mix of Neil Youngian based songs and stories. There's always been an astral leaning, psychedelic connection to Strand of Oaks music, but for that moment it needed to cease, and all Tim Showalter wanted to do was paint. Not to mention, he was asked to join the cast of Mayans MC for 2 seasons, working with Edward James Olmos, something he'd never considered a possibility. The painting and acting paused, and the music started again. But this time he wasn't drawn to his guitar and the usual Youngian template. Instead he headed to his synthesizers and his long time engineer/producer/collaborator Kevin Ratterman (Elliot, Twin Limb) and rebirthed his muse in a different form, albeit one that continues to radiate what Tim does instinctively, move the listener. His new album Miracle Focus, is a fresh start and reflects his DIY ethic completely. It's still 100% Strand Of Oaks, long time fans will be relieved to know, but uses instruments that inspired him for this round of songs after the time off. Songs that give back what he's been living, Transendental Meditation, Yoga, Ram Dass and the feeling of joy that each moment creates, passes and recreates again infinitely. 

As the frontman, face and heartbeat of his band My Epic, singer/guitarist Aaron Stone started his rock band long before he ever imagined having and wife and now 4 year old child and would never have believed his band would still be making music. in fact they're making music on a killer label, Tooth and Nail Records, with their newest LP Loriella due on June 27th. 2024.  But even as he's grown older and now with a family, his bands' trajectory continues to rise as he's split his time between his music and his job--bivocational he calls it. As a kid raised in the church in North Carolina, indeed as a PK (preachers kid), his faith was big for him, and ultimately he majored in philosophy and got his masters in Theology. Throughout it all however, his rock band has been has greatest and most powerful voice for his ideaology without it ever being too heavy-handed for his crowd that often has "mixed or absolutely no belief" in a higher power. His music has been the conduit and has spoken the loudest for this thoughtful and articulate rocker with a larger calling.