These bands could be your life, if anyone showed up
Elbo Room's two-night Demo-Demolition draws a paltry showing of bands, fans
Will Petty
Apparently, these are the only local-music enthusiasts in town. Who says the scene is dead?
Any band in Chicagoland was welcome to play their demo at the Elbo Room on Jan. 11-12 as part of local label Rockstar Mafia’s first-ever Demo-Demolition. It was a chance for local bands to get a track on Rockstar Mafia’s forthcoming compilation disc, S.Y.S. (Support Your Scene). Submitted songs were to be spun over two nights at the Elbo and audiences would choose the top 15 tracks for the album. Furthermore, all 15 bands would be booked the final three Thursdays in February to play live and would also win the chance to determine the disc's track order. Mafia planned to distribute more than 2,000 copies of S.Y.S. later this year to Chicago record stores and rehearsal spots. There was only one problem: Not many bands entered. More on that later. Decider attended both nights of the Demo-Demolition to file this minute-by-minute report.
SUNDAY, JAN. 11
9:09pm: The Elbo Room said it’d start accepting demos at 8 p.m. and play ’em first-come, first-served from 9:30pm to midnight. It’s just after 9 p.m. and they’ve already played half the night’s demos to a largely empty room. So much for rigid competition.
9:14pm: The few booths on the first floor are nearly filled up, but it’s a meager showing. No one’s filling the floor and no one’s crowding the bar. Where’s the crowd? Isn’t this supposed to be about supporting local music? Only one guy is standing on the wall and he’s just waiting for his band’s song to come on. His name’s Gary. His band’s Assimilation. He seems alright.
9:20pm: A look at the night’s set list shows that 17 bands submitted demos. The only problem is there are only 15 slots on the comp up for grabs. Unless Monday is more jumping, two bands are going to have some long drives home tonight.
9:31pm: The Demolition’s emcee says they’ve got a few more tracks to play before they take a break and then they’ll play all the songs again so everyone can vote wisely. Certainly they want everyone to make informed decisions, but it’s clear they’ll need about two more hours of music to make it to midnight.
9:32pm: This place is dead.
9:33pm: Frantic party band Late Night Hooligan Riff Raff plays “Park Bench,” the first song all night with some pep, pop, and a charming hook. When it fades and the emcee repeats their name, a booth of six screams its head off. Maybe they’re with the band?
9:45pm: Young indie trio Fifth Story shares “Pretty Scene,” a distant punk-pop cry from the funky folk of its predecessor, “No Sign Of Regret” from Pete Jive & Juice Digits. Sidebar: Fifth Story will be back at the Elbo on January 31 for a live show.
9:55pm: Ryan Adams is in the bar until Dorsey’s “Like Father, Like Son” plays out. Suddenly Gary appears out of nowhere. “My band’s coming up next,” he says. “You gotta hear this.”
9:59pm: “Turquoise Soldier” is one of the heavier songs of the evening, but Gary says all of Assimilation’s songs aren’t like that. There are about 20 people in the bar right now, and nine of them are wearing black leather jackets. All those guys are bobbing their heads to the beat. There’s a good chance “Turquoise Soldier” is a shoo-in, or at least the first monster jam of 2009.
10:07pm: Overman closes out the 17 demos tonight with “Princess,” a song everyone hears live when the band takes the stage downstairs a little later.
10:22pm: Overman’s upcoming set pulls nearly everyone upstairs downstairs as voting winds down and all demos are repeated. The emcee’s table holds a plastic mug of paper slips, a half-full sign-up sheet and not much else. A few hold-outs at the bar listen to the distortion of Iron Vein’s “Revenge” and the brooding “Leave The Dead” by The Infamous Ashley St. Ives, but the audience has already dispersed. It was bound to be an early night.
MONDAY, JAN. 12
9:40pm: Son of a bitch is it snowing. Fortunately, it’s warm inside and the beer is a blanket from the wicked world outside. Maybe more people will brave the elements in the name of local music?
9:43pm: Demos are already underway, but the Elbo looks just as empty as it did the day before. It’s a quarter to 10 and the best booth in the bar is still up for grabs. This does not bode well.
9:50pm: The emcee has moved his table from one side of the bar to the other. Now he’s beneath a flat-screen TV monitoring the goings-on of bands downstairs. In about a half-hour, acoustic rock quartet Buckman Page is set to play, so they’re setting up.
9:55pm: Only seven new bands have submitted demos tonight, for a whopping grand total of 24 groups. Before Geared Towards Nowhere kicks things off with “In My Place,” the emcee informs the audience that six bands were selected for the compilation last night, leaving nine more to be chosen from the collective pool of participants. Yep, they will be playing all of the demos again. Shoulda seen this coming.
10:01pm: Here’s a new one though: “Metropolis” by ARMA. It’s followed by “Uppers and Downers” by 40 Oz. Sidekicks.
10:15pm: Giant Rockit, another Elbo regular, elicits a few screams and squeals from the tiny audience with its submission, “So Lonely.” Following Buckman Page’s set at 10:30pm, Giant Rockit will also take the stage downstairs.
10:25pm: Hard-rock outfit Bona Verba shares “Shine.” It’s impossible to understand anything they’re saying.
10:29pm: As far as new music goes, grunge group Chester plays “Tranquolicious” to close out the set. For some audience members, this ending is clearly bittersweet. The emcee tells us the winning nine bands will be tallied from audience votes and all 15 will be e-mailed tomorrow with notification of their win. So in the end, we don’t even get to know who was chosen for Support Your Scene—fans will have to wait for the comp to come out to support the winners. Perhaps if more had come out to support the scene, things may have been different. Who knows? For bands that missed the Demolition, this seemed like an easy opportunity to score some distribution. For everyone else, it seems there wasn’t much to miss.
