Miska’s is typically an empty dive bar off Belmont and Leavitt in the heart of West Lakeview. On Thursdays the bar promotes dollar beers and dollar jello shots as well as live music to help lure local patrons in to drink. This past Thursday, October 27, Miska’s hosted four bands (and a DJ to end the night), all of which containing members that attend Columbia College Chicago. The first band, They Face Reaction, was a punk quartet with two members hailing from Brazil. Their sound was loud, raw and energetic. They Face Reaction draw their influences from 90’s rock acts such as Alkaline Trio, Foo Fighters and Weezer.
Shortly after the bar began filling the next act, Late In The Playoffs, started setting up and performing songs. LITPO, for short, is also punk, but sounds more pop punk than TFR. Comparable bands would be Motion City Soundtrack, The Get Up Kids and Saves The Day, which they actually played a few songs of. The crowd consisted of mostly 21-25 year old males sucking on vortex bottles but had its fair share of supporting girlfriends raising their red jello shots for a toast. Other members from the bands were wandering the bar mingling, playing pool or waiting in the line for the bathroom. That’s really all there was to do there. Drink, socialize or shut up and watch some live music from early twenty-somethings.
The third band was much different than the first two. I would describe Beer Hockey as an instruMETAL band. Blending the edge of metal bands, like Between The Buried And Me, with the songwriting styles of instrumentalists, Explosions In The Sky. One of my favorite parts of their set was the fact they were all dressed as Mormons – which could have been confused for early Beatles costumes. Nevertheless, Beer Hockey brought the rock to the table and supplied more than ample heavy, head-banging rock tunes.
The night was closed out with Carbon Tigers and the glitch-infused DJ, Agito. During Agito's set the crowd was lively. The guys were holding a keyboard stand as the girls limbo'd underneath. The bar service was terrible. There was only one beer wench working. They ran out of jello shots and the empty beer bottles collected on the tables instead of disappearing. The atmosphere was unspecific and was a little bit of everything; Irish, NHL, College football themed with Halloween decorations. The music was good and the vibe of the people was what made it worth while. Check out Late In The Playoffs this Wednesday with Hit The Lights at Reggie’s rock club.
Hey Aaron, you've got a good topic here, though I kind of wish you'd play up the CCC connection a little more since this is one you ought to be able to resuse on the review essay. I pointed out in the Fleet Foxes review that it's customary to discuss the bands not in chronological order but in the order of most-least famous or best-weakest set, giving the most attention to the first and just a line or two to the last one. I like the attention you pay to the environment of the club.
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