Model Stranger meets Beethoven?

Doesn't seem like something you'd have thought would happen, eh? I'd have to say the same for myself but it's funny how things work. We were contacted about playing a movement from Beethoven's 3rd Symphony during the International Beethoven Project in Chicago and thought, "Why not?" It turns out that 12 artists were asked to pick a movement from the same symphony and we were all going to be playing them in succession but the catch was each artist was to do their own interpretation. This made it sound quite interesting.

We began working on the piece and kept going back and forth about how exactly we wanted it to come across. When all was said and done we had a 3:30 instrumental piece that moved along very well. The performance was held at the National Pastime Theater in Chicago. Upon arriving we could see that all the artists were on the same page as us and didn't know exactly what to expect. We all talked, laughed, had a few drinks and looked forward for what was to come.

The performance began just after 2am on a Friday night/Saturday morning with a solo artist playing a piano piece that was done beautifully. The symphony progressed with djs, blues, solo acoustic acts, noise rock and we had the privilege of closing it out. We went on shortly after 3am and there was surprisingly a crowd of people still heavily engaged. This was a unique experience for us. We got to do something out of the Model Stranger norm, be a part of an awesome project, meet some great musicians and enjoy something a little different on a Friday night. Keep your eye out for what the International Beethoven Project brings to Chicago next year!

Kev

Model Stranger, Local H and Trigger Fish at Durty Nellie's

This past Friday, September 7th we were once again billed with Chicago natives Local H. We first shared the stage with Local H almost two years prior, at a since defunct venue. This time around was quite different.

We rolled into Palatine around 2pm for load-in at Durty Nellie's; unfortunately, the load-in time was changed to 6pm without us being informed. So (very unlike Model Stranger) we decided to get some much needed zzz's, as our recording schedule has been running us through the ringer. Our dressing room consisted of a table, a fridge and some office chairs; not very conducive for sleep. After wrestling around with some chairs to stay still while I slept, we decided it best to sleep in Local H's dressing room. It wasn't until about 6 o'clock that I woke dazed & confused with Scott Lucas and his entourage above me wondering why we were all in his dressing room...

Conveniently, when we were en-route back to our dressing room we ran into a friend that manages Smith Street Station (a lounge attached to Durty Nellie's).  He didn't have to twist any arms to get us into his establishment for a fine cocktail... and let me tell you, they do it right. You have to be 25 years of age (or older) to enter leaving all the douche-bag-bros and skanky fresh-bloomers to the sidelines. The decor is rustic and modern with phenomenal art covering the walls. My favorite though, the cocktails and small plates. I had a Manhattan with smoked Bourbon (they smoke the glasses in front of your eyes with a hand-held-smoker, pretty cool) and some whiskey-glazed nuts, MmmmMmm. So anyway, after getting our lounge-on and feeling pretty spicy we headed back to Durty Nellie's for some rock.

The opening band for the show was Trigger Fish, a bunch of super-rad dudes. I was expecting them to have a heavy-harsh sound and was pleasantly surprised when they took the stage. A Sublime meets At The Drive In musical tones with a soulful (almost Dan Auerbach-esque) voice; you should check them out. Solid musicians, solid humans, good band.

We took the stage next and played one of our heavier-octane sets. Playing to a room packed with some of your fans a majority of another bands fans is interesting. It's one of those moments you need to let go of care; you can't worry what the majority is thinking and just do your own thing. Whenever I would look into the crowd there were clumps of people getting down and the rest of the mass stared with open eyes and blank faces; one of those stares you can't read. As if they are either amazed by what you are doing or bored as shit hoping you will get the hell off of the stage so they can see the band they came for. I would assume it was a bit off all the aforementioned as we had a great response after the songs and at our merchandise table ;-)

Either way, I enjoyed this bill for many reasons. One, it is always great to share the stage with a band that you like (or at the very least respect). Two, it is awesome befriending another band and actually liking their music and stage show. Three, Smith Street Station :-)

Libatiously Yours,
Vincent

A Model Called Fire - The Long Hard Road to the Ultra Lounge With Ours

Back in July Model Stranger were booked to play the Ultra Lounge with Ours. The show was cancelled do to some roofing that had caused concern for the promoters. To make it a total bumfest I'd also left a family vacation and drove 3 hours to get back for the performance. Wasn't a pleasant Friday night. Needless to say we were pretty bummed this happened as we had been looking forward to this show. 

Kevin and I have been fans of Ours since we were young teens. We first met Jimmy at a show when we were teenagers living in California and for years have been telling fellow music fans, peers and friends to take a good hard listen. Over the years they have and our fans were excited about this show as a lot of them are also now Ours fans too. It's safe to say we are Ours enthusiasts.

When we received the reschedule date we, as luck would have it we hit a snag. As it turns out Vincent was going to be on a vacation. Vincent was ready to make the trip back for that show but this was a trip that would require nearly 8 hours of travel just to get to a plane - all on his own dime. Sadly he had to bow out on the show and with a very surrendering sigh suggested we find someone to fill in.

Usually we wouldn't do such a thing like perform without Vincent but we were looking forward to this, so we, with a LOT of help from our friends, made it happen.

It was at this time, only 7 days out from the show that Johnathon Schiller, the drummer from A Friend Called Fire, friends of Model Stranger from Chicago, offered his services. At first I was nervous - we'd been looking forward to this show and I didn't want to misrepresent Model Stranger - we'd never even played a note of a Model Stranger tune with Jonathon.

However our only other option was using Kevin and getting our friend from Bullet Called Life to sit in on Bass. Kevin had just seen Jonathon perform and assured me he was the better guy for the job. After we decided on Jonathon we also thought it'd be wise to bring our old friend Thomas Miller, also from Bullet Called Life in for the performance. The line up jokingly was referred to in Chicago as "A Model Called Fire"

We had the opportunity to do three solid rehearsals the week of the show with Jonathon and Tom - just enough to get a few songs that we hadn't performed live yet in Chicago.

Thankfully all of the hard work was worth it. The show went better than we could have hoped. We performed well and the crowd enjoyed it. - "A Model Called Fire" didn't botch it! We had a great time sweating our asses off on a hot Summer August night in Chicago at the Ultra Lounge. If only the photographer had grabbed a picture of Tommy!

Jonathon Schiller

The night was capped off by a killer set by Ours. Ironically we would have been at this show anyways but being able to perform too.. just simply awesome.

 It was a long hard road to make the performance work and we are forever indebted to Thomas Milller and Jonathon Schiller for their time and dedication to help us stay on the bill.

Jimmy Gnecco of Ours

Interested in reading more about the show and some one else's thoughts on the actual show? Check out a review by Popstache here.

Barfly - Nuvo - Comics from a Strangeland

Once again, stopped work in the studio and took a short trip out to Indiana for a couple shows this past weekend that involved the legendary and new favorite Indianapolis club Melody Inn. The crowd was one of the best we've seen so far in Indy and we fell in love with the venue.

You can view pics from the show here.

We also had the treat of playing Crash McClains in Crawfordsville which gave us an opportunity to catch up with our friends in Polar Island, whom attended the show, always a treat to see them.

We found this here comic printed in the local newspaper and online. Kind of a nice treat to have our press pics and show pics immortalized. Rock.

Thanks to Wayne Bertsch at Nuvo for this comic and show mention. Going to do you proud sir! We will be heading back to Indianapolis on Sept. 22nd to perform at this years ORANJE festival. More on that later!!!