By Dave Cantor

“I was from New York, so I was a real hustler,” Paul Collins says of his past, wrangling shows for The Nerves, a West Coast pop ensemble equally indebted to sixties rock and the nascent punk scene’s jittery energy. “And I’m still a hustler.”

Collins hasn’t dealt with major label executives or high-powered promotion folks during much of his career. He didn’t while drumming in The Nerves and only needed to do so for a brief time as frontman for The Beat. So maintaining a tenacious attitude while continuing to figure out how to book international tours for his sundry projects has become a necessity. He’s had ample practice. Read the rest of this entry »

Material re-Issue: Phil Angotti, Mike Zelenko, Ted Ansani/Photo: Dennis Polkow

By Dennis Polkow

For the first time since International Pop Overthrow began back in 1998, the music festival will feature the first-ever reunion of the very group whose iconic 1991 album that the festival took its name from: Material Issue.

It has been twenty years since the Chicago power-pop trio released “International Pop Overthrow,” which was re-released on April 5 on Hip-O Select as a twentieth-anniversary edition. In addition to a remastered version of the original album and a booklet of rare photos and a lengthy band retrospective and appreciation, also included are six of the eight non-album tracks that appeared on the 1991 promo-only disc “Eleven Supersonic Hit Explosions,” the 1988 track “Sixteen Tambourines” and the unreleased “The Girl With the Saddest Eyes.” Bonus tracks include Material Issue covers of songs by Sweet (”Blockbuster”), Thin Lizzy (”Cowboy Song”) and Simon & Garfunkel (“The Boxer”).

The IPO music festival, which began two years after the 1996 suicide of Material Issue frontman Jim Ellison that abruptly ended the band, could scarcely have foreseen actually booking a reunion of surviving members bassist and vocalist Ted Ansani and drummer Mike Zelenko. The duo are reuniting as Material re-Issue for an April 23 one-time-only live performance of the complete “International Pop Overthrow” album with singer-guitarist and Ellison friend Phil Angotti.

“I didn’t play the drums for an entire year after Jim died,” says Zelenko, preparing for a band rehearsal at a Wicker Park music store. “It was such a shock, and it took me about five years to really come to terms with it. The band had been together for ten years, we had come of age together. In those last days, I spent a lot of time with Jim, and knew that he was down, but still, you don’t expect something like this.” Ansani agrees. “Yes, the band had its ups and downs, disagreements and fights, like any band does, but so what? We would have recovered.” Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED
When Carl Newman, Neko Case, Dan Bejar and the Canadian power-pop heroes The New Pornographers released their last album, the subdued, moody “Challengers,” the common quote among critics was “it’s a grower,” as in one of those albums that require multiple listens, preferably on vinyl with a solitary candle lit. Well, it’s been eight months, and “Challengers” should have suitably “grown” on you by now, as it’s easily their most introspective, most challenging (no pun intended) group of songs to date, with numerous memorable ballads (“Go Places,” “The Spirit of Giving,” “Unguided”) to complement their blazing, Spanish techno-heavy catalogue. The stylistic change in “Challengers” ultimately represents an effort to capture long-term artistic success, to avoid being a one-trick pony, no matter how freaking awesome that one trick was. You can’t make the same album over and over again and expect to be successful…unless you’re AC/DC. (Andy Seifert)
Sunday, April 20 at Riviera Theatre

RECOMMENDED

Last year, The Lemonheads came back with a punk-legend lineup, a louder sound and a new home alongside power-pop brethren at Vagrant Records. This eighth Lemonheads installation isn’t the stuff you branded onto mixtapes in your adolescence; it’s much, much louder. How loud is it? Dinosaur Jr.’s J. Mascis plays on two tracks—it’s that loud. This tour features Bill Stevenson, the seminal drummer behind the Descendents and Black Flag, beating the hell out of the skins while Descendents bassist Karl Alvarez keeps the rhythm going. Both musicians played on the self-titled Vagrant release, but didn’t join Dando on the road for the ten-month tour that followed. Having the studio musicians on board this time around means that the double shows at the Double Door are not to be missed. If that’s not enough to get excited about, Dando recently announced that a new album is on the way, along with a reissue of 1992′s “It’s a Shame About Ray,” hopefully an indication that the Lemonheads are back for good. (K. Tighe)

Tuesday, December 11 at Double Door