Where: Underworld
✉ 174 Camden High StLondon
NW1 0NE
United Kingdom
London
What: The Effigies @ Underworld
When:
Chicago punk legends THE EFFIGIES with special guests FACE UP! and OUR LIVES IN CINEMA. Tickets 🎟️ FREE ENTRY ⏰ First artist 18:00 •••••••••••••••••••••• NOTE: This show was MOVED from The Underworld to The World’s End as is now FREE ENTRY. •••••••••••••••••••••• THE EFFIGIES 🎥 https://youtu.be/-Y8iMDIMUDg 🔗 effigies.com The Effigies were one of the first punk bands in Chicago. The Midwest initially resisted punk and was late to discover or appreciate it to any degree. In the years immediately after the Ramones and the Sex Pistols first released records, Chicago remained dominated by classic rock, disco and blues. Eventually New Wave bands like Skafish, Wazmo Nariz and Tutu and The Pirates broke ground in the rock club circuit and showed that the emerging scene had an audience, but punk bands were still largely anathema to the Midwest rock establishment and had few places to play. What most punk fans recall as the first “punk scene” in Chicago did not rise until the very early 1980s, when clubs like Oz, O’Banion’s and C.O.D started to provide venues for live punk. In a 1999 retrospective about the 1985 music year, Chicago Sun-Times music writer Jim Derogatis termed the heyday of The Effigies “the second generation of Midwestern punks.” Although The Effigies were tagged with labels such as post-punk, Hardcore and, to the extent it is distinguishable, Chicago Hardcore, the band’s sound was more expansive than the punk subgenres both musically and thematically. In the summer of 2024 original members Zamost and Economou formed a new lineup, retaining Gerber on guitar and adding singer/guitarist Geoff Sabin, who had assisted on Reside, recording much of John’s vocals for that record. They began playing live shows in the fall of 2024, including a string of dates with the Black Crowes. Singer Chris Robinson had seen the band in 1984 in Atlanta and hand picked them to open, giving them a generous 1 hour set. In November 2024 BFD will release a 40th Anniversary edition of For Ever Grounded, which Gerber re-mixed at his Million Yen Studios in Chicago. The package includes a collage of ephemera from the era (photos, typewritten lyrics, track sheets) as well as a poster featuring the iconic back cover photo (which graces the front of the new release). The band will play a John Kezdy tribute/record release show in their hometown of Chicago on December 20 2024 at the iconic venue Metro, which they first played in 1980 when it was still called “Stages”. 90s punk vets The Bollweevils and up and comers Ganser are on the bill. facebook.com/p/The-Effigies-100068057840560 facebook.com/faceup.uk facebook.com/p/Our-Lives-In-Cinema-100082876507697 facebook.com/worldsendcamden
How Much:
www.bandsintown.com InStockLondon
NW1 0NE
United Kingdom
Who: The Effigies
Metal
The Effigies are considered one of the most important early punk rock groups in Chicago in the 1980s. The band, first formed in 1980, was active for approximately a decade, undergoing multiple personnel changes, with frontman John Kezdy the only constant, before disbanding in 1990. The band released 5 LPs and several EPs, most on Ruthless Records and distributed by Enigma. They toured outside of Chicago, notably including a live performance at CBGB in 1983, and received some radio airplay, principally on Northwestern University’s WNUR and other college stations.
The Effigies’ website states that they were one of the first punk bands in Chicago. This is a complicated claim for a band not formed until 1980, but true in the sense that the Chicago market was very late to discover or appreciate punk to any degree; in the half-decade after the Ramones and Sex Pistols first released records, Chicago remained dominated by blues, heavy metal, and even disco; punk bands had few places to play, and punk music fans had few places to hear live bands. Chicago’s “progressive” radio station, WXRT, was never very supportive of punk. What most punk fans recall as the first “scene” in Chicago did not occur until the 1980s, when Oz and O’Banion’s provided venues for live punk; Chicago Sun-Times music writer Jim Derogatis correctly terms the heyday of The Effigies “the second generation of Midwestern punks.”
The Effigies are generally considered hardcore or post-hardcore and, to the extent it is distinguishable, Chicago hardcore. Indie rock pundit Steve Albini writes that The Effigies “were a moving force during a crucial and exhilarating time”.