Photo from Facebook event for record release party

Chicago Rock Keeps Rolling: New Albums from Today’sHits & Skip Church

DIY label Randy Records is delivering the goods for summer 2017

Katie Ingegneri
Jul 21, 2017 · 5 min read

by Katie Ingegneri


It’s summer in Chicago, which means a fresh round of hot rock n roll releases from one of Chicago’s premiere DIY rock labels, Randy Records! Since this magazine started in 2015, this marks the third year of checking out their new summer releases, and I gotta say, this is a FLAME EMOJI batch from two awesome local bands: a self-titled LP from Today’sHits, and Skip Church’s “Out Of Tune, In Touch With The Devil.” They drop TODAY, July 21st (or you know, around now, #DIYlife), and I don’t know if you’re ready for the righteousness. If you love garage rock, pop and punk as much as I do, you are gonna wanna tune in immediately.

See, here it is. The flame emoji.

Today’sHits has been one of my favorite Chicago outfits since their perfect blend of pop melodies and rock permeated my late-night brain at Cole’s two summers ago, which I recounted in this recap of an amazing Chicago music weekend. The songs are the product of pop songwriting mastermind James Swanberg, who you may recognize as “Juicy James” from The Lemons. As a sucker for oldies-style pop and garage rock, I couldn’t ask for anything more with these songs about love, longing, loss, and working at a liquor store.

From catchy opener “Girl Or Two,” which has driven me crazy trying to figure out the title since I fell in love with it at live shows, through the thumping 60s surf-rock vibes of “Love’s Just A Word,” it’s impossible not to want to dance to these songs — and good luck getting their melodies out of your head.

Today’sHits at Cole’s, August 2015. Photo by Katie Ingegneri.

The band usually includes Chris Kramer, aka Chris Twist from The Lemons and his own group Slushy, and the omnipresent Chicago rock n roller Kenny Alden aka Luke Tokyo Drifter. Scrappy rock n roll youngsters Twin Peaks — have you heard of them? — are devoted fans and disciples of James’, backing up his songs as Chicago rock supergroup Twin Hits when they’re in town. (The track “What Up Dawg,” from Twin Peaks’ recent live album “Urbs in Horto,” is an instance of a Twin Hits performance, and is James’ tribute to the take-no-shit mentality of Chicago.) I strongly recommend going to Houseshow’s FB page to see some short videos I’ve taken of Twin Hits shows around Chicago, which showcase the pure rock n roll nostalgia of Today’sHits songs. I’m so psyched this LP has finally landed.

Today’sHits had an EP, “Sex Boys,” released by Randy Records a few years ago, and this is a full expansion of tracks — 11 in total. According to James, the album was recorded entirely in one day. With each song clocking in around 2 minutes for the most part, it’s a straight blast of pure Chicago-style rock n roll. Read James’ take on recording these songs below.

From James’ Twitter https://twitter.com/tripptapes

If you’re looking to transcend the weirdness of life in America today, return to a greater time with these tasty nuggets of pure Chicago pop-rock happiness. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Skip Church is a rock group led by visual artist Joe Schorgl (you’ve seen his Empty Bottle flyers and posters around), frontman of Chicago punk rockers The Sueves (whose track “Last Regret” I premiered last fall for their debut on HoZac Records), and featuring a cast of local Chicago rock n rollers as backup. I’ve only caught them live once or twice so far but it was a helluva fun time. Their LP, “Out Of Tune, In Touch With The Devil,” is Sueves-esque with timeless rock n roll-punk vibes, relying on prominent guitar, a driving backbone of drums and Joe’s quintessential garage rock voice.

Tracks like “Smells Bad” and “Hospital” give high-energy blasts of gritty guitars that make you want to chug beer and start jumping in front of the stage, while “His Fortune” evokes 60s-era garage rock like the Animals and the classic Nuggets compilations, and “Bad Anyways” brings in the country-western vibes that helped give birth to rock n roll. With the Skip Church LP, Joe and his crew provide a timeless, hard-rocking, catchy and even danceable sound that is so desperately needed to remind us all where we came from as rock fans.

Celebrate the release of these righteous records on Saturday, July 22 at The Levee in West Logan Square/Hermosa, also featuring an appearance by the legendary Yolks, the band of Randy Records proprietor Nathan Johnson. And be sure to pick up these great LPs from your favorite local record store, like Bric a Brac Records!



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a celebration of the next generation. DIY. music. culture. freedom.

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Katie Ingegneri

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MFA — Naropa’s Jack Kerouac School; BA — McGill University, Montreal. Digital human rights worker. Founder of Houseshow Magazine on Medium. Massachusetts.

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a celebration of the next generation. DIY. music. culture. freedom.

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