Troy Anderson & The Next Generation of Chicago DIY Rock
On FeelTrip releasing his debut album, getting propositioned by Mac Demarco, the need for high school arts classes & more
by Katie Ingegneri
Photography by Sarah Hess
Troy Anderson is an up-and-coming garage rock kid from outside of Chicago, here to join the Midwest rock revolution, the post-millennium return to authenticity, sincerity and truth in the eternal spirit of rock n roll. Welcome to the next generation.
Troy is not much younger than The Orwells or Twin Peaks, some of the first bands he came to Chicago to see. At 19 years old, he recently put out his first album, “Got to Be Free,” via Chicago’s legendary DIY collective FeelTrip, the launching pad for many garage rock and experimental musicians in the scene. His album is catchy, jangly guitar rock n roll in its pure, undiluted form, a debut full of potential. There’s a range of rock-centric styles, but they all revolve around the common theme of freedom, youth and independence. The title track is a testament to being an individual and imploring listeners to not “let anyone change you.”
My path crossed with Troy due to his friendship with Liqs, and since we sat down for this conversation in October 2015, I’ve been able to catch him at more shows like the one he played on New Year’s Eve at Logan Square DIY venue Club Soda with Liqs, Yoko and the Oh No’s, and The Boxers, and when he opened a great night at Schubas of the Tomorrow Never Knows festival in January 2016 that also featured awesome Canadian rocker Michael Rault and darling Whitney.
As Houseshow is dedicated to the next generation, I found it very refreshing to sit down with Troy at my studio apartment, “The Void” as his friend Nick Van Horn of Liqs christened it, in Logan Square, and get his point of view on what it means to be a creative young person today, in the Midwest, trying to make music here in Chicago and trying to get by. My other interviews to date have mostly been with members of bands who got started extremely early and have been somewhat established in the music world for a few years now, so it’s cool to see the beginning of a new rock n roll career and further trace the recent history and many overlapping connections of the Chicago DIY rock scene, watching how it all unfolds.
Today more than ever, it’s necessary to preserve that DIY mentality of creativity, individuality and community, and it’s heartening to see that so many kids are still so dedicated to it. Troy and I discussed his recent graduation from a high school that had cut almost all arts classes, while his older brother had been supported by great art teachers as a teenager, and though he did not go to college is now an internationally successful art director working with brands and musicians. It’s not hard to see the common threads of what it means to be a young creative person trying to follow their non-conforming dreams, and how the amount of support they receive when they’re young is crucial to their future success.
During our conversation we listened to Cool Ghouls, garage rockers from San Francisco who Troy had recently played with at The Empty Bottle, while Troy’s girlfriend Paige Bird, a bright and dedicated nursing student who brought her homework with her, hung out and provided some perspective on Troy’s stories. Especially the one about him getting sexually propositioned by a very drunk Mac Demarco at Chicago’s Soho House — you’re definitely gonna wanna read that part.
Logan Square, Chicago: October 2015
Katie: I don’t usually have more than one person here.
Troy: You had Sergio and Nick [of Liqs] here, right?
Yeah, Sergio and Nick, and Taylor and Megan were here, so that was a lot.
They’re goofy guys.
Yeah, they are goofy! So how do you know them?
I met them cause I used to play in like a really bad garage band, and we got a show at Fireside Bowl with Liqs and a couple other bands, and then liked each others’ bands, and started talking from there. It was kinda weird how it happened, like I saw them that night when we played together, and maybe a week or two later they opened for Modern Vices and Yoko and the Oh No’s, and Evening Attraction? Was that who?
Paige: Yeah.
At Beat Kitchen, and we saw them there and we partied all night, then we played a few shows in Indiana together, and my guitar player went to school at IU. We played in some basement, there were like 130 kids there, it was insane, so they played and my band played and we got two songs in and a pipe burst, and everyone had to leave and the basement flooded, it sucked.
And then the next day we played some really strange house place in the outskirts of Indianapolis, some place called Sex Mansion, it was like some kid’s dad’s house and there were like five people there. We got destroyed and hung out all night and ever since then become the best of friends. Like Nick’s my drummer now, and I recorded Liqs record at their practice space, kinda doing a lot of stuff together.
Yeah, that’s awesome. They’re cool guys.
They’re goofballs.
Yeah, they are goofballs.
There’s a lot to say about them. Have you met Esteban?
Yeah, I met him once.
Mexican John Stamos. [laughter]
That’s so accurate…So how did you end up hooked up with FeelTrip?
FeelTrip, that was kinda funny how that happened. So I had no ties whatsoever to them, and I’d talked to Paul Cherry a little bit but never met him in person, just like on Twitter and stuff like that, and around Record Store Day they were looking to do a cassette. And FeelTrip’s very about finding new music, and putting stuff out, and I just sent them a song and Diana messaged me back like “we’re gonna put it it on the cassette, we really like it,” just like out of nowhere, I had no ties to them. And so then they had a Record Store Day stand at this place called Boiler Room, it’s a cool place but there were these kind of strange, folky, Mumford and Sons-type band crowd there, absolutely the last kind of crowd that would be there for FeelTrip. We went there and hung out with David and Diana and the rest of the guys at FeelTrip and it was cool…
Then I messaged David after that being like “I’m finishing up a record right now, you guys wanna put it out?” and just kinda figured it all out through Facebook Messenger, that’s how it happened. I’m pretty grateful cause they’re very about new, young people, and not hearing the same three guys in every band all the time, so that’s pretty nice.
Yeah, I’m still not very familiar with FeelTrip. Is it Paul Cherry and David, do they run it?
It’s David Beltran and his girlfriend Diana Bowden, they just run it themselves and Paul Cherry is like their right-hand man I guess. And like helps them with all the decisions and whatnot and stuff. But it used to be a warehouse venue space, and that was like the place to be. That and Animal Kingdom. But I never went to either place, that was before my time. I’m only 19, so Animal Kingdom was a little before my time, being from the suburbs, and so was FeelTrip. Liqs played Animal Kingdom all the time. That’s where like Twin Peaks, Orwells, all those bands have been around for a little bit, those were like the DIY places when they were coming up.
Yeah, right, yeah. I just watched the clip of the movie, the FeelTrip movie.
That’s incredible, it was a huge space. A giant warehouse, it wasn’t too far from here actually. Somewhere in Logan Square. It’s kinda funny too cause everyone knows David, and everyone has so much respect for him in the community, it’s pretty incredible, the stuff he’s done. I hope they open up another DIY place soon. There’s some good ones around, we played at Wally’s [World] a few weeks ago. It was fun, I love Ian, he’s a great guy, but there were like six bands playing, and we were last so we played at like 2:30 in the morning. There was only like 10–15 people there by the time we played, but I’m sure we’ll play there again soon. [Editor’s Note: Wally’s World is no longer, as of April 2016.] We played Young Camelot with Yoko and the Oh No’s and Liqs. That was awesome. [Editor’s Note: Young Camelot is no longer, as of early 2016. Bummer.]
And we played Ratt House, it’s in Pilsen. That was a cool place. I’m always surprised there’s like a ton of people there cause there isn’t a lot of public transportation to get there. It’s like right by Douglas Park. Played Bric a Brac, twice, once with my solo stuff and once with my band, and both times I’ve been like late getting there. We got there two hours late this last time, and Nick was running late and hit traffic and all this stuff, I felt so bad. But Nick [Mayor] who runs Bric a Brac is like a good friend so it was all good.
Yeah, shit happens.
They understood. I was mad at NVH, we went at it a little bit.
Oh yeah, he and Sergio showed up two hours late to our interview, so…
He’s never been on time for anything. It’s not out of rudeness or anything, it’s just, their clocks are different from everyone else’s. Cause they’re so sincere and sorry about it once they show up. They’re good guys, I’m buying them both watches for Christmas. [laughter]
I see your copy of [Charles Bukowski’s] Ham on Rye, that’s my all-time favorite book. I’m actually re-reading it now for the second time.
I haven’t read it, actually.
Oh my gosh, it’s my favorite Bukowski book. I’ve read a lot of Charles Bukowski stuff — everyone loves Women —
Paige: That’s the best one.
It’s just him talking about being with different women, it’s so entertaining throughout. That’s like one of the greatest coming-of-age books I ever read, it’s so good…Anthony, my bass player, he’s the man. Nicest kid in the world, and he knows everything, about music, and gear, and stuff like that.
So are you guys high school friends?
No, I met him because he used to date Stef, Yoko and the Oh No’s drummer, and I’m good friends with them, cause Max [Loebman], their guitar player, was playing guitar for me for a little bit. And the rest of Yoko and the Oh No’s are good friends of mine, so just hanging out with them, I met him. We didn’t talk too much when we first met, but I hit him up to play bass with my stuff. He’s one of the first people I’ve met in Chicago bands who’s actually from Chicago, not the suburbs. This kid actually lives in the city, we trust him if we get on the train cause he knows where he’s going. [laughter]
I feel like Twin Peaks is the only like, city band.
Yeah, they’re from Rogers Park. I think some of them lived on the same street, and White Mystery lived up there too.
Oh, I didn’t realize that.
I know Cadien pretty well, great guy.
Yeah, he’s great.
I wouldn’t call him an older brother, cause we’re not that close, but like a cousin-type. When I wanna send him music, or ask him advice on stuff, and he’s always there, even when they’re on tour and he’s busy as hell, he’ll always talk to me and respond and stuff, he’s a good guy.
Yeah that’s nice, I think he’s good at playing that role for people.
I think he had felt that way with White Mystery and some other bands taking him under their wing, and like David and Diana of FeelTrip, putting out Twin Peaks stuff, and you know James Swanberg? So yeah, I think he wants to start being that way too, I wouldn’t be surprised if in a few years he had his own label going or something.
Yeah, totally. It’s funny coming into this scene and not knowing literally anything, then kind of learning all these connections, like who’s played with who, and who’s helping who —
What bands aren’t around anymore, it’s crazy. I’m still new it to it myself. I’ve probably only been coming here to these shows since I was 17 maybe, only a couple years now. Like, slowly just meeting one person by one person, hearing about one band and then like, different venues and start seeing people and meeting people, and it just snowballs from there.
Like if I had gone to a show a year ago or I go now — I’m a little introverted so I’d just kind of stand there and not talk to anyone, but now it’s like, I know half the people here, there’s always someone I can talk to. That’s so nice to have so many different people and different friends and stuff. It’s always been very welcoming to me.
Yeah, I think that’s what’s so special about it.
It is, it’s crazy, as long as you’re like, not a dick, you’re cool with everyone. Everyone’s there with open arms.
Yeah it’s a pretty cool community. So what was the first show, why did you come into the scene when you were 17?
Well, when I was 17 I used to be into a lot of blues stuff. Sun House, Mississippi John Hurt, old blues stuff, I was very into that, and you know the suburbs, there’s not too much out there, and I was into like ’77 punk stuff, my brother had gotten me into that. He told me about this band on Letterman, from Chicago, kinda wild and whatnot, and it was The Orwells. And I watched it and I was like, I hate to say it but almost at that exact moment I kind of turned around, kicked out all the old stuff I was into, and then got into The Orwells, Twin Peaks, got into the Modern Vices stuff, and even not just from Chicago, but like Thee Oh Sees. Almost instantly, I was like a different person. It kinda changed me a little bit, I guess.
And at one of those comic book stores where I bought records, this girl Stacy works there and she used to play in a band called Palm Flower, it was this two-piece, shoegazey band. You know The Bingers? I think Ronnie, one of the brothers is dating the girl that was the other girl in the band. Like she plays in American Breakfast, and this girl Stacy who lives by where I do, she was telling me about these bands in different places — between the Orwells thing and her is what kinda shot me into all this stuff. She’d tell me about these different venues like The Observatory, and different bands and labels and stuff. She was a big role in that, I’m pretty grateful for her.
Oh that’s cool.
She’s awesome.
I wonder if I’ve seen her, cause I know the American Breakfast and Bingers people.
Ray Borchers was the guitarist in Palm Flower and I know the drummer very well. So she kinda got me into all this stuff, I’m pretty grateful for that. Small world, you know…I’m learning it’s all about connection, it’s who you know and who you like to talk to and become friends with. It’s crazy how it happens. That’s like how I met Modern Vices, I think through Cadien.
Yeah they’re all good guys…I think next year [2016] is going to be so crazy for so many albums, especially for Chicago, I think it’s gonna be huge.
I think people are really starting to take note of it too, cause like, one after another bands are just popping up. I think we’re starting to move on to different tiers of bands now. Cause like, Twin Peaks and Orwells, they got big, but now it’s kinda like waiting to see who’s next. I don’t know too many other cities like that, I never hear of any bands coming from New York, it’s either Chicago or like, LA…
Yeah, it’s true, probably cause like no one can afford to live in New York anymore.
So expensive. Well Las Rosas and Cool Ghouls, Sunday at the Empty Bottle, they’re from New York, those two dudes in Harlem [the band], they’re the nicest dudes.
Yeah, I’m so bummed I missed that show.
It was awesome, it was pretty crazy. I played, then The Rubs, then Las Rosas and Cool Ghouls. Rubs always have like an insane amount of people there, it was packed when they played. Do you know Joe Montanaro? He hooked it up, and he’s a great guy.
Yeah, he did the logo for Houseshow.
He does everything, everyone’s label — either him or David Beltran, doing like everyone’s stuff.
You think there’s like, one music scene and then you realize, oh we’re actually in the garage rock scene, but then it’s further divided by neighborhood, and suburbs…
It’s a lot of what high schools people went to as well. I’m from like an hour south of here.
What’s your town?
Frankfurt, it’s not a farm town but it’s surrounded by farms. Just cornfields everywhere you look. It’s kinda nice, you just go down the road on a nice day and it’s beautiful, sun comes out and just fields, just cruise every now and then. It’s far but it’s good livin’.
So then if you live in the city, do you think you’ll try to live in Logan Square?
We’re looking at some places up north, I have a brother in Ravenswood and a brother in Andersonville, so maybe around there to be kinda towards them. We like Roscoe Village a lot cause it feels like a suburb. All these parents walking around with their kids, and strollers and stuff. It feels similar to what we’re used to.
That’s like where The Orwells live. The Compound, where Mario and Dominic and some other guys live is Roscoe Village.
They have a basement?
Yeah, it’s kinda Young Camelot-y.
How do they get away with that there in Roscoe Village?
Well, they’ve only had one big show slash party, and then they’re like “you can’t do that anymore.”
Yeah, it’s not the place for it.
Yeah, it’s not. It seems like a nice area.
I’d love to have a place where I could play drums and be able to record.
[…]
I find that I’ve learned a lot about myself — like I write a lot, I’ll just write out my thoughts, I have notebooks full, and every now and then I’ll look back at it and it’s like, at the time, I’m not sure what I’m thinking or how I’m feeling, but then I look back at it and it’s like, that’s how I was feeling. Songs too, a lot of times I’ll just record lyrics and say something random like, it works, it sounds good, and then I’l listen to it back later and it’ll be like this song is about this that happened, or that happened, without even thinking about it. I guess that’s my way of expressing myself to a certain extent.
How long have you been writing songs?
I first started doing the solo stuff, like my first song ever last year. The song on the record’s called “Goodbye”…with this band I was in before, high school bands. I never got too into it until I started being a little bit older and I guess respecting songwriting more, cause even now I always listen to the music more than the words, but lately I’ve been really trying to work on that and work on what the words are saying. My dad’s really huge into lyrics, so it’s like huh, that’s a big deal to people, the lyrics. Like that’s more than the music. I’ve been trying to get more into that. It’s definitely difficult, sometimes you just wanna sit down and zone out and just not think about it, but it’s good to dig inside yourself a little bit, you know? Face yourself a little bit, and work out some stuff you never really thought about or pushed to the side.
Yeah, for sure. Writing’s great for that. And music.
I used to write a lot of poems, poems that will stay hidden forever, in my closet forever, they’ll never be put out. That was when I first started writing a lot, like a mix of being in a weird spot in my life and starting to get into Kerouac and Ginsberg and Bukowski and all those Beat writers. I guess I just started to feel like I needed something to express myself, more than like skateboarding and hanging out in my friend’s basement all day long. Just go home and write poems or short stories or how I was feeling, thoughts running through my head. Just needed to express myself.
Paige: Also you broke your leg while skateboarding so you couldn’t really do anything.
I started playing guitar 12, 13 years old, and I also was big into skateboarding, and I broke my leg freshman year. I had a cast from my toes up to my thigh cause they didn’t want me to move my leg or anything at all. And it was like, I can’t skateboard anymore, I’m playing guitar a little bit…it was horrible but I guess it’s what was supposed to happen, so then I started playing guitar more, and here I am.
And you clearly read a lot.
I try to, I go through phases of it. Like in high school, junior, senior year, I would go through books like every two weeks, like give me something new. And I started to get away from it a little bit, up until recently actually. I went through a phase of not writing at all, that I’m just starting to get back into now.
So are you in school or are you working?
I’m working, I work at a guitar shop by my house, I don’t wanna say where, it’s like the Walmart of guitar stores. Trying to get a different job, but the discounts are nice.
So do you think you’re gonna go to school at all?
I thought about it for a while, but I struggle with school a lot, partially because I wasn’t passionate about it, and if I’m not into something like 100%, I’m not into it at all. Like math and science, I’m not proud of it, but I didn’t pass physics, I didn’t pass chemistry…I wish I did good in school, but I just struggled a lot, and the only classes I did well in were like my English classes. Maybe it’s like ADD or ADHD, maybe not, maybe I’m just a bad student, I dunno.
The school system just in general is very poorly designed.
They’re closing the high school I went to after next year cause they’re out of money. It was a downward spiral, like there’s no photography classes now, there’s only one art class now, obviously the first things to go are the art classes. It’s rough cause like I understand the need for academics and athletics as well, a lot of money is there and they get a lot of attention, especially being in the suburbs, there’s not too many artsy people. So yeah, I understand it, but I wish it wasn’t that way.
My friend went to a school with a TV station, and high school bands I was in played there, and they had a school radio, we played live on the radio once. They do all this stuff and it was incredible to see that. This big theater, and at my school there was none of that. One art classroom, one music room, they didn’t put any time or effort into it. But the high school football team was doing insane, you know. So I understand the need for it, but it sucks that those are the first classes to go. Cause those are the kids who need it the most.
Like my oldest brother is a graphic designer. He did a Lupe Fiasco album cover, he did the new Chuck Taylors that are coming out, the ad work for that, but he was like, an art kid. It was just in his DNA to do that. And in high school he had great art teachers, but he would get made fun of for being artsy. I felt bad for him, but look at him now, in his 30s, beautiful wife and nice car and nice house in Andersonville, and he loves his life and he loves his job and he stuck with it. And it’s crazy too cause he never went to college. He just decided to do it in high school and follow his dreams, and he succeeded, and he’s still succeeding every day, you know? And it’s because he had good art teachers and a good art program to push him, expanded his mind from what he already knew.
I don’t understand how schools could see stuff like that and then be like “let’s shut down the art program.” Art, whether it’s film or music or paintings or whatever it is, it’s the most important part of our life.
Even TV and TV shows to a certain degree, they’re entertainment or an art form, it’s what gets you through the day. It helps you live, it’s like the core of our existence and that’s the first thing you want to get rid of? It doesn’t seem right. Get rid of football, get rid of baseball.
Yeah, exactly. Well, hopefully things will start changing. When Bernie Sanders is President and we have more money for schools cause we’ll tax the rich, then we can bring arts back and everyone can have the arts, hopefully.
I just get sick of hearing different politicians. I’m probably gonna vote for Bernie Sanders, there’s no one else I feel like is worthy of being President, his ideals are similar to mine, but overall I try to stay out of it. I keep myself informed. I’m gonna vote and that’s as much as I can personally do for it.
I don’t like the right side, their ideals and beliefs, cause it really bothers me with people telling people what they can and can’t do, to say someone can’t get married or can’t do this or that when it’s not harmful, with weed and gay marriage and whatever, that bothers me. And I’m scared for a lot of friends, and people, if someone from that side does become President. That’s not a country you should be living in when you feel that way.
Yeah, I hope our generation comes out for Bernie.
I think so. He’s pulling in big money, a lot of money from real human beings, he’s getting money from the people and a lot of people are going to his rallies and stuff. And even if he doesn’t become President, I think he’s made a big impact on people and shown people like this is not right, there’s a lot of people not being treated right. Our families, our neighbors, we need to take care of them. He’s stirring things up, imagine if he wasn’t running? I’m not a fan of Hillary personally, but she’d be miles better than anyone on the right side. This is my favorite Cool Ghouls song.
Yeah these guys seem awesome.
Paige: They are.
I’m proud to call them good friends of mine now, we hung out most of the night and talked to them a lot, and now I got San Francisco hookups…I asked them to play this song and they played it as the closer, like “we’d like to donate this song to Troy…”
Paige: Donate?!
Dedicate. [laughter] It made my heart melt. It was our second time seeing them, we saw them at The Whistler last winter with Slushy. And she doesn’t like when I say this, we snuck in. I was 18, I snuck in.
Paige: No, I’m just like, we didn’t sneak in, we just walked in.
Yeah, they didn’t check our IDs or anything. We saw them there. Max from Yoko and the Oh No’s told me about them, I only knew like a song or two. We saw them there, and shit they were so good, I bought a record right away. And I hit up Joe Montanaro when I saw they were playing here, like please can we play this show, I’d be so grateful. So we played it and it was awesome. And it was cool to meet Las Rosas too cause those are the dudes from Harlem, I was 15–16 years old listening to Harlem, that was one of the few bands from the scene that I knew well, and that was like my childhood.
So it’s a couple guys?
The bass player in Harlem is now the guitar player in Las Rosas, and the drummer is still the drummer. They’re awesome, so tight. The songwriting is just, like, insane. You gotta see them live.
Paige: They had disco balls on stage.
They put on a super cool show.
And that was your first time playing The Bottle, right?
Yeah, and it was my first time being there too. I use my brother’s ID as a fake, so we used that to buy beer and get into shows all the time. That was my first time being there, it’s super cool place. Could sit there all day and play pool, watch some cool bands. They always have good shows there. Someone told me it’s the Black Lips tour manager who works there and gets good bands to play.
Were you into the Smith Westerns?
I was, but the only time I saw them was their last show.
And it wasn’t the full band.
Max [Kakacek] wasn’t there, he’s with Whitney now. That was the only time I saw them, but I had all their records. All those were pretty big. Cause the first one’s like T. Rex songs, and after that it just sounds like John Lennon and Big Star and that’s all my favorite stuff. So that was pretty big. But before that, we met Cam [Omori], the bass player, at Cadien’s house. Twin Peaks and White Mystery played Glenwood Arts Fest, which is like off the Rogers Park red line stop, we went there and then to Cadien’s house after. We met Cam, and that was the first time we met White Mystery, and hung out with Cadien for the first time and stuff, that was kind of a big experience. Adam Gil, Dam Gila on FeelTrip and also in YAWN, he played guitar with Smith Westerns before Max and I think he might be playing in Cullen’s backing band, I’m not sure but that might be what’s happening.
Lots of exciting bands and stuff happening.
Yeah it was quiet for a bit there, but now there’s like three or four shows a week. Like shit, I’m gonna be spending so much money on gas to get up here. I have to get up at 8:45 which isn’t crazy early, but when you’re out til 3 or 4 in the morning…I’ve thrown up in the bathroom at work, but like fuck it, I’m 19, I’m gonna enjoy life.
We went to a thing at Soho House where Mac Demarco was playing, and I met him and was talking to him for a while, he was smashed and he kept offering to suck my dick.
Paige: For $400, why didn’t you do it?
Yeah he was like “I’ll suck your dick right now, for $400.” It was so goofy and he was so drunk.
That’s amazing.
It was super cool to meet him and all this stuff, but at the same time it was like slightly awkward.
Paige: I took a picture from a distance cause Mac’s arm was around him like really far.
He was hugging me, and at one point he started humping me and all this stuff. It wasn’t like, creepy, but it was like dude you are so drunk right now. He was smashed. His girlfriend Kiki was there too. The guitar player from Wilco was there too and talking about how they recorded this album.
And this was all at the Soho House? Cool.
It was weird cause I had already met them before, when my old band played Elbow Room, which was 21+. This touring band from England that played, and their manager knew the bass player and the guitar player from Wilco. And they were there, and they saw my old band play. I tried to give Pat, the bass player, a CD, and he was like “nah, that’s okay.” But he was smashed, it was kinda funny. But I saw both of them again and we were laughing about it.
And Jeff Tweedy’s son is like in the scene.
Yeah, Spencer. The Blisters. They only play their winter and spring breaks and stuff. They’re kinda Wilco-y.
Paige: Of course.
Of course. [laughter]
[…]
I come from a long line of pastors, actually. I’ve been grateful to have parents that don’t shove it on me. Like, here is this world of religion. If you like it, I’m showing it to you, if you like something else, go be that religion or don’t at all, you know. To have a pastor be like that I think is pretty rare. I’m grateful for my parents and how they’ve treated me and raised me. Like my dad’s a pastor, my grandfather and my great-grandfather, my uncle, my great-uncle — just, everyone is a pastor.
Paige: You’d never think if you met him.
My dad kinda looks like Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue. He looks just like Nikki Sixx. It’s a strange world, religion. But I try to keep it in mind, because it’s how I was brought up. I’m grateful that they raised me to accept everyone and show people love.
[…]
It’s cool with this whole music thing, I have friends who are 17 who found me through the articles and everything, and then the Logan Square bands who are my age or older, early 30s who have been doing this for a while, but it’s cool.
Yeah it’s cool like I’ll hit up Joe [Montanaro] for a show who’s a little older and I’m 19, but he doesn’t look down on me for being a kid, like he respects me like anyone else would. You’ll see a show like Modern Vices and Flesh Panthers, like the younger kids and guys who have been doing it for a while. Everyone’s aware of each other, and there’s overlap.
Yeah like you and Liqs, I feel like you guys are really bridging the young and the different crowds…
Like the first music I started getting into was Uh Bones, and Flesh Panthers, and Bike Cops — do you know them?
No…
They might be my all-time favorite Chicago band. You know Space Waste, right?
No…
Space Waste is this guy Donny Walsh, and the bass player and the drummer are in this band Bike Cops, and they’re just so good, it’s kinda psychedelic stuff but not like crazy, just really good rock n roll songs. One of my favorite bands. I like checking out the older crowd because being young, you end up going to shows like Twin Peaks, Yoko and the Oh Nos, Modern Vices, Symposium and all them…
Although the funny thing about the Symposium is that they’re not actually young.
Really? I think I was at their house like one time. I think Yoko and the Oh Nos, Orwells, and Symposium played at their house…but I didn’t even go inside.
Oh, at Benny’s? Yeah.
Were you there for that? There were like a million people there.
Yeah, they had a few that were just insane.
I think it was their last one…
Yeah, like in May?
It was so hot, it was ridiculous. It was a sauna. I didn’t even go inside, we just hung out in the alley with Yoko, it was ridiculous in there.
Yeah that was like the first house show I went to, in January, when Benny would throw those. Cause it was the Symposium, and Modern Vices, and I think Twin Peaks played like a song…
And then it was just too much right? That’s what’s incredible about Twin Peaks, like their Chicago shows, they can’t announce they’re playing them or else it’s too much. But everyone knows. Like the FeelTrip show next week they’re playing as the “Run it Again Boys.”
The Orwells and Twin Peaks, they can’t announce it.
And then it just sells out.
Yeah, it’s crazy.
We saw Twin Peaks at Young Camelot on New Year’s Eve, and like everyone knew about it but they said the “Chicago Bulls” were playing.
Oh funny.
We were right up front, it was nuts. I’d never been to a show at Young Camelot that was like that. It was so packed. It was one of the craziest shows.
I was at The Orwells show that night at Lincoln Hall.
Paige: I was there on the 30th. Last winter I got so lucky, I won tickets to the Growlers, the Orwells, every time there’d be something on Twitter where they were having contests, I won 3 or 4 times and I won that one. We were at the same place!
Yeah it’s so funny! Now I’m meeting everyone who was there, or have seen before.
I’m trying to think of the first house show I went to. Was it with you? It might’ve been with like, Nick…I played this tiny little room in Evanston with my old band, we played there once with Flesh Panthers and that’s when I met them…I don’t remember a real house show after that, I don’t know what the first one was. But there was a lot of record store shows, and arts fest shows, with Twin Peaks…I guess Twin Peaks and Orwells shows were my first big ones. Been to too many now, though. I’m like fuck it, it’s an hour drive, I’m tired, I’ll see em again. But I try to come out. It’s hard though, it’s not like a 15 minute bike ride. But we go to shows like twice a week. It’s hard but it’s almost always worth it.
FeelTrip’s been huge, I couldn’t be more grateful for that. David and Diana are like the sweetest, nicest people ever. Kinda just been there for me, and put this stuff out, and I couldn’t be more grateful. And they don’t put out a lot of people’s stuff, so I consider myself to be part of a very nice, cool group of people. Not saying that I’m that, but the people in it, it’s like all my favorite music from Chicago, and now to be part of it is crazy. I’m very grateful.
Thanks to Sarah Hess for taking these awesome photos of Troy and his band. Check out the rest of her extensive music photography and other work at http://www.smhimaging.com/ and http://sarahhasanhphotography.tumblr.com/.
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