- Lucas Herzog
- Bill Satek, the defendant
Over the past few years, there’s been a sort of trend in indie bands using court-TV shows to their advantage. My favorite of these has always been the court battle between Mike Hart and Jason Camacho of formerly local noise-rock band Lechuguillas, who went on Justice With Judge Jeanine to settle an outrageously ridiculous issue involving a stolen and sold drum set. In its nine minutes, the case swiftly devolves into a match of airing dirty laundry and drug-addiction accusations—it’s the kind of comedy that walks the line between funny and painfully awkward. Today another band gets added to the list: Mines. Fronted by Bill Satek (who actually played bass in Lechuguillas during their Chicago tenure), Mines is a fantastic avant-pop act whose debut LP, this year’s Just Another Thing That Got Ruined, blew the minds of both me and Leor Galil. This afternoon Satek, who seems to be reading his former bandmates’ playbook, will be appearing on Judge Mathis. He’s being sued by engineer Brian Sulpizio for the cost of recording the LP, which he never ended up paying for. What better way to settle this debt than to appear on national television?
“I don’t expect it to hold up against Hart v. Camacho, but we’re exploring different territory on this one,” says Satek. He also mentioned that both he and Sulpizio were “rather ripped” during the taping and that he managed to get in a moment of “television gold” at the very end.
The episode airs at 2 PM on WCIU.
The Hart v. Camacho video, along with a couple other notable band appearances, are posted after the jump.
Lechuguillas
Teeth Mountain
Nick & Nora
Mines’ next show is at Hideout’s Summer in Pain Festival on Sat 11/2.