Last time Gossip Wolf heard from jazz guitarist Dave Miller, in 2011, he was splitting town for New York City. In an interview with the Reader‘s Peter Margasak, Miller mentioned that he planned to continue working with local groups, and his new CD, Old Door Phantoms, due Friday, April 1, on Ears&Eyes Records, features a few familiar Chicago faces, among them keyboardist Ben Boye (also a sideman to Angel Olsen and Bonnie “Prince” Billy) and drummer Quin Kirchner (also of Wild Belle). Recorded with Greg Norman at Electrical Audio, Phantoms is full of hearty jams, including fuzzy Cosmic American psych rave-ups and hard Neil Young-style stomps. Hey hey, my my—grunge jazz will never die! Miller plays solo at Ancien Cycles on Friday, March 25, and with a full band at the California Clipper on Monday, April 18.
Chicago postpunk trio World War Tree recently dropped an untitled three-song seven-inch—Gossip Wolf is fond of the gnashing B-side cut “Awake.” The band play a release party Friday, March 25, at the Burlington with headliners the Eternals and openers HuntHuntHuntCamp.
Last week Gossip Wolf shared the news that Heavy Times coleader Matt Courtade was moving to LA, but unfortunately disaster struck before he made it all the way there: on Thursday morning, just a few hours after Courtade left Chicago, the van he was driving exploded. He and his dad made it out of the vehicle just before it was consumed by fire.
Gramps the Vamp remain the only doom-funk band on Gossip Wolf’s radar—which admittedly doesn’t reach much further than Merrillville. On Monday, March 21, Gramps fired up a Kickstarter to help fund their second full-length, The Cave of 10,000 Eyes, which they describe as “the soundtrack to a faux-horror adventure film from 1969.” The band launches the campaign at Subterranean on Thursday, March 31, with fellow local funkateers Spocket and HipTrip. v
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