Self-production is a staple of the indie music scene and in a time of more and more major label pickup for indie bands, Chicago’s own Geronimo! hasn’t forgotten this fact.
The newly city coming Rockford, IL natives book their own shows, write and record their own music and even go the extra mile to design and make their own merchandise. Members of Geronimo! have previously played in bands such as Inspector Owl, The Laureates, The Gunshy and The Honeybear Wild, as well as recorded with Troubled Hubble, The Felix Culpa and Surround Sound.
Their second EP release via E-Van records is titled, A Different Kind of Greatness, came out January of 2009 and was mastered by Josh Miller of Troubled Hubble and Picture Books. A Different Kind of Greatness was inspired by the bands experience of moving from Rockford to the Windy City and its title is pulled from the towns official slogan. After looking at the faces that make up Geronimo! the sound of A Different Kind of Greatness can come as a little bit of a shock. This second EP has the rusty, crusty, ruggedness of garage rock/grunge, something that doesn’t coincide with the wholesome faces pictured on the album’s back cover [save for one members attire of a flannel shirt and knit hat]. In my opinion, the difference between visuals and sound is a beautiful thing. Nothing is more disheartening when a band sounds EXACTLY the way they look. They say not to judge a book by its cover, but unfortunately today we can judge a band by its haircut. Luckily Geronimo! is one of the bands keeping their “image” out of their music and just producing legitimate sound.
While the thought of grunge might turn some people off, Geronimo! is more than a group of garage inhabiting noise makers. There are some serious riffs and catchy bass happening in this EP, which is interesting because Geronimo! doesn’t even have a bass player. Instead the three-piece band uses a keyboard they’ve rigged and play mad scientist as they experiment with how to balance and fill out its sound. I’d say they’ve been pretty successful in this endeavor, and I’m very curious to see it all happen live.
With vocals reminiscent of Kind of Like Spitting’s Ben Barnett , Geronimo! delivers an unpolished sound that may be an acquired taste for some. While personally I can appreciate that imperfect whine, admittedly there are some moments of this EP that rubbed me the wrong way. Lyrically the band keeps things simple and slightly cryptic, which is fine but also keeps there from being anything that truly stands out. Fortunately some of the instrumentals put together in Geronimo! make up for that, in tracks such as Do the Driving and Approaching the Skyline where the melodies are catchy and body swaying inducing. Not to mention some great trumpet contributions.
All in all I think Geronimo! is a fine set of individuals if not just for the risks they’ve taken in delving into the sound of jam bands and grunge, their go get em’ attitude and self-reliance. I wish these new Chicago residents the best of luck and hope to see them continue to make music.
www.myspace.com/thegeronimoband
Geronimo! will be at Quenchers on March 20th www.quenchers.com for more information
Tags: Album Review, Local Music
November 14, 2010 at 12:02 am |
[...] Check out a Review from the bands debut album, A Different Kind of Greatness [...]
April 30, 2010 at 12:04 am |
[...] is grungy and fuzzy, with a penchant for Albini-like production and loud energy, which you can read our review of here. Now a little over a year since their last release, the band is back and as cliché as it may sound, [...]
March 13, 2009 at 5:41 am |
I’m actually all about grunge anyway