Karin Fjellman writesMonday! CHIRP Night at the Whistler with The Eternals, Verma & Great Society Mind Destroyers!

Monday is CHIRP night at the Whistler, and you won’t want to miss any of the bands on this bill, so get there early. Getting there late will only get you turned away — CHIRP night always packs in music fans for some great listening, socializing and drinking (CHIRP gets a percentage of the bar sales). Our DJs will spin before and after the bands, but the main attraction will be three local acts that specialize in pushing the musical limits.

Not sure if The Eternals want to make their music eternal or the disparate musical elements are eternal, but either way their “everything AND the kitchen sink” approach works. It’s bands like this that make you think you should listen to more difficult music — the lead off track to 2007’s Heavy International (Aesthetics), summarizes it nicely: “The Mix is So Bizarre.” From The Eternals you’ll hear jazz, ska, reggae, industrial electronica, all over a propulsive backbeat and conveyed via vocal harmonies that are half helium, half Curtis Mayfield. Add the occasional drill solo and cans and jars and tire irons and you can imagine that a kitchen sink would not be out of place here.

On their new EP (Plustapes) recorded live in their practice space, Verma come out of the gate on “Dust Commander” like the evil bastard child of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd performing the soundtrack to a haunted house, and they maintain that vibe throughout the five psychedelic excursions selected. This is not music played from blown speakers, but clearly they’ve been possessed by demons of distortion, for this is a fuzzed-up eardrum buzz of potential tinnitus. While they rein it back a bit by embracing some keyboard underpinnings on the quieter cuts, it’s clear that Verma vow their eternal souls to the garage rock gods.

Great Society Mind Destroyers funnel a maelstrom of fuzz-soaked garage rock through a blender of their antecedent forebears including the Yardbirds, Count Five, Nirvana, Pink Floyd — you’ll even hear some blaxploitation soundtracks and Black Moth Super Rainbow if you listen closely enough. Although it’s unclear from their name if they are pro or against LBJ, and the music is more mind expanding than destroying, there is clearly a darker element at work — a Howling, bluesy Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal focused on providing a rain of frogs on this sock-hop and turning that mutha out.

—Craig Bechtel

11:15pm – The Eternals
10:30pm – Verma
9:45pm – Great Society Mind Destroyers

The Whistler
2421 N. Milwaukee
Chicago, IL

No cover
Percentage of bar sales benefits CHIRP

CHIRP DJs spin before and after bands!
Raffle tickets sold throughout the night — win awesome prizes!