Robert Loerzel's blog on music and the arts
January’s Tomorrow Never Knows festival keeps getting bigger, featuring more shows at more venues in Chicago. I saw two shows in this year’s festival: A fantastic, energetic set by Superchunk on Jan. 18 at Metro, which I did not photograph, except for a few cellphone pictures; and a lively evening of music on Jan. 19 at Lincoln Hall, featuring Alvvays, Pink Front, Diarrhea Planet and Yuck, which I did photograph:
First off, it seems impossible to write about the band Diarrhea Planet without commenting on its name. These rockers from Nashville must’ve wanted people to say, “Ewwww,” when they decided to give themselves such a disgusting moniker. The music itself, however, isn’t as subversive as the name suggests. This is basically full-on hard rock music with no less than four guitarists going at it simultaneously. Maybe the “diarrhea” in the name alludes to the outpouring of riffs and solos. In any case, the group barely let up for a minute during its set on Saturday, Nov. 16, at the Beat Kitchen. And the fans, who had crowded into the small club, responded with nearly nonstop moshing.
