*All events are 21+ valid ID required for entry*
7 PM – Doors
8 PM – Show
SLOW MASS
Since forming in 2015, Chicago’s Slow Mass has been committed to pushing its artistic vision forward at all costs. Though Slow Mass was previously built around a core lineup, this has evolved into a fluid cast that has expanded to feature collaborators who are spread across the country. After springing to life and releasing 2016’s Treasure Pains, the band quickly got to work on its debut full-length, 2018’s On Watch, which garnered praise from the likes of Pitchfork and was named one of the best Chicago albums of the 2010s by the Chicago Reader. Following On Watch, the band kept its nose to the grindstone, touring with the likes of La Dispute, Gouge Away, mewithoutYou, Horse Jumper of Love, and delivering a host of new releases that each expanded upon the sounds Slow Mass had become known for. With the trio of EPs in the ongoing Music For Ears series and 2020’s Music For Rest, they transformed their Fugazi-inspired post-hardcore propulsions into muted ruminations that could have fit on a modern Low album. By blurring the lines between several different genres, and allowing collaborators to float in and out of the band as desired, Slow Mass has built a body of work that feels distinctly it’s own. With multiple new releases prepped for 2025 and beyond, Slow Mass is ready to continue pushing the boundaries of what it means to be an indie rock band.
SPITE HOUSE
Spite House’s sophomore album, Desertion, is post-hardcore at its most visceral and moving. Made up of 11 songs wouldn’t be possible without immense pain or hard-earned growth, the record explores death so vulnerably and unsparingly that it’s sure to inspire catharsis and stage dives in equal measure.
Spite House itself wouldn’t exist without loss. The Montreal-based band was started by vocalist/guitarist Max Lajoie shortly after losing his mother to cancer in 2019. Driven by an intense desire to take control of his life and not waste any more time, Lajoie joined up with longtime friend and drummer Marc Tremblay to start Spite House; the lineup was eventually rounded out by bassist Nabil Ortega and the trio released their self-titled debut album in 2022. Many would hear the fiery emo of that album and imagine there must be some therapeutic release in the music, but when it came time to write Desertion, Lajoie knew he had to go back even further and to delve even deeper. “When I was 17, my dad passed away from suicide,” he explains. “Then ten years later my mom called me to tell me she had cancer, and ten days later she passed. The first Spite House record is more about this wake up call and realizing you need to do what you want in life but Desertion is more about how these tragedies have informed so much of my life–it’s about trying to look them in the eye and reassess them as an adult. I want to move past them but I also want to take some kind of lesson from them.”
GRE/AY
gre/ay is a very loud band