Monday, October 10, 2011
Cream Calendar Future Virgins Tonight at Little Hamilton
Posted by Lance Conzett on Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 3:57 PM
Here's what I do know: they're playing tonight at Little Hamilton, and their debut record is outstanding.
Western Problems is the power-pop record of my wildest dreams. Across 13 songs, Future Virgins manage to touch on just about every punk band I've ever loved, from The Replacements to Against Me! to Rocket From the Crypt, without losing anything in translation. Most importantly, they never lose sight of what's most important: Pop punk is supposed to be fun. Every song is jammed full of fist-in-the-air sing-along choruses ("Boys Choir"), uptempo California punk riffs ("No Echo") and a kind of relentless sunniness that's often all too absent in punk bands that aren't just ripping off The Shangri-Las.
As much as I dig the current crop of reverb-heavy, sun-bleached punk bands (Wavves, Best Coast, etc.), it's also October, and the thought of beaches makes me go slightly catatonic — I even made a mixtape about it for Yewknee, appropriately titled "Jesus Christ, It's Hot Outside." Bands like Future Virgins hit all the right spots, even if they're seemingly determined to keep themselves on the permanent down-low by not putting up a Bandcamp page.
Catch them tonight with local folk punks Chicken Little and Chicago's Boilerman. Show starts at 7 p.m. and sets you back $5. If you have Spotify, you can listen to Western Problems there. Otherwise? Flying blind has served us well in the past, and it would serve you well tonight.
