The Drastics with
MC ZULU and
Fada Dougou
at
The Hideout
1354 W Wabansia Ave / Chicago
Friday / December 21
Drastics Set / 10pm
with Low Down Brass Band
Wild Jesus and The Devils Lettuce
THE MEDITATIONS
THE DRASTICS & MC ZULU
DJ CHUCK WREN
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18 / 8pm
REGGIES
2105 S STATE ST / CHICAGO
MORE INFO HERE
Halloween, 2012
Martyrs Chicago
3855 N Lincoln Ave
So ... if ya don't know, three years ago we took six of MJ's biggest tunes and arranged them inna roots fashion, mashing up Jackson's original vocals over freshly recorded riddims. Exacting the studio arrangements in every detail but transferring the instrumentation to Jamaican appropriate substitutes (strings become melodica, guitar leads become clavinet, etc) ... the album became an instant underground classic, gaining high marks from music blogs across the sonic spectrum. Its limited vinyl bootleg was the number one seller at record shops around the world when released. For the first time ever (and realisically, the only time ever) we'll be doing the album in it's entirety (and more) with help from MC ZULU and the Akasha crew.
MORE EVENT INFO
GET 'MJ A ROCKER' FREE HERE
On Your Marx &
Circle City Deacons &
Big Wig Mechanic &
King Tony At The Controls
Spankin' That Backside on
Friday, September 07
Drastics' own King Tony at the controls where dub sounds abound from the man who wheres the crown. From antiquated tape based systems emerge a new hope for riddims trapped in a static state --- given life through a various array of effects and general and inherent positive mental foresight ...
Doors at 9pm
Ace Bar, Chicago
1505 W Fullerton
More Info
The Pinstripes &
Akasha &
King Tony
Rub-A-Dub Up Your Moms This
Saturday, August 04
The Pinstripes play sweet roots soul sounds inna Jamaican style. Akasha burns down the babylon shroud inna culture style. King Tony flicks discs from his musical wrists inna selectah style.
Late Show!
Doors Ain't 'Til 10pm.
Beat Kitchen, Chicago
2100 W Belmont
More Info
Wednesday, August 1
Martyrs', Chicago
3855 N Lincoln Ave
Paa Kow's By All Means
The Drastics
Vertikal
Vertikal brings the funk, Drastics bring the dub and By All Means brings the insanely huge band killin it inna African style. Gonna be a sick show, not to be missed.
More Info via The Book of Face
Check out By All Means killin it on this live set ..
Photo by Matt Kursmark
King Tony
Breaks Down Babylon Inna Dub Conquest
Saturday, July 21
Opening & Selecting Strictly Vinyl In Between Bands
Martyrs', Chicago
3855 N Lincoln Ave
With the Deepest Sounds inna 1/4" plastic tape construct from The Drastics, MC Zulu, Illuminati Congo, The Pinstripes, JahDan, Dr. Ring-Ding, Deal's Gone Bad & Many More ...
Album Release Session For
Drop Steady
Celebrating The Release of 'What You Do!'
and Special Guests
Akasha & On Your Marx
All Night Event Starting at 8pm. $7. Stay Early Come Late.
More Info
Photo by Matt Kursmark
The Drastics' Own
King Tony
Dubs Down The Tonic Room, Chicago
Friday, July 6
Opening & In Between All Bands
With Boss Sounds inna Dub Matrix on Cassette from The Drastics, MC Zulu, The Pinstripes, JahDan, Green Room Rockers, Deal's Gone Bad & Many More ...
With Hosts On You Marx
and Special Guests
Akasha (Chicago, IL)
The Soul Radics (Memphis, TN)
All Night Event Starting at 8pm. $5. Come Early Stay Late.
More Info
Musicians from all over the Chicago's musical map are gathering to celebrate the life and music of Adam Yauch.
The evening will feature performances by Mr. Greenweedz, The Right Now, JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound, Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, ShowYouSuck, Rita J, The Drastics, Bumpus, Akasha, Dirty MF, Dan Fernandez of Kings Go Forth, Abstract Giants MCs, Any Kind, DJRC, Lowdown Brass Band, with more to be announced! Local designer, Scott Williams (renowned for his work for Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and Soul Summit Chicago), worked with Delicious Design to create a poster that will be available for purchase that night, in addition to a raffle, that will benefit Students For A Free Tibet.
A one-night-only, multimedia extravaganza, “Time For Livin” will feature inspired takes on songs from throughout the Beastie Boys legendary career. From the party anthems of License To Ill, the B-Boy kaleidoscope of Paul’s Boutique, to the exhilarating smash-up of live the funk, hardcore, and hip-hop of Check Your Head, Ill Communication, and beyond.
The event will also celebrate Yauch's wider impact through his humanitarian work to free Tibet, expose underground film with Oscilloscope Laboratories, and popularize the term “mullet” via Grand Royal Magazine, while turning everyone on to the funky jams that fueled the dreams of three emcees from New York City.
MASSIVE SHOW!
Saturday / June 23
Martyrs' / Chicago
Ralph 'Soul' Jackson
Alabama Love Man' Album Release Extravaganza
backed by The Drastics + Friends
Also Appearing
Adam Fitz & The Part Timers
Al Scorch & The Country Soul Ensemble
Live Tape Dub from King Tony
East of Eden Soul DJs after-show-dance-party
We're thrilled to be part of this show and to have helped in the process of making this long-awaited album ... This is a blow-out-extravaganza of all kinds of different music in celebration of the 'Alabama Love Man' himself and you have our personal guarantee it's gonna be slammin.
Hey YO!
This Thursday the Drastics will be sharing the stage with Cincinnati's finest the Pinstripes!
March 1, 2012
Township, Chicago (2200 N California)
NEVERMIND WHAT DEH POSTER DEM SAY!
We'll be playing strictly instrumentals, and almost all new ones ... So come on out if you wanna hear some fresh music for once in your life!!!
The Drastics feat. MC ZULU
Live at Martyrs' Chicago
Friday / January 13 / 2012
TELL THE FACEBOOK
OVERLORDS YOUR
COMING
Yo!
So some of you might not know (but now ya know) that Mad Anthony from The Drastics has been doing live dub off a cassette deck (as inspired by the man Dub Robot) at shows and parties over the later part of this year. We've been taking the plethora of riddims recorded over the years at Drastics HQ (aka Dirty North), dumping it onto that sweet 1/8" of tape and bringing the dub-of-many to the masses. It does sound surprisingly fat.
Well here's a snippet of a brand new Drastics track we recorded this fall given the ol' live dub treatment. Dumb Hole (A Sonic Black Hole) features Chris (bass), Anthony (drums, keys) & Luke (guitar) on a hard mixdown mixed with sweet 80s reggae fashion. Literally though, fashion.
SO PEEP IT ALREADY
Everyone's dubbing on film these days!
Dubbing the Pinstripes in The Drastic's Lab aka Dirty North
Brian Wallace aka Dub Robot dropping Science
DAMN! It's hot up in here for reals. Well, here as promised is yer second installment of Rub-A-Dub Fashion! Got a little more "out" on this one, and there are definitely some tongue-in-cheek selections to prove it ... Including but not limited to 2 different tracks promoting Synthesizers and Computers, a track by Charlie Chaplin which breaks into 80s pop-tune-medleys, Mutabaruka warning on the ills of junk food and a rub-a-dub version of Marvin Gayes "Innercity Blues" ... yowza! The mix "slowly" blends into more .. how should I say.. Jamaican-centric tunes that never gained much popularity off the island. These tracks are definitely "strange" to Americans and people with more of a blues/rock musical background .. bizarre casio-driven riddims with Jamaican cats talking in heavy patois over them.. using slang and describing situations only relevant to native JAers. But it's hard to argue that modern dancehall hasn't had a major influence on modern electronic/dance music (as well as vice-versa).. and these kinds of tracks are the roots. Anyway, if you don't like 'em I ain't gonna be mad at ya. Just gonna put you in the corner with a bag over yer head until you DO!!!!
SPUDS IS ON HIS WAY OVER FROM HIS JAM SESSION WITH MCMAHON!!!!
LIVE in STL THIS FRIDAY!
The Drastics are LIVE this Friday, August 20th at the Gramophone in St. Louis, MO ... gonna be a nite of dub niceness ... Fada Dougou 'pon the mic ... RUFFF!
That's a booya! The Drastics will be heading north into the great Northern Open this next weekend and hitting Traverse City (at The Loading Dock) and Billy's in Grand Rapids! This will be our first time in both these cities so we'd love to see you and love for you to spread the word! We'll have Fada Dougou 'pon the mic spitting hotta flame so make sure you wear yer lil asbestos drawers so ya don't get burnt like Kurt Russell!!!!
OH HEY! Ya know what else is cool? You remixing, re-dubbing, re-working and generally mussing up some Drastic riddims. But ... how? By downloading the newest in yet another new Drastics series ... this time of DIY mix-packs (sort of a series within a series .. this month it's sitting in for our belated First Tuesday release) . Up first we have Fidelity which originally appeared on our "Chicago Massive" album. The free-for-download DIY album contains stereo drums, bass, rhythm, and stereo auxiliary sounds ... Just don't go muxin' or melfin' or mylin' around with these tracks now ... jussamussin ... hit up the lil application below or get to our BandCamp page (thedrastics.bandcamp.com) and git'a'downloadin ...
This is by no means a competition, but we'd love to hear what you do with our tunes, so send any of your re-workings to contact@thedrastics.com.
Our new album is also still in production ... we are back on track after a near-studio-meltdown and are getting all our ducks in a row before pulling the trigger on this one. Best be ready those cause this is gonna be 10 solid shots to the dome kid .. with some very extra-special guests!!
And in super advance warnings, we are going to be traveling EAST the first week of November .. expect to find us in PA, NY, VT and some more of America's classiest states November 2-7.
Oh yeah, AND we're now on the Reverb Nation and can find us at www.reverbnation.com/thedrastics.
Yo! Just a quick reminder that we'll be headlining the Milwaukee Street Arts Festival on Friday Night (July 23) with MC Zulu on the mic! The stage is right at the monument at Logan & Milwaukee and we hit at 9:30pm ... ruff! Tons of other great bands all weekend! Come out and get down!
You read right. Your friendly neighborhood reggae squadron is heading south to the land of acadème. We'll be at the Canopy on Thursday, doors at 8pm .. a measly 5 bux to get through the door! We'll probably be hitting around 9pm or so ...
Make sure and get there early to participate in our 3rd Biennial "Cluck Out 'Til You Clock Out Cognition Competition". Due to last years unfortunate incidents, this year we begrudgingly are offering seat belts to all competitors. All contestants will be seated in a precarious velocipede and placed on a state-of-the-art rail track (specially built by the Siamese for this year's event!) surrounding the venue. The participant to first succeed in reaching three "Grand Clucks" will receive this years grand prize: a trip to Old Mr. Beederman's Farm and Abattoir where you will be put to work as an indentured servant until the these damn Siamese are paid. Runner ups will receive an assortment of street signs and manhole covers from Orange County.
Michigonians, Michiganers, Michiganese and Michiganites! We want to see you! But really we want you to see us. Actually, just make sure that you're in the club before you get to the show. And you're gonna wanna make sure that you're still there after you've left. So show up 15 minutes before you leave for the venue and we'll be sure to start playing 38 secon...ds after the music starts. But then again if you stick around after you went home, we'll be sure to be on the road before we leave. Ok, so check it out .. if you're not there after you arrived we'll be sure to wait until BEFORE we get to Kalamazoo to play. Cool?
To make up for last month's epic fail of not posting a new tune, we humbly offer you ingrates this ... a free live EP for the downloading. That's about right ... 5 tracks, 2 new compositions and 3 group improvisations all recorded live at Sketchbook X on June 17, 2010.
I brought a portable recorder and a handful of mics to the gig hoping to capture whatever happened, and the result is some pretty electrifying group playing that teeters between the Sun Ra and Lee Perry schools of music. Drastics' Tenorman Tom couldn't make the gig so we asked our good friends Charles Gorczynski and Nate Lepine to sit in. That left us dub-less and forced the focus onto individual improvisation.
Check it out on BandCamp and preview the songs, download individual ones or the whole album! This music is definitely charting some abstract territories so fare-thee-warned it's not for the faint hearted.
Charles Gorczynski: Alto Sax; Nate Lepine: Tenor Sax; Andrew Zelm: Trombone, Melodica; Brian Citro: Guitar; Chris Merrill: Double Bass; Anthony Abbinanti: Drums.
Time Out Chicago contributor Dave Cantor rolled through the studio the other day and took some footage of us rockin "Ransom The Senator" with our man MC Zulu on the mic. Check out the full story here including the video which is messing up our blog!
MC Zulu - Vox
Tom Riley - Tenor Sax, Live Dub
Andrew Zelm - Melodica
Brian Citro - Guitar
Chris Merrill - Bass
Anthony Abbinanti - Drums, Engineer
We're honored to be included in this year's Sketchbook (the 10th annual) put on by Collaboraction. Your Drastics will be performing ALL NEW MATERIAL on June 17th as part of the festivities .. special instrumental set featuring Charles Gorczynski on Alto Sax and Nate Lepine on Tenor Sax (plus all your favorite Drastic regulars) .. we'll be dropping that mad science on these theater folks so come get some culture already!!! Come early and be part of the Tennessee Williams Mustachathon! Details of this years events will only be revealed 5 minutes prior to the match, so come early and bring plenty of hair!!
Yo, as is apparent on the big board, we got 2 shows this weekend with our good friends from The Natti, The Pinstripes ... big shows, big tunes, pound for pound we like 'em big and round ...
Chris from the Pinstripes even put together a 'lil promo video for the Saturday night show at the Mad Hatter in Convington (across the river from Cincinnati) .. you gotta have ye olde Facebook profile to view ... but peep it here.
Livejournal. Remember that? No? No worries! Unless you were an elitist high school emo girl in the early 2000s you have very little reason to check it out. Slightly better than Friendster and slightly worse than Myspace, Livejournal was (is) a sort of Proto-Blogger/Social Network platform that allows people to blog, create fan communities and generally introduce loads of garbage onto the internet. I've personally never had an account and the few times The Google took me within their domain I was greeted with that image of "girl-with-gun-to-head-and-butterflies-coming-out-the-other-side" faaaaar too many times. So Livejournal ... what is it good for? Awesome weird stuff from Russia, that's what! LJ seems to have done a good job of clearing all the spammy/porno sites outta their kingdom and that's left room for sweet sweet vodka influenced postings, Asian chicks selling homemade clothes, and racists! How do I know? From this image aggregator that pulls all the most recent image posts from LJ users. It's been a secret weapon of sorts while blogging on other sites .. it's definitely a crap shoot but if you refresh that page a couple times a day you're bound to hit on something that just compels you to find out more. Not for the timid however, you'll still run across some cold-nasty porno and racists .. but it wouldn't be the internet without it.
Anyways, I sometimes collect images from the site and so as a sort of non-content blog post: here's a bunch of weird stuff to wrap your mind around ...
We just signed up with SoundCloud where you can stream our tracks at CD quality. Some oldies but goodies up there that got taken down from our Myspace page .. leave us some comments!
