So, I saw the Atlanta, GA band The Back Pockets a few months ago at The Hideout. They were the opening band. There were two other bands, their names being Bland Indie Rock and Some People Who Think Singing California Über Alles A Capella Is Amusing. It didn’t matter. I loved The Back Pockets. I had no prior knowledge of them, no expectations, and they blew me away.

I Googled them afterwards and found their blog. I also found their MySpace page, which listed tour dates. I would periodically visit it to see if they were returning to Chicago. Hey, they were coming back here on May 16th. Yes!

I didn’t recognize the bar they were playing at. It was in Logan Square. The bar had a MySpace page, but it didn’t have a proper website. I had never seen a music venue that didn’t have its own website. Hmm.

It turns out it wasn’t a bar. It was this.

It was someone’s house. I hadn’t seen a band play at a house since college. I got to the house and stared at it for a couple minutes. There was a minivan parked on the street that I recognized from the Hideout — it belonged to the Pockets, so I figured I was in the right place. A guy came out and started talking on his cellphone. I politely interrupted him after a couple minutes. I thought I remembered him being in the band. He was! He went in and got one of the people that lived at the house.

She came out and told me yes, the show was at the house, and to come back at 9pm. I went and got a burrito, took a picture of some Sidewalk Liquor, walked for a bit, had a beer, returned.

I didn’t know anyone at the house. They were tattooed and smoked a lot. I sat down in the corner of the basement and waited. For about 45 minutes. Until the show actually started.

The first band was actually a solitary woman who played some organ, but mostly played guitar. She had a pretty voice. The second band I did not dig. By this time I was sweating and overheated. The windows were covered with soundproofing and the small basement room was filled with people.

The Back Pockets were the last to play, but once they started to play, I was glad I had come. They are what I would call artsy-fartsy. They are theatrical. I am being completely complimentary when I say this. They had drawn on a whole bunch of cardboard boxes, and had arranged them around the room. Some of the bandmembers wandered through the audience during the set, sometimes crawling, sometimes dancing erotically, sometimes in costume (for one song, an eerie ostrich with glowing yellow eyes pecked at the crowd), sometimes just knocking into people.

They were brimming with creativity, and passion, and earnestness for good music. I liked them a lot. I hope they can make a living at doing this, because they deserve to.

I bought a CD of theirs after the show for $7. They had hand-painted each CD sleeve. I think mine is very pretty.

Their MySpace page has some music you can stream, but I had trouble playing it. I have uploaded a few tracks for you to hear. I hope you like them.

Support Interesting Music! Support The Back Pockets!