(WP) In three consecutive nights, Riot Fest returns to the club where it all started. With three of the most important bands to the festival's history - Naked Raygun, Alkaline Trio, and Screeching Weasel.
Riot Mike chose Metro for the 20th anniversary shows because of the long history between him and Joe Shanahan, who Mike considers one of his biggest mentors. There would be no better way to cap off Riot Fest's 20th anniversary than with a Naked Raygun show at the Metro, because Joe and Mike's love for the band is matched by few others. Their joint history criss-crosses the years before the fest moved outdoors, when it was staged in Chicago clubs, and each man has been involved with the band in myriad ways over the years.
Naked Raygun will perform a limited smattering of songs proving their truly legendary status. "We will be playing a short set of limited songs. It will be a curated compendium of scant canticles, a smattering of sing-alongs, a fleeting few of your favorite feats......about as long as Jeff's attention span. Seriously - go pee before we go on stage or you'll miss the whole thing," teased drummer Eric Spicer.
While Screeching Weasel are joined by The Effigies on Friday, 9/19 (Riot Fest reunited Screeching Weasel in 2009, and The Effigies played the first year). Militarie Gun will support Alkaline Trio (who played the 5th fest) on Saturday, 9/20. Capping off the festival Sunday, 9/21, Naked Raygun and Marky Ramone and Buzzcocks will perform. This will be an extremely rare appearance of Naked Raygun, the first in 6 years.
The band are also launching a Dark Matter Coffee collaboration (available at the festival and stores) and plans are underway to re-issue all their albums on remastered color vinyl via Touch & Go Records on October 24th.
They are currently working on a book, tentatively titled I Remember: The Story of Naked Raygun (A Chicago Punk Rock Tale) on PM Press in 2027.
Naked Raygun were an extraordinary staple in the Chicago music scene - beginning in the early 80's and continuing until their quiet demise in the early 90's. Their music showed the world that punk rockers could play and be really good at it. Founded in Chicago in 1980, by Marco Pezzati, Jeff Pezzati and Santiago Durango, Naked Raygun released six albums during their eleven year career that would change the sound of punk rock indefinitely. The band is widely recognized as being one of the most influential punk bands of the 80's.
Their anthemic style incorporated politics in a uniquely accessible way, melding pop and hardcore into one cohesive sound, that would later be dubbed, "The Chicago Sound".
Dave Grohl, of Nirvana and Foo Fighters, has frequently discussed seeing Naked Raygun as his first concert in 1982 (when he was 13) at Chicago's Cubby Bear. During their October 17, 2014, show at the Cubby Bear, Jeff Pezatti joined the band for a Naked Raygun cover. Naked Raygun themselves later opened for Foo Fighters on select dates during the Sonic Highways World Tour.
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