by Jon Anastas & Dave Smallee
The Effigies, Chicago's leading hardcore band, stopped in Boston recently as part of their national tour. They played two shows at the Rat including a well attended all ages show.
As a band the Effigies are very different from the usual 30 second hardcore explosion. Rather, they play a slow, powerful and consistent musical assault, and easily won the approval and respect of the Boston crowd. After the show the band had a lot to say, first in their van and later in more comfortable surroundings.
According to the band, organizing a scene in the Chicago area wasn't easy. "When we first formed there was really. nothing," recalls vocalist John Kezdy. "The Necros and their crowd were about two hundred miles away, and Chicago didn't have skate punks or anything like that. Now there's a whole new breed of bands, but most of them run around calling us assholes and telling people that we sold out. Just because we spent the time building the kind of reputation with the clubs where we can get shows pretty much as we please. It's a lot like the first time we toured. We went around supporting everyone in sight, bands we didn't even like, and when we got back to Chicago, bands were still running to Jello Biafra telling him how awful we were. We just couldn't do enough."
Politically, the Effigies feel that proposing answers is not necessarily the most important statement a band should be making. They see themselves as a "choice" band, meaning that they don't give answers or preach to anybody. Instead, they make sure that people know they have options. The band seems bothered by the attitude of most "punk" groups like the Dead Kennedys who try to pass opinion off as fact. Another thing the band finds to be important is keeping a working class background. All the members of the band have to work to support their music.
Extensive touring has exposed the Effigies to many of the country's leading hardcore scenes. They seem to have genuinely good feelings for most of the places they have played, particularly the DC area.
"We were definitely expecting a lot of trouble when we went to DC," explained Kezdy. "I had made a bunch of stupid comments in Flipside (magazine) about their scene. So we were expecting them to slash our tires or something, but when we got there it couldn't have been cooler. The whole scene was really together for its size. I was most amazed at the lack, of police trouble because about two hundred kids were hanging out in front of this club the night that we played. If that had happened in Chicago the cops would have shut down the club long before the show even started."
The Effigies have released a now out of print four song EP, Haunted Town, on Autumn Records, and a new single, "Bodybag / Security" on their own label, Ruthless Records. The decision to take control of their own product came after a series of bad experiences with the first EP. The band felt that the business aspects of the label had been mismanaged and took control of all aspects of the label, running the entire operation out of various homes. Along with working on their next record, the Effigies plan to release three records by other Chicago bands ranging from hardcore to avant garde. The first release is planned for early November.
The Effigies, seem to be a band that is very serious about what they believe in. This is truly evident in both their music and dedication to local bands. Anyone interested should write: Ruthless Records, PO Box 1458, Evanston, IL 60204.