Search - Weather :: Putting Smiling Faces On Negative Spaces

In the summer of 2003 Patrick (past: Kill Sadie, My Lai, present: Locks) moved back to Chicago after a few years of living in various cities. Shortly after returning, he asked a few friends for recommendations of who to play some music with. Everyone he talked to said "Remember Theo (past: Stillwell, Service Anxiety, present: Locks, A Tundra)? He's become one of the better drummers in town". So one day at a RUINS show, the two talked about music and found a great amount of common ground. Only a few days later Patrick was walking his dog through Humboldt Park with longtime friend Roby (past: Milemarker present: Cex, Sand Cats) and the two came up with the idea to start a band. They called Theo and Weather was born. The common ground shared by all three is a history of D.I.Y. punk and hardcore. They all have been active musicians since the mid 90's, touring, putting out records and most importantly, making music that was honest to them. They also possessed a strong desire to explore other forms of musical expression notably; free improvisation, minimalism, noise, and drone. So as Weather they decided to take the punk and hardcore of their previous bands and reinterpret it through a filter of the more experimental sounds they had embraced over the years. The trio wrote a handful of songs and hit the road as soon as they could. Their second show was actually in Washington D.C. the day before the "March For Women's Lives" in 2004, in which they marched. The goal was to maintain music as a political outlet especially if it expanded past the cliches that hardcore had slipped into. They made a conscious effort to be present at all sorts of political marches and rallies including a few days spent protesting in New York during the Republican National Convention in 2004. Although WEATHER only lasted about a year and a half, they toured three times. Twice by themselves and once with Cex (Tigerbeat 6, Temporary Residence) and Aloha (Plyvinyl). Playing shows in basements, art spaces, parks, clubs, and even a park pavilion in a thunderstorm while a tornado alarm was going off. Those who witnessed WEATHER saw a barrage of feedback, bombastic drums, and Roby's signature howls peppered with Patrick's scattered shouts, that would stop on a dime to have a call and response "game" of found objects played through the pickups of their instruments, which would jerk back into a noisy, yet catchy post-post hardcore song ending with a squall of noise that would fade into a serene drone. Their only recording session became the album "Putting Smiling Faces On Negative Spaces", which was released in March of 2005 on the un-collectivized (at that point) Static Station label. But with the band having broken up in April of 2005, it never got it's proper attention, until now.