Mick’s vocals initially may remind you of David Byrne, but once the song changes directions at the 4-minute mark with a cool guitar riff, Ginger’s vocoder and gorgeous harmonies, you realize the band is creating its own unique sound that likely will influence other artists. Mick kicks things off with a muscular guitar riff before Ginger adds a 1980’s-flavored synthesizer fill. “Tesla Coil Magnet Train” is an excellent example of the band’s eclectic style. Ginger, on the other hand, loves bluegrass and honky tonk, and was raised on punk bands like Fugazi. You hear a lot of Bowie in our music and that’s definitely not by accident.”Ĭurrently, the band has written 20 original songs and Joey says they’ll be heading to the studio to record some of these songs in May. “My mom played a ton of Bowie, Stones, Beatles and Paul Simon when I was growing up. The band describes its sound as “Syd Barrett singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to David Byrne,” and clearly owes a musical debt to Talking Heads, with flourishes of Marc Bolan, David Bowie, Peter Murphy and even Minneapolis’ beloved Trip Shakespeare tossed in for good measure.ĭid someone’s parents own a killer music collection? I never knew his name, but since he gave me the creeps, we immortalized him by naming our band the 8-bit crEEps.” “One guy lurked about Sinbad’s Castle, Haunted Trail and other southside Chicago arcades. “These arcades were dark, dank and filled with lowlifes with bad mullets who mindlessly played the 8-bit video games that were popular at the time,” Mick said. The band’s name was influenced the dimly-lit video arcades that Mick used to frequent when he was a kid. We describe it as new sounds on old circuits.” “Our music definitely has a psych-surf/post-punk sound,” Jbird says, “but we have been influenced by so many artists and genres of music that we find it difficult to put a label on our music. While 11 of The Van Gogh’s pop gems live in perpetuity on Soundcloud, the 8-bit crEEps have a harder-edged sound, featuring longer tracks that give the quartet plenty of opportunities to stretch out and show off. He helped transform our sound and we’ve continued to refine it ever since.” “We were looking for a new drummer and put an ad on Craig’s List,” Mick says. Founded in 2016 after guitarist Mick Kong, bassist Jbird James and keyboardist Ginger Glitch dissolved The Van Goghs, they beefed up their sound and became the 8-bit crEEps when former Wedding Photography drummer Joey Charch joined the band. ![]() The CHIRP Blog Mike Nikolich writes 8-bit crEEps Play New Sounds on Old CircuitsĬhicago’s music scene is bursting with talented bands that deserve national attention, and 8-bit crEEps is no exception.
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