UPDATE + ADIOS, ITR!

all photos taken by mabel suen, big thanks to her and joe @ wrong division

Hello everyone! (for anyone reading this? IS ANYONE READING THIS?!?!?!) Haven't given a update since Turkey Season but not because I'm lazy and uncommitted, but because there is in actuality little to report! Thankfully I've amassed enough news to make a noteworthy post. Some reviews of "Trauma Demolitional" and "Erman" EP are from folkies, and right now the process of two compilation tapes(one studio & one live) in the workings. More info on that soon enough.


Anywhoo, Bigger fish are up to the ancestral sacrificial pedestal, this big fish being the closure of Illegal Tone Recordings(aka ITR), in Belleville, IL. A studio/venue that will stand out as far as location, independence, and aesthetics as far as the area of Belleville goes fur immer. Not trying to toot my own horn here either, I only co-ran it for under a year, and that's in regards to a four and half year lifespan. I guess I was around for that entirety and probably longer, so angry folkies can probably find some area to bash any positive comments I make!

Patrick Sexton came through over the summer and wrote a awesome article on the blog Suave Citation in his own perception of the venue and the community mindset of the dudes and dudettes of Belleville. Really great stuff all around! Joe & Mabel took the helms of doing a full write-up and giving the place's last gasp the limelight to the Riverfront Times, which can be read here(another one here) and is pretty sweet if you're at all curious to any kind of history or development of the venue.

          As I mentioned if you want a history lesson just check out the two articles above, I'm not going to spiel on about stuff I've already rambled about(but I probably am going to still anyway). Instead I guess I'll talk about cool memories or something. Anywhoo, I guess I'll start with the very outside image of the building. Nothing will top the reactions of bands arriving to see the goofy flagship image that conjures the majestic ITR, a printed spread of Jimi Hendrix burning his guitar(which was a marketing gimmick by Erik in a attempt to lure simple minded jam bands that they'll be as cool as jimi and jon bonam if they record here and die of a drug overdose as well and be glorified by people trying to emulate them playing at hard rock cafe).  The original atrium layout walking into one door and having a open hall to hang/look at merchandise was always a great feeling as well. Sometimes I was completely anxious walking into the room like it was some amusement park ride, or just seconds away from seeing some awesome band. As it stood as a recordings studio, I had super fun recording a bunch of stuff there. (Recorded two albums with Stiff Kittens, A massive amount of material by The Belleville Pizza Raptors that will never see the light of day, a rap album with Patrick Cadaver that will never see the light of day, Everything Egg Chef ever recorded, The Reaganomics/Fudge, and even recently, the first French Fry Guy EP.)  The first year of room engulfing circle-pits to third wave ska, reopening queue lines because the hype was that much, wall ball and skate videos, basement exploitation movies, super dew, laughing at people laughing at us calling it a straight edge venue, the list goes on and on and on. Some people my age seem to only recollect on the initial year it was open prior to the first shut-down, which is cool because alot of those people maybe had fallen out of going to shows or whatever during the gap it was closed(even though there were a buttload of shows happening in that time too elsewhere) and don't seem to bring up past that often. Sometime in the 09'/10' zone there was this weird blacklisting thing going on with ITR that was pretty goofy, which also was fine because anyone who actually acted on it probably wasn't that down of a person to begin with. I was also quoted in the same article saying I spent my high school days booking shows at pizza places in a quote of broken and fractured sentences. It was on that day that I hired my first PR agent, and have been living the good life ever since.
               Generally hanging out and somehow playing every generation of video games bi-yearly, and seeing goofy and weird confrontational situations involving drunks, idiot kids, and people complaining ITR wasn't treating bands good. The latter was always perplexing and also increasingly irritating, I think anyone will becoming disenchanted with a place when for one you're booking bands you don't even like, then to have people tell you you're not running YOUR place the way it should be is brain-clotting.

        Taking over the venue was pretty cool as well. The arrival of Tarpland(pictured above!) and Erik's Snack Shack were fun to do, and even more so having a show in Tarpland! Meeting tons of people and hanging out with down to earth folks was great. Of course initially things were weird and shaky and Erik didn't have any trust in either Andy or I that we were capable of running the place(which I don't know to this day has changed!) and sometimes It was overwhelming and mindbogglingly frustrating, but the end result was totally worth it for ever single corroded-axon-perceived nanosecond of whatever.
       Either or, I'm super bummed that the venue is closing abruptly and for good. The idea of closing was a slow-moving glacier but the glacier managed to trip on a stick and fall into the sun instantly. But sadness should be momentary, as it closing opens up new pathways for people to take shows around the area as well. There were already a bubbling group of high school/college freshmen doing shows at their houses, and the use of renting halls was discarded for the easy accessibility of ITR for free and with less hassle, not due to any kind of problem or dispute. Perhaps people will start booking in halls again? Possibly even looking into opening up their own space in a rented building? I would hope that would be some kind of result from folks seeing ITR closing down and maybe try to emulate the idea or something, not to say ITR was a godsend or anything, but just their own version of a positive environment-sh place or just a place to go and have fun and do whatever they've been wanting to. Clinging to the past or looking at what was in regret and sadness won't create anything but bad vibes and still-water progression of inspiration and drive to go out to create something.(Sorry folks reading this not from around the Belleville area, out of context this probably looks overtly preachy and exaggerated [ppl in context might think this is dumb too lol], so thanks for reading this far if you don't give a crap and am perplexed at a 22 year old guy ranting about a building being shut down). So Anyway, thats probably all I can say or think of to say at the current time. It was a blast but ah, such is life. I'm typing this at work and it's Sunday, nobody is here and my feet are tired from standing for the last five hours, so I guess I'm going to go eat now. Make it out to the last show if you're reading this, if you happen to read in post-Jan 31st, It's okay, we love you anyway. Here's some last gasps of glory to give you a momentary glimpse into stuff.

The Undefined, 2007. Freeburg's Favorite Son killing it at the first Halloween show.



How to Steat & Cheal, third wave champs/mainstays of 07/08 + circle pit enthusiasts



Suburban Epidemic, pogo punx heroes from 2008/09



Meth Mouth, hardcore high skoolerz recording at a shut down ITR, 2008.


The Belleville Pizza Raptors, 2009 definitive pizza cover band



Hood Kicks, one man keyboard purple sounds, 2010.



You're Not Kablamo!, 2010. The brainchild of the world's most punk recess attendant Patrick Cadaver.






Carte De Visite, unloved & underrated indy 500s in 10'





Dem Scientist, Freeburg's Favorite Son pt. II, 2011.





French Fry Guys, absurdist foodpunk ska nobody gets down the fryhole. 2011





The Taxpayers playing ITR in one of the more memorable shows of Summer 11'






Lots more to be found, but I'm on time constraints, sorry! All these vidz should have linked vids to more vids of vids of vids all regarding ITR. Stay gold.