DINGLEVAULT: EVIL ILLEGAL - "SCRATCHBOOK"

Yeah! Well good news all around, we've got a slew of releases coming out in the spring, most of which are already very far down the pipeline. Keep yr. eyes out for them making their way around in April.

That being said, got yet another internet re-issue of one of the best local bands to spring out of Belleville, Evil Illegal! The band themselves had broken up in early 2006, but the records definitely hold up and demonstrate their intensity and appeal. The original release of this was one of the first ones on Dingle in 2007, back when it was all just free paper CD-Rs. Thankfully we've taken some babysteps up the ladder of label evolution and aren't doing too much of that anymore(or are we?)

Starting in some timeframe around 2004, Evil Illegal was comprised of dudes from both Belleville and Mascoutah IL. The core lineup was Jon Maguire, Brandon Brewer, and Erik Wolfe, but in early days I think that fluctuated with a bass player and second guitar before going back to simply guitar/drum. They played across the Belleville area and extended into St. Louis as well, and from my memories going to shows in early high school they were definitely the most engaging and entertaining band you could catch. By the time I already had gotten into them they were fairly "locally" popular and had developed a flock of girls in the front row of their shows wearing cut up Evil Illegal t-shirts, better days indeed. Most people I knew weren't explicitly into them at the time because most belleville bands were ska or high school punk in the circle of show-goers I was around, but Evil Illegal definitely holds up much more than any of those other bands have for me. The band collapsed sometime in 2006 and Jon and Brandon went on to form The Mhurs(who are still active in STL now, without Brandon however). Erik focused on Illegal Tone Recordings, which he started around the timeframe of Evil Illegal's final year and continued it up till recently, and in 2008 started a band with Brandon called Yamada Taro, then starting Egg Chef in summer 2009. All the tracks stand up strong even now, sometimes you even forget this band was just guitar and drum due to how aggressive the music can get. Check it out, reference a friend to it, pretend it's your band! whatever. Listen to it here, and check out a video of em' playing the former all ages Main Street Jazz & Blues(now known as the 21+ and less fun Blue Agave)