Based in the sleepy suburbs just west of Chicago, Tractor Boy is a 27 year old band in the making. Drummer/Singer Mike and Singer/Bassist Steve have been playing together on and off since the mid-1990’s, amid other projects, collaborations and the global war on terror. The two recently encountered a remarkable force of nature named Raul, who fills out the trio by shredding harder than any modern guitar player ever could. With a combined weight of over 700 lbs., the band is easily the heaviest rock band in the Midwest, possibly even the world. With songs about conspiracy theories, war, post-traumatic stress disorder, horror/fiction and beer, the band covers a wide berth of subject matter. Blended up in chugging guitars, blistering solo’s, and a relentlessly crushing rhythm section, the words are spit out by voices that are equal parts James Hetfield and John Fogerty. They are the sonic equivalent of a Combine Harvester, a throwback to the rock gods of old, but still tinged with modern ideals. Tractor Boy are the band you never knew you desperately needed in your life, but they have been here waiting all along. Get in.

Ex members of Shot Baker and The Symptoms.. don’t give up your Marshall amplifiers to play an acoustic set, there is plenty of power along the road…

HotLips Messiah is Chicago’s premier mutant rock band. They have been a fixture on the Chicago punk and mutant rock scene for a decade and played legendary venues such as the Lounge Ax and the Fireside Bowl. Large venues like the Congress Theatre, and dinky little holes in the wall like the Big Horse. They have played with bands as obscure as Phil A. Sheo & the Goods and with bands as huge as the Misfits. With classic original bands like the Avengers and the Germs and with modern inspired schizos the Rotten Fruits, the Urinal Mints and the Functional Blackouts. Musically, they are a tornado of noise, filth and ass-shaking melody and catchiness. Lyrically, they use science fiction and sleaze as a blunt metaphor for the INhuman condition mankind finds itself in today.

The kids know what’s up and, all of a sudden, the kids are really into The Kobanes, with T-shirts and other merch cropping up en masse. A split label Japanese release to coincide with one of the band’s infamous Japanese tours, Japan Invasion is a very solid, mainline pop punk album. Taking 1990s silliness to new peaks with songs about loved ones smelling each other’s feces, suburban ghettos, dicks, and drugs, The Kobanes’ lyrics are gleefully apolitical, mean-spirited, and downright asinine. And that’s a compliment! Driving, Queers-inspired riffs dominate the mix, with geek-tinged vocals maintaining a spirited, tongue-in-ass-cheek vibe. A higher end byproduct of a dwindling subgenre, Japan Invasion happily invaded this aging pop punker’s heavy rotation. There’s even a cover of “Fan Mail” included for Dickies fans. Plus, any album that starts with a dialog sample from Class of Nuke ’em High is okay by me. –Art Ettinger