Illinois

“Hang On“
from the EP The Adventures of Kid Catastrophe – Chapter 1
2008
iTunes

Ambition is often not appropriately used when discussing music. What we often deem as ambitious isn’t anything more than rehashing the same ideas over and over again. However, the quartet from Bucks County, PA known as Illinois can be described in no other way but ambitious. Consisting of Chris “Arch” Archibald (guitar, keys, banjo, lead vocals), Martin Hoeger (bass, vocals), Dan Pawlovich (guitar, keys, vocals), and John Paul Kuyper (drums), Illinois is set to launch an expansive, multiplatform debut.

Despite gaining a reputation for putting on a great live show, Illinois has released only one EP (2007’s What the Hell Do I Know?) on Ace Fu Records. While it may appear that Arch stopped writing, nothing could be further from the truth.

One hundred fourteen songs (that’s right, 114!) were written and recorded by Arch for this demo in his basement on GarageBand. With a rag tag collection of technology at their disposable, the result was a very raw yet incredibly honest product. What does this project sound like? Expect Illinois to take a stab at various genres to provide a very complex, musically experimental debut.

These 114 tracks are part of a concept album that features Kid Catastrophe. Kid Catastrophe, the alter ego of Arch, is disillusioned with the world. The various, contrasting sounds provided on this album add to the confusion Catastrophe feels in his adventures.

Beginning November 4, Illinois will begin an EP (which is a small portion of the largerer project) and a chapter from their short films every month for the next six months. Each EP will consist of three songs, and iTunes’ and Toutube will serve as the digital platforms for the audio as well as the video. People-Food have gained acclaim for their high-concept videos, so it only made sense to work with them on such a high concept project. Using the Kid Catastrophe adventures as inspiration, People-Food wrote, directed, and produced shorts, which eventually leads to a 20-minute film.

The final phase of this debut will come in the form of monthly residencies. From November 3 to January 16, the group will spend most of their time on the East Coast touring. The cities included on this tour include New York, Washington, Boston, and Philadelphia. In addition, they will be expanding their tour in 2009 to Chicago, San Franciso, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Austin, and various others that have yet to be announced.

With six months of EPs, short films and residences, Illinois’ The Adventures of Kid Catastrophe is set to satisfy fans who are hungry for more material and will establish them as one of the more adventurous groups to come out in quite some time.