Tynan's Anger: You Can't Compete With Cathy Santoni

No new post, but with Chicago rock 'n' roll in the news with Pitchfork and Lolla on the horizon, I thought it high time to republish a post from my old blog about one of the better local bands I encountered in Chicago*:

The Cathy Santonies: University of Chicago Riot Grrls
(November 6, 2007)

One of my friends at this school once remarked that his brother decided not to apply to the University of Chicago because of the write-up we got in Rolling Stone's Guide to Colleges that Rock. Apparently, our campus is so classical-based that its pathetic rock offerings are taking away potential applicants. This coming from the publication that gave Papa Roach 4 stars.

Well, on Saturday I did discover one band that may change that. Fire Escape Films hosted the event Synesthesia, which put student films on the backdrop of some of the University's best rock bands. The featured band was U of C rock staple The Goddamn Shame, who had the unfortunate problem of trying to banter with the crowd with a guy fellating a toothbrush in the background. But the band that stuck out to me the most was The Cathy Santonies, a band of two girls and a guy who have been performing together for only a year and a half, but sounded like goddamn pros. They played a nice mix of riott girl and balls out punk rock, and sounded like Bikini Kill, X, and Le Tigre (bassist Radio Santoni donned a Le Tigre shirt during the performance). They seemed a bit unsure of themselves performing, but if they keep playing like that, they'll get more comfortable much more quickly.

The Cathy Santonies' next performance is on July 29th at the Beat Kitchen.

*I'm by no means the only critic whose interest the Cathy Santonies have perked. Jim DeRogatis likes them enough to write about them for the Chicago Sun-Times. They've also opened for DeRo's own band Vortis several times.