Interview Cooking up a storm: Meat Wave

Chicago trio dive into lewd puns and lo-fi garage punk with Loren DiBlasi.

Words: Loren DiBlasi
22nd January 2015

Depending on factors such as age, mood, and current state of maturity, the term “meat wave” may be interpreted several ways. The band Meat Wave, who’ve christened themselves after a lewd pun, don’t particularly care. “We’re nice guys. We like to joke around,” frontman Chris Sutter explains. “I mean, a band like Diarrhea Planet - do they get as much flack as we do?”

All bodily functions aside, Meat Wave make raw, lo-fi garage punk that’s cut with a generous slice of humour. Dark, angsty lyrics, soaring guitars, and crushing melodies abound on their forthcoming ‘Brother’ EP, and yet the Chicago trio take it all in stride. “Our music does tend to be a little more serious, but that’s not how we want to be seen as a band,” says Sutter. “We like to have fun.”

This past October, Meat Wave hit the road with local Chicago heroes Geronimo! for a brief stint across the eastern United States. Soon, the band will play their first-ever UK dates.

In advance of Meat Wave’s first trip abroad, DIY spoke with Sutter and bassist Joe Gac about their hometown scene, introducing people to their sound, and a couple of musical conspiracy theories, just for good measure.

Let’s have a quick rundown of how you guys met and started playing music together.

Chris Sutter: Ryan [Wizniak, drums] and I were in a band together previously, and we wanted to start something new. We knew that Joe was good at recording and that he played bass, so the three of us got together, never having played music together, and it felt really good. We kept on writing songs and ended up recording our first record. We’ve been moving forward ever since.

Can you describe the current landscape of the DIY scene in Chicago? Is it a community based on house shows, venues, or both?

Chris: Both. We don’t play that many house shows, but there are a lot of bands that do. There’s a lot of great networking in Chicago. There are a lot of people who are in it for the same thing. So there are a lot of friends and there’s always a show to go to. Not so much house shows for us, but we play a lot of shows and so do our friends.

Joe Gac: There’s a pretty high turnover for DIY spaces. You know how it goes.

Spaces are there one minute, gone the next.

Joe: There are lots of good places, but sometimes they don’t last very long.

What are some great Chicago venues to check out?

Chris: We really like the Empty Bottle, it’s a great place. We had a really fun time playing at Lincoln Hall. We just like places with really good, pristine sound.

We used to play a lot at this place called Township. That’s where we kind of learned to be a band. We would play a show a month there.

Joe: Sometimes more.

Chris: That place just stopped hosting shows, which is sad for us and our friends.

Besides Geronimo!, what are some other local acts you enjoy playing with?

Joe: There’s a band called Foul Pit, they’re a drum and bass two-piece. Their sound is super minimal, but kind of explosive. They also have a really great sense of humour. Melkbelly are another great band. Paper Mice have a real spastic, almost hardcore jazz sound. Rad Payoff are friends of ours. They play really abrasive, powerful music.

You recently said that the ‘Brother’ EP is like a “Meat Wave mixtape.” What makes it a great introduction to the band?

Joe: It spans all eras. There are two songs off our first record, two songs from the record we recorded a year ago that’s not out yet, two brand new songs that we recorded in like an hour, hour-and-a-half at our practice space.

"I’ve never been out of the country. I just want to do it all, see it all."

— Chris Sutter

How did the EP come together?

Chris: We were originally supposed to have the song ‘Brother’ as part of a 7” single to coincide with our tour, but that idea was nixed, so we kept the same concept as ‘Brother’ and just made it an EP.

What are current plans for your next LP, and how will it be different from what you’ve previously released?

Chris: Our next record is being planned right now. There’s no title yet. It will be out by the end of the year, we hope.

Joe: The EP we recorded when we were a band for, I dunno, about five months. On this new one, we’ve been a band for about a year-and-a-half. We have more experience playing with each other, so there will definitely be a progression.

Chris: It’s longer, it’s got harder songs, more poppy songs. If you knew our band, you’d still know that it’s us.