The Dead On Takes Aim

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 9, 2012 8:20PM

What happens when a bunch of guys from bands you used to love get together to make music? Well, sometimes it's a disaster. In the case of The Dead On, though, the results are fantastic. Led by Rudy Gonzalez, the group mines the territory between The Replacements and Cheap Trick. This isn't surprising, becasue while Gonzalez more recently led the soul group The Midnight Shows, before that he was in the rock and/or roll juggernaut Woolworthy. The group is rounded out by Greg Mytych, previously seen in The Reputation, former Penthouse Sweets drummer Loren Guzik and ex-Empty Space guitarist Charley Ryan.

The band has only a handful of shows under it's collective studded belt thus far, but each time we've seen them play we've seen songs we already thought were just about perfect get even better. It's fin to watch a band filled with seasoned vets actually work hard in front of your eyes to improve their material instead of merely sprawling across the stage in hopes that their laurels will keep them from falling over. In fact there's something delightfully old school about the band, from the fact that they had a logo long before they had a first show to the obvious effort they put into each and every chord once they did hit the stage.

There's a Midwestern workhorse sensibility to their attack, but it's spiked by a raw aggression fed by something burning deep within the belly of the band. These are guys that haven't coasted through life, and they're sure as hell not going to take their music for granted either. They want to be loud, they want to be catchy and they want to be sexy, and they'll damn well keep working at that until they make you a convert.

The band's currently working on their debut, but you can catch them tonight at Double Door when they play with another Chicagoist fave The Handcuffs and the always entertaining and damn near immortal The Supersuckers. It should be a hell of an evening.