Modestep Brings Electronic Rock Back To Chicago

By Katie Karpowicz in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 29, 2013 7:00PM

The rock band with a DJ combination was a formula that died out, for better or worse, during the early 2000s. However, with an especially huge surge in the popularity of electronic music in the past several years, it's no surprise that musicians are once again making attempts at the crossover genre.

It seems as though this time around it's being well received — at least within the EDM community. London act Modestep played Chicago for its first time last summer at North Coast Music Festival and, to the surprise of many, it was one of the wildest and best attended sets of the weekend. When Modestep drummer Matthew Curtis called Chicagoist to chat in between Ultra Music Festival performances, he recounted the group's NCMF appearances as "one of the best shows our band has ever played in America."

Modestep is comprised of Curtis, guitarist Nick Tsang, singer Josh Friend and his brother and the band's live DJ Tony Friend.

The band scored a breakout hit with their single "Sunlight" soon after forming in 2011, but were forced to rely heavily on their DJ breakdowns and "covers" of other electronic artists songs during live sets until their debut album Evolution Theory was finally released last month — a delay that Curtis attributes to "a lot of back and forth" with Modestep's label A&M Records.

Now that Evolution Theory is out though, Curtis claims the band plans to start incorporating more original compositions and live instrumentation into their first U.S. headlining tour, making its way through Chicago on April 6.

"We're basically waiting for the album to be out a bit longer. We want to wait for people to get more familiar with it. The more original tracks we can play, the better. One of our selling points though is that we're able to integrate the live DJ sets with the album."

"Integrate" is a word that Modestep has essentially built itself off of. The brothers Friend have been DJing for years but Curtis admits he came from a "metal and rock" musical background. From the bass-boosted electronic breakdowns to the guitar riffage to Friend's soulful vocals, Evolution Theory certainly is a mixed bag of influences.

"We don't want to pigeonhole ourselves. I think that's the beauty of Modestep," says Curtis of his band.

Modestep plays its second ever show in Chicago on April 6 at the House of Blues at 329 N. Dearborn St. Tickets are still on sale for $25.