Here Is Scotland Yard Gospel Choir's Ode To Clark And Belmont (Their First New Song In 5 Years)
By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 4, 2016 5:25PM
Photo credit: Casey Black
Chicago's Scotland Yard Gospel Choir has been largely on hiatus since a horrific bus crash that almost killed the whole band in 2009. In fact, since the crash, many band members left for other parts of the country. Frontman Elia Einhorn, most notably, went to New York to pursue music, while also producing and engineering The Talkhouse's series of excellent podcasts. However, the band has resurfaced today with a new track, "Clark & Belmont."
The band is sharing the unreleased song with Chicagoist in reaction to a recent spate of closings in Lakeview, which hit Chicago's underground scene hard. It began with the demise of the Dunkin' Donuts at the intersection of Clark and Belmont—lovingly also known as Punkin' Donuts based on the throngs of misfits in its lot. Soon after came news that The Alley, where many of those misfits bought clothes that pissed off legions of parents, would be closing as well. The loss of this slice of Chicago that drove so many young kids into the arms of punk rock, indie music, and all things anti-establishment inspired Scotland Yard Gospel Choir to finally release some new music.
Einhorn told Chicagoist that this is the first song from the band's recorded but unreleased next (and final) album. Here's your exclusive first listen.
The liner notes from the single do a great job of summing up the feeling that drove the song's creation:
long live punkin donuts! long live every squat-dwelling, tattooed scalp bumming cigarettes on the corner, every brace-faced skokie middle-schooler with a crass patch, every homeless runaway in a germs shirt and mini skirt, every should-be-in-school kid talking about bands too obscure for you. long live the thirty of us who got arrested that summer night in maybe '96 when the owners of punkin donuts got sick of us sitting (aka trespassing) in their parking lot. god bless david who got his balls grabbed by a cop for talking back, dylan who was taken to the police station on his first-ever acid trip, ginger whose dad tried to use his clout to get him out of jail and thoroughly failed. long live the trans prostitutes doing blow under the italian restaurant awning, long live the aa’s from the queer sober clubhouse over ann sather who hoped we'd join them sooner rather than later. god bless the ones who made it out alive and the ones who didn't. long live clark and belmont!
"Clark & Belmont" was recorded and mixed by Mark Yoshizumi, and produced by Yoshizumi and Einhorn. This song sees the return of the iconic line-up of the Choir, featuring Ethan Adelsman, Elia Einhorn, Alison Hinderliter, Mary Ralph, Jay Santana and Mark Yoshizumi.