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The best kept secret in music
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You never know what you’re going to get when you pick-up a CD with a massive colonial style ship on the cover. I was hoping for some pirate sea chanteys about drinking rum and pillaging towns or something , not some easy listening garbage of the likes of Enya. But to my pleasant surprise, Call The Medic was neither! In fact it’s better than the best pirate chantey there could be about rum.
The Chicago quintet, have conjured up a five track EP that borders hardcore, grunge and punk but harbors none of the harsh elements of those genres. It’s soft on the ears and still rocks despite simple and raw production. Even with their Chicago handicap, Ships and Sailing contains that special kind of energy that you can only find in records like Sonic youth and The Pixies. “Holland Here I Come� kicks off the EP with some pop tendencies that catch the ear right from the beginning and sounds like what I imagine a My Chemical Romance demo tape must sound like. What breaks Call The Medic away from the dregs of the (insert whatever bullshit cool prefix of the month here)core scene are Nicholas Matjeeak’s screams and cinematic lyricism. “The maritime captain screams in closed caption, and says to me, ‘Boy, you better get paddlin!’ Cause you’re drownin.’ And it’s off to the sharks now, boy!� If that doesn’t scream awesome-ocity, I don’t know what does! And to hear it from someone who isn’t afraid to scream only ups the rocking-out factor and maybe even warrant some artistic credibility, something to be desired in today’s rock music.
The first four tracks are excellent for what they are but it’s “A Is For Astronaut� that is the band’s opus. Clocking in at almost six minutes, it’s where the band displays their true potential and chance at the indie rock scene. Kreller and Matjeeak sing along side one another only to end up in shouting matches at the end of each verse while the guitar work dips into the more psychedelic side of three string work. It’s kinetic and overwhelmingly good at points. [By: Dan Brian]
Rating: 4 - Wonka Vision Reviews
Discography
Debut Record on So Far Stupid Records:
"Ships and Sailing"
1. Holland Here I Come
2. Philly's Belle
3. Everest
4. Like Leaves
5. A is for Astronaut
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Prologue:
(Narrator Speaking)
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
�Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.�
-Robert Frost
ACT I
(ACT I takes place in the middle of Pennsylvania, a young man, Nicholas, is sitting on a rock contemplating his next move)
There were two roads diverged. One took him east to the vast state of New York, swallowed with trees, mountains and opportunities in cities that never slept, while the other took him back west, across I-90 where familiarity and a past comforted a disgusted soul. This one traveler was Nick, his busted and bruised bags, were making his shoulders tired.
ACT II
(Three months prior to ACT I, Nicholas is in Chicago, wanting to get out)
Nick had decided two months prior that his monotonous motionless life was robotic. The people he was around were all the same, the same in third grade as they were in eighth grade and the same as they were, now out of high school. The glorious city of Chicago had betrayed him with false hopes and endless hours of peddling in the same spot for far too long. It was time to make his move East, back to the land of his four fathers, where he could interact with strangers and compass his way around lands he had only dreamed about. His romance was leaving for school and Nicholas found the perfect opportunity to leave his dreary routine and leave for adventure out East.
(Lights fade as an excited Nicholas sprints off stage right)
ACT II
(ACT II shows the band Call The Medic, comprised of Alex-guitar, Mike-guitar, Sam-bass and Scott-drums, hovering around a table, and like war generals are contemplating their next �Battle Plan� to take control of what is rightfully theirs, the beautiful city of Chicago)
Call The Medic had just played their last show at the Elk Grove VFW Hall and they were sure of two things, first they wanted their singer back and the other that they wanted to play their music. Nicholas decided that his life with the boys was becoming too routine, so him and his girlfriend were packing and on their way to Philadelphia.
What was Call The Medic to do? Find another singer? They couldn�t possibly find someone to scream the screeching siren notes or bellow the low belts. The task looked to be doomed, but the men forged ahead in search of their new front man.
ACT III
(ACT III has Nicholas now in Philadelphia, wondering the streets in search of something)
Where was that romance that swiftly took him away from the monotony and into this new-fangled land? The force that had driven them together was too soon now faded and the flurry in his stomach had turned against him and knotted his stomach, tangled tousled, and twisted. His mind was cut in half, one sitting in New York City looking up at the colossal skyline, buildings sandwiched together, overlapping one another�s foundation, the other half was standing in Chicago, his microphone stand in his had and his stomach empathetically painting his words in the ears of all his fans.
ACT IV
(Call The Medic is practicing, still three months later, they have not found a singer.)
They are in the middle of practice, going through the motions. (Lights dim) They had moved Nicholas� stand and were now ready to try out some new singers. It wouldn�t be the same, but they wouldn�t be able to never play together again.
ACT V
(ACT V, Nicholas is sleeping in a car, his romance had fancied the heart of another ignorant soul, Nicholas needed to speak to someone who could listen) So he called his life-long friend and former guitarist, Alex, and Alex listened. He was on his way, bags packed ready for the City of Sleepless men, New York. He had purchased a ticket to see a band named, Sigur Ros. Friday, September 9th, 2005, Nicholas had his last date in Philadelphia, at the Tower Theater. It was him and Sigur Ros. After that show he was to make the voyage further East.
ACT VI
(This scene takes place in Chicago, a little less than a year later, August 18th at the Beat Kitchen. Call The Medic is releasing their EP, entitled, �Ships and Sailing,� Lights off, but abruptly come on as the music starts) Alex�s guitar shouts the beginning chords to their new hit, �Holland Here I Come,� Mike is back in, clicking every
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