Model Stranger

"...A band of true showmen" - Pop Stache

"...they have crafted an “ear friendly” rock-album, which still has balls." - Our Vinyl

"... it would be tough to come across as any more invested or more genuinely passionate than these guys..." - Windy City Rock

Model Stranger has worked the Midwest hard for the past 5 years. They have a reputation for high energy live shows and widely varied sonic influences. The Chicago buzz band plays Psychedelic Grunge peppered with slight Pop and Classic Rock influences. They've played a slew of shows down here as of late all sponsored by Lazy Hawk Promotions. If you know this promoter you know he will literally not stop talking about these guys. I finally checked out these guys' YouTube video for, "Where Do We Go From Here?" and "Monster," and he's right, these guys are the real deal. This band is going places. You'd do well to catch them before they blow-up so you can say, "I saw them before they were big." - NUVO

Model Stranger is the best rock band you've never heard of. They combine '60s psychedelic rock with '90s grunge and add a pop overtone, pleasing everyone from electronic fans to classic rock enthusiasts. Ever heard of something that sounds like Pearl Jam and Tom Petty had a baby? Look up Model Stranger and you will see the pleasant results. - NUVO

February 22, 2007

By DAVID JAKUBIAK Contributor

After recording their debut EP "Sick of Seeing Stars," and spending 2005 playing some 55 shows, including a brief tour that took them out to Los Angeles, the members of the rock trio Reverie made a decision.

"We went and bought (the recording software program) Pro Tools. We didn't even know how to use it," said the band's drummer Matt Kittner. "It took a while to figure it out."

Reverie, which is comprised of Schaumburg natives Kittner, lead singer and guitarist Stephen DiCicco and bass player Kevin Schneider, knew they needed to make a new album. But they didn't want it to sound like anyone but Reverie. And they certainly didn't want anyone else changing their sound.

So they decided to do it themselves.

FLYING SOLO

It's with no small degree of pride that DiCicco declared "not one hand helped us" with the recording of "Shaky Coma" which will be released Friday and celebrated with a show that night at the Cubbie Bear, 1059 W. Addison, Chicago. The band also will perform a private acoustic show in their Schaumburg studio for a select group of fan club members Sunday.

Creating "Shaky Coma" wasn't easy the members of the band concede. At first Schneider wasn't sure about going it alone because they weren't studio veterans.

"There were points we wanted to kill each other. We didn't know how to mike. We didn't know how to mix. All we knew was that we had our songs and we wanted them to sound a certain way," DiCicco said.

The sound Reverie captures is a melodic darkness with hints of Alice in Chains. It's guitars more bent on creating mood than showing off and lyrics that trade angst for sincerity.

"Very rarely do you hear us shoving a thousand notes into a measure because we are trying to do what's best for the song," DiCicco said. "I think that's something that's missing today in rock music, people are always trying to make it about them."

Arriving at that sound has also taken compromise, as no one member of the band claims total control, and all three members consider themselves "alpha males."

"Usually we'll take the majority or we'll say 'If you have a better idea we'll go with that because if we take what we've got away we won't have anything,'" explained Schneider.

MUSIC HISTORY

One of the reasons the band is able to work this way is their history. DiCicco and Kittner have been playing together since they were 10 years old. Schneider and DiCicco spent a year together in Los Angeles.

"There was this misconception that we went out there to get famous or something, but we were just trying to go to spend some time in the warm weather and find some identity as musicians," DiCicco said.

During that time Kittner was studying at a community college in Champaign.

"I was trying to find my place and definitely did not find it," he said. "I just wanted to play the drums. I had drum sticks and every now and again I would just play on my shoes because I couldn't have drums in my apartment. I told (Stephen and Kevin) and they packed up their little wagon and came back to Chicago."

Three years later they finally have a recording that is all theirs, and, fiercely independent, they couldn't be happier.

"We took it above and beyond what we initially anticipated what we could do," said Schneider.

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/arlingtonheights/entertainment/265088,db-reverie-022207-s1.article
- Pioneer Press

Happy to be rooted in the Midwest, trio headlines at Cubby Bear tonight

Friday, February 23, 2007

BY TIM SHELLBERG
Times Correspondent

The "do it yourself" philosophy worked wonders for rising rockers Reverie when recording their full-length debut, "Shaky Coma."

"For us, maybe not having a record label over our shoulders allowed us to experiment and learn for ourselves," said band front man and guitarist Stephen DiCicco.

"It really expanded our horizons, and we learned a lot from it."

The band is celebrating the release of its disc with a 21-and-older headlining show tonight at Chicago's Cubby Bear.

The roots of Reverie can be traced back more than a decade, when the Schaumburg-reared barely-teens DiCicco and drummer Matthew Kittner began playing together in junior high school. In high school, they completed their lineup with bassist Kevin Schneider.

In summer 2002, DiCicco and Schneider tried to further their music in Los Angeles while Kittner opted to further his education. While the duo recorded several demos and rubbed shoulders with a few industry powers-that-be, their experiences out west left a sour taste in their mouth.

Upon their return a year later, Kittner joined the duo full time. The trio released their debut EP, "Sick of Seeing Stars," in 2004.

"Out in L.A., it's so business-driven that I don't know how any true artist can blossom," DiCicco said.

"I learned out there that you can't escape your roots. We're from the Midwest, and we work at a different speed and different frequency."

Last January, the trio began recording what became "Coma" and completed their album last month. Creating their album largely at nights and on the weekends, DiCicco estimated the band spent the equivalent of three months perfecting their songs.

"It's very nice to have something (equal to music) industry standards. Some people spend between $12,000 and $14,000 recording their songs and they don't get close to that production sound we have here," DiCicco said.

Also scheduled to perform at Cubby Bear tonight are windy city rockers Raised on Zenith, who released their latest set, "Not Always So," last August, and Chicago-based songwriter and performer Mark Ballini.

http://www.nwitimes.com/articles/2007/02/23/entertainment/entertainment/doc790c6217828297ed86257289005c7d80.txt - Northwest Indiana Times

"[Model Stranger] has technical prowess and front man Stephen Francis appears to be progressing into a unique and passionate song writer that is inspired by more than just love and heartbreak. It's refreshing and exciting and I cannot wait to see what they do next."

`Jay Madey, The Steam Engine Blog - Jay Madey, The Steam Engine Blog