Walking into a live Industrial show in Chicago is like that feeling you get when you take your first sip of coffee in the morning. It’s like that moment when, after a long day, you take off your shoes and feel the warmth of home beneath your feet. It is familiar. It is recognizable, yet far from ordinary. It is comfortable. It is family. It is appreciated and it will truly rattle your soul.
Summer Synth Fest consisted of BIOCARBON13, Fires, Street Fever, The God Bombs, Panic Lift, Psyclon Nine, and Chicago’s very own, Project.44.
Project 44
In reiterating the significance of how the sounds of industrial music began in Chicago so many years ago, it is Project.44 that has managed to emerge into this iconic music scene like something of a wedding tradition: Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.
The “something old” is the classic underlying dark/synth/industrial racket in which we all have grown to love over time.
The “something new” is not only the thoughtful and periodic rotation of its members (with the exception of Harri5, of
Project 44
course), it is the outright corporate appearance of whomever is on stage. It’s almost as if they were suits in order to make it appear as though they might just be a part of the very system they are thumbing, musically and lyrically. Although, with the addition of a garbage can playing ninja in the line- up, one cannot argue the contemporary nature of that role.
The “something borrowed” is, by far, the most impressive aspect of this band. While vocalist and Project.44 creator, Chri5 Harri5, clearly commands his audience with a level of intensity all on his own, he has managed to enlist industrial legends to join him in his plight of resistance toward a system that simply does not work (hence, the band’s best selling album, The System Doesn’t Work). The recruitment of Chicago’s most impressive industrial music legends, Louis Svitek (Ministry) and Charles Levi (Thrill Kill Kult/Pigface) along with Seibold (Hate Dept.) are the core experience of this machine based, take-no-prisoners, audio assault.
The “something blue” could be the classic blue stripes on the band’s logo, paying homage to the City where industrial music was born, the City of Chicago. (See Official City of Chicago flag). However, it most likely relates to the ultimate feeling of blue, as it should be noted that Chicago’s own audio-master, Jason McNinch also contributed heavily to Project.44 on guitars before his untimely death in 2018. The loss of McNinch was a huge loss for Project.44 both personally and musically….and a tremendous blow to the entire industrial music scene as a whole.
While the machine known as Project.44 continues to carry themselves onward and upward, it is this writer’s recommendation that you make it a point to visit their website, their Facebook page, and most certainly catch them live in a city near you….SOON.
Project.44 is:
Vocals – Chri5 Harri5
Project 44
Percussion – MTL
Drums – Jesse Hunt
Guitar – Trent Harlem
Multimedia/Knobs – Dave Kultgen
Summer Synth Fest Set List (Project.44):
Never-Nothing
Fall Down
Revolution
Chicago
Warpath
Sympathy for the Devil (w/Laura from Angelspit/Loreilei Dreaming)
Murder Weapon
Forty Four
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