The Kickback

Rooftop Sessions Chicago took over the Uncommon Ground rooftop garden for this session.  In collaboration with Uncommon Ground, Lagunita’s Brewing, Do312.com, and Movers & Shakers promotions, the place was packed with people excited to check out some great music in an unusual and pretty awesome environment. And they weren’t disappointed.  Check out a bit of the happenings from the night here on RSC.

About The Kickback

Comprised of brothers Billy (vocals, guitar) and Danny (drums) Yost, Eamonn Donnelly (bass) and Jonny Ifergan (guitar), Chicago’s The Kickback is a result of the brothers’ emigration to The Windy City from rural South Dakota in late 2009 and the subsequent Craigslist pleas seeking out band members. The group’s music (with songs exploring journalists banding together in the early 1980s to battle the decline of print journalism through sheer ultra-violence to the emasculation of trying to protect the woman you love in a city you don’t understand in a body you know is eventually going in the ground) have earned the group wide praise from Rolling Stone, Sound Opinions contributor Jim Derogatis, You Ain’t No Picasso, the Chicago Tribune, and many more.

Familiarizing oneself to The Kickback may seem like an exercise in confronting consistent sets of seemingly opposing ideas: A band that prides itself on its love of Muppet Christmas specials and youthful naiveté but has no problem admitting to a paralyzing fear of death and decline. The group seems to strive for brutal honesty, all-the-while realizing they’re a pop band playing pop music. Even the membership of the group itself may seem odd: one-half brothers from South Dakota, one-half Chicago transplants from Washington D.C. and Mexico.