When Killdozer reunited in 2006 for Touch and Go’s 25th-anniversary celebration at the Hideout, the crowd shouted for an encore, chanting “Kill-do-zer! Fuck the other bands! Kill-do-zer! Fuck the other bands!” Such is the devotion inspired by this rigorously strange trio.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
After a three-year hiatus in the early 90s and a series of lineup changes that left Gerald as the only founding member, Killdozer made the rounds one last time in 1996, on a tour they called “Fuck You, We Quit!” But the original trio got back together for the Touch and Go celebration and has since played the occasional show—like this Thursday’s headlining gig at the Abbey Pub with early LA punks the Urinals.
“Killdozer has begun work on new song material for a concept album on the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, with hopes of debuting the song ‘Minimum Vesting Standards for Pension Plans’ at our Chicago show!”
How did you decide that “Fuck You, We Quit!” didn’t apply anymore?When we did “Fuck You, We Quit!” I was the only original member of the band. We went our separate ways and I continued with the band. When Touch and Go Records had its 25th-anniversary party, Corey Rusk called and had grave doubts that we would actually be interested in playing. But it’d been a year since we’d seen each other. We’d gone on with our lives and it sounded fun. It was fun. Two years later, we were asked to play the Forward Music Festival in Madison and decided, “Well, if we’re going to get together to practice again, let’s have more than one show.” We started going forward with the idea that we play shows when a show we’d like to play presents itself.
How did you arrive at your singing style?I just did it for one song and Bill liked it. He encouraged me to stick with it and I did. By the time we got around to our second record with Butch Vig, if I’d actually try to sing, Dan and Bill might object and Butch might say, “Well, Michael, that’s really nice. We see you can sing, but just give us the old Michael Gerald!” They never wanted me to deviate. I guess they thought it was something really marketable that would take us to the top, but it might be one of those things that took us to the bottom.
Thu 9/24, 9 PM, Abbey Pub, 3420 W. Grace, 773-463-5808 or 866-468-3401, $18, $15 in advance, 21+.