Lots of big news coming out of Illinois John Fever camp these days, including that snazzy new website that I just linked to. The IJF have been rather dormant in the public eye for some months now, but their behind-closed-doors labors have been far from fruitless. First and foremost comes the announcement that they’ve begun their own label, Transnational Records in order to release their own music. Via the website comes the news that their first record will come out in February, although details beyond that are foggy.
So what else is going on? Well, the duo are playing the Mill tomorrow night along with some of their chums - Lute Tucker (of IJF) has teamed with Chris Doherty to form the duo Tucker Hoss, which features more on the nuance of songwriting than the barn-burning qualities of Illinois John Fever. Tomorrow night, you get to hear all of the culprits in one night, Illinois John Fever, Chris Doherty, and Tucker Hoss.
For those of you uninitiated, we here at the Freak fell for the Fever at an anti-war benefit show last February, and were so smitten that we immediately cleared a spot for them during last year’s Mission Creek fest. They’ll hopefully be playing again this year. And if you need further convincing to come out, think of the Fever as a young Isaac Brock furiously tearing his way through some of Iron & Wine’s more up-tempo dirty blues songs. They consistently deliver one of Iowa City’s most raucous and cathartic sets, bearing their updated apocalyptic blues massacre in like hellions on a mission. You must see it to understand.
Illinois John Fever will also be headlining the Picador on Friday, February 8.
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