Downshift

Local H shows its emotional side.

By Mark Guarino

Alongside Liz Phair and Smoking Popes, Local H was in the frontline of Chicago bands plucked to major labels in the mid-1990s. The band steamrolled ahead, releasing albums stuffed with power chords, black humor, and big hooks, and playing live shows known for ear-bleeding volume. "There's not much of a better feeling than standing in front of a wall of amplifiers feeling yourself going deaf," says Scott Lucas (above, right), songwriter and guitarist.

In May, after 13 years together, the consummate Chicago rockers put out a markedly different project, 12 Angry Months (Shout! Factory), a Dylanesque album about . . . romantic breakups? "If you look at the great records about relationships, they're angry and mean and ugly," Lucas explains.

Leading up to the release, Lucas and drummer Brian St. Clair will play a weeklong, album-a-night residency at the Beat Kitchen (2100 W. Belmont Ave.; 773-281-4444), opening on May 7th with 1995's critically hailed Ham Fisted (Polygram) and closing on the 13th with 12 Angry Months, which hits stores that day.

Photograph: Wickedmindstudios.com

This article appears in the May 2008 issue of Chicago Magazine.

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