Building blocks

Per end-of-year ritual, The Onion AV Club released its annual "Worst Band Names of '07" list in December, cherry-picking the "best of the worst" music monikers dedicated to human anatomy, Mel Gibson, the f-bomb and random animals (special mention on my own behalf goes to the Pistol Whipping Party Penguins).

And for the second year in a row, the AV Club kept the list close to home by handing (worst) Proper Name/Title Combination props to Algonquin's own emerging rock band that goes by the name The House That Gloria Vanderbilt.

Singer Todd Pot and guitarist Tom Stedman couldn't be more pleased. After all, they didn't just beat out bad-name competition for one year; they did it for two years running.

"It's really helped us!" Pot says.

Laughing, Stedman agrees with Pot and knowingly says, "We don't have a problem sticking out, I don't think."

For all the people who saw The House That Gloria Vanderbilt test an old Butthole Surfers trick involving inverted cymbals, lighter fluid and a particularly explosive drum solo at Elgin's Gast House not long ago, the band's willingness to stand apart from the rest of the suburban scene is abundantly clear. But escaping suburbia in favor of rock-show globetrotting doesn't come close on their list of goals to embracing it.

"There's a very tight-knit music scene in the suburbs, especially the Northwest suburbs," Pot says, rattling off names of suburban labels, bands and upstart house venues. The House That Gloria Vanderbilt's first show took place in the basement of someone's house, one of several house venues that became known as a viable place for local shows.

Says Pot: "It's a good time to be a band in the suburbs."

You might recognize Pot's name from his arsenal of other rock bands ("I never consider anything my main thing," he says) or as Todd Pagialong, the singer for Chicago punk band Apocalypse Hoboken, with whom he toured the world aside bands such as The Ataris and The Vandals.

A year and a half ago, after Pot's band Storybook Funeral broke up and reconvened under the name Tongues, he began collaborating with singer-songwriter Elizabeth Stedman, otherwise known as sister of Tom Stedman and Gloria Vanderbilt drummer Tim, to start something new. Gloria Vanderbilt began its year-and-a-half trek shortly after that, concentrating on the dual, boy-girl vocals that Pot and Elizabeth Stedman devised from the beginning.

Less than two years after starting the band, Pot & Co. landed a House of Blues show with Rancid in July. They also recently played with The Vandals and are gearing up to release their debut album this weekend.

Though they had hoped to record and produce their first album as early as last year, they eventually decided to write it on their own, producing it under their own label. "Heavy Like a Feather" debuts at Clearwater Theatre on Tuesday.

"To be 100 percent honest with you, there was nothing a label could do that we couldn't do ourselves," Pot says of his time working with labels for Apocalypse Hoboken. "It's a great time for music. The mere fact that labels might fold is all the better for the band."

So why create a start-up label now? Mostly, to support the suburban scene that Gloria Vanderbilt's crew grew up around and to further the current scene that's proven itself strong enough to persevere.

"With all the good fortune that's been happening to us lately," Pot says, "it's been to our benefit to do this on our own."

All in all Gloria Vanderbilt's songs run the gamut of influences. It's sort of amazing how one song can sound so uncannily like The Pixies that you actually end up Googling what you hope will be long-lost Frank Black lyrics while other tunes' layering techniques produce strains of harder rock and gypsy-blues harrumphs that could make poser indie rockers quiver in their Zappos sneakers.

Pot jokingly says that The House That Gloria Vanderbilt sort of ignored structure and concept in favor of "being loud" on "Heavy Like a Feather" and admits the band's influences range from The Pixies and Black Sabbath to (and I couldn't tell if he was kidding) Steely Dan. Judging by Pot's obviously seasoned and uber-diverse wailer chords, he could throw out Ian MacKaye, Frank Black and Maynard James Keenan and not be too far off.

Either way, the sound is paying off. And Pot's experience in previous large-scale bands and the Stedmans' sibling-stimulated energy could land them more shows like the Rancid gig. Pot attributes the new album's personal success to a sound that only siblings can produce.

"There's a strange electricity between the three of them and how they're able to play off one another," he says.

For Tom Stedman's part, he adds: "It's good and stressful at the same time. Some things that would break up a band keep us together."

Though plans are in place for potential one-off shows in Ohio and Texas, Gloria Vanderbilt plans to ride the wave in the suburbs this summer and see about getting on The AV Club's list again for next year.

In the meantime, if you stop by a Gloria Vanderbilt show (and don't get hit by random Butthole Surfer-influenced flames), stop by and say hi to Pot and Tom Stedman. They'll probably chat you up about the local scene and leave you with a list of suburban shows to check out in the Elgin area.

Maybe it is a good time to be a band in the suburbs.

Upcoming show:

7 p.m. Tuesday: Clearwater Theater, West Dundee; CD release show; $7 at the door

Fact box:

Name: The House That Gloria Vanderbilt

Town: Algonquin

Sound: Fugazi meets The Pixies