Palatine's Draznik leads 30-year reunion of the Vertebrats

It's hard to imagine now, with original punk bands like the Ramones and the Buzzcocks blasting out everywhere from sports arenas to TV commercials, but at the time, back in the late 1970s and early '80s, that music wasn't very popular. Radio tended to ignore it, and those bands were blocked out by the likes of REO Speedwagon, Styx and Supertramp.

Mediocrity ruled the airwaves, while the bands that were destined to last were favored by only a few choice aficionados.

The Vertebrats got caught in that cultural clash.

"It was a funny time," said Ken Draznik of Palatine, the Vertebrats' lead singer and songwriter in their three-year heyday in downstate Urbana-Champaign from 1979 to 1982. "When you think about it, it was a real turning point."

The 'Brats, however, get something of a last laugh out of it when they reunite for the first time in three years with a pair of shows to celebrate their 30th anniversary next weekend in Champaign.

The 'Brats weren't really punk, although they made their public debut opening for Food and Money, an Ohio band heavily indebted to true punks Pere Ubu and Devo, in an Urbana show still fondly remembered for shaking a converted church to its foundation. With their classic lineup of Draznik on rhythm guitar, sharing lead vocals with lead guitarist Matt Brandabur, with Roy Bad (nee Axford) on bass and Jimmy Wald on drums, they were more of a traditional garage band, and they mixed in '60s proto-punk songs like Paul Revere and the Raiders' "Kicks" with their Ramones covers.

Yet they also wrote their own original material, which set them apart from other Chambana bands of the era, and those songs have endured. Most prominently, "Left in the Dark," their original single, was compiled on Greg Shaw's Voxx Records album "Battle of Garages," which led to it being discovered and covered by groups ranging from the Replacements to Uncle Tupelo to Courtney Love. If only the 'Brats had come along 10 or 15 years later, when punk was evolving into grunge and taking over the charts as popular tastes shifted, they might have been huge.

"I always take pride in the songs we did," Draznik said, "and the fan response was fantastic, especially at live shows.

"Yeah, maybe if we'd stuck around a few more years," he mused. "But the music industry is very, very tough. We always thought it was for the best. There's a lot of talented people out there."

That unassuming quality has always been part of the Vertebrats' charm, even if it probably doomed their career in an era when punks had to scream like mad just to get noticed. Even so, the 'Brats are largely credited with helping to form Champaign-Urbana's DIY music scene that continues to this day, having spawned Pansy Division lead singer Jon Ginoli's first band, the Outnumbered, which will likewise reunite to serve as an opening act next weekend, and the likes of the late Jay Bennett of Wilco.

"Whatever formula we had worked for the environment we were in," Draznik said, "and we all look back fondly on it as the best times of our lives really.

"We were together about 1,000 days. So it wasn't very long. And we never really were a full-time band," he added. "Matt was in high school. So we would just play weekends."

Failing to strike a mainstream chord commercially, they disbanded late in 1982. Draznik went on to marry his wife, Jennifer, and they settled in her hometown of Palatine, where they have two kids, a boy and a girl. Yet the music lives on, now in the form of the aptly named compilation "A Thousand Day Dream" and the companion album "Continuous Shows." Fondly remembered by their fans at the time, they reunited every few - or several - years, and will again next weekend.

"It'll be a lot of fun," Draznik said. "The 2006 reunion was just really, really special. I kind of described it as the best high-school reunion you could imagine."

A high school where the prom song was "Left in the Dark": What rock fan could imagine a cooler place than that?

The Vertebrats' 30th anniversary reunion

When: Friday and Saturday, Oct. 2-3

Where: 9 p.m. Oct. 2 at Cowboy Monkey, 6 E. Taylor St., Champaign; 8 p.m. Oct. 3 at the High Dive, 51 E. Main St., Champaign

Tickets: $12 for the Cowboy Monkey show at cowboy-monkey.com; $12 for the High Dive at thehighdive.com, $15 at the door