Good Luck Jane comes home to the suburbs for local debut
The band Good Luck Jane has been performing together for about three months, but the group can trace its origin back to the childhood of one of its members.
Drew Slutsky, 19, of Lincolnshire, first became interested in music as a result of a childhood punishment.
"I played tons of instruments starting with keyboard," Slutsky said. "My sister taught me because my mom took away the TV for a week so I had nothing else to do. And that just started my whole music desire."
For the past five years, Slutsky has been trying to start a band with his friend Jake Cooper, 19, of Buffalo Grove.
After experimenting with names like The Denning, the Offseason and The 22, and adding two more members, the band of sophomores from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is making its suburban debut Saturday in Arlington Heights as Good Luck Jane.
"I think with us, it is realistic to actually be something," said Cooper, the band's drummer. "As Good Luck Jane, we're like three months old and a lot has happened in that time."
The band finished recording a five-song EP in early July and scored radio play for its song "Hollywood" on 97.9 FM in early August.
With fewer than 10 shows under their belt as a band, guitarist Dan Wywrot, 20, of Lombard, said Good Luck Jane is excited to play Saturday at Arlington Park racetrack for the Windy City Cornhole Classic.
"The thing we're really working on is not just playing for our friends," Wywrot said. "We want to get a broader fan base. This show's huge for us because there's going to be thousands of people there."
Joey Busse, 19, of Arlington Heights and the band's lead singer, trusts Good Luck Jane's catchy pop-rock tunes to win fans over.
"Even if you're not into our music, it will still be in your head when you're in the shower," Busse said. "You'll be singing it."
And Cooper said Busse's smooth singing style will separate the band's sound from the rest of the pop-rock pack.
"(It's) not the voice that you'd expect over pop-rock," Cooper said. "It's kind of like a soothing, more John Mayer-ish voice over pop-rock music, like fun music."
"When you hear Joey's voice, you expect to hear an acoustic guitar backing him up," Slutsky added. "It's cool to be able to have electric guitars and like a rocking song, and then also to be able to have the acoustic when we want it."
Slutsky writes most of the band's music and lyrics, and then brings the songs to the rest of the group for the finishing touches.
"I definitely don't think the songs would be as good without them," Slutsky said about his bandmates. "I mean, it's one thing to have me play it alone, but then when everyone plays together, it's just so much better."
The band recently made banners and is working on T-shirts and stickers, but otherwise, will let the music speak for itself.
"When someone sees a band is playing and they have a banner up and all that, it's like, 'Oh, they're like a band that wants to make a lot of things happen, not just like playing on the weekends,' you know?" Slutsky said. "It's a lot more serious."
The members of Good Luck Jane have serious goals for their future.
"My main goal is this summer to record a full-length album," Busse said. "We definitely want to be noticed as soon as possible and as well as we can by whoever we can."
But the group wants to keep the meaning of its name secret, only divulging that no one in the band knows a "Jane."
"The Good Luck is something that you'll have to figure out," Cooper said.
<p class="factboxheadblack">Good Luck Jane's suburban debut</p> <p class="News"><b>When:</b> 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3</p> <p class="News"><b>Where:</b> Windy City Cornhole Classic, Arlington Park, 2200 W. Euclid Ave., Arlington Heights</p> <p class="News"><b>Admission:</b> Free for spectators</p> <p class="News"><b>Information:</b> <a href="http://chicagocornholeclassic.com" target="new">chicagocornholeclassic.com</a></p>