King Sparrow earning raves for raw garage sound

In the past few years, Chicago has become a hotbed of snarling, gritty garage bands.

Look at the Smith Westerns, whose glam-inspired sound landed them at the Pitchfork Music Festival last year, or White Mystery, who were among 2010's most buzzed-about new groups.

You might want to add King Sparrow to that list, if the reaction to the band's self-titled debut is any indication.

This Chicago three-piece specializes in raw rock 'n' roll with pounding rhythms and plenty of filthy guitar, but the band also understands the value of pop melodies and songcraft. The music blog Windy City Rock named King Sparrow's 2010 debut one of the best local records of the year, and other underground scribes have sung the group's praises, as well.

“We've gotten some really positive reaction to the record,” guitarist and singer Eric Georgevich said. “I know a lot of blogs have been talking about it, and we've even heard from people in Greece and Spain, which is crazy. We hope we can do some regional touring this spring and summer to get the word out even more.”

Local fans who want to see what all the fuss is about right now can check out King Sparrow onstage at Martyrs' in Chicago this weekend, part of a show highlighting up-and-coming Chicago-area bands.

The members of King Sparrow — drummer John McGeown, bassist Sean Price and Georgevich — all went to Lane Tech High School on Chicago's North Side. They formed the band in 2008.

An EP titled “Derailer” made the rounds shortly thereafter, but the band views the 2010 full-length as its true debut.

The record, produced by Brian Zieske, is a meticulously crafted slice of driving garage rock, its songs both grungy and catchy. (Imagine the Kinks mixed with Iggy and the Stooges.) It's available for purchase at kingsparrow.bandcamp.com, and the band plans to have CDs available at the Martyrs' show.

Georgevich said the band embraces both aspects of its sound.

“We all like a pretty wide range of music,” he said. “I grew up loving stuff like (the Beatles') ‘Rubber Soul,' but later I started moving into the punk stuff. I think strains of both come in to what we do as a band.”

King Sparrow has gotten this far without the help of a label. While the band members say they'd love to sign with a label under the right circumstances, it's not something they pursue.

“If a label came along that made sense, then sure,” said McGeown, the band's drummer. “But there's no fire under us to do it. We have a lot of freedom now, and we get to do the music our way.”