Makeshift Prodigy to go acoustic at Elgin show
If Coldplay is the new ruler of the rock world, after dominating the Grammy Awards Sunday, the Chicago-area band Makeshift Prodigy appears out to be part of the occupying army - on its way to rising through the ranks as well.
Although the group also cites Radiohead, Sigur Ros and Muse as prime influences, along with the Beatles and U2, its soaring, high-pitched vocals and repetitive rhythms, building toward ferocious crescendos and anthemic choruses, are something it shares with both Radiohead and Coldplay.
The intricacies of Makeshift Prodigy's music belie that the five-piece band has been together just "a little over a year," says Brandon Fox, of Elk Grove Village, who plays keyboards and sings background.
He, lead singer and pianist Anthony Bagnera and lead guitarist Jake Foy had known each other and played together from their days at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis., at one point holding down a regular residency as an acoustic house act at an establishment up there. "Once we left school and graduated," Fox says, "we were all like, 'What are we going to do next?'"
Form a band, of course, and Bagnera and Foy, both of far Southwest suburban Frankfort, soon recruited drummer Joe Bauer (initially suspicious he was being used for his basement recording studio, before he seized on the music) and bassist Dave Fister - all from the Frankfort area.
"And from there it was golden," Fox says.
Although all agreed on the direction of the band's music, each brought his own influences to the mix. "The funny thing is, all of us kind of listened to different music," Fox says. "Joe came from a punk band. Myself, I listen to rap and R&B. Before I was in the band, I was singing R&B music. And our bassist, he listens to a lot of rap and stuff. All of that sort of makes up what Makeshift Prodigy is."
Bagnera tends to be the guiding force. "He does a great job of coming up with melodies and tempos and kind of the direction the song is going to head in," Fox says. "He does most of our songwriting, and our lead guitarist sometimes comes up with the songs, and then we'll all kind of put our little input into it."
The band has an undeniable sense of the dynamics of its music, and was out with an album of original music, "Welcome to the World," by the middle of last year. (It can be found on emusic and Apple's iTunes, among other Internet music sites, and it produced the first single "Playing With Fireworks," which got some play on WKQX 101.1-FM.) Now the group is preparing an EP-length CD-DVD tandem release, and it has a growing following from playing dates downtown, including the Metro just last month.
The band's rapid development is tied to its dedication. "The reason we gel so well goes back to practice," Fox says. "We practice two or three times a week."
The music aside, that's not so great for him, as it means commuting down from Elk Grove to Frankfort. Yet this weekend he gets to turn the tables when the rest of the band comes north for an acoustic show at Mad Maggie's in Elgin. It's an opportunity for the group to show off another facet of its music - and for Fox, Bagnera and Foy to return to their roots.
"For me, personally, I think it's going to be fabulous," Fox says. "Not a lot of people from the Chicago area know us as an acoustic band. But the funny thing is, when we started out, that's what we started playing."
So Makeshift Prodigy's gig this weekend gives music fans not only a chance to see a local band on the rise - but to leave the earplugs at home as well.
Makeshift Prodigy
When: 9:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13
Where: Mad Maggie's, 51 S. Grove Ave., Elgin, (847) 531-5883 or madmaggies.net
Tickets: $6