25 years after emerging from suburbs, Local H pushes ahead
It's common for rock bands to look in the rearview mirror when they reach an important milestone.
Many will reissue a past album in a lavish new edition, for instance. Or they'll devote an entire tour to older material.
So how is alt-rock duo Local H celebrating its 25th anniversary? By releasing a brand-new record with a brand-new lineup.
"Hey, Killer," the band's eighth studio release and the first with drummer Ryan Harding, comes out on the G & P label on Tuesday, April 14. Local H kicks off a national tour shortly thereafter.
Singer and guitarist Scott Lucas, who grew up in the Lake County suburb of Zion, said he can't think of a better way to mark the anniversary.
"I'm not someone who likes to look back all that much," Lucas said. "I know reissues and anniversary tours can be cash cows, but that's not how Ryan and I look at things. The best way to celebrate Local H is to get out and play new songs."
The tour kicks off with three local shows this weekend - one in Arlington Heights, one in Bolingbrook and the third at the Metro in Chicago, one of the band's favorite venues.
"I can't wait," Lucas said.
"Hey, Killer" is a departure from recent Local H albums in one respect: There's no overall concept or theme tying the songs together.
The band's last record, "Hallelujah! I'm a Bum," was a sustained blast of political commentary that landed in the heat of the 2012 presidential campaign. The one before that, 2008's "12 Angry Months," was a tightly constructed collection that charted the year following the bitter dissolution of a romantic relationship.
The songs on "Hey, Killer," by contrast, were assembled quickly from disparate riffs and lyrics that Lucas and Harding had stockpiled during the previous year. They quickly formed these elements into songs, focusing on melody rather than any overarching concept, Lucas said.
"We got to a point where we were under pressure to produce," he said. "And it led to a burst of songwriting that was really nerve-wracking at times but ended up turning out well. I really dig how this record sounds."
The songs feature Lucas' caustic wit, addressing subjects as diverse as the demolition of a hometown movie theater ("The Last Picture Show in Zion") and the pain of dealing with the self-righteous ("Mansplainer"). And they deliver the stripped-down, Black-Sabbath-by-way-of-Black-Flag sound that fans have come to expect from Local H.
Of particular note is Lucas' raw singing, which recalls the no-holds-barred approach of vocalists like Mark Arm of Mudhoney. The performances are particularly impressive because Lucas was singing them while still recovering from a choking attack/mugging in Russia that damaged his vocal chords.
"I wasn't always feeling my best when I recorded those vocals," Lucas said. "But in this case I think it added something to the sound."
While Local H plans to keep facing forward throughout its 25th anniversary - the band played its first gig in Wisconsin in 1990 - Lucas has allowed himself a bit of room for reminiscing. He's been posting old vignettes, music and video from the past 25 years on the band's Facebook page, facebook.com/LocalH, often with a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor.
"I listen to some of that older stuff, to my singing, and man, I seriously sound like a 12-year-old," he said with a laugh. "It's been fun digging around and unearthing some of that material. But really, that's not what this band is about. Living in the past would get depressing after awhile. What keeps this fun and rewarding after all this time is doing new things."
Local H
The alt-rockers will play three shows this weekend:
• 8 p.m. Friday, April 17, at HOME Bar, 1227 N. Rand Road, Arlington Heights. $7.
homebarchicago.com.• 8:30 p.m. Saturday, April 18, at Tailgaters, 431 W. Boughton Road, Bolingbrook. Tickets start at $10.
tailgatersgrill.com.• 7 p.m. Sunday, April 19, at Metro, 3730 N. Clark St., Chicago. $15.