Liner notes are so key. The recent minimalist movement to eliminate them doesn't necessarily take away from the music; it just slightly diminishes your understanding of it. Like with, say, the band Bondo. You might read song titles like "Just Wanna Get Horny" or "Don't Touch My Bourbon" on the group's recent album, Fistful of Biscuits and be a bit confused as to the band's artistic aim. But all is good once you stumble upon the liner notes that read, "This album was intended for those with a sense of humor. Grab a cold one, grab a smoke, grab your neighbor, grab whatever you want and shake your ass, wiggle your hips, bob your head and hoot and hollar along with Bondo." Ok, so on to the hooting and hollering...Bondo boasts that it's Chicago's favorite bar band, which pretty much sums it up. The sound is a bit intoxicated and a bit intoxicating. It's loud, unapologetic and occasionally borders on the breed of rock that facilitates punkish moshing.
The songs combine good old rock n' roll energy with lyrics that seems closer at times to folk-type ballads than to hard rock rantings. The tunes tell tales. And you can't miss it. "Don't Touch My Bourbon" begins by saying "Gonna tell a little story my grandpappy taught me many years ago/Said son, in this world there's only two things worth fighting for/one comes in a bottle, the other one is the truth./Thing is that bottle can change truth./That's why that bottle's gonna be around a lot longer."
Alcohol seems a guiding theme for Bondo. The band was formed a couple of years ago in a coachhouse in Roscoe Village. A group of guys would get together to "booze and BS the day away complainin' about their jobs, their lack of money, their women - or lack of women." Their tales of woe were often followed by a "wow, that would make a great song"-type response. And so Bondo came to be.
The band has since played around town at venues like Big Horse, Lounge Ax, Morseland and Beat Kitchen.
For more information, visit their website: http://members.tripod.com/~gruntbig
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