Photo via Facebook / Glad Rags
Glad Rags
Take the issues of the world, but make them catchy. That seems to be the motives for Chicago indie pop outfit Glad Rags, who are set to make a return to Milwaukee at Cactus Club this weekend. The band is playing in support of their most recent album, All Of Them, which came out this past October. Prior to the show, we talked with bandleader Hazel Gladly about the record, and getting back into the rhythm of recording and touring.
On your new album, All Of Them, there’s a lot of disco, indie pop and funk amongst other things. What all went in to putting the record together?
Well for this one, we started with the concept of responding to a lot of incidents throughout like the 2010s in our community broader scene. With gender-based violence, and all sorts of stuff. We don’t really put shame on anyone specifically, but just how unprepared we were, and how those kind of checks and balances and community conversations are never had beforehand. So we're always responding to things. That was the concept that drove it.
There's six core members that write little ideas like hooks or lyrics, and then we write them to arrange together. Then we bring out other musicians to fill out specific instruments that we hear in our heads. I’m the longest member of the band, and definitely spearhead a lot of writing and function as kind of the manager or administrative person. But we've got the core group of six that perform it out and it functions collectively, and it's fun.
So you take on heavier subjects, but the music is very party-oriented. Do you ever get concerned that the message may get overshadowed?
I think the message will always get lost on some people, but I think on their own the songs don't really address things head on. When you're listening to it with the intent that we write about, then you can totally pick it all up, but I think at the end of the day it’s pop music. It's pretty accessible and chill. It’s definitely navigating heavy themes but I think it's it's not too confrontational. I feel we have no control over how people interpret it, so it's out of our hands, which is also kind of cool.
When was the last time that the band was able to get up to Milwaukee?
The last time was at Bremen Cafe in like fall of 2019 I believe. We played with Ravi/Lola, Deep Femme, Our Fathers, a band from Chicago but now in Atlanta.
Have you had a chance to play out a lot since the world has begun to reopen and return to live music?
We played some cool shows in Chicago, and we’ll be in Madison the following day. We went to Iowa for a couple of days and we'll be we'll be touring more extensively in this summer. At the end of summer or early fall this year we’ll be releasing an EP, so that'll happen more with that.
What does the average Glad Rags live show feel like for you guys?
It's very raw and high energy. I would say it's arranged to carry on some of the orchestral studio elements, but it kind of functions as its own thing. Some of the songs remain as studio songs and don't really translate live, so we stay with the higher energy ones.
Have you had a chance to hear some of the bands you’re playing with?
We were Bandcamp hunting for new artists to play with, and that's kind of how we find most of the local music, and ultimately who we get to share stages with. 9 A.M. referred us to flowers. and The LOL, and I'm happy just we get to play with them.
You can catch Glad Rags, 9 A.M., flowers., and The LOL Saturday night at Cactus Club. More information about the show can be found here.
