A couple weeks ago while on a Pawtucket pilgrimage to catch Lightning Bolt perform a Japan Benefit gig, a friend of mine bought a pin from local artist that simply read “SLOOOOOOOOW & HEAVY.” Never had my desired lifestyle choice been expressed so eloquently. A never-ending need for the low-down and doomy, the sludgy and filthy, and, cliché be damned, the bong-rattling. I’d wear that slogan like a badge of honor ‘till I’m telling Satan where to meet me in the underworld on my death bed had it not been the only one.
Nevertheless, the thirst for what shakes me is relentless.
Luckily, Chicago’s own Geffika stormed through Allston last week dumping gallons of thirst-quenching slow & heavy all over us and that hellfire should subdue my yearning, at least for a little while. Whereas a good basement show can be determined by the amount of condensation sweating off the pipes, Geffika’s Jessica Calvanico (guitar, lead vox) and Geoff Thai (drums, backing vox) might as well have made the pipes cry blood.
Jessica’s guitar wails like a chupacabra in heat presenting itself to Geoff’s riff accentuating rhythm like the beast chugging through the jungle to devour its human sacrifice.
Simultaneously, the pair both build a tense anxiety to a boiling point before soothing us back down again with warm feedback, Jess’s beautiful howl, and chunky chord beatings that find the order in the chaos. Songs like ‘Relativity’ erupt with rising tempo that shakes off some of the sludge but highlights a strong point of Geffika’s duo vocal element: it’s as if they were trying to win a shouting match while arguing the same side. It’s a good thing.
Though Geoff and Jessica both grew up in Los Angeles, it wasn’t till they independently relocated to Chicago a few years ago that they met and started making the world a darker, better place for us all. “I was learning to play drums in the basement and my roommates all started a band together without me,” Geoff recalls of his earlier Chicago days and Geffika beginnings. “Jessica and I had jammed a couple times, [but] it was a shitty winter day, I got home from work and she was sitting on the couch already for some reason [when] I said ‘let’s start an anti-social band.’ She was down.”
Hailing from a thousand miles away from our fair city, Geoff sees a connection within our DIY music community, its ideals and the support found within those communities. For one, the preference for loft and basement shows as opposed to bars where you’re peddling beer appears to be one similarity between rising bands in both cities. “There are a lot of really fantastic underground spaces in Chicago where it’s almost too easy to book a good show and [find] a really strong support system for whatever kind of music people feel like playing,” Geoff said. “Overall, we have more fun at house shows not having to deal with the logistics of a legitimate venue, as well as not feeling guilty for charging our friends money to see us.” They’ll take what they can get on tour Geoff comments, but this past trek across the States brought them into all DIY spaces with the exception of one traditional bar, and strangely, an Ethiopian restaurant.
More directly, Geffika has forged a strong relationship with local powerhouse, and most ripping band ever to not have guitars, Skimask, and will soon release an untitled 12” together. The split will be released on Ryan Davis’ (State Champion) Sophomore Lounge Records sometime around August or September, but both bands initial meeting was an instant match.
“We came to Boston last year but our show got shut down by the police before either of our bands could play so we went back to Skimask’s practice space and played our songs to each other all night,” recalled Geoff.
“Then [Indie-folk artist] Mary Lou Lord came in drunk and was whispering weird things in Jessica’s ear. The she flashed us but I didn’t see it, and then we got donuts. The general consensus was that we should do a split.” Love at first cop-block. It was meant to be.
Below, check out a bonus video of Skimask performing the same night.
PHOTO BY MARY CLEMENS