Eric Colin Reidelberger talks us through Chicago’s new weekly mod night.
1. When and why did you set up the club?
It was set as a way of bringing a number of different musical styles and subcultures together with the sole purpose of having an all inclusive, great night out.
2.Who are you DJs? Do you have guest DJs coming in too? If so, anyone we might know?
There are four us who organize the event:
Sir Eric Colin of MODchicago
Kevin Jones of Windy City Soul Club
JJ Jellybean of The Mayday Scooter Club
Gary Jonata of On Target
– every week one of the four picks four DJs of their own to spin the Friday nights as a way of rotating the schedules.
3. What kind of musical territory do you cover?
There will be everything from Mod, R&B, Garage Punk, Freakbeat, Northern Soul, Psych, Lounge, Hammond Jazz, Funk, Heavy Rock, Ska, Reggae, Mod Revival & Power Pop
4. Give us an idea of a few tracks you might hear if you dropped in?
The Bit A Sweet – Out Of Sight Out Of Mind
The Natural Four – I Thought You Were Mine
Kati Kovacs – Wind Komm Bring Den Regen Her
The Raven – Calamity Jane
Bobby Bland – Lover With A Reputation
John Holt – Ali Baba
5. What do you think you offer that other clubs might not?
A wide variety of all original vinyl DJs schooled in the ancient art of making people dance in an attitude and drama free environment.
6. Your current venue – how long and have you been there and how does it work for the club?
This club is in its infancy and has only been open a year but we have all spun there in the past year. This particular weekly will have it-s opening night in a couple of weeks.
7. And how many people do you tend to attract for each night? Do you think anything might put people off coming along?
As I said this night hasn-t commenced yet but individually we have all had strong draws. The Windy City Soul Club usually gets 200 or so at their nights and the MODchicago weekenders have been known to have up to 500 people in attendance.
8. What-s your view on the current state of mod/soul nights?
In the Chicago area they seem to be a little splintered and unorganized. Also, on a personal note, I find the idea of laptop DJing undesirable and very prevalent. We only play vinyl at our nights.
9. What-s the best and worst thing that-s happened with the club?
Seeing that this is a brand new club – so far so good!
10. Finally, we need the lowdown on the club – listing details, how often, how to get in touch, that kind of thing.
The Merge – Chicago-s weekly Mod / Soul Dance party is every Friday night from 9am-4pm, starting June 8th. No Cover. It is located at:
Late Bar, 3534 W. Belmont
Or contact us on our Facebook page
