Disappears Bring its Droney Shoegaze to the Ottobar

Disappears is a band from Chicago that plays very thickly saturating music, rife with easily discernable Velvet Underground and shoegaze influences.

The band has a kind of minimalist ethic to its music that relies heavily on effects, primarily reverb. Recently, Steve Shelley, the drummer of Sonic Youth, joined Disappears. Its last album, Guider, came out in January.

Disappears is performing at the Ottobar on July 29 with the experimental rock group Psychic Paramount and local folk-guitar mystics Arbouretum. Doors open at 9 p.m., and the cover is $10. 

Patch exchanged e-mails with Disappears’ Brian Case.

Patch: When and where did you guys form? What did you want to do musically at the outset? How did Steve get involved?

Brian Case: We formed in Chicago right at the beginning of 2008. The whole idea was to focus on simple, repetitive song structures—try and make something hypnotic, I guess. Steve got involved through a mutual friend. He saw us play and liked it—we ended up collaborating on a project together and stayed in touch. When our old drummer Graeme moved out of Chicago, we asked Steve, and he was into it.

Patch: How is your tour going? Where do you like to play the most?

Case: Tour has been going well. We've been to Europe and the UK a few times this year and this is the start of the North American stuff. We're always a little apprehensive that people are going to show up, so it's been really nice that the shows have been going well and that people are liking the record. Playing in Europe is always great because you get treated so well and end up playing some 100+ year-old cellar or something, but it's most enjoyable to play when the room is full and people are tuning in. That said, some favorites are Union Pool in Brooklyn, Empty Bottle in Chicago, Black Cat in D.C., Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco, Casa Del Popollo in Montreal, B72 in Vienna, Point Ephmere in Paris ... geez there are so many good memories of shows.

Patch: It’s interesting that you're on Kranky Records. There's a lot of electronic stuff on the label. Are you guys fans of that type of music?

Case: Yeah, we all have a lot of respect for Kranky. It's a really consistent roster combined with a very specific aesthetic—something we're really happy to be a part of. They've been going for like 15 years or something which is amazing. I listen to lots of stuff on it. It's cool to be tied to it.

Patch: How would you characterize your sound in light of your members' previous projects?

Case: Ummm ... I think it's different than anything any of us has done before, but grounded in the same basic ideas we've had in different projects. We probably are thinking a little more about a basic concept or framework to work in than we have before. At least I am.

Patch: How do you approach songwriting?

Case: Every song is written with the same basic ideas in mind. Basically, keep it as simple as possible—keep the focus on minimal arrangements and incorporate ideas of repetition; let that be the change vs. 10 different parts. The music is a lot more conceptual than it comes across—when you're doing the same thing for 10 minutes for example, you really need to talk about it and decide how important a change is and what is going to be best for the song. That can mean doing the same thing the whole time, not playing during certain parts—making sure things feel like they are moving and have forward momentum with addition but subtraction.

Patch: How does being in Chicago inform the music you make?

Case: Chicago informs our music in that we're there working and writing, surviving in that city and being a working part of it. Jonathan and I have been there for about 15 years and have seen it change a lot, as well as change with it in our own ways. It's been a constant to us so it's something that is always in our head and influencing decisions inside and out of the band. I'm happy to call it home.