They Like Ike
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In the rigidly formatted, consultant-driven world of mainstream radio it’s all but impossible for an unsigned artist to get airplay, let alone make it into regular rotation. But Reilly has a special relationship with Minneapolis and with the ABC-owned Drive 105 in particular. “Put a Little Love in It,” the second and final single from Reilly’s debut, had been a local audience favorite, and DJ Shelley Miller says Reilly is “like the station’s mascot.” The overwhelming listener demand for “I Don’t Want What You Got Goin’ On” took Reilly by surprise and led him to quickly assemble and release Cars & Girls & Drinks & Songs, a five-song EP that he says has sold nearly 2,000 copies, mostly in the Twin Cities; his last three club dates up there have all sold out.
Reilly says he’s not bitter about his experience with Republic. In fact, he says, if it weren’t for the record deal, he’d never have assembled his working band–drummer Dave Cottini, bassist Tommy O’Donnell, guitarist Phil Karnatz, and pianist-guitarist Ed Tinley. (Tinley also produced many of Reilly’s new recordings in the Chicago studio they own together, Diamond City.) Now he makes a living by playing out, and his success in Minneapolis has made him even more determined to put out a new album on his own this summer. “It’s been really cool for record stores to call us and say ‘Hey, do you have any records?’” he says. “It’s been liberating.” He’s also been picked up by Tom Atencio, who’s managed No Doubt and Jane’s Addiction. Reilly performs Friday night at Double Door; his former bandmates, ragtag Irish rockers the Muck Brothers, open. He’ll also be appearing at Gunther Murphy’s every Wednesday in April.
Felumlee started Double Zero in late 1998, primarily to release Popes-related music; he’s put out a collection of the band’s early material (now out of print) as well as a live recording of their final gig at Metro in November 1998. Until recently, though, time spent on the road often kept him from doing as much work on the label as he wanted. From December 1999 through June 2001 he played in the Alkaline Trio, appearing on their breakthrough album, From Here to Infirmary. But Felumlee has a wife, a kid, and a mortgage, and the band’s relentless schedule was too much. “I don’t mind touring, but I don’t want to live on the road,” he says. In the fall of 2001 he got a call from Josh Caterer, asking him to join Duvall; Felumlee stuck with it for a year, but the work just wasn’t paying his bills. Last fall he took his first full-time job, working in the credit-card-fraud department for Bank One in Elgin.
The excellent Austin indie-rock outfit Spoon recently signed with longtime Wilco manager Tony Margherita.
