Earth Program at the Spook House

“Making something out of nothing, basically” – Christopher Mondo

The air in “The Spook House” is dense, like smoke, but there is no evidence that anyone in Earth Program lights-up, at least not habitually.

Maybe a fuse is broken – a valid concern given the volume at which the band rehearses – but it’s more likely that the feeling is just imagined, conjured visually by the cluster of amps on the floor and the hypnotizing beam on the wall (literally, there’s a hypnotizing beam on the wall).

“Mister Bibbles”, the stage name of the band’s bass player and backing vocalist, Matt, says music is an escape from reality. Whether it’s true is irrelevant, because it’s clear that few bands probably understand what it means to be surreal quite like Earth Program. Walking into The Spook House -- the name the band has given their practice space -- is a bit like walking into the movie “Being John Malkovich,” where normalcy is turned upside down -- or downside up. Before you know what’s happening, a man who appears totally sane on the outside (lead singer Christopher “Mondo”) suddenly begins yelling into a microphone about “eating makeup” while a small dog struts around the room staring at you, as if hypnotized.

If they were being weird for the sake of being weird, we might not have a story here. But Earth Program has a philosophy, albeit a very loose one (the best kind), and it starts with their belief in the D.I.Y, or “Do It Yourself”, movement in Chicago. Several times throughout the rehearsal, someone in the band made a comment about being poor and making music. Somehow, being poor doesn’t sound so un-American when they say it.

“It’s people using their disadvantage to their advantage,” Matt (Bibbles) said. “It’s using aesthetics as a weapon.”

The last part was Bibbles talking about someone who might sport a “punk” hairdo because of his or her inability to afford proper grooming. But given where the band was sitting, and the way they make music, it could easily apply to almost everything they do.

Building the Community

In September, 2008, Christopher Mondo met Jennifer “Ann Droid” through a mutual friend. Christopher had been hosting an open mic night at Kaffiene in Evanston and met a lot of musicians that way. Meanwhile, Bibbles connected with Michael “Signal”, the band’s drummer, through craigslist.

“When I joined the band I was really impressed by the support structure … in place,” Signal said. “People who do visual art, or drawings or paintings.”

Earth Program loosely revolves around the principle of community, and it’s very evident that the whole process is organic and uninhibited.

“Another cool part about D.I.Y. is the community itself,” Bibbles said. “There are a lot of people out there who’re interested in these kinds of things …[ like] getting friends together and making a project bigger than it already is.”

“The more people you have on, the more diverse and complicated it’s going to get,” he said. “But with the D.I.Y. community it’s usually a lot more laid back and just people who are enjoying themselves and turning their hobbies into something a little more meaningful.”

From their appearance, Earth Program is made up of four members: Jennifer, Christopher, Michael and Matt. But from the inside out, that’s not the way they see it at all. The point of being D.I.Y. is to pull in artistic talent from wherever it may roam.

“All of us in Chicago are kind of doing it ourselves, so we’re looking to work together to build a community,” Ann Droid said.

Proving their dedication to the community aspect of Chicago music, Earth Program launched a label this past year called Tastee Records and put together a compilation album of local bands called “Cultivate Your Brain.” Among the bands featured are Dinosaurs in Outer Space, Francophone and The BlowHoles.

“It’s all just propping each other up,” Signal said.

“Retro Spooky Space Punk (or Mamajama)”

Jennifer Ann Droid, who plays guitar and sings in the band, mentions that her shirt is from the robot store. She’s referring to RobotCity Workshop, on Sheffield just north of Belmont, one of two stores in the country dedicated entirely to selling robots and developing robot-based education for kids.

Mister Bibbles also happens to work there, and it’s very clear that the robotic and spacey paraphernalia on the walls of The Spook House owes its place in the band to his connections.

It’s also clear that Earth Program is as much an aesthetic concept as it is a musical one.

“It has a lot of aesthetic references to the movies, like 50s and 80s horror movies,” Bibbles said.
“Mamajama” is another way Christopher likes to talk about Earth Program musically. It’s a term he uses to describe the band’s inclusiveness -- they’ll sound like “anything and everything.”

“There are two notions of punk to me: there’s like the cliché stereotype, the fashion. Then there’s the attitude and the ethic,” Christopher said. “Because there are so many things that I think are punk that aren’t classified. Anything from Gandhi to The Beatles.”

“Bootleggers and Jazz artists,” Signal added.

And then Bibbles added, “there has to be a certain level of honesty.” What he seems to mean is the way Earth Program ultimately say they’re in the business of making pop music, and they “make it for everyone and anyone who wants to listen,” regardless of philosophy or intent.

Invade!

Earth Program just finished recording their first album, “Invade!” which was created and then digitally captured entirely at The Spook House. It was also released on Tastee Records.
The album shows the band in the process of finding their sound, Bibbles said. Again, they are very upfront with the openness of their music-creation process. A friend helped them to make a music video for the song “Eat your makeup”, and the band made all of its own merchandise.

“DIY is semi-rooted in punk rock ethic, but it’s also just an artistic means,” Christopher said. “Because we want to do it and partially because we’re kind of poor so we don’t really have the means of doing it besides doing it ourselves as best and cheaply and efficiently as we can.”

“It [also] gives you a lot of freedom when you’re making something that you don’t really have to be constrained within the means of making it,” Bibbles said.
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Catch Earth Program Friday, March 5, at the Hollywood Lounge, located at 3301 West Bryn Mawr Ave, for a FREE SHOW!!!

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Earth Program -- “Eat Your Makeup”