Seal Party @ Martyr’s

My old friend Kevin was in town this weekend, performing with his band Seal Party (more info on the group via this article from Essentially Pop). They’ve been on tour in the Midwest, and their final/Chicago stop was tonight at Martyrs.

Seal Party on stage. To hear their latest album, MMXXII, head over to Bandcamp or Spotify.

A fun surprise: another old friend from college had joined the band, performing with them on their last few shows. Mike Kmiecik is someone I met way back in our Bloomington/IU days, and it was great to see (and hear) him again after a really, really long time.

I learned that Kevin had sent Mike some recordings of the band’s songs, and Mike’s first time with the group was at a performance. No rehearsal, he had just learned the songs and showed up to play.

In addition to their original material, they also did a good number of covers. Here’s a bit of video of their cover of Shadows in the Rain:

On the way out, I realized their tour van was right outside the entrance. In earlier conversations, I learned that musicians that are on tour sometimes borrow gear from other (local to the area) musicians. Which makes sense, given how expensive it would be to fly some things across the country.

Seeing as this was their last show of the four, seemed fitting to grab a photo of the van.

Related:
Bachelor Party, Part 1: A Song 12 Years in the Making
Old Trees, Old Friends
Felix Jung, Pecha Kucha Chicago: Repetition and Variation
Music from Bloomington, Indiana, Circa 1997: Java and Chive