Gretta Rochelle of My Gold Mask and La Scala perform Tu Farai

Thank you everyone for an incredible night last Friday.  La Scala performed with two of our close friends, My Gold Mask and The Baby Magic.  It was a fantastic show, made all the more special by the fact that we were joined onstage by Gretta Rochelle of My Gold Mask for a live rendition of Mina’s Tu Farai, which we recorded together last year.

Black Friday indeed.

Thank you to Monique Hakkert for the images taken of La Scala, and there are a few images of My Gold Mask for your enjoyment as well.

Our friend Shimby was kind enough to record our performance at the Empty Bottle in late July. We are putting the finishing touches to mixing these recordings, so we can share them with you in the very near future. In the meantime, our focus is on writing new music (tango’s, waltzes, and 50′s Bacharach-esque ballads) to share with you on stage and / or on record when we have polished them to a mirror shine. We’ve said this before, and we’ll say it again: watch this space!

The aforementioned Damien Rucker Shyne was kind enough to also provide us with moving pictures from our Hideout show. Thank you sir, and I hope you enjoy more French ponderings…

La Scala was lucky enough last week to share one of our favorite stages, The Hideout, with  The Loneliest Monk and Eliza Rickman, which made for a hauntingly good show.

Our eternal thanks to both groups and The Hideout for having us.

Then, a few days ago, we were pleasantly suprised to learn that Damien Rucker Shyne had captured some images of the evening, and we couldn’t help but rush to share his fantastic work with you.

Here are but a few of the images, and more are likely to be added somewhere on the site.

We look forward to seeing everyone again soon at the Empty Bottle in July.  Haven’t head of this show yet?

You will.

Soon.

Tonight, La Scala will be returning to the stage with our friends The Lonliest Monk, and our soon to be friend Eliza Rickman.  This will be happening at one of the best music rooms in either the new or old worlds, The Hideout.

We’d love to see you there, as the soapbox will be especially crowded tonight with cellos, French verse, and guitar reverb. The show begins at 9pm.

Tickets are $8, and in case you still need some convincing:

» The first 30 people to pre-order tickets will receive a copy of the beautiful screen printed poster you see to your left.

» Old Style has been kind enough to provide a hosted bar between 8 and 9 pm. Well worth the admission price.

See you then.

Don’t know how, but that’s what Wikipedia told me.. and I believe it dammit!

Last night we were invited by the highly exuberant Royal Pines to perform our tremolo-less medley at Pancho’s in Logan Square. Exploring the dark corridors of the Big Easy, Kirk’s absence left a hole in our sound that was duly missed. Instead of performing songs that wouldn’t work without him, we dedicated a trio of Scott Walker covers to the late Walker Brother, John Walker. Thanks to those who joined us on this muted evening of oddity. Thanks also to Pancho himself for lending his percussive skills to our set.

Here’s a a video taken by JS Graff of “The Last Carousel” at Pancho’s:

La Scala has long been very deft at taking breaks and extendend time off.  The last six months have been an excellent example of this.  However, behind the scene, much was in motion.  Wheels spun under the excited feet of mice.  The machine grinded and moaned, and has now finally begun to roll.

Since the release of The Last Carousel last summer, we extended a tearful farewell to our original bass player, Ryan Jewell.  Since then, we have been fortunate to add not one but two new members.  We have enlisted Jacco Kuipers, whose proficiency with the standup bass, the baritone guitar, and the Dutch tounge has left us mightily impressed.  As well, we were blessed enough to snag the talents of Adam Labrada, formerly of the beloved Unicycle Loves You, who has finally allowed us to add an organist/keyboarist to the mix, (as enthusiasts of rickety Wurlitzer organs, this has been a goal for La Scala for some time).  Full introductions of Jacco and Adam are to come shortly, so stay tuned. 

This past Wednesday, the group had the opportunity to quietly return to the stage at the North Side’s Beat Kitchen.  To us this show was something of a new beginning, not only due to our prolonged absence from the stage, but also due to the change that these new members have brought to the group’s sound.  We could not be more thankful for the wonderful audience who made us feel so at home, even singing some French along with us.  We were very happy to be able to share the stage with our new Australian friends the Skybombers, and our new local compatriots the Bright White.

Hopefully, photos of the performance will follow.  More performances will follow.  More reverb-saturated, organ laden songs.

PS - It has just been announced that La Scala frontman Balthazar de Ley will be presenting a rare solo performance on May 13th at Pancho’s in Logan Square, supporting the Royal Pines.  Mark your calendars >>>.

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I don’t think I’ve ever written my own “hello” message, but here goes…: I’m Jacco, born & raised in the Netherlands, moved to the Chicagoland region over 3 years ago, and have been musically involved there in the past two years. After having played in a multitude of jazz and cover bands back in Holland, my band life in the US started by being drafted by (now defunct) indie-poppers Bird Talk. The joyful gathering place called Craigslist caused to me travel off to the Wright on Carroll one fateful evening. Having transcribed all songs and being blessed with a slightly higher vocal range than Baltie apparently meant that I made the cut, which makes me the rookie Scala-ite. We’re currently trying to make sure that we can be as good now as La Scala was before, and we’re hoping to make it out to a venue near you as soon as possible. Stay tuned, my friends!