Living in Chicago and wanting to see messed up punk bands that seem to like taking drugs will eventually lead a body to Ronny’s. No, the venue doesn’t look like a venue and unless you happen to be walking down the street while there’s something going on there, it’s likely that you won't ever know  about it.

The place’s split up into two distinct sections. The main bar area sports a pool table, some space to mill around and the distinct aroma of mold and or piss – take you pick. Moving into the annex (there’s not a better word for it, really), one passes through a door that could be found granting entrance into 711 or some such store. But instead of chips and beer on the other side of that door there’re some make shift pieces of dry wall that sport what looks like a few dashes of primer here and there. It doesn’t smell, though, so that’s a bonus.

There’s no stage, bands set up and perform on the floor, which furthers the already close feeling that show goers are gonna have at events here. The sound’s decent and most likely there aren’t gonna be too many acts that draw a large enough crowd to make it uncomfortable to watch any ensemble. Bonus.

Last evening, though, a few bands showed up that deserved to draw a bigger audience. Some out-of-towners performed – the metally duo Unstoppable Death Machine from BK (nice dudes, good tunes). But playing after those folks was a Chicago band simply named Mickey. With Mac Blackout (Daily Void, Functional Blackouts) Brian (Bundle of Fags), Troy (Cheap Thrills), Daniel (Trash & Heat) and Christmas Woods (Tentacle Lizardo, Ill Tongue) comprising the line-up it’d be easy to guess at quality.

There was a bit more of a ‘70s rock feel to Mickey than the other, better known Mac Blackout projects. But the welcomed respite of more traditional sounds was welcomed. The Dolls – mostly in the lead guitar, but also in the poppy progressions – were a presence. But the bump with insanity that any Blackout related performance includes ratcheted up the ability for show-gazers to enjoy and consume. For the most part, it was difficult to discern what in G-d’s name Blackout was screaming about, but he seemed adamant, so that’s good. Right? Anyway, they’ve got a (and are about to have another) single on HoZac, so cop the collectability at earliest convenience.

It should be assumed that most folks were in attendance to see former Clone Defect Timmy Lampinen front Human Eye. Dude apparently holds some advanced degree in art, but despite his academic prowess, he’s pretty adept at losing his mind during a performance.

Human Eye – a four piece replete with keyboardist/noisenik and a drummer with endless chops – ran through a relatively short set. Brevity, though, has nothing to do with the quality of the music. And as it seemed that the crowd was engrossed in what was going on. It should be figured, though, that Mickey perhaps cobbled together a more engaging set.