Despite its name not being as widely known as a great deal of other Midwestern punk bands, Chicago’s the Effigies have indelibly marked the genre for a variety of reasons. And even if lead singer, John Kezdy, went on to a career as an attorney, he’s still working within a very similar political frame work as his band did almost thirty years ago.
Coming together in 1980, the Effigies were one of Chicago’s earliest punkers – it’s debatable, obviously in regards to who came first – and their politically engorged lyrical content instantly made them a formidable juggernaut. By the point in American politics when the band had an opportunity to record a single, punkers across the country were daily thinking up clever ways by which to lampoon Reagan. And while that did result in a number of good records, the Effigies worked with broader, more generally applicable concepts.
“Haunted Town,” which seems to be the namesake for the recently departed Chicago label of the same name, discusses population growth and how it affects not only the people, but the spaces which they occupy. It comes off echoing a sentiment already put to tape by Indiana’s the Zero Boys, but at this point in underground music, it might not be safe to assume that either group was aware of the other.
That one track, though, isn’t the extent of the political commentary unloosed from these Midwesterners. The way in which they packaged this message, though, is as important as what it reported. Punk comes in innumerable hues and even at this relatively early stage in the American strain, there was more than just the first wave of punk that can be heard from the recordings on the Effigies’ Remains Nonviewable. At the end of “Techno’s Gone,” there’s even a bit of acoustic guitar.
But in addition to that, there’s some pretty overt metal influence here – in the guitar sound at least. Notably present on the solos – yup, they had solos – the ratcheted up distortion didn’t surpass other groups from the era, but there’s an element of early ‘80s thrash. And for that reason, Metallica asked the quartet to join them on a tour that would have reportedly paid over a grand per gig. For that to make sense, it must be remembered that Metallica at one point were not only a good metal band, but also made its affinity for punk widely known.
By the point that this offer was levied, the Effigies had disbanded after a disastrous west coast tour. Having missed that opportunity may have in some way pushed (most) of the group’s original members to reconvene a few years back. Intentionally, they worked up some new material in order to not be seen as a throw back or a rehash. It’d be pretty difficult to skirt that categorization, but they tried. And even Kedzy came back for this second go around. He hasn’t left the law behind him - he just comes at it from two different places now. And even if that sounds a bit weird, it works out somehow.