Feast of Americana as Birds of Chicago line out for city show

 Putting a winning spin on Americana, Bird of Chicago play upstairs in Róisín Dubh this Saturday, April 27.

The collective from the Windy City is fronted by JT Nero and Allison Russell, who will be joined at the gig by Will Waghorn on drums and Joe Faulhaber on guitar. Speaking from England, JT reflects on their first European tour.

“It’s been going great, even better than I expected,” he says. “We had a sold-out show in London last night and the European leg went really well. This is a new project; Birds of Chicago is a new baby, so there’s always a bit of nervousness. We’re really excited at the response.”How did this new project get off the ground?

“Allison and I went from being mutual fans of each other,” JT says. “Her band, Po Girl, was based out of Vancouver, and my band, JT & the Clouds is based out of Chicago. When they went through our part of the world, we’d put on shows for them and they would do the same for us.

“Then we just started finding more and more excuses to do work together,” he adds. “We would show up on each other’s records. And Po Girl took me as a solo support for them on their European tour in 2007. The more time Allison and I spent together, we knew at some point we wanted to be able to give the thing its own space.”

Birds of Chicago released their self-titled debut album last year. When it came time to clock in on the recording, Allison and JT didn’t have to wander too far.

“We did it in a studio that is literally three blocks from our home in Chicago, in the Humboldt Park neighbourhood,” JT says. “We had done work there before, both JT & the Clouds and Po Girl. It’s very much a second home, a very comfortable situation, which is pretty important when you’re doing studio records.”

Watching clips of Birds of Chicago performing, they certainly seem at ease on stage. Is that something that’s hard to replicate on record?“I definitely think that’s an ongoing problem for most bands, particularly bands that hone their craft playing live,” JT says.

“You go into the studio and all of a sudden it’s a very different atmosphere; you’re on the clock, with usually a limited amount of money. So you’re very aware how many dollars each screw up costs you! That’s not the most conducive atmosphere to producing a relaxed and joyful album.”

To finance their debut album, Birds of Chicago ran a successful campaign on the crowd-funding website Kickstarter. It’s similar to fundit.ie, the site used by Irish artists to raise finance for projects. Does JT feel these sites are the way of the future for creative types?

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.