IKE REILLY ASSASSINATION Indie songwriter/musician focuses on recording, tours

Reilly assures potential concertgoers that the show 'won't be boring.'
By JOHN BENSON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Anonymity is a bitter pill for most up-and-coming bands, which tour incessantly in the hopes a major label or large fan base will open the mainstream door of fame and platinum success.
Indie songwriter Ike Reilly doesn't have time for such trivialities. As leader of the Ike Reilly Assassination, the Illinois native is focused on two things -- touring and recording.
This explains why the diverse musician -- folk foundation, classic rock training and punk mindset -- can flood his market by releasing two albums within a year's time. "Junkie Faithful," which hit stores last week, is a follow-up to last year's "Sparkle in the Finish." Then again, it makes good business sense, being a relatively new band and giving your fresh audience more material.
"We're not participating in the major label model anymore," said Reilly, calling from his tour bus somewhere in Wisconsin. "We can do whatever we want. It fuels us and we need things to propel us. And the more music we get out, the better it is for us. It generates press. This new record has gotten on the radio more than any of my other stuff has, so I guess it looks like the right thing."
He added, "Plus, I moved past the material pretty quickly. Not that I'm not attached to it when I perform it, but the thing that fuels me mostly is the writing of the songs, which is a continuous process."
After touring last January, Reilly wrote "Junkie Faithful" in February and recorded it in March. He said it's his best collection of songs to date, with a decidedly darker tone that speaks to human frailty and life's seedy underbelly.
Stand out moments on "Junkie" include the Lennonesque "God and Money," framed around a conversation with one's mother, and the Dylan-sounding (in both lyrics and delivery) "Edge of the Universe Cafe."
Still growing
Reilly stressed his songwriting skills are still maturing, citing the desire to create timeless tales of human behavior instead of material pigeonholed in an era.
"You want your songs to sound vital and a little provocative at times," Reilly said. "'Junkie' is a melancholy record to me with a lot of diverse productions and arrangements. There are songs that I wrote on organ and there are some highly produced songs on there. My hope for the next [album] is that it'll be a pretty serious rock 'n' roll record."
Reilly has already started working on the next disc, with new song "The Fish Plant Uprising" getting stage time. You can see the Ike Reilly Assassination's Youngstown debut Wednesday at Cedar's Lounge.
As far as what unsuspecting Youngstown concertgoers should expect, Reilly refuses to play the promotion game.
"I don't know what they should expect because I don't know what they've seen," Reilly said. "It won't be boring, I'll tell you that much. It won't be trite. It won't be too cute."