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Ike Reilly Assassination to perform at Calvin Center
By John Benson
Veteran indie rocker Ike Reilly has thousands of live shows behind him. A few of those include visits with his touring band, Ike Reilly Assassination, to Youngstown’s Cedars Lounge and the now closed Nyabinghi nearly a decade ago.
To ask a musician known to tour incessantly if he has any memories of gigs that took place seemingly eons ago is, well, asking a lot. That’s why there was excitement when Reilly acknowledged the aforementioned shows.
“I remember I think I met a bunch of people I like,” said Reilly, calling from Chicago. “I believe we got really hammered in Youngstown.”
It’s only when he’s pressed about his memory that Reilly comes clean and, in the process, discloses his dirty little interview secret.
“In every interview when they ask me where I played, I say I bet we got really hammered there,” he said, laughing. “It makes the readers happy, the journalists happy, and it frees me from having any real memories. It’s kind of liberating.”
What keeps this swindle from traversing into disappointment territory is the fact Reilly is so honest and earnest. Such are the sentiments one can also take from his recently released seventh studio recording, “Born on Fire,” which is the follow-up to 2010’s “Hard Luck Stories.”
The new effort finds the amalgamative artist expanding his palette to include the blues. Reilly said it shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering in addition to routinely listening to the music of Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, The Sex Pistols and The Clash, he added the likes of Little Walter, Lightnin’ Hopkins and John Lee Hooker to his play list.
“I didn’t really plan to do anything, and I never really do plan,” Reilly said. “I just write songs and then bring the band in, and they kind of take shape. You could say ‘Am I Still The One For You’ and ‘Born on Fire’ are a little bit different than ‘Do The Death Slide’ and some of the up-tempo songs, but I think thematically there’s a lot drawing these together.”
Overall, the new album thematically fits squarely into Reilly’s motif, with cinematic stories dealing with love, lust, drugs, depression and drinking. “I wish I was more conceptual where I had a plan, but I don‘t,” Reilly said. “The one thing I really wanted to capture was how well we play together. I think this record, more than any other record, does that.”
Fans will again get a chance to see the Ike Reilly Assassination in action when the outfit returns to Youngstown on Saturday for a show at Calvin Center.
There’s no debate that Reilly’s schedule is packed with live dates. Still, he is asking a lot for fans to have to wait five years between album releases. Looking ahead, does the singer-songwriter expect to take another half decade before putting out new material?
“I never intended it to be that long,” Reilly said. “I don’t know what happened. We lost some [expletive], my dad got sick and we were trying to find another label. I guess to answer the question – you won’t have to wait that long.”
He added: “We’ll put out a bad record real quick.”