Band: War Effort
From: Chicago, Illinois
Their formation story:
(Bill Molloy, bass/vocals): "In the summer of 2021, right when outdoor/generator shows were starting to come back in Chicago, I ran into Dave (drums) and Ian (guitars) at a gig in a park on a sweltering afternoon that was running on pretty bad punk time. We walked to a bar down the street to get out of the heat for a bit and started joking around about doing a d-beat band that would record songs more or less as they were written.
"It was a reaction to some of the then current bands we were in that were practicing forever without recording or playing shows, just overthinking everything to the point of the band's detriment. We're all in our mid-30s now so none of us had any interest in wasting any more time without tangible results.
"It took us another year to actually get together and do it, but we set aside a day during Memorial Day weekend in 2022 and put together the demo cassette as a three piece. That was supposed to be it, just an excuse to hang out and use a Bandcamp url that I'd squatted on for a different, defunct band. People liked it and we got asked to play a show with our friends in Invertebrates that August so we booked it, thinking it was more or less a one off capper to the project.
"That's when we brought Kevin in on bass, to fill it out so I was free to just sing. That show and the practices leading up to it were a ton of fun so we decided to keep the band going as a four piece. We got together for a few more recording days in the winter of 2022 and those songs are what is about to come out."
Their sound in their own words:
"We're going for a Chicago take on the classic Swedish d-beat sound. We're not radically reinventing the formula or doing anything too flashy but we're invested enough to make sure you're not going to get bored while listening. That's the most important part, you can color within the lines of the format but also don't have to settle for mid-tier riffs.
"As far as direct influences, Anti-Cimex is the biggest one for sure across all four of us, musically and lyrically. Ian says, 'all the songs I've written riffs for "channel His Hero is Gone but jammed onto a d-beat chassis.' In my previous bands I'd always written lyrics in the Discharge Haiku style anyway so it's fun to have the music really locked in with the barking.
"Sorry State's distro review compared our demo to Bloodkrow Butcher and that really made all of us smile. Not sure if that's considered a deep cut at this point or not but that band fucking ripped."
Latest release info:
"It's a 7-inch EP titled Path to Glory and is out June 23rd via Warthog Speak. It's six songs, tops at about 10 minutes or so. Lyric subjects range from the perpetual (war, local politics, dehumanizing jobs) to ones of more recent vintage (pandemic era isolation, effects of pandemic era isolation on the terminally online).
"The first preview track, 'Back on the Table,' is up and streaming now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, the other big boys. We'll also post it to the most important and by far best streaming service on the release date, Bandcamp. Bandcamp #1 forever.
"We're super excited Justin at Warthog Speak agreed to put it out. I've been a fan of the label for ages and Ian's old band, Fuerza Bruta, released a 7-inch with him a few years back so it was a super smooth setup. We got extremely lucky with the vinyl turnaround time considering the horror stories going around. From the last recording day to getting the records in hand was under six months, absolutely unheard of these days."
Future plans:
"We've played a handful of killer shows regionally (Northwest Indiana, Milwaukee, etc) over the last two months to get back into fighting shape for the summer. Once the 7-inch is out we've got a number of local Chicago shows lined up (June 23rd record release gig with Zipper, July 14th with The Virus and mid-August with Salvaje Punk).
"In the Fall we're looking to do a few weekend warrior tours, most likely a few days out East and a weekend down in Texas. We're also stockpiling riffs and song ideas for another recording session before the summer is over."
What other bands from their region should we check out?
"There's kind of a mini-scene just from alternate configurations of guys within War Effort; right now I'm the only one that's not currently in another band with someone else! Dave and Ian's long running oi project Lost Legion has 7-inches coming out on Rock & Roll Disgrace and Mendeku Diskak this year and they also do Ciadão, who also has a 7-inch coming out on Mendeku soon.
"Kevin and Dave are also doing Slith together and just posted their demo to bandcamp. Previously Dave and I were in Warrior Tribes together for most of the 2010s, Ian was in Fuerza Bruta and Kevin had been in Gast down in Houston. With Dave the common link between all of those bands, can you tell he's the drummer?
Outside of us four idiots, a few of our collective favorites are:
Chicago: Primitive Teeth, Consensus Madness, Exedo, Subliminal Excess, Man-Eaters, Cel-Ray, Riesgo, Iron Years
Indiana/Wisconsin: Splatter Pattern, Organ-ism, Epoxi (no Bandcamp yet, hopefully soon), Weak Pulse"
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War Effort on social media: Instagram | Bandcamp
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Tagged: war effort
