FRET12 SESSIONS
ILLS – Live Performance
A supergroup born of three incredible musicians from the Empty Bottle scene, we were lucky enough to capture this musical equinox at one of our FRET12 Sessions at the Salt Shed.
Broadcasting from our shop at The Salt Shed, FRET12 Sessions invites musicians of all genres and styles to come in, perform, and share their work with the world.
FRET12 SESSIONS
ILLS – LIVE PERFORMANCE
A supergroup born of three incredible musicians from the Empty Bottle scene, we were lucky enough to capture this musical equinox at one of our FRET12 Sessions at the Salt Shed.
Broadcasting from our shop at The Salt Shed, FRET12 Sessions invites musicians of all genres and styles to come in, perform, and share their work with the world.
F12-SESSION 006 // ILLS
Self-described as “three dudes who get together only a couple times a year, but when they do they drink tequila and write and record”, Ills were born out of the scene at Chicago's Empty Bottle. A super group of sorts, Ills features Jason Gagovski of Sweet Cobra on drums, former Tight Phantomz frontman (and surprisingly pop-inflected solo artist) Mike Lust on bass, and Pete Falknor, once of Planetsexploder on guitar and vocals. While they may not be leading the scene in terms of output, what they lack in quantity, they make up for in quality—and relentlessly driving riffs. The power trio is creating charged up punk that pummels and grooves in equal measure, and we look forward to more of it on the horizon.
After the performance, we sat down with Ills to discuss the Chicago scene, synthesizing their unique styles, and their one session, one song approach.
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“It kind of seemed like we had already been in a band or something. The first few times we got together it felt like so.”
— Jason "Gagov" Gagovski
“It kind of seemed like we had already been in a band or something. The first few times together it felt like so.”
— Jason "Gagov" Gagovski
“The original goal was just, let’s write and record one song every time we practice and four years later we got four songs.”
- Pete “Falc” Falcor
“The original goal was just, let’s write and record one song every time we practice and four years later we got four songs.”
- Pete “Falc” Falcor
HARD-WON TOUR TIPS
💥 “School also serves the purpose of being something to kind of come back to and a schedule to be on, which I know is very helpful for me.”
💥 “We brought DVDs on tour, we watched Star Wars.”
💥 “Develop some stable things you do every night that can take away that strange Groundhog’s Day thing from touring.”
💥 “Make yourself wake up early enough to feel like you're real. It's like it's better to not just wake up and immediately get in a car.”
💥 “Taking a walk, eating breakfast, maybe with a piece of lettuce or something, just [doing] little things. Self-care, it’s 2024.”
💥 “Try to fill your days with things that aren’t just driving and moving gear.”
“The other day, we were playing a show and someone said, ‘Well that was pretty good’ and someone in the peripheral said ‘Yeah, Mike Lust doesn’t do anything bad.’ So to get Mike Lust to join a band with you a very blessed thing.”
– Pete "Falc" Falcor
“The other day, we were playing a show and someone said, ‘Well that was pretty good’ and someone in the peripheral said ‘Yeah, Mike Lust doesn’t do anything bad.’ So to get Mike Lust to join a band with you a very blessed thing.”
– Pete "Falc" Falcor
“This is my favorite pedal I've ever owned, the Reverberation Machine [by Death By Audio]. I started using it for guitar because I like this really cool, dusty kind of distorted reverb... there are a lot of songs in Ganser where I use distorted vocals. It’s just a sound I’ve always wanted for vocals and it’s much more fun to perform as well.”
— Sophie Sputnik
“This is my favorite pedal I've ever owned, the Reverberation Machine [by Death By Audio]. I started using it for guitar because I like this really cool, dusty kind of distorted reverb... there are a lot of songs in Ganser where I use distorted vocals. It’s just a sound I’ve always wanted for vocals and it’s much more fun to perform as well.”
— Sophie Sputnik
FRET12 SESSIONS – PELICAN
The iconic Chicago post-metal band Pelican performs live at the FRET12 shop.
