CAN YOU SEE THE SUNSET - January 8, 2008

I recently got a copy of Listening, the first full length from the Chicago indie pop group Let's Get Out Of This Terrible Sandwich Shop. Yes, the band has a horribly long (but equally memorable) name, but that isn't what this is all about. It is about the music. Guitars churn, male/female vocal harmonies abound, keyboards swell, and everyone sounds like they are having a great time performing improv sketch comedy. Listening is all over the map, but could generally be classified as quirky indie pop that has a little bit of a retro garage rock thing happening as well. The band could possibly be compared to They Might Be Giants, but I probably wouldn't go that far.

Sure, Let's Get Out Of This Terrible Sandwich Shop mixes rock music and comedy, but it somehow seems like a cumbersome process on Listening. Perhaps this combination translates better in a live setting, but I think the band would (most likely) have been better served by concentrating on either the humor or the rock. Additionally, this album is full of crazy lyrics that really aren't as good or clever as I would have hoped and not as literary or encyclopedic as those of TMBG.

All that being said, I kinda like this album. They mix up all sorts of sounds and a dry witty humor and Let's Get Out Of This Terrible Sandwich Shop just sorta feels like the underdog and I'm rooting for 'em. Listening is (even so) a fairly entertaining and humorous album that (despite song titles like) "King Wonder Wiffle And The Commencement of Batting Practice," "Bionic Dolphin," and "Chattanooga Kookoo" is a pretty decent cross between comedy and indie pop. Plus the faux-disco-funk of "VIP Room" is pretty hilarious. See, I'm smiling now.

(Eric Mueller)

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TIME OUT CHICAGO (Issue 146) December 13, 2007

We were surprised at how thoroughly delightful we found Chicago's No. 1 improv-comedy–fueled rock band, Let's Get Out of This Terrible Sandwich Shop. Led by Tony Mendoza, this posse of ComedySportz/Annoyance Theatre/Sirens Improv/Second City–affiliated performers manages to make novelty music that is both novel and musical. Bopping from '90s-style indie rock, to timeless indie pop, to organ-led garage rock, to the occasional Tin Pan Alley tune, a Sandwich Shop concert feels more like being at an anything-goes vaudeville show than an improv performance.

THE TRIPWIRE - November 16, 2007

Let's Get Out of This Terrible Sandwich Shop @ Reggie's Rock Club - Chicago

Show time 8:00 PM. Busting my ass to get out of work as to arrive before anybody took the stage, I caught the Red-line south to the venue at 7:25 PM. Emerging from the train in a puffy down jacket and beanie to keep warm I blend right in with the street toughs that are mingling around the Cermak-Chinatown stop. Google maps did a good job of directing my walking route and I arrive in front of Reggie’s Rock Club at 7:45 PM.

The bouncer at the door is standing in the middle of the sidewalk making sure people obey the request written on a chalk board sign reading “Do not give money or cigarettes to beggars.” I suppose they swarm like pigeons when fed. The bouncer takes my ID then asks that I remove my hat for a more accurate facial assessment. A couple authenticity checks on the quality of said ID followed by a long series of looks from the card to my face and back again. He had me worried that someone had switched my legitimate identification for that of a child’s. Convinced I was the same person that was on the card I make my way in the bar area looking for signs of the show and make myself comfortable on a bench built for grade school children. Finally the work week gets the best of me and I grab a drink at the bar.

A pint-can of PBR runs me $4, but at this point I would pay in first-born children to different mothers. I check with the barkeep to make sure this is the correct venue for the show I have journeyed to see. He makes his way to the back of the bar and sifts through some loose papers and returns with news that they are in the next door venue. “Don’t worry; you have plenty of time to have a few drinks here before the show starts.” My thoughts were that this bloodsucker is after my tips and cares nothing for the musical experience I wish to take in. The beverage is consumed and out I go just the way I came in. Next door is the lower level of the venue where T-shirts, pins, and stickers are sold. The chap behind the counter tells me the doors don’t open until 8:00 and the show won’t start until 9:15. They got me with the old movie time ploy now there is an hour to kill. Upstairs is a record shop, which is new to me, and a treasure trove of great music. Forty-five minutes and fifteen dollars later I make my way down to the venue.

The band “.22” is gearing up for their set. All the bands on the bill tonight are on the Roydale Recording Company label. They are a trio of jean-clad pressed button-down shirt men. Nothing in the set grabbed me and shook me like an angry nanny, but I’ve never been a critic of opening bands. We all need a platform to preach from. During the set change I grabbed a can of Hamm’s beer at the bar. I didn’t know they still served this but I pray all the cool kids start to drink it so I can get it in a wider variety of locations. You hear me hipsters? Hamm’s, that’s your mission for me. Next up was Joesepi. A band comprised of mid-thirties men that rocked on tunes that reminded me of 1992. Being from the Northwest I have a soft-spot for this genre and enjoyed the set. Even when a song lost my attention the keyboard player had me captivated. His movement reminded me of a mushroom trip or mild autism. Whatever it was, it was fascinating.

The Sandwich Show was getting set up and I made my way to the side of the room where I had a full stage view and enough light to see my own scribbles. Drunk-lady next to me was professing her love of Tony Mendoza in slurs and spits in the direction where she thought my twin was sitting. She had just earned her hangover. The band took the stage in a casual fashion, still tuning instruments, and sporting retro/vintage attire in colors that the rainbow had disowned. Even the drum set had an Ed Sullivan feel to it. I could see them checking in with each other on stage and could only suspect what they were saying.

“Costumes? Check. Props? Check. Cat Puppet? Check. Let’s do this!”

Just like that they kicked into the first song at exactly 11:00 PM. The energy had begun to pump in the venue and Tony Mendoza was thrashing away at the drums. He was assaulting them so hard that twice in the opening number a drum stick made its way out of his hand and landed somewhere behind the drum set. Tom Vale was ripping in and getting some movement going in his corner of the stage while Thea Lux and Joanna Buese were focusing their energy on the instruments in their hands. Burning through three songs, they were so focused I thought they might have dosed on Ritalin before the show and forgot that everyone loved the bits that made them unique.

Like clockwork they bust into their theme accompanied by the cat and costumes. Bantering with the audience followed as Thea Lux commented on the Confederate hat she was adorning. A small discussion of three sentences was had as to how it wasn’t racist, just historically accurate. Back into the music they dove. Drunk-lady next to me got up and almost fell down the concrete steps we were sitting on. I laugh much too loud and moved away to avoid any tough talk from the entourage of men feeding her drinks. A solid set of new and existing tunes were laid out interspersed with new bits that I had yet to see. The unveiling of the new logo, looking suspiciously like a swastika, was touted as the two S’s of Sandwich Shop. If anyone was to get offended it would surprise the life out of me. They performed their bits with more tongue in cheek than a starving child in Darfur licking the last bits of peanut butter from his dead mother’s mouth. Now that is something you be offended by. The big closer for the evening was VIP where Joanna Buese really belts the vocals in a full out Motown feeling pace. A perfect cap for a show where you are delighted by not knowing what is coming next. That and drunk lady was passed out with her own drink spilled in her lap. That helped too.

(Matt Owens)

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RADIO FREE CHICAGO - November 9, 2007

Let's Get Out Of This Terrible Sandwich Shop Release New LP

When you hear a name like Let's Get Out Of This Terrible Sandwich, you know you can expect a few yuks, but the laughs that they receive are due to their witty, dry, and at times bizarre humor that only years of improv and sketch comedy can yield. But if you were to focus on the music, which I will after the jump. They embody a variety hour of genres, from punk to rock to vaudeville torch songs, which is sure to keep you on your toes. Their live performances are quite entertaining as well, they throw in a few jokes here and there, received with a groan or a barrage of applause. Most of the members are multi-instrumentalists, so it is not uncommon to see them jump around from instrument to instrument as they take you through the sound of the Sandwich Shop. Let's Get Out Of This Terrible Sandwich Shop is releasing a new LP Listen-ing , and they are having a party TONIGHT at the newly established South Side rock club, Reggie's Live with the rest of their Roydale Records Label family.

...Sandwich Shop definitely fuses some interesting styles and tend to jump genres at the switch of a track on their newly released LP, Listen-ing (mixed by Greg Norman). Lead by Tony Mendoza, whose voice can be as spastic as Jad Fair, brings a punk sensibility to the band's sound that can be derived from listening to TMBG, Misfits, and David Byrne all at the same time on repeat, then emulating that sound. He is supported by Thea Lux, Joanna Buese, and Tom Vale, and it is with their strong flairs that allows the music to really take flight. With Mendoza taking on a majority of the songwriting duties on the album, he has a way of mixing the mundane with the insane to create lyrics that are Mad-Lib, yet somewhat coherent. Thea Lux does offer up her fair share of songwriting abilities, like "Loved Song" and "Lullabye" which showcase her heart and beautiful voice (a voice that would be right at home on a bare stage with a small spotlight on her and a ukulele in a dim cabaret.) It is Thea and Joanna's backing vocal harmonies that add a truly wonderful contrast to Mendoza's screams, yelps, and melodies. Overall, Listen-ing is an unique album that takes the listener on a musical journey through the psyche of musicians with a off-kilter sense of humor. Blood, fucken families, horses, lost love, and getting nasty, they all relate in this world they create. It is worth a listen-ing and might be even better experienced live, especially "VIP Room" which is out of this world when Joanna really lets it all loose.

(Carlo Garcia)

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MINNEAPOLIS FUCKING ROCKS - October 11, 2007

Let's Get Out Of This Terrible Sandwich Shop

Listening (The Roydale Recording Company / IODA, 2007)
Grade: B+

Let's Get Out Of This Terrible Sandwich Shop are a Chicago quartet whose members each have extensive training in improvisational comedy. Though they describe themselves as an "indie-pop goof-rock band", if you take a, uh, listen to their first full-length album, Listening, you'll find some seriously catchy and surprisingly well-crafted tunes.

Listening consists of 15 tracks, each crafted with the kind of charmingly nerdy idiosyncrasies of groups like They Might Be Giants and Best Friends Forever. "Larlie" is the song that I haven't been able to get out of my head - and so, I keep listening to it over and over again. Ditto for "VIP Room" (a track with a hilariously goofy falsetto vocal), "Bionic Dolphin" and "Chattanooga Koo Koo".

Though the band's name suggests clever, witty music, there's also a dark undercurrent that makes its presence known throughout the album. The subject of "My Fucken Family" is pretty self-explanatory, and "Loved Song" is a sad, ukulele driven ditty about a broken relationship. Despite what the group's name might say, this is a sandwich shop worth visiting.

(Jonathan Graef)

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