(Photo credit: Calbee Booth for Snapcult)

If the history of music in Chicago represented the average human lifespan, New Black would have been around just long enough for the time takes to throw up a set of rock horns, and perhaps a split second longer to connect it with a rock lock. For those of you who have no idea what the hell I mean, don't worry, keep reading.

New Black released their first, self-titled record in March of 2004 on Chicago's Thick Records. They played a catchy, sassy brand of punk rock intertwined with no-wave, and quickly managed to create quite a buzz both locally and nationally while touring at a good clip to support the record. 18 months later, they released their sophomore effort, Time Attack. Another tour followed in the winter of '05, but was abruptly cut short, and the band was not heard from again. There was never a formal announcement as to the fate of the band, but drummer Nick Kraska moved on to play with Bang! Bang!, guitarist/vocalist Patti Gran continued to play with The Dials, and bassist Liam Kimball moved to New York City. In a nutshell, this is the story of New Black.

In late May, New Black's name appeared on The Beat Kitchen's show list, and word spread quickly that they were back... but for how long? The only words from the band came from their official website where Kraska stated "I'm sleepy now from our hibernation but we're coming out to play a rock show 07/06/07 and you should totally be there cuz it's gonna be an absolute blast." Other myspace blogs from the band refer to 'hibernation' and 'sleeping' as well, but rather than trying to decipher their true meaning, I just bought myself a ticket and showed up at the Beat Kitchen.

I had seen New Black many times before, and I wondered if they could muster up their high-octane shows that I had grown accustomed to. 18+ months is a long time to go without playing, and based on information gathered prior to the show, they had only 2 practices to prepare. I must admit...in my book, the cards seemed pretty well stacked against them. Could they deliver?

Before the first song had even ended, all of my questions had been answered. I was completely floored because it really seemed like they had spent no time apart at all. Most importantly, they all looked to be genuinely into what they were doing, and even joked with the crowd about being away for so long. They proceeded to play through almost every song on their 2 records, and the grateful audience got them back on stage for a few encore songs. I walked away from the show feeling that New Black was even better than what I remembered them to be. Even as I left Beat Kitchen that night, the same thought kept popping into my head... "2 practices??? 2?!?!?!?!"

It seems that future plans for the band are still up in the air. Rather than lament about whether or not they have broken up or not, I'd be stoked if, every year or so, New Black awoke from their hibernation and played a raucous set for their fans in Chicago.

Here is a video of "Put It To Bed", which appears as the opening track on their self titled record.