Bang! Bang!

by Mark Deming
Describing their sound as "sex rock," Chicago-based indie rock trio Bang! Bang! has enough raw energy and frantic rhythms to start a erotic revolution all by themselves, though their hot-wired blasts of chock-a-block guitar and crashing drums aren't exactly the stuff of the quiet storm. Bang! Bang! was founded in 2002 when guitarist and vocalist Jack Flash met bassist and vocalist Gretta Fine; depending on when and where they tell the story, they either bumped into one another at a party or Flash spotted Fine while she was roller-skating in her lingerie. Either way, the two hit it off as a couple and decided to channel some of their mojo into music. Teaming up with drummer Mike Wednesday, the group began hitting the Windy City's club scene in 2003, and began setting up short tours by the end of the year. In 2004, Bang! Bang! self-released their debut EP, a seven-song disc called Do You Like It?, and the five-song Electric Sex followed in 2005. Bang! Bang! signed with Baltimore-based Morphius Records in time to release their first full-length album, Decked Out, in 2006. A second Bang! Bang! album, The Dirt That Makes You Drown, arrived a year later, and with it came some changes in the group's lineup; Mike Wednesday left the group, with Nick Kraska (ex-New Back) taking over behind the drums, while keyboard player Rachel Shindelman began sitting in with the band both on-stage and in the studio as a "part-time member."