In 2004, three members of comedy rockers Psychostick formed the one-off nu-metalcore side project Evacuate Chicago. According to very limited existing records, the band started out as the brainchild of Alex Dontre, who is not only the drummer of psychostick but the self-published author of memoirs Dichotomies: Lessons from a College Life on Tour and Memory Hole: The Psychology of Dystopia. Not is he talented writer and musician but an adjunct professor of Psychology at Franklin University.
Dontre also graduated and received an Bachelors in Financial Planning and Financial Management in 2016 and then a Masters of Business Psychology in 2017 both at Franklin University. His 2016 graduation was filmed by Patrick R. "Murph" Murphy, and is available to watch on the Psychostick YouTube channel.
So why was an accomplished man so sad? And what is Evacuate Chicago? Recorded from 2004 to spring 2008, their first studio album Veracity reflects Dontre when he was just about to be an adult. At age 19, Dontre described 2004 as "a miserable year."
In an interview with now-defunct blog The Metal Reporter:
Evacuate Chicago is largely my own project. I’m only playing drums and doing the occasional back up vocals, but I wrote the 9 out of 12 songs. Josh did all of the guitars and main back ups, and Rob did the lead vocals. Josh did a lot of stuff actually, he wrote the remaining 3 songs, and he engineered and mixed it. But it’s a really personal, pissed of record I wrote when I was 19 and reading a lot of Alice Miller books. It’s very honest, thus the name “Veracity.”
All thirteen tracks are fast and punchy, but "Occasional Letter Number One" is an emotional bomb right of of the gate, a relatable track about a lack of identity. Vocalist Rob Kersey sounds like he is actively collapsing - in a good emotional way - by the end of the track, putting his whole heart and soul into the lyrics.
Seek acceptance day and night / For scraps of approval / You can't grade me / You don't know me
The next track "Nothing Like You", like the latter, is about identity, this one more inferring through Alice Miller is what appears to be parental abuse. Structure-wise, it is also very similar to "Occasional Letter Number One," with standout lyrics including:
You instruct me through every single day / You invalidate every fucking thing that I say / Say it's not that bad, you say you've been there too / Explain to me just why the fuck / Do I feel nothing like you?
"Deny" is a hard one to listen to, especially for anyone who has religious trauma. Being one of the more hardcore focused tracks, Deny sounds something like Primer 55 or Empty Shell Casing, just with more raw vocal emotion, rather than rapping.
The next song "Perfect Ratio" really goes into a depression when it comes to a metaphorical, and also a real, bottom of the bottle. Like many songs off the project, the song is perfectly verbose. The listener can feel draw something from this even if they don't struggle with substance abuse. If I really had to put my finger on it, there seems to be some Snapcase and Vision of Disorder worship on this track.
"The Hole" is pure 2000s nu metal perfection with a hardcore twist. While, I could see the lyrics being lackluster this time around (bear in mind that teenagers wrote this). Otherwise, it's a perfect single. "The Hole" wears its influences on its sleeve. It's the dichotomy in the chorus. It's the fact that this could even be played in someone's car circa 2008, with a crappy subwoofer in the back, just jamming out. For what it is, the track is a reminder to love yourself in times of desperation. For someone experiencing ideation or has struggled with mental health, isolation and sucidial ideation, this matters. Yeah, it could be corny at times, and the lack of turntables in the breakdown before the bridge was weird. However, if you listen to anything on Evacuate Chicago, please listen to "The Hole". It's got everything, soaring highs and lows in the instrumentation, straight forward Hatebreed-esque lyrics complimenting anger and sadness and a positive future, catchy chugs and riffs. It's even got a topical Donnie Darko sample, if that's your thing.
"The Damage Has Been Done" isn't anything to write home about lyrically, but it's still one hell of a innovative mosh track. It blends the best parts of what makes bands like Emmure, Psychostick and System Of A Down great instrumentally. Then, in the most wild way, the breakdown hits and becomes borderline nu beatdown before that was a thing, 808 bass drop and all.
I know people like "Proof of Dark Matter" and the track is the most popular on spotify, but like many things in life, it's actually overrated. When the song "#1 Radio $ingle" made by the same people sounds like the same song as what it's making fun of, that is a bad sign.
Another low point on the album comes towards the track "Progress Beyond Repair". It's pretty formulaic nu metal to the point where when it ends, the track kind of ends just ends before it gets anywhere, almost as if they built stairs to a drop-off to nowhere. I can't dog on it too hard, as the whole album was written by still teens, but even that fact to one side, it's still something that should have cut from the album.
For every miss, there is a hit on Veracity. This time, that hit comes in the form of "Velociraptors". Being the most experimental of all the album The track is equal parts Melted Bodies, Mudvayne and The Smashing Pumpkins. all the while making the track into something uniquely its own. The main riff feels straight out of something like "Bullet with Butterfly Wings". If you like that song and also enjoy the feeling like you're going insane, try this track.
"Time Lapse Photography" is my second favorite track on the whole record. It's the little vocal pocket call and response that Kersey does with the band that makes me smile. The feelings of being stuck in place come back. Unlike many tracks on the record this is something wholly original not trying to copy something. The tracks really paint a picture of complacent and all the while clinging a sense of self that feels real.
Similar to this track is "Peace Love and Santa Claus," not having to do with Christmas but rather realizing that life isn't all sunshine and rainbows. The metaphor of innocence dying in something like when you find Santa isn't real. Take, for example:
This is like Heaven and Hеll / If you believe in lovе and sin / There is no place if you meant well / Your soul will watch your death begin
Though there is a rather on-the-nose reference to writing a letter to Santa:
So write your letters in cursive / like wanting a love so desperately / It's genuine and perfect / Arrange your thoughts so carefully
Veracity ends with "Forgiveness Epidemic." which is the only times Deftones is copied on tracks on the record, minus Chino Moreno's vocal fry. The unique vocal style, the high gain guitars, snappy snares, chugs, and harmonic riffs are all there. My only criticism is that the track the track abruptly does the long outro in the middle of the song. This in turn doesn't really do the track justice. There's no hidden outro, no meaningful switch-up, no anything to it, the album just ends there with a droning guitar of mediocrity. which is a bit of a shame.
Veracity - and Evacuate Chicago, for that matter - will go down in many ways as all one-off projects go: so much potential and opportunity wasted. Not that the record sucks or that it makes the listener feel wasted or hollow. Veracity just leaves me wanting more and feels like it has bloat in spots.
Alas, it doesn't seem like we will be getting any new material soon. Their sister band Psychostick have gone on record in a past livestream this project is never gonna happen again as another record or as a band, because to quote Dontre, he "doesn't want to write dishonest songs."
Which is kind of good but sad. Good, because, from the lyrics for Evacuate Chicago I can see the boys were really struggling mentally. Sad, because even though they don't have to write more for this, they never play it. The band have only done one tour and played "Occasional Letter Number One" during the COVID pandemic circa 2020.
So here's my bucket list proposal for Psychostick. Please, play a mental health charity weekender of Veracity. If I have to book the shows myself, I will. Anything to make this happen. Evacuate Chicago is one of the most underrated and misunderstood nu-metalcore or nu metal albums, period. Revisiting this album made these feelings feel more real to me at 26 than they did at 18. I really took for granted how much Veracity helped me. For how much the albums flaws are there, so is the potential. I just want people to hear how beautifully haunting of a record Veracity is.
If someone you know or love is struggling:
- 988 / Text "Start" to 741-741 - USA Suicide Hotline
- 1-800-662-HELP (4357) - SAMSA Addiction Hotline
- www.thetrevorproject.org/ - LGBTQ+ Warmline
- 1-800-787-3224 - RAINN Sexual Abuse Hotline
- Call 1-800-273-8255 and Press 1, or text 838255 for The Veterans Crisis Line.
For our international readers, check out Help Guide and learn where you can access help and resources.
Psychostick are about to go on tour with Texas Toast Chainsaw Massacre and Galactic Empire. The following dates have been confirmed:
09/02 Louisville, KY @ Fox Den
09/05 Atlanta, GA @ Dragon Con
09/07 Indianapolis, IN @ Black Circle
09/18 Milwaukee, WI @ X-Ray Arcade *
09/19 Minneapolis, MN @ Green Room *
09/20 Fargo, ND @ The Aquarium
09/22 Casper, WY @ Oil City Beer Company *
09/23 Billings, MT @ Pub Station
09/25 Richland, WA @ Ray's Golden Lion
09/26 Portland, OR @ Star Theater
09/27 Seattle, WA @ Barboza
09/30 Fresno, CA @ Strummer's
10/02 Sacramento, CA @ Aftershock
10/04 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Pearl on Main
10/06 Grand Junction, CO @ Mesa Theater *
10/07 Fort Collins, CO @ Moxi Theater *
10/09 Lincoln, NE @ Bourbon Theatre
11/05 Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme *
11/06 Columbus, OH @ The King of Clubs
11/07 Chicago, IL @ WC Social Club
11/08 Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon
*= No Galactic Empire
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