Though the Chicago post-punk trio Lifeguard are only in their late teens and early 20s, their debut album Ripped and Torn shows a mastery of the damaged rock form. Within a long continuum of scratchy, arty guitar bands, there is plenty to pull from; Lifeguard uses this almost atemporal language as a vehicle to write songs that stick with you. Part of a larger scene of precocious Chicago people playing informed indie—Lifeguard drummer Isaac Lowenstein’s sister Penelope plays in the equally-dialed trio Horsegirl; at one point two-thirds of Lifeguard actually played in Horsegirl—the band makes a pretty strong argument for youth rock energy and the eternal power of controlled dissonance. 

So, naturally, we were curious to know more about this young band’s musical come-up. We sent some questions over to all three members of Lifeguard: Lowenstein, bassist and vocalist Asher Case, and guitarist and vocalist Kai Slater. What was it like growing up rock and roll in the Windy City? The band’s responses shed some light on that experience. Lifeguard also puts us onto some of the best post-gig food in Chicago. Thankfully, those famous hot dogs make the cut.

Do you have any formative memories of listening to music as a kid?

 

Asher: My dad used to play me The Pretenders self-titled record a lot while we were driving around. I think it’s really palatable music for a kid, the songs are pretty commanding and maybe there was a reason my dad was playing me songs like “Stop Your Sobbing” or “Kid.” But I remember just really loving that album from the beginning and I can still come back to it when I’m doing kind of mundane things like driving or taking a shower, it passes the time and gets you dancing as much as you can in those situations. 

 

Can you remember the first time you discovered a band or a song that felt like you could claim some sort of ownership over? Like, this isn't coming from your family or your friends—you found out about this.  

 

Isaac: I found out about the Buzzcocks by literally looking at Wikipedia’s list of punk rock bands. Weirdly, the first release of theirs I heard was their demo album Time’s Up and I instantly fell in love. As an angry 10-year-old, I think that record spoke to me in so many ways … I read the drummer was like fifteen or something when it was recorded, which possibly established my youth-in-punk dreams. But the sort of clunky mess with these melodic and brilliant songs pushing through the performances was what I really adored.  

 

What was the first show you went to?

 

Kai: The first real rock show I went to was Thee Oh Sees at the Empty Bottle frozen dancing thing. They were one of the first modern bands I got into when I started to form a brain as a child. I was super into garage and old psychedelia and they totally blew my mind because they had the high guitar and keyboardist named Mr. Elevator or whatever. Rock on.

How important is the lineage of Chicago indie rock to your band? Do you feel like you are in conversation with some of those musical histories?

Isaac: I think a lot of the ethos of Chicago music stays in our band, even as our influences drift away from some of that stuff. This city has always had a loving, supportive and truly DIY spirit, and I think this spirit lives strong in new music here. We try not to repeat the sounds (and some of the shock jock shit) of rock from previous decades, but take the energy that this city has always had and use it to do our own thing. But, if we could play the Fireside, I think we would definitely say yes.

Were you in any bands before Lifeguard? What did those sound like?

Kai: The first band I played in was with a Chicago youth legend Rylan Wilder which I don't remember the name of but I joined like a week after I bought a bass. They saw my Metallica bass cover on my Instagram and we met at an open mic and I told them I was the greatest living bass player or something. That was a brief thing but then I started a band with my friend Desi Kaercher called Sublime Jupiter Snake Duo and we made like six albums or something during COVID, making weird ring-modulated noise and melodic electronica which I think was very inspired by The Residents and Snakefinger in my mind—I had bought the Gingerbread Man CDROM and became obsessed.

Then I started busking with my friend Frances Brazas (I would yelp and play guitar and they would play a wood saw with a violin bow and we would wear funny hats) and writing folk songs about whales and songs about teapots that was very inspired by Elephant 6 and Beatles and Margo Guryan and stuff. I was also very briefly in a deathcore band called Zombie Ritual around the same time. There are a few other bands but they might have only lasted a few seconds…

There are decades upon decades of post-punk and indie rock music to sort through. Is that history daunting to you? How do you deal with that as a musician?

Asher: I don’t see that history as daunting. I like a lot of that music, and getting deeper into it makes me realize how expansive the era was in terms of the experimentality that informs how we make music now. But the influence this has on me isn’t limiting, it’s not like I feel the need to condense what I enjoy into the music I create (that would make it feel daunting, given the quantity) or that we create as Lifeguard. I think that what informs any creative output is just the taste you generally have in things. So to me the quantity of punk and indie rock just serves to inform that taste. And I don’t hold myself to any type of completist standard with that. 

What does "music discovery" look like to you now? How has that changed since you were younger?

 

Isaac: As a kid I did not have many friends who knew the music I enjoyed, so I resorted to a lot of web digging and going down “related artists” rabbit holes. But now music discovery has become so much more social and I end up finding out about most stuff verbally … Hanging out in someone’s house playing records for each other, blasting stuff in the car, etc. I definitely still am digging through Discogs pages looking at connections between bands, but having people to talk to about music has completely expanded my horizons and given me access to stuff I never could’ve found on my own.

Do you have any major non-musical influences at the moment?

 

Asher: I’ve gotten really into fiber arts this past year, through taking some classes and applying it to my own visual practice, but in terms of lifeguard visuals, we have always been really obsessed with repeated patterns like those found in weavings. The use of shapes to create engaging visuals, and modernism in general are both things that we do a lot with even if it’s not really discussed that often. I think there’s something to be said for creating an interesting composition in a modernist way, without pictures, and that can be related back to fiber arts in terms of material construction or craft as something with visual appeal. So all of that goes into our artwork in some way, and then it informs the music in the way that we take from modernism what we also take from post punk, or indie music, sensibilities that become ingrained and reproduced on a personal level.

What's the best food to eat after a practice or a show in Chicago?

Isaac: After practice I will always suggest getting tacos from Taqueria Moran. The Al Pastor is to die for. But after a show, I think there is nothing sweeter than the glorious rubbery snap of a hotdog from the nearest Vienna Beef stand to the venue (excl. Duks). 

Photo Credit: Grace Bader Conrad