continued from page 35
tarists, making her a mainstay at Kingston
Mines.
What makes The Winter Summit
unique it also features all indoor access.
“This will be the coolest indoor blues festi-
val in the world – you park right next door,
and then once you’re inside, you don’t
have to go back outside all day. There is a
large municipal parking garage with free
parking just immediately south of Hey
Nonny," Chip Brooks told IE.
The event will also feature a panel dis-
cussion on Saturday, February 1, at 4:00
p.m. with some of Chicago’s most notable
sidemen, including Bob Stroger, Rico
McFarland, Donald Kinsey, Marty
Sammon, and Billy Flynn. All of whom
together have toured and recorded with
every major blues star from Buddy Guy to
Otis Rush to James Cotton to Albert King,
Pinetop Perkins to Kim Wilson, and, in
Kinsey’s case, Bob Marley. Joining the pan-
elists will be filmmaker Scott D.
Rosenbaum, who will follow the panel dis-
cussion with an exclusive screening of his
award-winning film Sidemen: Long Road To
Glory. "Like The Wrecking Crew and
Standing in The Shadows music documen-
taries, this was a blues sideman story that
needed to be told," Straight Arrow's Dave
Katzman explained to IE.
Tickets for the full three-day Winter
Blues Summit, including the panel discus-
sion, screening of Long Road to Glory, and
two Blues Brunches, are $175 each. One-
day passes are also available starting at
$60. For the full line-up, event schedule,
and
to
purchase
tickets,
visit
www.HeyNonny.com.
Wingate
by
Wyndham in Arlington Heights is the offi-
cial hotel sponsor of the event, offering a
special room rate of $79 for ticket holders.
Attendees can call 847-434-0300 and ask
for the Winter Blues Summit room rate.
Continued from page 34
album?
LK: Just like with these two songs. I've got
my studio where I record. We track it; we
start demoing out stuff, and then we get
together and kind of work them through. I
know programming stuff, and this is what a
lot of people do, but for me, I’m still kind of
old school. I like the real thing, so I like to
record real drums and stuff like that. [For]
the song ideas, we'll sometimes get into a
room, we'll jam out a few parts and then
sometimes it's all in my head — each song
kind of takes on a different life. Which I think
is kind of cool because it keeps everything
from sounding synthetic and all the same. I
think it's kind of the one thing I noticed about
the first two records is that they're both dif-
ferent albums, and we'll see what this one
brings. It's going to be fun. As far as the
release date, I would like to shoot for
September-October.
Mosh: Comparing Gears of the Machine: A
New Beginning with A Madness Within,
there seemed to be a stylistic shift. You
added a keyboard player, which added a lit-
tle more flavor. What direction is this new
material headed?
LK: Having played in The Skull, my way of
writing is going to be a little bit different
[now]. There's going to be some elements of
doom, not completely, but I still want to have
that power metal edge and keep our progres-
sive elements where they're needed. But I
don't want to go overboard with that because
I think there's a point where sometimes peo-
ple like to add too many notes. Sometimes
it's nice to hear a good groove. But one thing
44 illinoisentertainer.com january 2020
Sacred Dawn has always got to have is that
groove. It's got to be in the pocket, and it's
gotta have that chunk, the riff. If it doesn't
grab somebody, to me, it kind of gets lost. To
me, it's that one signature thing that we’ll
always have. There's heavy guitar riffing.
We’re going to be a little bit more organic on
this one. I don't want to say one way or
another, because you know how things will
change as you get into the writing process,
and even [in the] mixing.
Mosh: What label will release the new
Sacred Dawn album?
LK: I've had this label since the ’90s,
Qumran Records. Over the years, I've used it,
and I've always had Qumran Records hold
the rights to these albums. But we would do
our distribution through Nightmare Records
and Dark Star Records. Starting in January,
Qumran is going to start signing bands, too.
I've got a couple of guys I'm working with,
and we're going to launch this thing next
year and start doing stuff ourselves.
MOSH-WORTHY RELEASES: Strike Master
Death Based Illusions (Concreto Records) —
Mexican thrashers shred like nobody’s busi-
ness on its vicious four-song EP. Paladin
Ascension (Prosthetic Records) — Atlanta-
based power thrashers show off a different
side of the genre with 11 blazing tracks.
Coffin Rot Monument to the Dead (Blood
Harvest Records) — Portland, Oregon-based
death metal band crush it on its brutal debut
album featuring eight gore-infested cuts.