![]() “The owner was like, ‘You should hire Pat,'” Dicks says. The day after an employee bailed on a shift, Dicks complained to Fireside owner Jim Lipinski about the no-show. There he became friends with veteran soundman Elliot Dicks, whose company Elliotsound provided the venue with a PA system and people to run it. Kenneally had been a regular at the Fireside Bowl since moving to Chicago, and his My Lai bandmate, Brian Peterson, booked it as cofounder of MP Presents. This holiday season, save a space for local journalism. We were such good friends before that, and he didn’t cease to be this cool person.” Before they grew apart, Kenneally introduced Elmore to the woman who’s now his wife. “We just sort of faded away from each other and didn’t speak as much,” Elmore says. “I mean it in the most complimentary way.” Elmore and Kenneally developed creative differences, though, and by the end of 1997 Kenneally left My Lai. “It’s like he came out of the womb as a sort of grumpy plumber,” Elmore says. Kenneally also recorded bands on his own time, and in 1997 he engineered a demo and the Pony Soldier seven-inch for My Lai, the latter of which came out on Martin Sorrondeguy‘s Lengua Armada label.Įlmore describes Kenneally as a “fix-it dad,” someone eager to help anyone in a pinch-and not shy about sharing his obviously correct opinions. Kenneally had a melodic, aggressive sound, inspired by Skin Graft Records noise-rock and by Steve Albini’s band Shellac-he interned for Albini at Electrical Audio around the time My Lai took off. “The push-pull between his style and my style, especially at that time, gave it more of a distinctive edge,” Elmore says. Previously he’d just taken orders, but now he was an active partner-to the band’s benefit. ![]() In My Lai, Elmore was on equal creative footing with a bandmate for the first time in his career. People actually liked it.” Brian Peterson (left) and Pat Kenneally during a My Lai set at the Fireside Bowl Credit: Rebecca Ann Rakstad “Fortunately-unfortunately-that didn’t happen. ![]() If people can’t stand it, if they hate it, that’s fine-we want to be this ball of energy,'” Elmore says. In early 1996, Elmore and Kenneally formed the screamo band My Lai. “He was always working, always doing something, always trying to positively contribute something,” Elmore says. He wasn’t just punching the clock-he cared about the music community and supported it with more than his labor.Ĭattle Decapitation guitarist Josh Elmore got to know Kenneally at shows in downstate Illinois in the mid-90s, and their friendship blossomed after they both moved to Chicago and ended up at the same punk concert in early 1995. (Recently he worked mostly as a building superintendent, but he still picked up the occasional gig.) He’d ingrained himself in the local scene, becoming a vital piece of the largely invisible infrastructure that keeps it healthy. Kenneally, who died at age 43 on Wednesday, June 6, spent the past couple decades doing sound at clubs such as Darkroom, the Empty Bottle, and Lounge Ax. ![]() “Playing in bands, sound guys are often your first introductions to venues-seeing Pat made you feel a little more at home,” says Metro talent buyer and Lasers and Fast and Shit vocalist Joe Carsello. If you play any kind of amplified music in Chicago, you’ve probably dealt with enough live sound engineers to know that you’d be lucky if the one working your gig was Patrick M.
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