Rock Star Club slugs it out in the trenches of the music scene, surviving all hipster trends by creating their own niche in Chicago music. Their debut cd, "America Needs Rock Star Club," received high praise from local critics and was WXRT DJ Richard Milne's pick as best album of 1997. Since then, Rock Star Club has released 4 albums on their label GDR! Records.

Their latest effort, "Bienvenidos a Grand y Western," is a testament to playing in a local band and living on the West side of the city. The cd sounds like Aerosmith during the "Rocks" era breeding with a modern day indie rock band led by a gonzo journalist with a unique voice. The sound is guitar heavy, with dual leads, amazing drumming and stop/start changes. The record chronicles the struggles and drawbacks of gentrification, local music vs. day job slave, late nights at 5am bars, tacos and burritos, good times on the road and the fear of becoming a failure. The cd was produced and recorded by Joey D (Oh my God!, Kill Hannah) at the Sound Factory in Chicago and mixed at Smart Studios in Madison, WI. Tracks like "High Life" and "Rockin' it Local" reveal the truth about the Chicago rock scene: "Rockin' it local can be a bitch, in this dirty business, local equals shit." As the band will tell you it's not about fame, money or girls. "It's always been about playing music and we've got some pretty amazing and interesting music. Everyone wants to be famous and get rich, but if you don't love playing for those few people that get it when the rest of the world turns away, then you won't last very long, maybe 2 years."

The band's ultimate strength is their live show. Rock Star Club shows are events worthy of the motto, "Give us 30 minutes, and we'll give you the best rock show you've seen all year." Guitarist/webmaster Justin Zucker adds, "The DIY approach might be more work, but it pays off in pride. We can accomplish anything another band can, we just have to do the work. If we want to tour, we book it; if we want to put out a record, we press it; if we want a video, we shoot it."

The liner notes of Rock Star Club's 3rd album, "Shut Up and Work It", written by singer/songwriter Paul Kasprzak, say it best. "When Chuck and I made plans to form the band he said something that is our mission statement, 'Even if we fail and never become big stars, if one person buys our record and says - I get it. I was going through the same thing you were singing about and didn't think another person felt like I did - then it was worth it and we really didn't fail.' So in the face of failure in the business part of music, I will shut up and work a day job I hate and make music that 99.999% of the population doesn't get and will never hear. And when the failure gets me down, I know the bastard can't beat us...because we've already won."

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