MM Tickets

MOTHERWIT live in a Pilsen basement: Frankie at the mic, Ilse on bass, Dez on guitar

New LP Low Toner out March 5

Fig. 1 · the basement, Pilsen · copy 1 of 500

Four people from Pilsen who met on the night shift of a copy shop. Loud, short songs about work, the city and being tired of both.

Spring tour · 12 cities · next four

  • Mar 12ChicagoThe Lantern Room
  • Mar 13MilwaukeeThe Cooler
  • Mar 14DetroitHollow HallSold out
  • Mar 16ClevelandThe Spoke Room

All 14 datesPlay the record

The cover of Low Toner: a hand pressed flat on the glass of a photocopier

MOTHERMIT

Low Toner

The new LP · March 5

Low Toner

Ten songs, thirty-three minutes, recorded live in four days in a warehouse on the Southwest Side with the amps facing each other. Named for the night we ran the copier dry printing flyers for our first show, and half of them came out gray.

Night Shiftthe single · 3:12

Listen on BandcampSpotifyApple Music

Red vinyl, $30Black vinyl $26 · CD $12 · Cold Copy Records, CCR-014

Spring 2027, twelve cities and a festival. Every flyer was copied on the same machine. Tickets at the door are cash or card; sold out means sold out.

  • Mar 12 Chicago, IL The Lantern Room Release show · w/ Soft Margin Tickets
  • Mar 13 Milwaukee, WI The Cooler w/ Soft Margin Tickets
  • Mar 14 Detroit, MI Hollow Hall w/ Soft Margin Sold out
  • Mar 16 Cleveland, OH The Spoke Room w/ Dial Tone Kids Tickets
  • Mar 17 Pittsburgh, PA Lot 9 w/ Dial Tone Kids Tickets
  • Mar 19 Brooklyn, NY Wire & Bone w/ Dial Tone Kids Sold out
  • Mar 20 Brooklyn, NY Wire & Bone Second night, just added On sale Fri
  • Mar 21 Philadelphia, PA The Shoebox w/ Dial Tone Kids Few left
  • Mar 23 Washington, DC The Pump Room All ages Tickets
  • Mar 26 Louisville, KY Rook Hall All ages Tickets
  • Mar 27 Indianapolis, IN Static Hall w/ Pale Ration Tickets
  • Mar 28 St. Louis, MO The Furnace w/ Pale Ration Sold out
  • Mar 30 Minneapolis, MN Glass Lung w/ Pale Ration Few left
  • May 30 Cleveland, OH Undertow Festival Saturday, the Lake Stage Festival
  • Your city? Venues, festivals, basements Book us
MOTHERWIT against a cinderblock wall: Ilse, Dez, Frankie and Tomasz
Ilse, Dez, Frankie, Tomasz · Pilsen
The copier at night in an empty copy shop
Where it started, 3:40 a.m.

The band

Made on the night shift.

In 2018 Frankie and Dez worked overnights at a 24-hour copy shop in Pilsen. From two to five in the morning nobody came in, so they copied flyers for other people’s bands, and then for a band they did not have yet.

Ilse came in at three one night to copy forty issues of her zine and stayed until six arguing about bass tone. Tomasz was the service tech who came to fix the big machine every time it jammed, which was weekly. He had a drum kit in his mother’s garage on 21st Street.

The first show was a basement on Valentine’s Day 2019, forty-one people and a furnace. The copier ran out of toner halfway through the flyers, so half of them came out ghost gray. We have printed every flyer and every sleeve on a copier since. The new record is named after that night.

Frankie, for the four of us

  • Frankie NovakVoice, words

    Ran the copier on the overnight shift for four years. Writes every lyric on the back of a misprint.

  • Dez OkaforGuitar

    The other overnight clerk. Owns one guitar and has broken every string on it at least twice.

  • Ilse BrandtBass

    Came in at 3 a.m. to copy her zine and stayed to argue about Wire. Does the books and the van.

  • Tomasz WronaDrums

    The service tech who fixed the copiers. Hits like he is still trying to clear a paper jam.

  1. 2020Staples7-inch
  2. 2022CarbonLP
  3. 2024Feed ErrorEP
  4. 2027Low TonerLP

Contact sheet

The last year, frame by frame.

  • Pilsen, a basement, December

    12APilsen, a basement · December

  • Tomasz, Milwaukee, October

    13ATomasz, Milwaukee · October

  • Ilse, Undertow Festival, last May

    14AIlse, Undertow Festival · last May

  • The line, Logan Square, January

    15AThe line, Logan Square · January

  • Load-out, Detroit, October

    16ALoad-out, Detroit · October

  • Dez, string six, again, November

    17ADez, string six, again · November

  • The practice space, every Tuesday

    18AThe practice space · every Tuesday

  • Frankie, Wire & Bone, last March

    19AFrankie, Wire & Bone · last March

Press

What they wrote.

  • “Frankie Novak sings like she is reading the riot act to a fax machine, and the fax machine is losing.”

    Static Pages · zine, issue 31

  • “Thirty-three minutes with no fat on it. “Pilsen Snow” is the best thing a Chicago band has put out in years.”

    The Lakeshore Ledger · on Low Toner

  • “The loudest four people I have seen in a room built for forty.”

    Overcast Weekly · live review

  • “Their merch table had a working photocopier on it. I left with a poster that was still warm.”

    Third Coast Noise · tour diary

Merch

The table by the door.

Everything here is at the shows too. Online orders ship from Pilsen on Mondays, packed by Ilse.

  • The flipped M tee$25

    Heavy black cotton, the sign in copy red on the chest, the tour on the back. S to XXL.

  • Low Toner, red vinyl$30

    Copy red, 500 made, each numbered by hand on the back: copy 1 of 500, and so on.

  • Staples, 7-inch$8

    The first record. Staples b/w Carbon Paper, sleeves photocopied and folded by us.

  • Tour poster, 11 × 17$12

    Photocopied on the tour copier, signed by all four, still slightly warm.

Form MW-4 · technical riderPage 1 of 1

What we need from a room.

Lineup
Four: voice, guitar, bass, drums. No tracks, no click, no laptop.
Backline
We bring our own. On a shared bill we can share the kit (we bring breakables).
Inputs
12 channels: kick, snare, 2 toms, 2 overheads, bass DI, guitar mic, 3 vocals and a spare.
Monitors
Four wedges, four mixes. Frankie wants her voice and the snare, nothing else.
Stage
At least 16 × 12 feet. A floor works; we have played kitchens.
Hospitality
Water, a hot meal for five (one vegetarian) and somewhere to sit that is not the van.
Merch
A table near the door, and an outlet. The copier comes with us.

Questions about the rider go to Ilse, who answers the same day. Stage plot and input list come with the confirmation.

Home

Pilsen, Chicago.

The practice space, the copy shop that is now a phone store, and the basement where it started are all within six blocks. We still play the neighborhood every December, all ages, five dollars.

© OpenStreetMap contributors
Pilsen, Chicago Home, the practice space and the first basement Open the map

For promoters and the rest of you

Questions.

Do you play all-ages shows?

Yes, and we would rather. Every tour has at least one all-ages night per region, and in Chicago we still play basements.

How long is the set?

Thirty-five minutes as support, sixty as headliner, forty-five at a festival. No encore: we play the last song louder instead.

How far will you travel?

Anywhere the van gets in a day from Chicago without a quote. Further than that, or a flight for a festival, we quote travel separately.

Do you do in-stores or radio sessions?

Frankie and Dez do a two-person set, voice and guitar, for record stores and radio. Ask in the booking notes.

Will you play my wedding?

Once, for Tomasz’s sister, and the cake survived. Ask. It is loud and it is not cheap.

How does the deposit work?

A quarter of the guarantee holds the date. The rest is paid on the night, after the set. Cancel more than 60 days out and it comes back.

Clubs, festivals, all-ages rooms and the odd basement. Pick the date, put down a quarter of the guarantee, and Frankie texts you within the day with the rider and the stage plot.

  • Support slotfrom $400
  • Headline club showfrom $1,500
  • Festival setfrom $3,500
  • DIY and basements$250 and gas
  1. 1Service
  2. 2Date
  3. 3Details
Book the band
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