The Blacks' improbable reunion
In true Chicago fashion, Danny Black doesn’t sugarcoat things. When asked whether he thought his band the Blacks would ever get back together after breaking up acrimoniously 10 years ago, he says, “No way. I would say no [frigging] way. When it’s going well with this band, it’s pretty incredible. But when it’s bad, it’s really bad. There was no way I thought it could happen.”
But, in the hell-has-frozen-over department of the music world, the Blacks – Danny Black, Gina Black, Nora O’Connor, James Emmenegger – are back. A well-received reunion at the Hideout’s annual block party last September was followed by a recording session and a strong six-song EP, “In Sickness and in Health” (available digitally via bloodshotrecords.com). Now the band is plotting out a few concerts, including Saturday at Schubas, and additional recording sessions.
“I remember the first practice [for the Hideout reunion], everyone staggered in separately over about 10 minutes, and I talked to Nora, then Jimmy, then Gina and I’m thinking, ‘Wow, these are four really different people,’ ” Black says. “I didn’t know if we could pull this off. And then we started playing, and all that history went out the window. There’s something that happens when we make music together that I never felt with any other group of people.”
But, in the hell-has-frozen-over department of the music world, the Blacks – Danny Black, Gina Black, Nora O’Connor, James Emmenegger – are back. A well-received reunion at the Hideout’s annual block party last September was followed by a recording session and a strong six-song EP, “In Sickness and in Health” (available digitally via bloodshotrecords.com). Now the band is plotting out a few concerts, including Saturday at Schubas, and additional recording sessions.
“I remember the first practice [for the Hideout reunion], everyone staggered in separately over about 10 minutes, and I talked to Nora, then Jimmy, then Gina and I’m thinking, ‘Wow, these are four really different people,’ ” Black says. “I didn’t know if we could pull this off. And then we started playing, and all that history went out the window. There’s something that happens when we make music together that I never felt with any other group of people.”