On Sunday nights the Empty Bottle undergoes a subtle transformation. Some patrons play a lazy game of pool in front of the stage, which is dark and empty. Others hold quiet conversations at the tables in front of the bar. In a corner a DJ mixes records behind two turntables. The hypnotic, beat-driven bass-heavy music pumping through the speakers is a mixture of reggae, rocksteady, dub, jungle, and dancehall.
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“Everyone here is so used to seeing a three-piece band onstage playing three-minute songs,” says musician Rik Shaw, who put together Dub Night. “This is a refreshing alternative to that.”
Shaw returned to Chicago, saved up for a pair of turntables, and began Dub Night at the Empty Bottle. “What we’re doing is really rudimentary,” he says. “But the more it develops, the more we’re starting to play our original stuff.”
The Deadly Dragon Sound System appears Sundays from 10:30 PM to 1:30 AM at the Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western. Call 276-3600 for more.
