Rick Sims and his new bandmates, Beanz Decatur and Billy Fury, share how this upcoming Riot Fest gig came about. The last Didjits gigs happened back in 2006 - so we are all in for a treat as the band gets ready to play Riot Fest on Friday 9/19 and the Empty Bottle on Sunday 9/21.

Time Stamps:

1:36 - Pavement & Didjits re-form - are The Smiths next?

3:20 - How did the Riot Fest gig come together?

5:30 - Beanz & Billy join the band.

6:20 - How did Beanz & Billy get together?

7:50 - Were Billy & Beanz familiar with the Didjits?

8:55 - How did the practices go?

12:36 - How long have you been practicing together?

13:33 - How about playing Riot Fest?

15:25 - How does it feel to be playing these songs after so long?

16:35 - How will this compare to previous Didjits shows?

18:45 - Excited to play the Empty bottle?

19:35 - Is this a one-off or will there be more Didjits?

21:02 - More Didjits music?

23:45 - Strictly Dynamite response?

27:20 - Is Brad Sims coming out for the shows?

28:20 - What's on your "To Do" list when you're in Chicago?

Matt Walker has always wanted to play the drums. It was his first instrument and he took to it immediately. He's now made a wonderful career of it - playing in an amazing list of incredibly bands. Morrissey, Smashing Pumpkins, Filter, Garbage and more. His band, Cupcakes, put out a major label record, but broke up too soon. Nowadays, Matt puts out his own work as of1000faces. We talked about Matt's career, as well as his thoughts on Chicago.

https://of1000faces.bandcamp.com/

Time stamps:

3:07: Was it always your intent to play drums, or did you learn something else and segway into drums?

4:21: Who were some of your earliest drumming influences?

6:51: Did you learn anything from your dad about listening to music critically?

10:52: At what point do you start to expand your music playing from the blues scene into more rock type acts?

15:16: What was that band that clicked for you that you played in?

17: How do you get tapped to audition for Filter/what is an audition like?

21:30: You enter The Smashing Pumpkins at a super tumultuous time, what is that tumult like?

28:24: How quickly did you have to learn The Pumpkins songs before going on tour with them?

35:15: What led to you leaving The Pumpkins?

39:28: Tell us more about Cupcakes

43: Did you take more ownership because this was your band?

44:19: How do you get hooked into the Morrissey orbit?

49:13: Is it stressful to be in a band with Morrissey?

51: What is it like going in the studio with Morrissey?

53: Thick or thin crust pizza fan?

55:05: Favorite venue to see a show and favorite venue to play a show?

56: What makes Chicago music scene unique?

58: How did the of1000faces project come to be?

59:48: What is your go to cheap drink?

61:20: Anything you'd like to plug on the way on out of here?

Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot have been writing about Chicago and music for a long time. Greg was the rock music critic at the Chicago Tribune from 1990 to 2020. Jim spent 15 years as the music critic at the Chicago Sun Times. Both have written several great books - Greg's published books include Wilco: Learning How to Die, I'll Take You There Mavis Staples and Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music. Jim's titles include Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, Staring at Sound: The True Story of Oklahoma's Fabulous Flaming Lips and Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly. But they may be best known for the long-running podcast Sound Opinions which celebrated its 1,000th episode in 2025.

We loved getting the chance to talk shop with Jim & Greg about what it has been like to cover music for so long, how things have evolved over the years and what they like (and dislike) about Chicago. As a disclaimer - Jim's views on Chicago pizza are his alone and do not reflect the opinions of No Wristbands (and he's clearly wrong!).

https://www.gregkot.com/

https://jimdero.com/

Time stamps:

3: What's the biggest misconception people have about being music journalists?

10: What are some of your greatest music discovery moments you've experienced in Chicago?

14:30: What has changed throughout your time as being a music journalist?

17:45: With the rise of online music publications, did that have any impact on how you wrote and/or talked about music?

28: People should get paid to be music journalists.

32: Who are some bands/artists from Chicago that you felt like never hit as big as they should have?

35:25: What makes Chicago such a good and unique music scene?

45: What keeps you going with Sound Opinions?

48:44: Thick or thin crust pizza fans?

51:45: What are some of your favorite venues to see shows at in Chicago?