From: sunofmusic@gmail.com   
      
   In the early days, punk rock was many things: loud, fast, unrefined,   
   rebellious and obnoxious, all in defiance of what was popular at the time.   
   While that influence has never entirely faded, 2015 sees few bands embrace the   
   gospel of the Germs or the    
   Cramps quite as dearly as Mary & the Immaculate Rejections.   
      
   Singer/guitarist Mary Lemanski started her professional music career at age   
   11, playing the pipe organ, of all things. Since then, she's released multiple   
   albums' worth of original music online, placing in various songwriting   
   contests and earning    
   showcases all over the country for her works in various genres. And all the   
   subtlety and nuance she's spent the last 16 years mastering are promptly   
   thrown out the window from the time the first buzzsaw guitar roars through the   
   speakers on her band's new    
   EP.   
      
   Actually, "You're My #1," muscular riffing aside, is a very sweet love song,   
   showing kinship with The Damned's undeniable sense of both melody and harmony.   
   The sweetness of the opener leads nicely into the PG-lechery of "Stoplight   
   Romance," a Fleshtones-   
   inspired romp about the fun of flirtation.   
      
   But it's with "Telemarketing Song" that Lemanski's sardonic side comes out. "I   
   hate people / 'cuz people suck" she helpfully explains during the song's   
   chorus, and it's not at first clear which end of a telemarketing call she's   
   speaking from. While the    
   song may end on a positive note, it's a delightfully snotty singalong and sets   
   up the EP's three final tracks.   
      
   "Living Free" is equal parts bittersweet remembrance of a past relationship   
   and winking self-deprecation. "Not cool then and still not now / It's just   
   emo," Lemanski drolly intones as bass and drums send the song into a   
   swing-beat breakdown. "Just like    
   me, not cool then, not cool now."   
      
   Finally, "All I Need Is Myself" closes the album on a defiant, aggressive   
   note. "You think you're something," Lemanski spits, "But   
   I'd rather be all alone / than spend more time with you." The song oozes   
   classic punk rock attitude and panche, and when the vocal slides off pitch in   
   the last chorus, it's the icing on the cake.   
      
   With Lemanski having opened for the likes of Marky Ramone & the Speed Kings,   
   D.I., Val Emmich, and Rev. Norb & The Onions, and bassist Harold Bertolis and   
   drummer Andy Trello having served as the powerhouse rhythm section from   
   Springfield bands Rotten    
   Monster and The Stifs, both Mary and her Immaculate Rejections are no   
   strangers to the stage. On November 14, they will hold an EP release show at   
   Springfield's suitably grimy Black Sheep Cafe, bringing the full weight of   
   decades of obnoxiously catchy    
   rebellion onto their audience. Lemanski will also do a solo electric   
   performance in Chicago at Elbo Room the following evening.   
      
   SAT 11/14 @ Black Sheep Cafe, 1320 S. 11th Street (Springfield, IL)   
   Mary & The Immaculate Rejections (EP release show)   
   with SAP, Los Injectors and Rotten Monster   
   7pm // $5   
      
   SUN 11/15 @ Elbo Room, 2871 N. Lincoln (Chicago, IL)   
   Mary Lemanski solo set   
   7pm // $9   
      
   SAT 11/28 @ Eagle's Club, 1035 N Vanderbraak Rd. (Green Bay, WI)   
   Rev. Norb and the Onions, Mary & The Immaculate Rejections, Phylums, Beach   
   Patrol, Sons of Kong, Urban Descent.   
   7pm // $6   
      
   Website: http://www.immaculaterejections.com   
   Music: http://www.dragndropbuilder.com/uploads/3/5/7/0/3570052/0   
   _youre_my_1.mp3   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)