Garrett (guitar) and Cody (drums) at Empty Bottle. Photo taken by Pete Conroy @pete_conroy on Instagram

Before they played their headlining show at Empty Bottle with Bussy Queen Power Trip and Pons, we at Raging Opossum Press had the chance to sit down with all the members of Kangaroo Court in the green room. We entered a room full of laughter, milk shakes, and even juggling (or, the band throwing tennis balls at each other as it quickly became.) The excitement before their show was palpable, and the fun energy of all the members of the band was visible in their smiles and easy laughs

Kangaroo Court got their start in Urbana, Champagne, Illinois. The band started with Jake (lead singer, guitar) and Noah (support vocals, bass). Jake had dropped out of school, but had returned with the hope of meeting new people. While getting his guitar fixed, he met Noah. “We both had tattoos and long hair at the time,” said Jake. “So, I was like ‘this seems like a pretty good dude.’ Noah was in his Mac Demarco phase at the time, so we clicked right away.” Soon, the pair began jamming regularly, with Jake playing drums in Noah’s band occasionally. When Jake mentioned that he wanted to start a band of his own, Noah knew exactly the people to call. They soon enlisted Garrett (guitar) and at a party Jake met Cody (drums). “It all worked out really well,”Jake says. “We all met through the impetus of this band.”

Jake (Lead Singer, Guitar) prepares to shred at Empty Bottle. Photo Taken by Pete Conroy @pete_conroy on Instagram

The band moved from Urbana to Chicago early this year. With that move, I wanted to know what their experience had been thus far in the city. Noah took the question this time. “There’s definitely a pipeline of people coming from Urbana to Chicago for music stuff,” he said. “There’s so many amazing musicians here that we get to go to their shows and they come to ours, it’s just really fun. It’s really welcoming too. There’s so many people that seem really stoked on what we’re doing and there’s so many people who we’re really stoked about what they’re doing, it just really feels like everyone is trying to lift each other up. It’s cool to have a scene where everyone is just really passionate about music. It feels really authentic.” 

Noah (bass) at Empty Bottle. Photo by Pete Conroy @pete_conroy on Instagram

Kangaroo Court has been heavily influenced by psychedelic and garage rock, as is evident when you listen to their album This Is Kangaroo Court. “Anything that is rough around the edges [has been an influence],” says Jake. “It doesn’t need to sound like it was recorded with a million dollar microphone and all this shit. It can sound like it was recorded in a microwave and that’s fucking sweet.” Some major bands who have influenced Kangaroo Court have been King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, Ty Segal, and Thee Oh Sees, as the band now tries to expand upon the psychedelic influences of their predecessors. This expansion upon these influences has culminated into the band ending their shows in a unique, and now well known, way; by covering many different songs in one go. 

Garrett (guitar) between songs at Empty Bottle. Photo by Pete Conroy @pete_conroy on Instagram.

“It started with ‘Smoko’ by The Chats,” says Jake. “We hadn’t rehearsed it at all, but were listening to it while driving to a show, then stumbled through a cover of it at the end of our set. King Gizzard does this really well though, where they’ll have a jam that weaves between four or five of their songs and they’ll throw in a different riff here and there. We thought that would be a cool idea, so we chose some of our favorite songs that have roughly similar tempos. We have some Thee Oh Sees in there now, King Gizzard and The Lizard WIzard, some Post Animal. We just have six or seven songs pushed into one, which is a blast.”

“It’ll be its own show one day,” Noah says with a laugh.

“It’s become a staple for sure,” Jake agrees. 

Outside of their music, if one were to look at the Kangaroo Court Instagram (kangaroocourtmusic) they would notice a consistency in cooking pictures, videos, as well as recipes. It has gotten to a point where, for me who always cooks at home, I feel like I can look at the band’s Instagram to figure out a good dish to make that evening. “It really started as something to post on Instagram before a show to attach a link to tickets,” says Jake. “However, I noticed those stories often do way better than our other ones so we decided to keep doing it. I have plans on making a cookbook zine to sell at our shows. The drafts have been started! Noah’s also got some great cooking expertise.”

What’s in the future of Kangaroo Court? “We’ve all been cooking some new songs for quite awhile too,” Noah says. “We have some good stuff coming.

With a grin, Jake says. “I’m really excited about the future.” 

In the pit at the Kangaroo Court show at Empty Bottle. Photo by Pete Conroy @pete_conroy on Instagram

Finally, outside of their amazing music and recipes, Kangaroo Court has been growing in renown for the energy found at their shows. A mosh pit is not an uncommon sight at a show, but the ones at a Kangaroo Court show have a way of drawing everyone in. Even me, who has sworn off moshing due to my ever sore left leg, has found myself moshing with the best of them at a Kangaroo Court show as audience members crowd surf above. “It’s wild,” Jake says with a laugh. And it is, but in a way where everyone is smiling at each other and enjoying the feeling of togetherness brought on by an intense mosh pit.

“It’s energizing,” Noah says. “We just have to keep rolling with that energy.” 

“At our album release show at Lincoln Hall it was, like, five hundred people,” says Jake. “I go to a lot of shows and have been in a lot of mosh pits, but rarely do I see one that extends, like, thirty rows back. One of our friends at the Lincoln Hall show took off his shoes, threw them into the crowd, then did a front flip back into the mosh pit. I had never seen something like that, and it’s happening at our shows!” 

We concluded our interview with the band and made our way out of Empty Bottle’s green room and into an incredible show. The energy was just like you would expect from a punk show in the darkened, graffiti and poster covered walls of Empty Bottle. Pons, a band from New York, got on stage and delivered a performance that set the energy right for the rest of the night. Followed by local favs Bussy Queen Power Trip, which continued, doubled down, and expanded upon the explosive energy of Pons. Finally, Kangaroo Court got onto stage. Before the band started, Jake yelled “Free Palestine!” into the mic to remind the crowd of the ongoing genocide. At the time of writing this article, Israel’s assault has now expanded into Lebanon as they abandon all facades about the war being about saving prisoners. The band’s messaging and want for freedom for all people is shown as they launch into their song “Something’s Gotta Give,” a song that is a call for revolution as Jake sings into the mic; “For all the voices left unheard/Who can’t afford to live/The pot has been stirred/And something’s gotta give.”

As Kangaroo Court reminds us, in the troubles of this country and world, something does have to give, and this Chicago band will scream that from the rooftops until everyone knows it