C.O.D.

Club C.O.D. (Come on Down) was a large venue in the Rogers Park/Edgewater area that played punk shows in the early 1980s. Because of its size, usually larger acts played at C.O.D.'s - the smaller shows could be booked at Misfit's only a block away. It was a "remodeled basement club" that could hold "perhaps about a thousand people". C.O.D. met its doom on October 8th or 9th, 1982 (date needs verification) due to a fire under "mysterious circumstances", similiar to that of La Mere Vipere.

In 1982, Eric Nihilist put on a lot of shows featuring national acts at C.O.D.

Location

• 1201 W. Devon - Far north side corner of Devon and Sheridan

Commentary by Thurnau

Oct., 2014 Great club. I recall the Dead Kennedy's show in 1981 as really being the birth of the Chicago hardcore scene. It had been percolating for a long time at places like Oz, O'Banion's, etc. But this show was, for me anyway, the first time things really gelled for Chicago punk. It was actually two shows on consecutive nights in mid-Sept 1981. On the bill were the Dead Kennedys, Effigies, Naked Raygun, Husker Du, and Subverts. It was clear from the huge audience, the Chicago punk scene had suddenly grown exponentially, and there was something unique and cohesive about the Chicago sound. New bands were popping up left and right. That night the lead singers for the Effigies, Naked Raygun, and Suberts all opened their shows by jumping high in the air, hands on mike stand, with both legs straight out in this unique signature kind of move. I remember thinking how cool it was when Jello Biafra, (then the biggest "name" in hardcore) emulated that jump as an unspoken shout-out to Chicago punk. Even Biafra seemed to know there was something special happening that night. He was in the audience both nights, slamming away as the other bands played. It seemed like this was the first night Chicago finally got the kind of punk scene it had been waiting for, no longer prisoner to musical trends from London, NYC, or LA.

After the show people gathered on the sidewalk out front, too keyed up to go home I guess. Some punks broke windows in the book store next to COD, and swiped some magazines. Great end to a great night. :)

Notable Shows

1981

• September 17, 1981 - The Dead Kennedys, Husker Du
• September 18, 1981 - Husker Du, DK?
• October 1, 1981 - Orchestral Manuevers in the Dark
• October 10, 1981 - Birthday Party, The Effigies. - Great show. Sponsored by WaxTrax, which had been aggressively promoting the Birthday Party in the press. Jim Nash and the other WT cognoscenti were all there, holding court stage front. They seemed a little out of place in what was essentially a hardcore punk venue. By 1981, Nash and his followers had already begun their foray into industrial dance music. The WaxTrax folks had been using a 1950's pastel-green, convertible classic car in their press promotions for the Birthday Party. It was parked outside the night of the show. For the show, the guitarist for the Birthday Party wore a cowboy hat. When someone in the audience shouted an insult, Nick Cave stopped the show and tried to identify the heckler. I don't recall if Cave actually came off the stage to fight the guy, but he was definitely angry. "Thurnau; Oct 2014"
• October 26, 1981 - Modern English
• December 26, 1981 - Anti-Patsi, Naked Raygun, 6 Feet Under

1982

• February 21, 1982 - The Damned
• February 26, 1982 - The Effigies, Trial By Fire - I don't recall if it was this show or another Effigies COD gig - but once someone took an enormous garbage can filled with bottles, ice, cigarette butts, garbage, etc, and dumped it on stage right in front of Kezdy as he was singing. He was pissed! I don' think this was part of the "anti-Effigies" trend. That didn't start until later. Rather, I think this was just a bit of miscellaneous "punk" chaos. Never a dull moment. "Thurnau Oct. 2014)
• March 4, 1982 - Die Kruzen, Six Feet Under, The Corrosives, Oil Tasters
• March 20, 1982 - Flipper
• April 1, 1982 - The Effigies (Bodybag 7" release party), Die Kreuzen
• April 16, 1982 - Red Rockers This band from New Orleans got some early support from Jello Biafra. But they started changing their sound to include traditional "rock" influences and people turned against them. The crowd at COD hated them, and they were widely booed. At one point they included a snippet of "Shakin' All Over" in one of their songs. Booing REALLY intensified at that point. (- Thurnau - Oct 2014)
• April 17, 1982 - Bad Brains, Articles of Faith, Air Raid - Unbelievably intense show. HR was white hot. That's the only way to describe it. Vic Bondi of Articles of Faith was a big booster. They shared a DC connection. Before the show Bondi was aggressively lobbying the DJ to play some reggae albums he brought with him. That's fine I guess. But Bondi spent most of the evening when he wasn't on stage, running around and generally running his big mouth. I think he was trying to solidify his reputation as some sort of big shot on the scene. But he just wouldn't shut the hell up, and came across like an ass. (- Thurnau - Oct 2014)
• May 7, 1982 - Really Red, DV8, Articles of Faith, Occupants
• May 22, 1982 - TSOL, The next night there was a show by the Professionals - the band formed by ex-Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook. The guys from TSOL showed up for that show. I don't recall much about TSOL's show; just that it seemed very "L.A.-specific" and didn't translate to Chicago very well. (- Thurnau Oct 2014)
• May 23, 1982 (roughly) - The Professionals - This is the band of ex-Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook. Horrible. Major rock star attitudes. First, they were extremely late. They came in via the front door and barged thru the tightly packed impatient crowd, pushing towards the backstage area. They had a big posse in tow including several cute but clueless looking "birds". Looked like they'd been partying nd lost track of time. They didn't acknowledge a single person as they pushed on through the crowd. When they finally played, it was totally formulaic "rock and roll". Big disappointment to all the Pistols fans who came to see them. I should add that I'm a huge fan of Steve Jones later work - Jonesy's Jukebox on KROQ radio, the podcasts, and his playing in the 2008 Sex Pistols reunion tour. All this was done after he got clean and sober. But this night at COD, was nothing but drug-addled rock 'n roll BS. Drugs+Booze+Steve Jones = Boring Music (- Thurnau Oct, 2014)
• July 2, 1982 - Husker Du
• September 3, 1982 - Vice Squad, Social Distortion, Youth Brigade
• September 4, 1982 - The Effigies, L7 This band called L7, is not the same as the L7 that later became well known in alt rock circles and had a few hit singles like "Pretend That We're Dead". The L7 referenced here is another L7 Detroit. Female lead singer. Used to play in Chicago fairly often. Good band. (- Thurnau. October, 2014)
• September 9, 1982 - Chelsea
• September 10, 1982 - Exploited, Blackouts, Negative Element
• September 11, 1982 - Phil 'n the Blanks
• September 16, 1982 - Discharge, Battalion of Saints, Aggression
• September 17, 1982 - Heavy Manners
• October 9, 1982 - Angelic Upstarts, Rights of the Accused, Anti-Bodies (fire date?)

Others

• May 18, 1984 - The Dickies (post-fire, almost certainly incorrect)
• The Gun Club - Date unknown. - For my money the Gun Club was one of the best bands to emerge from the American underground. Jeffrey Lee Pierce died too soon, and wasted too much creative energy on heroin during his short life. Fire of Love was one of the best punk albums ever, and they played most of it at COD. Jeffrey Lee Pierce wore a shimmery sequined sliver and blue smoking jacket. This version of the Gun Club pre-dated guitarist Kid Congo Powers, and the blues/roots fusion with L.A. punk was very much in evidence this night. I always wondered why the blues/punk thing wasn't invented by a Chicago band where it would have made more sense. In any event Pierce and the Gun Club were unbelievably great, with Jeffrey chain smoking his way thru the show. Before the show drummer Terry Graham asked me if I had any extra drumsticks. I didn't. But fortunately he found some. (-Thurnau Oct 2014)

References

• Music and Art in Chicago, 1978-1982 - Location, size and DK show info