Legendary Chicago punk rockers Naked Raygun recently announced their first trip into a recording studio in over a decade. (See/hear Naked Raygun on this YouTube video of Vanilla Blue, one of my favorite songs. I can listen over and over again without getting tired.) In two weeks the band is set to enter Transient Sound Studios in Chicago, Illinois to lay down tracks that will eventually be pressed on a series of 7” records. These songs represent the first new material written by the band since 1992 and their first recordings since 1997. Easily the most influential band bursting forth from the initial Chicago punk rock explosion, Naked Raygun also holds the distinction of being the longest running. When many of their peers were either breaking up or going metal in the mid-to-late 1980s, Naked Raygun soldiered on with their trademark sound, combining infectious vocal melodies with muscular guitar and a precision rhythm section. Echoes of the golden era of Raygun sound can be heard in punk rock circles worldwide. The band broke up in 1992 and save for a one-off reunion in 1997 to celebrate the release of the Last of the Demohicans collection, stayed inactive while band members tended to family business and occasionally other musical projects such as The Bomb and Pegboy. In the fall of 2006 drummer Eric Spicer began to get the itch to play the old songs again and gathered the guys together again to reunite for Riot Fest in Chicago. The overwhelming response from the sold out crowd of four thousand prompted Naked Raygun to re-form permanently with their final lineup of Spicer, Bill Stephens on guitar, Pierre Kezdy on bass and Jeff Pezzati on vocals. Naked Raygun returned to action by playing shows across the Midwest and embarking on their first West Coast tour in over a decade with Bay Area legends the Swingin’ Utters. The band also released their first DVD via Riot Fest Records, entitled “What Poor Gods We Do Make.” The CD/DVD package combined a documentary covering the lifespan of the band with performances from their sold out performance at Riot Fest 2006. During a recent two night stand at the House of Blues in Chicago, Naked Raygun debuted their first new songs in seventeen years. Met with a reaction of surprise and elation from the slam dancing crowd, both songs embody the classic “Chicago Sound” that Naked Raygun first defined more than twenty years ago. Those two songs will no doubt appear on the upcoming 7” series the band has planned for Riot Fest Records. Tentative plans for the start of the series have been set for Fall 2009. Once the 7” series ends Naked Raygun plans to hole up in their rehearsal space for a while then re-enter the recording studio to track their first proper LP since 1990’s Raygun, Naked Raygun. Outside of studio work, Raygun’s plate remains pretty full. This September Naked Raygun returns to the East Coast for the first time in almost twenty years; joining them on the tour are Philadelphia hardcore stars Paint It Black and Chicago’s own Shot Baker. Additionally the group will headline Riot Fest 2009 in Chicago this October, returning to the venerable Metro and playing with old friends Rights of the Accused, No Empathy and Wax. . . Buy Naked Raygun on iTunes . . . Naked Raygun East Coast Tour September 9, 2009 The Mideast (Cambridge, MA) with Shot Baker September 10, 2009 First Unitarian Church (Philadelphia, PA) with Paint It Black, Shot Baker September 11, 2009 Ottobar (Baltimore, MD) with Paint It Black, Shot Baker September 12, 2009 The Music Hall of Williamsburg (Brooklyn, NY) with Paint It Black, Shot Baker September 13, 2009 Maxwell’s (Hoboken, NJ) with Paint It Black, Shot Baker