In the Court of Plasic Crimewave

Steve Krakow AKA Plastic Crimewave. Mr. Krakow is leader of the band Plastic Crimewave Sound, the man behind the communal happening known as the Guitarkestra, and also is an illustrator whose work regularly appears in such distinguished underground publications as Arthur and Stop Smiling. As well as a continuous strip in the Chicago Reader that chronicles the history of forgotten Chicago rock n' roll, and if that is not enough, his own homage to all things cosmic culture Galactic Zoo Dossier. An almost entirely hand drawn affair that Krakow tells me takes about a year to produce.
He is a native to the city that for 8 months out of the year, seems to be colored perpetually gray, and in such a place Krakow has painted his own universe based on a love for comic books, nick-knacks and psychedelic rock. One second in the apartment he has occupied for over a decade proves that point. The walls are adorned with show posters of 60's garage bands, shelves and shelves of vinyl, toys from the 60's and 70's that come in every color of the rainbow, and a row of records that Krakow tells me is part of the "silver wall." It includes album covers of Silver Apples, Hawkwind, Blue Cheer, and various others. It's in the room referred to as the "fun room." As I wandered through the apartment, I kept asking myself which room ISN'T a fun room in this place?

For some the more suburban existence can usually equal an acceptance of the mundane side of life. From Krakow's point of view, those years indeed helped shape the artist that he is today. His formative years were spent growing up in Hoffman Estates, an area now populated with several mall's and various chain's spread all across the landscape. The entire time, I had believed the formative years of my subject would have looked something like the film Over the Edge. All suburban teenage angst, getting high and listening to Rush. I tell this to Krakow, and he replies "hardly." Thinking for a second, he continues "when we moved out to the suburbs in the 70's it was more rural. It was space, more room to run around. I have this theory of Midwestern openness that you're landlocked, and it's flat so your mind has to reach out to different thing. Like all the kid's I knew loved prog rock, and Tolkien, all this fantasy, because I think where you are is so not fantastic that you have all this time to think about it, so you go to different places with it."
Maybe in those open spaces the seed was planted for some of Krakow's more out there ideas, such as the Guitarkestra. An idea that Steve had played with since the 90's to get as many guitar players together to strum the E Chord in all together, in unison. Chicago journalist, Miles Raymer who participated in the event said "it had crossed the line from an auditory phenomenon into something almost purely bodily. It was the loudest thing I've ever experienced."
That might be the sort of thing that it's creator wants to get out of the happening. But when does it become excessive?
"Oh its ALL about excessive." I'm told by my host.
Maybe it's the sort of excess the world needs? In an e-mail sent out to potential recruits (anybody) Krakow summed up his idea by stating that he wanted to "send vibrations and ripples into the multiverse for positive change."
If positive change through loud noise is the Plastic Crimewave philosophy, his band Plastic Crimewave Sound have been spreading the gospel for about 7 years now. They are children of all of the great names of loud and trippy rockers that came before them. The Velvets at their worst/best, and the sound Hawkwind's Silver Machine makes as it is Sex Bombed to the ground by Flipper. These are just a few examples that can describe Plastic Crimewave Sound. With the name of the band pointing out the obvious, the group centers around Krakow.
"People think that that I like psych-rock that we are going to sound like Donavan or something, then they hear us and they're like "woah, this sounds more like Motorhead!" We think EXACTLY!"
It would seem Steve Krakow is directly in tune with the past. He drops names like Arthur Lee or Skip Spence like he is talking about old friends whose legacy he is here to carry on. He talks about the understanding that an artist isn't around to get rich, but the idea of recognition, and the ability to live off the art work isn't such a bad thought either. "When I was really little, I wanted to drawn children books. Then I was trying to draw comic books, but then I got caught in wage slavery."
My last thought seems almost hard to ask. I wonder to myself if such a deep interest and kinship with these artists of the past, many of whom didn't gain critical notoriety until long after their finest days were behind them, would it bother Krakow in the long run, the same fate awaited him? An artist that produces such a large body of work that goes unnoticed by the mainstream for so long, then creeps into the wide world of pop culture many years later?
"NOOOOO! There are so many of my hero's that are like that, so I wouldn't be let down if that were the worst case scenario."