"Catchy Horn Lines, Soulful Vocals."

A night full of bands with smoker voice-boxes, angry dancing and drinking to forget they came from a nine to five office job would typically fit-in around the Bucktown to Logan Square bubble. However, last Thursday, “Punk Night” made its way to the Gold Coast at The OriginalMother's…thanks to Bravo Artist. These bands made sure their landlord knows, they f---ing hate him. 

Not all bands had a traditional anarchist sound. Near the end of the night, Run and Punch, a funky, jazzy, reggae-esque ska band came on. Their energy was out of control, the crowd's dancing wiggled naturally to the rhythm.  The six-man band, including a trumpet and trombone, had their newest a female-frontman, Laura Camacho.

Camacho is a bartender on nights she isn’t performing and in the day she is a student studying vocal performance in classical and jazz at Northeastern Illinois University. We met at her bar in Bucktown, chatting on the smokers patio in the back. She comments on their sound, “We’re very versatile because everyone can play so many different instruments, when someone comes up with a song idea, we can do it, song ideas come from everyone…it definitely makes the music diverse because it’s coming from different people, different minds, tones…“ After a regular interrupts her to say hello, she continues, “we try to keep it sassy…just keep it sassy.“

Camacho believes in the importance of reading the crowd’s vibe to give a top performance. “At the end of the show I was getting hoarse…I felt my voice snap three songs from the end,” she exaggerated sounding out of breath. Her goal was to emphasize their punk sound, “I was screaming more…the music is still going to be the same, the performance is gunna be dif, it’s gunna have that punk edge.”

The band’s photographer, Vanessa Bly has known the band for ten years.  When they got Camacho, she knew the band found its missing piece. “I pulled Anthony to the side and told him, ‘this is the best band you have ever played with that singer just blew my mind with her scat’.“ After Bly slyly admits she mainly listens to country and female vocals like, Ellie Golding, and referred to the ska genre as “whatever,” however, she surprises herself with how Run and Punch grabs her attention. 

As an outsider watching the band…the band’s passion has its own energy. They work for personal and group goals, even “ska scene” goals. Challenges and variety are elements they’re smart and savvy about. Bly lost for a word to conclude says, “These guys are serious at their music and they sure as hell know how to market themselves.”

Run and Punch is in the running for the RAWawards, an independent music award, which fans can vote on their Facebook page. Their music is easily available on their website, iTunes and SoundCloud. 

As for the next Bravo Artist event, they trade-in Doc Martins for cowboy boots, it’s Country Night.