- Nathan Schenck
- Milwaukee’s Temple performing at Arby’s
If you’ve lived in Chicago for more than a few years and go to DIY shows with any regularity there’s a good chance you’ve seen at least a few venues close up shop just as quickly as they popped up. This weekend another underground space is shuttering—Arby’s in Rogers Park. The venue has been hosting shows for close to a year and on Saturday night it’ll host its last, with Anthony Sanders, Churchkey, Marcy, Flesh Seeds, Hot Bagels, and Philadelphia’s Mike Bell & the Movies helping say good-bye. Churchkey’s Tim Curley is one of the people behind Arby’s, and he’s been pretty happy with his brief time running the space.
Still, I’ll remember Arby’s as a place that helped the local emo scene continue to evolve and expand—I remember seeing plenty of show lineups at the space featuring new fourth-wave acts. Churchkey is one of those bands, and Curley and his bandmates recorded their recent debut EP, The Great American Challenge, at Arby’s. (Emo microlabel Sorry Girls Records is releasing the cassette version of the EP soon.) Arby’s has been an informal headquarters for Churchkey, which also practiced in that basement.
