In case the name doesn’t ring a bell, Eric Bachmann is a ’90s indie rock god, and he’s still making really good music.
Bachmann fronted Archers of Loaf through the mid-1990s and then continued to make music, both as Crooked Fingers and also under his own name.
In late 2025, he suffered a near-fatal heart attack but bounced back to record and release a new album this year. He then hit the road, playing small, intimate venues.
I saw one of these extraordinary shows earlier this month when he played a house in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood on a Saturday night. Along with about 30 other rabid fans, we were scrunched into a converted attic space to hear Bachmann, alone and mostly unplugged.
There were a number of highlights but here are some:
He opened with From All Ways, a track off his new album Swet Deth.
Archers music was repped. Songs included Web in Front and White Trash Heroes.
Bachmann played Man o’ War, an ode to George Bush with a great backstory to the song’s inspiration.
The concert was part of the Undertow Shows, a formal house party series that draws a loyal fanbase. Saturday’s concert drew a range of fans from around 30 to 60.
I had never seen him live, but loved the way Bachmann was so disarming with his southern charm.
His new album is worth a listen, by the way.
Guests on the record include Sharon Van Etten, the National’s Matt Berninger and Superchunk’s Mac McCaughan.
I didn’t record the show. The tracks below are from a previous outing.
All the Young Punks 