congo64

In the late 70’s early 1980’s New York and British punk had finally filtered through Midwest America all the way down to southern Illinois where it, and new wave music, had become all the rage on the campus of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

Major bands were arriving at the two main venues, the more intimate Shryock auditorium and the larger stadium sized SIU Arena (now Banterra Center) regularly. The Talking Heads, English Beat, Gang of Four, The Pretenders, REM, Ramones, James Chance, Tom Petty, Depeche Mode, The Police and many others made the rounds. 

Meanwhile, bands were forming locally that had their own impact on the music of the day. The most notable of these had its origin in the same Carbondale venues as congo64 and ultimately became known as Jason and the Scorchers when Jason Ringenberg moved from Carbondale to Nashville in the early ‘80s and cow punk was born.

Other bands included David and the Happenings (David, brother of acid-jazz legend James Chance of James White and the Blacks) as well as the electronic group Entropy and of course congo64 which consisted of Chuck Firth on guitar, Dave Balchen on bass and Craig Owens on drums. Congo eventually split into Hip Chemists and the rockabilly band Boppin’ 88’s as the decade moved on.

While relatively short lived, the era was exciting, original and charged with music that became the music of a generation – kids who came of age around the time of CBGB’s rise. 

Today, congo64 is reinvented as a solo Chuck Firth venture, his songwriting still harkening back to those angst-filled days, but tinged with wisdom gained over time.