Gasp! Indian Teases Chicago Performance in May

Here’s a refresher: Six weeks ago, Chicago sludge quartet Indian kinda announced their break-up. A week later, other Chicago sludge quartet Lord Mantis unveiled a majorly retooled line-up that included a pair of former ex-Indians in place of the two guys most responsible for their best-of-2014 classic, Death Mask. One of those replaced guys, frontman Charlie Fell, spoke to us about the history of discord that led to LM’s “end” and about how this new Lord Mantis is more Indian than Lord Mantis. Fell described his former bandmates as uninterested in LM and uncooperative during the creation of Death Mask and its short-lived promo tour, an idea that left fans to infer that the remaining LM guys had suddenly seen new value in continuing the band once Death Mask took off — but didn’t see the need to keep weird, brilliant druggie Charlie Fell. In short: Ugh.

The cause of a thousand pained eye-rolls, this drama wasn’t exactly a surprise coming from bands based in a city whose name derives from the Illini for “pathetic bullshit.” But here in April, still another layer of weird dumbness has been brushed like turd lacquer onto this rusty dildo of a situation: Indian announced an appearance at a Windy City show that’s headlined by Inter Arma. What?! Thursday afternoon, the following appeared on Indian’s facebook:

Weird right? That post has since been removed, but a peek at the venue’s facebook reveals that Indian is no longer part of the bill — not since before the break-up. But prior to having completed this detective work and time-lining, a fan may go through the roof at the prospect of more Indian activity and its implication for New Lord Mantis. But don’t bother asking them to clarify (like they would); we’ve saved you the trouble: No Indian, just a facebook fail that amounts to nothing. Chicago.

Reporting by David Lee Rothmund