What you're about to hear is the final song of a band's career. Chicago indie-rock act Geronimo! is breaking up this Saturday, March 28, after a seven-year run, (if you're in Chicago, you can see the band's farewell show at Beat Kitchen), and "Fires Of Hell" is the last song on what will be a posthumous EP on Exploding In Sound called Buzz Yr Girlfriend: Vol. 4 - Why Did You Leave Me? (due out March 31).
The phrase "going out on top" is a bit of a platitude these days, but I think it honestly applies to guitarist Kelly Johnson, keyboardist Ben Grigg and drummer Matt Schwerin. "Fires Of Hell" might be the best song in the trio's entire discography, which includes three LPs and three previous Buzz Yr Girlfriend installments. The three-minute crescendo that caps the song really does feel like a band raging against the dying of the light.
For those who do attend Geronimo!'s final gig, come ready to play an active role. Johnson told blogger Hayden Karnitz this last year: "At our last show I want to take my guitar and ride it like a skateboard into the audience and have people hold me up and I can pretend I'm surfing." Might want to Meerkat that moment.
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