A husband and wife team is headed to St. Louis next week.
Illicitizen, made up of Eric Cavanaugh and Maria Zaccaro, will be performing Nov. 10 at local venue Fubar. The pair began playing together while they were still dating, when Cavanaugh found himself unable to connect with his current band.
“Let’s just put it this way, [my band] played four shows in two years,” Cavanaugh said. “We finally called it quits.”
It was at this point that the idea of playing together first came up.
“What happened was he said, ‘You’ve got really big hands, honey. You should play bass,’” Zaccaro said.
The pair has been performing together ever since.
“We just started booking shows,” Cavanaugh said. “It kind of just snowballed from there.”
The two describe the sound as a mix of their two musical backgrounds.
“The sound has a lot to do with [what] I’ve grown up listening to … [‘70s era punk] was the era when you could do pretty much anything,” Cavanaugh said. “Maria brought a lot of stuff she heard in her parents’ house … we kind of crammed them together.”
In addition to preparing for their tour, the duo is busy working on new music.
“We’re starting to write stuff for our second album, and we’re not even done with our first yet,” Cavanaugh said.
Their creative process is geared toward producing a unique product and involves a lot of discussion to ensure both of them are pleased.
“It is one of my pet peeves when you can’t tell any songs apart … For the most part, I write the lyrics, but it certainly goes through a lot of adjustment through the band,” Cavanaugh said. “One of the things we don’t do is just jam … We usually discuss [our songs].”
Zaccaro feels this process creates a distinct sound and atmosphere.
“There’s a lot of energy, lots and lots of energy,” she said. “We’re something different with a great dance vibe.”
One of the things that sets this duo apart, especially in terms of live shows, is the third member of their group.
“We have so many people come and say, ‘If I hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have known it was a drum machine,’” Cavanaugh said.
Illicitizen’s psychedelic-‘70s tinged sound is aided by the beat produced by their drum machine. Though the band has played with a live drummer in the past, the two didn’t feel it fit into their creative process.
“It’s not that we’re not open to having a live drummer,” Zaccaro said. “It’s just not right for us right now. We’re very fortunate. We’re together. Any time we want to rehearse or work on it, it’s all right there.”
Recently, Cavanaugh and Zaccaro have been touring extensively and are excited to come to St. Louis. On Cavanaugh’s part, he just hopes the audience has a good time.
“I’m always pleased and amazed when dancing breaks out,” he said. “That’s always a nice sign.”
For more information about illicitizen, including samples of their music, visit www.myspace.com/illicitizen.
Fubar is located at 3108 Locust St.
For more information about the venue, visit www.fubarstl.com.