The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless ( CCH) is a non-profit organization that works with people affected by homelessness. Through proceeds they can assist in developing jobs, and support programs that aid in finding affordable housing. Hopefest is the coalitions leading benefit event which generates more than $50,000 in net proceeds.

Supporting this fantastic event is Chicago’s own Lubriphonic. Though Lubriphonic may not have come up with their name, their music is a different story. After speaking with lead guitarist and founder, Giles Corey, over the phone on a warm Wednesday afternoon, he enlightened me that it’s not just all about horny rock and roll, and heart and soul. Lubriphonic is a funky and fresh mixture that incorporates a little bit of everything.

The CCH is hosting their 18th annual benefit concert and auction - Hopefest and in addition to the Freddy Jones band, Lubriphonic will be taking the stage. Why did you choose to take part and support the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless?

Obviously it’s a great cause and a great event and I have actually played a couple of Hopefest’s in the past. It used to be an all blues acts and I would back up and do a set for Bo Didley, who usually was the headliner. It’s a great event, and a good cause, and a cool venue.

Is this your first time working with the CCH ?

I wasn’t working directly. I was excited to be able to participate again, this time with my own band.

Has homelessness impacted or affected you or anyone you know personally?

Yes. I was actually going to say I don’t know anyone who isn’t homeless, but that is not true. There are various people that I know that have gone through patches of being really down and out and then needed some help. Whether they had substance problems, or mental problems, or things like that. People kind of have this idea that homelessness is something that you are just born as homeless. It’s people that are just like anyone; that have families, lives, and jobs, and loves and things. And for one reason or another, whether, it be substance abuse or mental illness, (which is a big cause of people). Bad stuff happened to them, circumstances inspired, and they need help.

How did Lubriphonic come together? I understand you all have toured individually with such artists as Lenny Kravitz, Buddy Miles, and Koko Taylor. How did you all find each other in the realm of the music industry?

Our drummer and I, Rick King, we kind of started the whole thing since we all knew all these other guys. We all new each other from the blues community in Chicago, backing other people up, and the R& B community. It kind of goes back and forth, people play in blues bands, but then they also play in R& B bands, and in gospel groups, and everyone is kind of scrapping to make a living. We were like we kind of wanted to start our own thing and move into more of the rock realm. That was basically the idea, take the roots and the soul of the blues and kind of translate it into a rock and roll format which is what I grew up listening to anyways.

So how exactly would you classify your band?

Well I like horny rock and roll and heart and soul! (But not everyone is soul).

What make’s Lubriphonic so unique?

What it is, is that it’s a rock band with horns, which there is not that much of that. Not a lot of bands with horns in general. Usually a horn band is pretty big, and we usually work with 5 or 6 pieces; sometimes its 3 horns, sometimes its 2. It’s basically I will write a song and usually its coming from whatever kind of place, usually a more of rock place or maybe a funk place. But then Rich will take it and sort of infuse it with his background. It’s like everyone takes where they come from, out of either gospel, or R&B, or blues, and kind of infuses the song with that. It’s kind of unique in that in a lot of times there are rock bands that kind of play at playing blues, where we are a bunch of people that came out of the blues and were playing rock ( laughs). It’s kind of opposite.

You recently came back from an extensive tour throughout Colorado, did you feel as though your music was recognized differently, as bluegrass is widely popular throughout Colorado?

Yes, bluegrass and just about anything associated with the Grateful Dead and Phish. It went well because we are really different from the kind of bands that come out of Colorado, or at least the circuit we were doing. The circuit we were doing, usually they have a lot of jam bands and jam bands that are really in the vain of the Grateful Dead or Widespread Panic, and it’s a much mellower groove. So I think we kind of hit people hard since it’s an aggressive groove (aggressive really isn’t the appropriate word),but, at first it kind of startled them (laughs), But, people dug it just because it’s something different and they were like “ok they aren’t going to do grateful dead covers,” so it was cool and it was fun.

How did you come up with the name Lubriphonic?

Well we didn’t actually it was a friend of ours, another drummer named Mark, a different drummer on the scene. Rick and I were trying to come up with a name and we just couldn’t. Back and forth we couldn’t find anything that was good or that we liked, and after hours he just blurted out, “what about Lubriphonic?” and we both looked at it, and we didn’t hate it and it just got us off the hook I guess because it was like, “Ok, well someone else named the band so we don’t have to” (laughs). I think everyone else should have someone name their band.

What has been one of your fondest memories thus far?

Our previous album, which came out in 2006 was an album called Soul Solution and we recorded that one live and we just didn’t have any money we had like zero budget. So we wound up doing it in the back room of Alive One which is the place we had a residency at every Thursday and the owner was like, “ ok you guys can record on a Sunday afternoon or evening. you just have to be done by 10:00pm.” He had a few recorders and he brought out just a mobile thing and set it up and we just played live. We had friends of the band, so it was just this big room of people and everyone who had ever collaborated with Lubriphonic, along with the band all at once. Just cutting an album under the gun and we did it in two separate Sunday’s, five songs a day. Looking back, at the time I was like “this is insane, this is crazy, this is never going to work,” so there was a lot of anxiety at the time. But looking back on it, I’m like, “wow that’s a beautiful thing that was a beautiful moment.” Because everyone was there at the same time and we just cut the thing live and that is just a great thing to have on record. Here is just a moment of when we did these songs. And some of them I had just brought it and it was actually the first time we played them.

Are there any new projects or business ventures you have taken on or plan to take on?

Well were are going to be doing a bunch of touring this Summer and Fall. We have several festivals, again out in Colorado we picked up the Telluride Blues . We are going to do a bunch of shows this summer and do a bunch of shows in the Midwest and Colorado. And we are hopefully going to have a new album out by fall I want to say I don’t want to jinx it. There is a bunch of new material that we are working on and working into the set and hopefully at some point this summer we can get into the studio and record it. We are looking forward to that, definitely.

With an extensive tour on their plate and a hopeful album to record, Lubriphonic is taking it to the next level. A cut above the typical blues band that resides in Chicago, Lubriphonic goes outside the lines of a classic rock-blues band and spices it up with a taste of funk and soul.

Be sure to catch Lubriphonic and help support the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless by purchasing tickets online at www.chicagohomeless.org/.

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