Chicago Reader36%
Chicago punks NightFreak bury you in the pleasures of fast and furious riffs 57%
By Leor Galil61%
7/24/2026, 8:10:00 AM
Keywords: Listings, Reader Recommended
BS Summary: This article contains 13 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Negativity Bias, and Halo Effect, with Biased Writer Voice as the most egregious example at 73.6% saturation with 173 hits. Analysis detected 612 faulty-reasoning hits from 235 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 48.7% and a BS Rank of 57% (10,969 of 25,457 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 56.90% of the article peer group.
In June, Portland label Drunk Dial Records released the third volume of its Fakes series, which compiles cover versions of songs by fictional bands from movies and TV shows.
Chicago punk trio NightFreak contributed “Teacher’s Pet,” their take on a showstopper performed by an elementary school class and a substitute teacher played by Jack Black in the 2003 movie School of Rock.
NightFreak aren’t a crowd of fifth-graders, of course, and the husky hollers of guitarist-singer Steve Henderson don’t sound like Jack Black, but the group make up for it with righteous speed and tenacity.
NightFreak’s condensed cover opens Fakes with a quick shot of teeth-rattling energy.
NightFreak carry that energy into their July record, Midwest Rattlesnakes (Big Neck).
They’ve tightened up since 2024, when they released a self-titled debut full-length that’s so rough you can picture bits of gristle flying off their instruments.
That tighter sound helps a lot on Midwest Rattlesnakes, where they double down on their love of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
Henderson’s riffs zip around like a pinball, and the blistering, airtight rhythms of drummer Fred Mason and bassist Dan Staggs sound ready to run off into the woods and never be seen again.
Midwest Rattlesnakes feels like doing doughnuts on a Harley in a parking garage—it’s loud as shit, probably dangerous, and pretty sick.
Analysis
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