“If it sounds good, do it,” said Parker Forbes, founding member of The Criticals, at Swig Bar in Wicker Park.

That’s the attitude the Nashville-based rock band adopted for its final headlining show of the year at Subterranean on Oct. 29.

Founded in 2019 by Forbes and Cole Shugart, the band has created a magnetic presence in the rock scene, bringing their dynamic and bold sound to venues across the country.

Taking to the stage with the theme of the “Halloween at Rod Stewart’s House” party, wearing blonde wigs and an assortment of 70s-style outfits, the band set the place on fire with the fan favorite “Good Lookin” from their 2019 EP Mimosa Hygiene.

The set list included unreleased tracks from the band’s untitled album, which will be released next year. Forbes and Shugart told The Phoenix that their immersive two-month experience in England spurred a creative opportunity they’d never had before when producing the album.

“We never had a lot of time to record music because we were financing everything ourselves,” Shugart said. “We’ve never had the mindset of, ‘Here we have two weeks to do a project,’ which I think changes and shapes the way you think about a project as a whole because you can live in it.”

Working with the producer Jonathan Gilmore – Frequent collaborator of The 1975, beabadoobee and Nothing But Thieves, with engineers James Grant and Fred Williams, Forbes and Shugart recorded 14 new tracks for the album.

Shugart said the studio in Eastbourne, England, a seaside town about an hour south of London, was a stark contrast to her previous experiences recording in a shed in Tennessee.

“There was a loft above the studio,” Forbes said. “We lived there the entire time we were there, so we were legitimately ‘living in the studio’ as much as possible. “It was about 50 meters away.”

Shugart said he tested every guitar in the studio to explore their new environment as thoroughly as possible.

“We know there isn’t a song, not a single track, that could be better than what we did,” Shugart said.

Forbes’ vocals ignited the crowd’s already intense adrenaline.Intoxicated with AdmirationThe band’s last album.

“Damn, we’re drunk on admiration together / I don’t understand why you keep me in chains,” Forbes sang.

Devoted fans of The Criticals have created a variety of creations. fan accountsIts content is so specific that Forbes said it questions where they got the information.

“The meme account that’s running right now is pretty crazy,” Shugart said. “They know some weird stuff, so I said, ‘Where did you get that?’ “I think.”

Shugart referenced one account in particular that provided interesting insight into her love of a Southern holiday dish.

“I love deviled eggs,” Shugart said. “I eat deviled eggs every Christmas – I eat like 50, it’s my favorite thing in the world – but how would they know that?”

@thecriticalsmemes on Instagram told The Phoenix that the discovery wasn’t so calculated.

“When I first opened the account, I went to Cole’s page and saw a post he made with deviled eggs,” the manager of @thecriticalsmemes wrote in an Instagram DM to The Phoenix. “I thought you really liked deviled eggs.”

Subterranean attendees continued to get a taste of new music as the band performed unreleased songs and familiar tunes from their catalog, including “Absinthe” and “Absinthe.”Treat You Better.”

The intimate atmosphere at the Wicker Park bar, which has standing seating for 100 people, provided an immersive perspective on the band’s spectacular performance.

“Smaller rooms and smaller crowds always make me more nervous,” Forbes said.

He said playing more than 30 shows this year, opening for bands like Nickelback, Forbes and Shugart, has strengthened their belief and confidence in themselves, regardless of the venue.

“You’re a bolt in this machine coming onto the scene,” Forbes said. “Everyone has to work to make this damn thing work.”

The band’s synergy transcended genre during their cover of Justin Timberlake’s “Sexy Back” and then into “Belmont,” a song notable for its soaring guitar melody and intriguing lyrics.

By the end of the set, fans beckoned the band down the spiral staircase for an encore; the band took notice, playing Fray’s Over My Head and then playing another fan favorite, Kate Moss.

Forbes and Shugart said their next single is scheduled for release on November 22, ahead of their long-awaited debut album next year.