Soundcheck: Now entering the Suburbs

Everybody who knows him was excited to hear about Jeremy Ylvisaker's latest in a string of high-profile gigs. Everybody, that is, except his mom.

"She said, 'You're joining another band?!' " Ylvisaker recalled.

Not just another band. The Suburbs remain one of Minnesota's most enduring, sweat-honored music acts — an '80s group whose songs their new guitarist actually covered in his junior high school band.

Fans of the buoyant, piano- and horns-infused new-wave art-rock party group are not going to like the circumstances that led up to Ylvisaker's hiring, however. He was brought in after Suburbs co-leader Beej Chaney bowed out of all foreseeable shows with the band, starting with Saturday's turn in the Cabooze's 40th-anniversary concert series.

The wildest of the Suburbs' wild men back in the day, Chaney long ago moved to the Los Angeles area and has endured a traumatic divorce and ailments over the past decade. He had his bandmates issue a statement that said he is taking "a leave of absence to take care of some health and personal issues that have been weighing heavily on his mind and body."

Talking during a rehearsal last week — in the coolly vintage, postwar basement rec room of sound engineer Loren Wicklander's south Minneapolis home — drummer Hugo Klaers explained further.

"Beej went back to California, and he actually took our advice and went to a doctor," Klaers said. "They said, 'You gotta take a break. You're way overstressed.' It was affecting us, too. He'd come here, and we had everybody ready to go. He was never ready and just struggling with stuff."

Chaney's fellow songwriter and childhood buddy, singer/pianist Chan Poling, added, "It's not a replacement for Beej. There's no way you can replace him."

"Weird-person music"

No one will be singing Chaney's songs or trying to replicate his zany stage persona, in other words. Rather, they will carry on with Poling as the lone frontman, and with Ylvisaker helping to revive the burning, often crazed two-guitar overdrive that Chaney created with the band's late guitarist, Bruce Allen.

"Funky groove, cool melodies, cool hooks, unexpected quirkiness" is how five-year Suburbs vet Steve Brantseg described the guitar work. The former Phones member was brought in after Allen (a longtime friend) died in 2009. With Jeremy, he said, "There's a lot we can already do without talking too much about it."

"It's weird-person music, and I'm the guy for that," claimed Ylvisaker, whose résumé is rather quirky: He fronts the nervy rock band Alpha Consumer, plays in the manic quartet the Cloak Ox and has been a sideman for the likes of Brother Ali, Andrew Bird and Haley Bonar.

"I do feel uniquely qualified somehow, just being informed by [the Suburbs] growing up and having done a few similar things along the way."

The effort to carry on without Chaney was made a little easier by the mojo the Suburbs generated off of last year's "Sí Sauvage," their first album in 27 years. Primarily made up of Poling's songs, the record recast the band from a throwback act to one that's moving ahead musically and generating new fans. The single "Turn the Radio On" became a staple at 89.3 the Current and earned best-song honors in our 2013 Twin Cities Critics Tally.

New songs, too

Brantseg's and Ylvisaker's guitar sparring could take the band further into uncharted territory, as was suggested by a new song Poling brought to rehearsal last week, a heavy and psychedelic jammer that's one of six new tunes the group has drummed up in the past year.

Before "Sí Sauvage," the reborn Suburbs had been playing nothing but '70s-'80s tunes for their sporadic reunion shows going back to the early-'00s. (The band's original run lasted from 1977 to 1987.)

"Hugo said to me, 'We can't keep doing this. We need new songs,' " Poling said. "I hadn't written new rock songs in a long time, and it just took off. We had a blast doing it."

"Now, we can't shut him up," quipped Klaers, the only other original Suburb who hasn't left the building. Bassist Michael Halliday suffers from arthritis and cannot perform, leaving the duties to Steve Price (ex-Rex Daisy).

There are several more Suburbs leading the new charge, too: Horn players Max Ray, Rochelle Becker and Stephen Kung are all vets of the group now. Backup singer Janey Winterbauer, known from the "Wits" radio band and Astronaut Wife, was added to the mix last year.

While clearly saddened and concerned about Chaney's absence — "It's a hard thing to handle," Poling said — the bandleader was noticeably enthusiastic rehearsing old and new tunes with the new Suburbs last week. Among the highlights was "Idiot Voodoo," a James Brown-ian funk workout from 1981's "Credit in Heaven" album, rekindled by the new lineup.

The group has more gigs lined up before year's end, including a New Year's Eve bash at Medina Entertainment Center in the western suburbs, from where the original band members hailed. They hope to dive into making a new record over the winter, too.

"It's like holding a tiger by the tail," Price said of performing in their live shows. "Really. When you're on stage, it's something magical. I think that was always true of the band, and it's definitely still the case."

Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658 • Twitter: @ChrisRstrib