They may look like Devo, but they sound like the protest folk-singers of the '60s.
Only, Emory Joe Yost and Pat McDonough aren't singing about Vietnam. They're railing against Mayor Daley.
Emory, a Chicago park district employee, and McDongough, a city plumber, call themselves The Clout Meisters and their lyrics aren't so much clever as they are scathing:
“Mayor Richie Daley tells us wrong from right / It’s hard to do when he’s on the next flight / He’s hanging out in Switzerland cutting big deals / Too much funny business here; everyone steals / Chicago clout, little Richies getting richer."
Targeting mainly Mayor Richard Daley, the whimsical musicians feel they have good reason to be upset with our beloved city.
After all, McDonough did get fired after blowing the whistle on the hired truck scandal.
Ticked off? Him? We can’t imagine why.
McDonough, who helped frontman Yost write the Chicago Clout song, eventually got reinstated, but the bitterness remains.
Singing the same old tune as many other Chicago protesters, these guys have issues with taxes, layoffs, parking meters and the 2016 Olympic bid.
But in a city notorious for its corruption and dirty politics, the duo’s gotta worry about the consequences of their political outcry.
"It's what I have to do as a person. It's what I have to say as an artist," Yost said. “We can stir things up and we can really make change.”
And while the two man band spreads their words -- and lyrics -- on the web, they’re adamant on the fact that this isn’t just about them. They’re speaking on behalf of all Chicago citizens.
"Maybe it's the '60s again. Who knows? So us younger guys, it's our turn to make a little trouble," McDonough said.
With the Internet at their fingertips and all the mixed-up confusion going on here in Chicago, we’re sure we haven’t heard the last from the Cloutmeisters.
