Tommy O’Donnell emerged from a secret nook in Monster Pawn, cicadas buzzing from the open garage door in the back of his pawn shop just a block away from Illinois Wesleyan.
O’Donnell, the owner, leans against the counter in front of a wall of guitars. He plays guitar and bass, and was featured in the new Ike Reilly documentary “Don’t Turn Your Back On Friday Night,” which started streaming several weeks ago.
“By the time I was in my early 20s, it had already become clear that I was going to be a guy in a band,” O’Donnell said. “I was always in bands and traveling and touring and playing all over the Midwest and different places.”
One of these bands was The Ike Reilly Assassination. Tom Morello – a guitarist and songwriter famously known for his band Rage Against the Machine – directed the documentary about his fellow Libertyville-native musician. In the film, Morello explored frontman Reilly’s decades-long career, gathering footage of concerts, rehearsals and exclusive interviews with family, friends and band mates – including Donnell.
Reilly was born and raised in Libertyville, Illinois, with a population of just over 20,000 people. His music, a unique blend of rock, Americana and folk, reflects his blue-collar values and dissatisfaction with the state of the world. Growing up in a highly conservative town, Reilly’s music continues to be his way of rebelling against the struggles of life. Songs such as “Hail! Hail!” and “The Reformed Church Of The Assault Rifle Band” tells a story about an unnamed narrator’s frustrations with the people and the world around them.
He’s released six full albums, and O’Donnell has played guitar bass on five.; “Salesmen and Racists,” the first, was created in a studio before Reilly assembled the band.
“Whether you can relate to his songs or not, they’re not like a fantasy world,” O’Donnell said. “It’s real stuff. I think he’s just a great songwriter. Very unique. But all of that stuff, everything in the movie is real.”
O’Donnell, who entered into the music scene in Bloomington-Normal in the ’90s, said the Twin Cities’ larger population and college campuses set it apart from Libertyville’s political climate.
“There’s always rebels from places like that,” he said, “You always have to be scrapping and battling your way to find shows and have a place to play.” While the music scene in Bloomington-Normal has become more mainstream, O’Donnell recalled a time when political music groups had to make up their own shows.“We had to find a venue and rent a P.A. and make tickets. You know, it was different.”
O’Donnell has been playing guitar his entire life, practicing over eight hours a day at the height of his career. “In about the year 2000, I was in my 30s when Ike started his band and asked me to join.” The two had met through the rural Illinois music scene, going to each other’s shows. Reilly even spent the night in Bloomington at O’Donnell’s after shows.
Photo: James Plath
“When the band first got together, we practiced like crazy,” O’Donnell said about the first few months with Reilly. “Ike’s music is deceptively simple. He’s not rewriting any rules harmonically, but his arrangements can be tricky. You gotta watch out for those,” he laughed.
O’Donnell played bass for The Ike Reilly Assassination when cameras followed the band. “I was surprised at some of the footage they got. I just forgot that there were people on the bus with a camera.” Director Morello caught band members and friends playing basketball at the family home, tinkering on instruments and playfully teasing each other.
Such authentic scenes dovetail with Reilly’s music, which plays in the background throughout the documentary. Reilly’s authenticity in songwriting expands beyond music and into his own life. In “Don’t Turn Your Back On Friday Night,” Morello captures both the highs and lows of Ike Reilly’s career, including his struggle with alcoholism and its effect on his family and friends.
“I think it did a good job overall of spanning his career and not being afraid to show the warts,” O’Donnell said. “You get to see how hard it has been, not only for him, but for people around him.”
Reilly’s children now perform with their father at live shows. “Shane especially seems to be headed for a career in music,” said O’Donnell, adding that Reilly’s sons were comfortable performing live. The documentary also captures moments of the Reilly family writing music together.
Now that O’Donnell is closing Normal’s Monster Pawn, he plans to start performing again. “I think I’m gonna stop for a bit, maybe play some more music, get more serious about that again,” he said. “It’s definitely a change in my life. But it’s all pretty good.”
While O’Donnell felt the documentary was faithful to Reilly’s career, there are some aspects that cameras just can’t catch. O’Donnell felt that the camera crew missed the excitement of playing to an energetic crowd.
“But the downside is that your life is thrown into a tailspin. Any loved ones you have at home or things you want to accomplish in your daily life are put on hold.”
O’Donnell doesn’t see Reilly stopping anytime soon, especially now that his children are involved in the band.
“Certainly after so many decades of playing together, there’s so much nuance and everyday stuff that you can’t cram into an hour and a half movie,” he said. “You can’t show it all, but certainly that’s all stuff that we can’t hide.”
“Don’t Turn Your Back On Friday Night” is available for purchase or rent on Amazon Prime.