Patrick Spiroff, a Frankfort resident, husband and father, patrols an open trading floor by day to pay the bills and writes poetic Americana-folk rock, sometimes injecting a dark sense of humor, in his spare time to fulfill his creative side.
Booking gigs with all-original material may be a challenge when many pub crowds crave songs they know, but he’s not in it for the fame or fortune.
“I would be writing songs even if I was not out there performing,” says the self-taught guitarist, singer and songwriter with two independent CDs. “It is the act of creating that I find most enjoyable and everything else just flows and adds to that moment of creation.”
But when he does perform, including at a monthly residency in Joliet, everything else disappears.
“I really enjoy it because you’re totally in that moment trying to convey emotions of the song and nothing else in the world matters. And if you get positive feedback that’s even better. Other songwriters seem to like my stuff.”
Hometown: The native of Dearborn, Mich., lived on the North Side of Chicago until moving to Frankfort in 1993.
Family: Wife Rita (Siksnus), of Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood, and daughters Hannah, 18, and Alexandra, 21.
Day job: Chief compliance officer for a proprietary trading firm at the Chicago Board Options Exchange.
Musical influences: “I’ve always gravitated toward singer-songwriters. James Taylor. Elvis Costello. Plus, the Beatles and stuff people my age listened to.”
Patrick’s older brother Craig was also an influence. “He’d turn me on to Crosby, Stills & Nash and anybody popular at the time. He had a huge record collection and I’d sneak in and listen to his stuff.”
Formative years: Patrick started playing guitar around age 18.
“I didn’t have the skills to play other people’s songs so I immediately started writing things myself. It came naturally to me. I always have a melody floating in my head, whether it’s songs I made myself or songs I really like.”
He played in a band before marriage but then focused on family.
“When my daughters got older, around 2007, I started playing. I was asked to play in the band at Peace Lutheran Church in New Lenox.”
Craving a more professional outlet, Patrick wrote the song “On This Christmas Day,” a fictional story of two strangers living in fear after tragedies who meet and fall in love while on a business trip in Philadelphia. He tried it out with a couple other songs at an open mic at the former Mojoe’s coffeehouse in Orland Park.
“I started writing more and it came naturally to me. Now I have up to 35 songs which I’m willing to play in public.”
He honed his skills at more open mics, including more than a year of hosting at Bernice’s Tavern in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood.
Lately: Original material is his sole focus. And he’s turned down a gig when the owner changed her mind and wanted all covers.
“I’m not a cover artist, that’s not what I do or where I get the enjoyment. I’m not trying to make a living at it. I’m just playing my songs and hope people like them. I’m willing to play for next to nothing so I can play my own material. That’s what I truly enjoy doing — approaching an audience with a song they’re not familiar with and performing to a point where I can engage them and I can elicit some sort of emotion. I could learn a thousand covers and get gigs all the time, but it’s not what’s important to me.
“At my age it’s never going to turn into a career. I’m not going to hop in a van to tour for gas money. The best-case scenario is my songs would play well in a movie or television show. It’s more of a passion, what I do that makes me feel good about myself. I’m glad I have a means to express my artistic side.”
His material: “I always try to tell a story. A lot of songs are based on people I know. Or I make up stories. One of my newest songs, ‘Blood Sweat in the Sand’ is about a soldier coming home and life in a freefall.”
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“Song for Hannah” was written for his youngest daughter. He penned “Diamond in the Sun” for Alexandra and, four years later, “Diamond in the Moonlight” when she was going to college.
He switches things up by infusing a dark sense of humor into the material. For example, the song “Way of the World” combines a happy reggae-ska melody with lyrics culled from newspaper accounts of suicide and other tragedies. “I’m Invisible” has an upbeat tempo and lyrics about a former co-worker at a steel mill whose face was disfigured by molten steel.
Songwriting process: “I run lyrics in my head. That’s how I fall asleep. Music and melodies come first. I wait for the melody to tell me what the song should be about. I make the lyric and the meter of it fit the melody. Melody is the most important thing. People don’t necessarily listen to lyrics, but you can’t escape the melody. It should draw you in.”
His gear: For gigs, a Washburn, “a very cheap guitar with a built-in pickup that sounds decent.” His pricey and sentimentally valuable Martin D-35 stays home. “If it got stolen I’d be heartbroken. I bought it when I was younger and use it to write songs on.”
Feedback: “Patrick is one of the most enthusiastic musicians we know,” said Mike Trizna, owner of Chicago Street Pub in Joliet, where Spiroff has performed since June 2014 and original artists have had an outlet for a decade. “A lot of musicians get onstage and expect people to show up. Patrick is constantly putting his work out there and encouraging people to be part of what is an amazing Joliet music scene.”
Trizna discovered Patrick at the suggestion of other local established musicians.
“What I found was a musician just starting to hit his stride,” he said. “His songs were well thought out, arranged well musically and played well instrumentally. Over the course of the next few years, we have listened to Patrick as a solo performer, as a part of a trio and jamming with friends and fellow musicians. He has gone from a talented musician and songwriter to someone who is comfortable with people seeing his thoughts and emotions played out on stage.”
Where to catch him next: Residency at Chicago Street Pub, 75 N. Chicago St. in Joliet, on the first Thursday of each month with house drummer BJ Bischoff and his longtime friend Daniel Becker on electric guitar. He is also set to play Hopstring Fest Aug. 20 at Silver Cross Field in Joliet.
Information: Patrick’s music — the CDs “Feel Like Going Home” (2015) and “First the B-Sides” (2013) — can be played and purchased on www.patrickspiroffmusic.bandcamp.com. Also check him out on Facebook, SoundCloud and Reverbnation.
Vickie Jurkowski is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.