The Mutiny Corp

Played here the other night with The HighTones. Like the fact that the line-​up of musical acts is completely random — on any given night you can expect to see something like a straight ahead rock band paired with a 7-​piece blues band or a stripped down punk band. Hats off to soundman Christian for never once batting an eye at all the chaos of having to provide 3 or 4 completely different mixes. Drinks are inexpensive and standard issue with breaks for the band. Bartenders are efficient and not the least bit snotty. If you play here, please remember you are just one of several acts so be mindful of how long your set runs — no one likes starting their set thirty minutes before closing time.

Divey dive dive.
Bathroom was clean.
Stein of beer seems legit.
Bubble tabletop hockey foosball game.

I love getting fucked up here. Those big steins of beer will make you feel great. As far as I’m concerned they don’t even serve any other type of drink.
One time I passed out on the sidewalk in the rain after partying here and woke up feeling punk as fuck.
Another time I went into the bathroom when a dude was peeing in the urinal and I peed in the toilet at the same time, I think our butts touched and I creeped him out. Whatever, 666.
Another time people started breaking the ceiling tiles and slapping each other in the dick with them. It was great.

The MUTINY!!! hahahaha. I’ve played a few shows here with SUSHI (see photos) and it’s always sloppy, drunken fun.
If you’re looking for Chicago punk rock music at it’s worst /​best? with no cover charge, cheap beers, free pool in a dark dive bar, you’ve found it with The Mutiny.
Great for crowd interaction. The stage is only a few inches with a ramp down into the crowd. Perfect for singers to instigate a rowdy crowd. Ed, the manager, and the staff are all nice folks too. Thanks Mutiny folks!

Make no mistake– this is a dive. It is what it is and makes no excuses or apologies.
But we have visitors… That were greeted by a huge, happy bartender by name with hugs and Christmas Cards. Wow.
No wonder the Scots are intent on revisiting as they enjoyed this establishment on a previous visit.
That said, I can’t keep up with Scots. Really. So here is my secret– order a seltzer and have the kind bartender throw a couple of line wedges in. Everybody assumes you are drinking on pace and then you won’t ever find yourself wasted, bewildered in the Men’s room looking at a bathtub sized urinal wondering why not one person has ever scrawled «Mr Mutt» on it before (I admit nothing).

The most quintessential dive bar ever. Cheap beer, loud music, free pool, non-​hd tvs — what more could you ask for? This is totally the place to have weird hot dates at. It’s so loud that you can’t help but quit the talkin’ and start the mackin’

I’m not sure why this place has so many great reviews. No one, in real life, likes this place. The bands are terrible most of the time, the taps haven’t been cleaned since maybe ever, the owner is a prick and it’s disgusting not in a cute, charming way but in a there’s-no-excuse-to-ever-be-this-disgusting kind of way. Anyone who tells you this place is quintessential punk rock Chicago probably told you this from the other side of the cash register at the Orland Park Hot Topic.

The Mutiny was actually crafted with wood salvaged from the many shipwrecks that have occurred on the unforgiving seas of Lake Michigan. Ed, our proud captain will undoubtedly will go down with the ship, screaming and yelling and protecting the drop ceiling tiles.
The Mutiny hosts a slew of very talented and completely untalented punk bands from all over the place.
The bartenders are great, if you order ten coors lights from them and walk up for your eleventh order, they will look at you like they have never met you. I like that about them, its a clean slate every time.
The mutiny is a pretty small venue, so its really nice that a video camera is mounted 20 feet from the stage providing a live feed of the band action onto a tv 23 feet from the stage. Stand back and compare the two, what are the differences? How are they similar?
They have great bottled beer, just drink the bottled beer, please just drink the bottled beer, do yourself a favor, just drink the bottled beer.

Hardcore music and cheap beer. Simple and great…

The reasons you go here are for the really cheap beer, free pool and maybe free live music.
The problem with the live music is, they have some good performers, but on the same bill as terrible bands. There is zero consistency with genre, so everyone’s ears will be offended at some point in the night.
An example: Opener was a fantastic acoustic blues guitarist, followed by a crappy death metal/​screamo band, then a Pixies-​ripoff band with a meh singer, and a decent indie rock band to close out.

No cover for live bands and super nice people work here. The patrons seem friendly and the drinks are decently priced.
Minus one star for bad accoustics (I get it, low ceiling. Still.), the bathroom stench (sewage problem?) and that they won’t take tips on credit cards.

The mutiny is always a good time!
They always have awesome free shows, and cheap drinks. No matter how filthy, I’ll always come here!

It’s a dark night in Chicago, and you find yourself on a stretch of Western Avenue without much going on, and out of the gloom you see a small group of people smoking cigarettes on the sidewalk and hear blasting music roaring out onto the street. You have made it to the Mutiny. You walk in off the street into a bar that is nearly pitch black except for a few lights here and there and a Knight’s Armor suit in the corner. There is no cover, and there are bands playing in the back. Mostly punk, but other stuff as well. The night I was here, the band was pop (or pop-​punk if you will). The mini-​pitchers are a big deal here as are the «big» beer glasses filled with cheap beer. This night it was Old Style and all the other taps were out of order.
It is really a dive bar, but not really a dive bar scene. Its staff is dive bar folks who work very hard and make sure you get your beer in a snap, but the crowd each time I have been here consists of suburban kids watching the band from the basement or garage down the block.
It is very dark! I had a cheating girlfriend you could write a country song about and she brought her victims here as I discovered last year. It’s dark, so you might also find a quiet corner away from people you know at the dark back bar to explore that cheating heart! Ouch! I am putting another song on the juke box!
You are not going to see Charles Bukowski or Nelson Algren’s ghost sitting at the bar (you might see them working here though!), but you will see that squeaky clean hipster chick who worked at the Gap up in Lake County a few years back swooning to her boyfriend’s band, and that’s not a bad thing to enjoy when drinking a little pitcher of beer.

You play enough punk/​metal shows here you’re destined to become attracted to it. it’s like that Stockholm Syndrome, I think.
Regardless, great place, big ass beers. It’s ideal to set the beers down on the bar/​counter otherwise your hand will be sore the next day. That’s the only downfall, but you can argue your hangover might be bad enough to detract.

This place is awesome… Punk rock all day, kiddos. This place is small, grimey, and just right. Every now & then I need to go to a bar all about booze and music. No one is trying to get laid in this place, which is a good change. Everyone is just down to pound some beers, listen to punk rock, and chill with their friends. Not the best place for random weirdos who are trying to «expand their horizons» and bang a tattooed chick.
Shows are pretty sweet… the area is small, so they’re super intimate and you’re right there for all of the action. Can be kind of lame for little shorties like me, because I get smashed and cannot see unless I stand off to the side. STILL! It is pretty sweet!
Summation: Cheap booze, good tunes, good venue, chill people, and no finding a desperate chick to bang you!

This place has one of the greatest jukeboxes I’ve found in the city. Lots of punk, metal and some local bands too. I come here for the jukebox. usually not the live bands.
It would never occur to me to order a mixed drink here, but the beer is plentiful and it’s a dark creepy dive bar. Be warned though, if you’re sitting in the back, the bartenders tend to forget you’re there.
When I was here last, I was out back having a smoke and was (yes, really) entertained by a rat rumble down the alley. two rats started fighting and then like 10 more got into it. It’s exactly what I’d expect in the alley behind Mutiny and like I said, it entertained me during my smoke break.
All in all, a place I should be going to more.

The Mutiny is the best place in the whole world. I feel like a teenager again every time I go here. When your band plays the Mutiny, they give each band member two liters of beer. Each. Member. Gets. Two. Liters! What an awesome place to get fucked up and loud as hell. The people who work the Mutiny are super nice. They even have a sound guy and monitors on the stage. By far the most fun place I’ve ever played a show in this city. It makes me want to stop showering, shave my head and start a filthy, aggressive crust band. I mean that in the best way possible.
Live music every night of the week. As local as it gets. Be here.

Oh god, The Mutiny! I haven’t been here in a LONG time, and I miss it. However, the last time I was here I accidentally got way too drunk and tried to fall asleep in every alley on the way to my co-worker’s house. That is just no good. However, I’ve always had awesome bartenders, even though the last time I was there the one kept giving us free shots which resulted in the drunken mess…
Don’t expect to hold a conversation with someone if a band is playing. I don’t care if you’re at the front of the bar, it’s a small bar. It’s also dark. I love it! It’s a cheap bar and the adorable mini pitchers they have make me smile.
It’s definitely a dive bar, no doubt about that.

Man, I don’t know what it is lately, but I’m just not impressed with bars I come across. I will definitely have to go back here on another night to get another experience.
So the place itself is pretty big, which is nice. The bar was full when we arrived so there was really no seating to speak of. We were close to the back where the bands play, as I assume the front fills quickly with people trying to be as far away from the terrible bands as possible. There’s pool and some Golden Tee. Fun.
Here’s where my experience turned sour: $ 11 for a mini pitcher of PBR and a pint of Bud Light. What?! My friend paid $ 20 for three shots and two mixed drinks and I ended up paying $ 11 for BEER. I’m not sure how much either of my drinks were, but I’ll assume the mini pitcher was more expensive than the pint. Let’s say (theoretically) the mini pitcher was $ 7 — that means they’re charging $ 3.50 for a pint of PBR because that mini pitcher only holds about 2 and ¼ pints. Outrageous, especially for a shitty dive. Also, if we assume the mini pitcher was $ 7, that means the pint of Bud was $ 4. What?! This place is supposed to be a dive with cheap drinks — how did this happen? I can only assume we were gypped somehow but I’m not really sure why. How could my friend have paid way less for more and I got dicked out of $ 11 for shitty beer? I’m not happy at all.
Also, the bands here suck. If I had known I was going to be subjected to the terrible sounds of some no-​name «pop-​punk» band, I would have avoided this place altogether. However, my boyfriend did point out that a place like the Mutiny is great for people who really love seeing live music because there’s no cover. My boyfriend is a musician and he loves supporting local acts, so it’s great that there’s a place he can come to get a (theoretical) cheap drink and listen to some local bands for free. Hence my extra star.
All in all, I was no impressed with my first experience here. It’s a dive, which is awesome, but the service really sucks. Usually dives have great owners and bartenders because they’re friendly with the locals and their friends. I didn’t get that vibe at all, especially considering I was overcharged by the female bartender. I’d like to come back on a different night to give it a try. Since so many of my friends like it and it’s within walking distance of my apartment, I’d love to go back. I’m not anti-​Mutiny, I’m just a bit wary.

gross.