April 8th at Black Sheep: Ashland, Sidelined, Welcome Home, Unamused Dave, Avoid, Shoot The Messanger, Gadget

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Gosh dangit, we have a show here on Saturday, April 8th with seven whole bands. This one is being called “springing into 2017” or something. For this one we have the band Welcome Home on tour from St. Louis. We will be welcoming them to Springfield. Check out their music on the player below. We have a good number of bands from out of town from the Central Illinois area on this show. This also includes “Unamused Dave” from Peoria. We are unamused at that band name, Dave. Also we have “Avoid” from somewhere around here (that band is really hard to search for on google to find their music)!! Also “Shoot The Messenger” from Tinley Park, Illinois. Then this show also has a few bands familiar to the Black Sheep stage. We have Ashland from somewhere around here who last played here in October. Also Sidelined who played the last Ashland show and again at Black Sheep another time since then. Last band we have to list off is Gadget from Decatur. We are not sure the order those bands will be playing!

This show will start at 6:00 pm sharp and admission is $7. Check out a facebook event for the show right here. Also be sure to check out our shows page for a list of what else is going on this spring at Black Sheep right here.

Abyss: Dreadnought EP

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Today we are bringing you a stream of some hot new Springfield metal music coming from local band Abyss. This is the band’s brand new EP- Dreadnought which includes five tracks and was released at their recent Black Sheep show here earlier this month. You can stream the EP on the player below. Also head over to the band’s bandcamp page where you can download the album at your own price.

Abyss currently do not have any other shows lined up at Black Sheep. You can check out a nice written review on their March 11th release show right here.

Dumb Fe5t Band Announcement #2

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We’re just going to jump into another ten bands announced for Dumb Fest #5 this afternoon, shoot why not. You ready for THIS? Here are ten more bands playing DUMB FE5T happening in Springfield June 9th, 10th, and 11th:

Perverts Again (Cleveland, Ohio)
Tigress (Chicago, Illinois)
Prom Nite (Toronto, Ontario)
It’s Me: Ross (Columbia, Missouri)
Black Thumb (Appleton, Wisconsin)
Nagasaki (Springfield, Illinois)
Reduced To Instinct (Bloomington, Illinois)
Dream Probe (Champaign, Illinois)
Substance (Houston, Texas)
GRINN (Springfield, Illinois)

There you have it. This brings us to a total of 20 bands announced for the big fest, with 30 more bands to be announced. We will be updating the Dumb Fest 5 facebook event and page on our site later on tonight with a breakdown of which of those bands will be playing which days and some more details on location.

Stream some music by hit Cleveland, Ohio band Perverts Again on the player below.

April 7th at Black Sheep: “Galactic Vibrations” Electronic Show

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Ready to hear about some more new things that we are trying out in Southtown? We’ve been upping the wide variety of shows at Black Sheep for the past few years with more hip hop, poetry, and art, as well as open mics, even theater performances, etc. We are ready to keep being open to new genres of shows with this electronic show at Black Sheep on Friday, April 7th! There are four acts lined up on the bill from around the area. At the top of the poster is “Hippie Squishers” from Peoria, Illinois. You can check out some of their music on the player embedded below. Then over from Decatur, Illinois we have “Vanilla Gorilla” who will be “DJing some of the freshest beats.” Before that is Hood E. Klimate, who also runs “Killinoize Productions”. Then from Springfield and possibly first up is “Kabass” who will probably bringing some of that bass.

This show of course is all ages (drug and alcohol free), will start at 7:00 pm and there will be a $7 cover. Check out a facebook event for the show right here. Also be sure to check out our shows page for a good look at what else is coming up at Black Sheep in the near future.

New Arrivals This Week at Dumb Records

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Are you ready to be hit with a long list of arrivals that are new this week at Southtown record store Dumb Records? (1107 South Grand Ave E.) This week there are tons upon tons of used LPs flying onto the shelves. We also have an art piece still temporarily on display in the store by the Teen & Poetry club at Lincoln Library. You can also expect a big announcement for Record Store Day 2017 to come from us very soon! Let’s take a look at Dumb Record’s operating hours this week and then get into what’s new:

Tuesday (today): noon – 8:00 pm
Wednesday: noon – 8:00 pm
Thursday: noon – 8:00 pm
Friday (show): noon – 9:00 pm
Saturday (show): 10:00 am – 9:00 pm
Sunday: 10:00 am – 8:00 pm
Monday: noon – 8:00 pm

Used LPs
Abba – The Visitors
ACDC – Back In Black
ACDC – Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
ACDC – Highway To Hell
Aerosmith – Aerosmith’s Greatest Hits
Air Supply – Greatest Hits
Al Jarreau – Jarreau
Al Kooper / Shuggie Otis – Kooper Session
America – Your Move
The Animals – Animalization
The Art of Noise – In Visible Silence
Asia – Astra
Atlanta Rhythm Section – Third Annual Pipe Dream
Atomic Rooster – Death Walks Behind You
The Babys – Union Jacks
The Baldknobbers – At Home
Blood Red – Seize You
Bob James – Touchdown
Bobby Vinton – Please Love Me Forever
The Boomtown Rats – Mondo Bongo
Boots Randolph – Sweet Talk
Cat Mother – Cat Mother
The Chamber Brothers – The Chamber Brothers’ Greatest Hits
Cheap Trick – All Shook Up
Christine McVie – Christine McVie
Chuck Mangione – The Best of Chuck Mangione
Clark Terry – The Happy Horns of Clark Terry
Climax Blues Band – FM / Live
Climax Blues Band – Shine On
Crosby, Stills, & Nash – Daylight Again
Culture Club – Miss Me Blind
The Daisy Dillman Band – The Daisy Dillman Band
Dave Mason – Alone Together
Dave Mason – Old Crest On A New Wave
David Soul – David Soul
Dizzy Gillespie – Have Trumpet, Will Excite!
Duane Allman – An Anthology
Eddie Harris – The Electrifying Eddie Harris
Elton John – A Single Man
Elton John – Greatest Hits Volume II
Elton John – Ice On Fire
Elton John – Leather Jackets
Elton John – Victim Of Love
Eric Clapton – At His Best
Fleetwood Mac – Mystery To Me
Glen Campbell – At The Royal Festival Hall
Greg Kihn Band – Kihnspiracy
Harry Chapin – On The Road To Kingdom Come
Howard Jones – Dream Into Action
Jacksons – Victory
The Jeff Lorber Fusion – Wizard Island
Jefferson Airplane – Surrealistic Pillow
Jethro Tull – Repeat: The Best of Jethro Tull
Jimmy Buffet – Living And Dying in ¾ Time
Joni Mitchell – Mingus
Kansas – Two For The Show
KC & The Sunshine Band – Part 3
Keith Jarrett – Backhand
Keith Jarrett – Birth
Keith Jarrett – The Survivors’ Suite
Kenny Loggins – Alive
King Crimson – Discipline
The Kinks – The Great Lost Kinks Album
The Kinks – State Of Confusion
KISS – Ace Frehley
Kitaro – The Light Of The Spirit
Kool & The Gang
Laura Branigan – Touch
Led Zeppelin – Coda
Leo Kottke – Mudlark
Little River Band – Greatest Hits
Loggins & Messina – The Best of Friends
Mama Cass – Mama’s Big Ones
Maynard Ferguson – M.F. Horn | 3
Melissa Manchester – Hey Ricky
Michael Feinstein – Pure Gershwin
The Moody Blues – The Other Side of Life
The Mothers – Fillmore East June 1971
Mountain – Flowers of Evil
Paul Kantner – Planet Earth Rock And Roll Orchestra
Paul McCartney – Tug of War
Pete Fountain – Plenty of Pete
Richard Marx – Richard Marx
Rick Astley – Whenever You Need Somebody
Rickie Lee Jones – Pirates
The Romantics – Strictly Personal
Romeo Void – Instincts
Sheena Easton – Sheena Easton
Sheena Easton – You Could Have Been With Me
Speedy Keen – Y’Know Wat I Mean?
Stanley Black And His Orchestra – Music of Jerome Kern and Irving Berlin
Steve Martin – A Wild And Crazy Guy
Thompson Twins – Hold Me Now
Times Square – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Various – Europa Jazz
Various – Lullabies of Birdland

Dark Tower Fest in Champaign/Urbana This Saturday + Sunday

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We are trying to stay on top of all the DIY music festivals happening throughout Central Illinois right now! This upcoming weekend we already told you about Mates Fest #9 happening over in Peoria. Well, in another city also in the center of our state- Champaign/Urbana there is another weekend-long festival taking place and that is “Dark Tower Fest” – a new festival happening for the first time. We count 26 bands on the lineup listed below playing throughout the two days. Those include Springfield’s own Pryss and Livin’ Thing. Let’s take a look at the list:

ARTORIAS
ARTHUR
AUTOPSY THEFT
BLACK NAIL
BLIND EQUATION
BLUE MOVIES
CADENCE FOX
CAN’-KA NO REY
DISNEY 69
FOURSIDE
FRAIL BODY
GAS UP YR HEARSE!!
GRIEF SEEDS
HISTORIOGRAPHER
KELUT
KENTUCKY MEAT SHOWER
LIVIN THING
LUME
NATIONAL HERO
PORTALS
PRYSS
SHE/HER
SNAYL
STYE
TWEAK
XANAX PRINCESS

You can find out which of those bands play which days on the Dark Tower Fest event page right here. The fest will be taking place at house venues “Blips N Chitz” and “Ghost Planet.” Admission is $10 per day or $15 for both days. Nice! Stream some music by Grief Seeds from North Carolina, who are playing day 2 of the fest on the player below.

April 4th at Black Sheep: Sinai Vessel, Bottom Bracket, Household, Austin McCuten, Gadget

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Trying to stay on top of our show announcements over here! This one is happening a week from tomorrow on Tuesday, April 4th. Can you believe it’s already almost April? For this one we have the band Sinai Vessel returning from Tennessee. Last time the band came through was actually a little over two years ago and they played with Looming. Check out their newest album which came out earlier this year on the player below. Also on this show we have Springfield studio-pros in the band Bottom Bracket. We had a neat time seeing them at Cafe Andiamo a week ago. Turns out they are the only Springfield act on this show too, wow. The other big touring band on the bill is Household from Minnesota. They played here last in February of 2015. Before that we have a solo performance by Austin McCuten from St. Louis of the band Choir Vandals. Then opening things up is Gadget from Decatur.

This show will start at 7:00 pm and admission is $7. Check out a facebook event for this one right here. Also be sure to check out our shows page for a good look at some other shows coming up at Black Sheep this spring.

New Band Pages: Gutterpriest

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Tonight we are bringing you a new band page for a project that has been playing shows for a good number of years at Black Sheep now, and that is the solo noise and grindcore project Gutterpriest. Check out that new page right here where you can listen to the project’s latest cassette release and find out more info. Bring on the noise in 2017.

Gutterpriest does not have any shows lined up currently but related project Weeping Iniquity (new page for that coming soon) will be performing here on Monday, April 17th with the band Futuro from Brazil. We’ll have an official announcement for that show shortly.

Also very unrelated to gutterpriest, but we will be showing a horror movie of some sort from the Dumb Records VHS collection inside Black Sheep on a projector screen tonight at 11:00 pm if anyone is looking for something to do!

New Pages: Southtown Studio

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You may have noticed a new tab on our home page for “Studio” that has been active the past week or so. This page isn’t too elaborate, but it includes all of the general info for Southtown Sound – the new recording studio holding it’s grand opening today behind Black Sheep and Dumb Records. Check out that new page right here. On the page you can find general info the studio, links to social media, and info on setting up recording time. We’ll also be sure to be posting updates from here on out on our site when bands are announced to record in the studio, and also when recordings are released to the public.

Southtown Sound’s grand opening is happening later this afternoon / evening along with the Black Sheep art show from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. The opening will be open house format with some refreshments. Come on out!

April 1st at Black Sheep: Sweet Bippy, Loudmouth Bo Dean, The Complaint Line, Roofus

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April Fools! April Fools day is coming up quick, and what do you know the holiday falls on a Saturday this year. So on Saturday, April 1st (this upcoming Saturday) we have a four band show going on at Black Sheep. This includes the cosmic weirdo band from right here in Springfield, Sweet Bippy. Stream some of that sweet, Sweet Bippy music on the player at the bottom of this post. This show will also be the debut of a brand new Springfield band called “Loudmouth Bo Dean Band” which is the new project of Bo Lowder, formerly of the band “Lowder” and a few other projects. Up before them you better have your phones ready because The Complaint Line will be taking the stage. Opening things up is the rock and roll Pana duo, Roofus.

This show will start at 7:00 pm and admission is $5. Check out a facebook event for the show right here. Also be sure to check out our shows page for a good look at everything else coming up in Southtown this spring.