Photos: Skeletal Lightning Fest

Posted on April 10, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

This past weekend Skeletal Lightning Fest happened in Champaign (put on by the Skeletal Lightning Label). The Fest was a success, and Springfield band Our Lady took the stage with many other bands including Into It. Over It., Anodes, Alta, Hank, Easter, and many others. From the Skeletal Lightning Fest facebook:

Holy cow, what a weekend! Big thanks go out to EVERY single band that played, EVERY single attendee that showed up, cared, and had fun, ALL of my friends that helped me with EVERYTHING over the past 9 months, and EVERYONE in the Midwestern scene. YOU all make it what it is, and it is certainly something special. This is why we celebrate. This is why we rule. You all are wonderful! See you next year! 😉

You can check out some pictures and videos from the fest below.

Hospital Job to play Insub Fest in June

Posted on April 10, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

Hospital Job have recently announced their plans to play Insub Fest, which is a festival put on by Insubordination Records in June. This year the fest is three days long and it is taking place in Maryland from June 27th to June 29th. Bands playing that have been announced so far include The Screaming Females, Houseboat, The Copyrights (who are also playing Dumb Fest), and many more. You can find a facebook event for Insub Fest right here.

Hospital Job released their first full-length LP Downer Downer Downer on Insubordination Records late last fall.

DUMB FEST Announcement #2

Posted on March 17, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

This St. Patrick’s Day we are bringing you are second big DUMB FEST announcement, with five more dumb bands. It was already announced that Dumb Fest will be held at Black Sheep and Skank Skates on June 15th earlier last week. Bands announced in the first announcement include Big Eyes, Angry Gods, Horrible Things, Trauma Harness, and Say Something. We also created a page just for Dumb Fest right here and a facebook event can be found right here.

Are you ready for the second round of bands? HERE THEY ARE:

OUR LADY from Springfield
SHAVED WOMEN from St. Louis
SOAP SCUM from Springfield
BAILOUT from Champaign/Chicago (featuring members of Laughboy and Midstress)
KAWORU from Peoria

Ten more bands are yet-to-be announced between now and the end of the month, so stay tuned! Once again, Dumb Fest is one of two summer festivals we will be putting on the summer of 2013. It will be taking place at Black Sheep and Skank Skates.

DUMB FEST at Black Sheep and Skank Skates on June 15th

Posted on March 13, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

Today we bring you news of something very big happening at Black Sheep this summer. Is it Black Sheep Fest? No, but it’s close. We actually will be putting on two big festivals this summer. We will have Black Sheep fest on August 3rd this year in the later summer. But also happening this summer on Saturday, June 15th will be DUMB FEST.

What is DUMB FEST? The idea came about because every summer we have Black Sheep fest where we have bands all local to Springfield play one giant show together. However, we didn’t really have a fest where we can have bands from towns outside of Springfield play along with some bigger national touring acts. That is where DUMB FEST comes in! DUMB FEST will still have plenty of your favorite local bands but it will also feature some bands from surrounding Central Illinois cities and also a few other surprises. When picking out bands to play this fest we focused mainly on the punk and hardcore genres that Black Sheep was founded on, but we also ended up with a pretty wide range of types of bands. Why is it called DUMB FEST? We are not sure, it was Kevin’s idea. And here’s a message from Kevin:

Everybody here at Black Sheep is very excited to host a regional fest. We’re looking forward to seeing a lot of people from all over the area come out, and we are excited to see some great music. This is a whole new tradition we are kicking off and we are stoked to say the least! Stay tuned!

– Kevin

There will be around 20 bands playing DUMB FEST, all have already confirmed. Oh yeah, did we mention that half of the bands will be playing next door on the ramp of Skank Skates? We plan on announcing all 20 bands with four separate announcements from now until the end of this month. Today we bring you the first announcement with five bands that are playing. Ready? Here they are…

BIG EYES from Seattle, Washington
ANGRY GODS from Chicago (featuring members of Harps of Tartarus and Scouts Honor)
SAY SOMETHING local to Springfield (featuring members of Don’t Mess With Winkie)
HORRIBLE THINGS from Champaign (featuring members of Hospital Job)
TRAUMA HARNESS from Belleville (featuring members of Egg Chef and Lumpy & The Dumpers)

UPDATE: you can find a facebook event for the fest right here.

Southern Fryed Radio’s Mid-West Madness in May

Posted on March 4, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

Local radio project Southern Fryed Radio will be putting on the first annual “Mid-West Madness” on Saturday May 25th this year. The event will be held at Capital City Bar & Grill, which is located at 3149 South Dirksen Parkway. There will be a number of Springfield and midwest bands playing the fest. Bands that are playing include Petcock, Midnight Dreary, Sol Klinch, Ruinic, Dog of Panic, and Stronger Than Seven.

The fest will help celebrate Southern Fryed Radio being around for about four years now! You may have seen them broadcasting live at recent shows around Springfield. And of course they will be broadcasting live at this event from www.SouthernFryedRadio.com. The fest will start off at 5:00 pm and there is a $7 cover charge. This fest is also for those of you that are ages 21 and up. For more Springfield show listings, head over to our Springfield shows page!

Midwest Zine Fest 2013

Posted on March 1, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

We try to keep you all in the loop of fests going on in Central Illinois in the areas surrounding Springfield. Today we bring you news of the third annual “Midwest Zine Fest” taking place in Urbana, Illinois on Saturday April 13th. What is Midwest Zine Fest? Well, here is the description from the Midwest Zine Fest website:

Mid-West Zine Fest is a gathering of zine-makers, authors, speakers, musicians and other rad people for the purpose of celebrating zines and zine-culture!

The festival will include interactive events, food, speakers, music and plenty of zines. The festival is open to the public and admission is free.

No, this is not a music fest where bands play but we feel it is important to mention because zines have played an important role in getting out ideas about music and spreading words of bands in the underground music scene.

Do you make zines or want to get involved with the zine fest at all? You can find info on registering your own spot on the fest here. The fest itself will be located inside at the IMC. You can find a facebook event for Midwest Zine Fest here.

Dave Weckl at Donnie’s Homespun on April 13th and 14th

Posted on February 22, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

Legendary drummer and musician Dave Weckl will be coming to Donnie’s Homespun in Springfield on April 13th and 14th. He will be performing as part of “Drum Fest 2013” at Donnie’s. Also performing as part of the fest will be Paul Wertico, another big name drummer in the rock and jazz genres and also Jay Oliver. You can find a facebook event for the first night of Drum Fest here. That show is considered to be a benefit concert for Jeff Davidson. Keep checking back with the Donnie’s Homespun website for more information on door and show times and ticket prices.

More on Radon Lounge “Horse Show”

Posted on February 12, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

The Radon Lounge have updated their website with more info about their big “Horse Show” happening this year on June 15th. From The Radon Lounge’s website:

The Horse Show is a new Springfield, IL mini-music festival. It will be on June 15, and will feature many bands, some of whom are veterans of the former Cornerstone Music Festival. The event will be located at Refuge Ranch.

We need at least $1400 to put this show on, we are currently at around $350 in fundraising. If you want to contribute to this madness, please send us a message, you can write checks or send us buckets of cash, we want your help to make this event happen!

We will have a paypal link up one of these days. Plus we’ll have more bands to announce in the coming months!!!!

There are also a handful of bands and musical acts that are already confirmed for the event. These include Timbre, We Are Warm, Insomniac Folklore, Seth Mooman, Hushpad, and Kevin Schlereth. For more information on the Horse Show you can head over to the Radon Lounge’s website.

Nephrons and More Playing “Mates Fest” in Peoria

Posted on January 27, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

Usually festivals are big in the summer time but today we bring you news of a winter fest featuring a lot of cool bands happening at the beginning of this February. Friday and Saturday of next weekend (February 1st and 2nd) there will be a festival in Peoria called “Mates Fest” featuring plenty of bands from Peoria, and also some more! Springfield’s very own Jawbreaker influenced punk band Nephrons will be playing Friday night, and Lincoln’s own shoegaze project Hushpad will be playing Saturday night.

The festival itself is a benefit for the organization Camp Big Sky. “The mission of Camp Big Sky is to provide accessible fishing, camping, boating and other related outdoor opportunities to children and adults with disabilities.” For more info on the organization you can head here. For more info on the festival itself, you can go to the facebook event here. Both nights start at 6:00 pm and are $5 entry, or you can get in to both nights for $8!

Skeletal Lightning Fest Announced In Champaign

Posted on January 8, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

A new festival of bands has been announced that will be held in Champaign, Illinois called Skeletal Lightning Fest. You can see the festival’s website here. The festival will be taking place on April 5th and April 6th. Bands playing include Northless, Dowsing, The Reptilian, Tiny Moving Parts, Restore, Thieves, Droughts, Alta, Victor Shores, Locktender, Coma Regalia, Brighter Arrows, Aseethe, Kittyhawk, Foxing, Boilerman, Easter, Natural Disasters, Hank., Enta. For the complete line up, you can head here. More bands are supposed to be announced on the Skeletal Lightning website sometime before the fest.

A facebook event for the fest can be found here.

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