Here we are today bringing you another brand new page on our site for another brand new Springfield rock group. This one is for the new screamo band called Knives. Knives played their very first show at this year’s Black Sheep Fest and they blew us all away. The band features members of Our Lady, Looming, Asthma, Caterpillar Club, Foxtail, and a few other bands. If you head over to their newly created page (right here) you can read a little more about the band and stream some songs from their recently released EP. Be on the lookout for more Knives shows very soon.

Knives isn’t the only band we have a band page for. You can find the long list of 70-something band pages we have built here on our current bands page. Do you play in a Springfield band that hasn’t yet set up a page with us? We would love to hear from you! Get ahold of us at blacksheepspringfield@gmail.com and we will work with you to set something up.

Lookie lookie Black Sheep Fest is finally upon us and it’ll be happening today! Black Sheep Fest is a celebration of Springfield local music and Black Sheep as an all ages venue since 2005. There are 21 bands playing this year all local to Springfield. Check out the order of the bands that will be playing (starting with the last band first for exciting effect)

OUR LADY – 10:30
SOAP SCUM vs. TABLE DRAMA – 9:40
LOOMING – 9:00
FOXTAIL (reunion) – 8:20
ASTHMA – 7:40pm
WAR MAGIC – 7:10
JAG – 6:40
MOUTHSEX – 6:10
BOON – 5:30
BLIND SOCIAL – 4:50
MEREDOSIA – 4:20
BUILT IN A DAY – 3:50
SWAMP RAT – 3:20
THE OSWALDS – 2:50
KICKSTART – 2:20
AKANAME – 1:50
FULL CHROMA – 1:10
WILT CANDY – 12:50
I’M DEAD INSIDE – 12:30
KNIVES (first show) – 12:10

Some special things to take note of: The Blind Social is the battle of the bands winner so check them out. There will also be a really epic battle set between Soap Scum and Table Drama, so see who the victor is and don’t miss the theatrix. This will also be new hardcore band Knives (featuring the same members of Our Lady as well as Looming) playing at noon and this will be their first show, so don’t miss it!! They’ll be starting the fest off. Also, as you can see- Foxtail is playing a reunion show so this is your one rare chance to see Foxtail live again. There are so many rad things going on at this fest and in Southtown: there will be a donation based junk sale to help benefit the venue as well as people who would rather have other people’s junk rather than their own. Clay’s Popeye’s Barbeque (a few doors down from Dumb Records) will be featuring their new VEGAN options! Go buy their food during the fest, it’s legitimately tasty.

Come out to Black Sheep Fest today, it’ll start at noon for only $5! Don’t forget to stop by Dumb Records too, and overall just keep it real. Here’s some advice for preparing yourself for the fest: in the words of Molli Squires, “just go with it”.

We all know that cover shows are a lot of fun. We had a blast at the Black Sheep Cover Show this past May, and also at the similar one which was held at Bar None soon after. Did you know that Donnie’s Homespun also has a cover show will a killer lineup of local bands coming up this Friday (August 25th)? The cover show happening at downtown venue and pizza restaurant has a little bit of a twist- you won’t know the bands being covered until the show is happening. Right now we only know the local bands participating! Here is that list:

The Timmys
Josh Catalano & The Dirty Thoughts
The Blue G’s
Tom Irwin
Los Injectors
Looming
Blue Ribbon Revival

Sounds like a pretty great lineup of local bands. The seven acts playing will kick off right at 8:30 pm. According to the Donnie’s Homespun calendar and website, this event will be ages 18 plus, and admission is $7. You can find a facebook event for the show right here. If you are interested in checking out more local shows outside of Black Sheep, head over to our Springfield shows page.

Springfield Screamo band I’m Dead Inside has recently recorded 7 songs that will soon be released on cassette via Guard Records. This will be the band’s second release of 2014 after releasing their 3 song demo “Songs Written Before Jumping Out Of A 8 Story Window.” The upcoming EP includes new and updated recordings of the original 3 songs as well as 4 brand new tracks for your listening pleasure. Recordings and mixing was undertaken by Mario Canamela in the basement of Harm House, and the release will be handled by Guard Records. The tape will be available for purchase at Black Sheep Fest 2014 as well as Guard Records store.

This is it! Wow, Battle of the Bands 2014 is upon us folks, and there is going to be so much talent tonight at Black Sheep. Check out all the local acts! We’ll have the pleasure of hearing the viral drool punkers in Panzys, the snazzy jammers in Blind Social, some new and unheard tunes from the band The Locals, the rad punksters in Schnozzberry Jam and the brutal tones of Desecrate the Kingdom. Set times are as follows:

Panzys: 9:30-9:55
Blind Social: 8:55-9:20
The Locals: 8:20-8:45
Schnozzberry Jam: 7:45-8:10
Desecrate The Kingdom: 7:10-7:35

Will there be prizes for the winning bands? Oh yes, there will be indeed! One crowd-voted winner will receive one time slot on BLACK SHEEP FEST 2014 happening July 26th! That will definitely be a cool honor to recieve. Also, one winner voted by a panel of trusted judges will receive a free demo recorded at South Town Studio! Check out our good looking panel of judges pictured below. South Town Studio pumps out some GREAT local music, so whoever wins it will be very lucky! The door is only $5, and the show is at 7:00 pm! Come out to hear the bands and see who wins, your time will be well worth it. Bring your friends!

The Black Sheep Battle of the Bands is happening again this year and it’s coming up fast!  The battle is only two weeks from tomorrow (Saturday, July 12th) and tonight we are here with our finalized lineup of five young bands ready to compete in the battle. This year’s lineup features…

Panzys
Blind Social
The Locals
Schnozzberry Jam
Descrate the Kingdom

That’s it! As you can probably tell some of these bands have played the stage at Black Sheep before, and some are entirely new. This year there will be similar awards to two winning bands. The first prize will go to the crowd-favorite band, and that will be a spot on this year’s Black Sheep Fest happening on Saturday July 26th. The second award goes to a band chosen from a panel of judges, and that will be a free four song demo recorded at our very own South Town Studio. Good luck to all of the bands!

The whole thing is going to start at 7:00 pm and will cost $5 like a regular Black Sheep show. You can find a facebook event for this one right here. Also be sure to check out what else we have coming up at Black Sheep this summer on our shows page.

As we are still recovering from Dumb Fest 2 (which was the most bands we’ve ever had play at South Town in one event), the photos and videos are starting to roll in of the incredible weekend. Pictured above is a photo of Black Panties playing day 2 by Franklin Wallace. Today we are bringing you a few videos from Dumb Fest 2. Below you can find videos from the sets of Our Lady, Easter, Soap Scum, and The Valenteens. For more Black Sheep videos and other videos from Dumb Fest, feel free to check out the DIY Springfield youtube channel. Stay tuned later this week for another post featuring some of the photos from Dumb Fest.

Touring Springfield band Our Lady will be release a split 7″ with longtime Milwaukee friends Estates! The split has a tentative release date of late August and pre orders should be up within the coming weeks. New Springfield / Kansas City record label Guard Records (Formely Blackbox Records / Stink Cat Records) & Mind Over Matter Records will be putting out the split as a joint release. With two songs from each band, a very unique casing the release will be a great way to be introduced to each band as well as each label. The 7″ will be on five color variants and limited to 500 copies. For more information on the split you can check out the Our Lady, Estates, Guard Records and Mind Over Matter Records Facebook page.

A bike co-op is being initiated here in Springfield! Local resident Will Boder has been taken under the wing of The Bike Doctor in order to run a bike co-op that will be located on 8th and North Grand. According to the Springfield Bike Co-Op’s website (officially known as Enos Park Bike Cooperative),

The Enos Park Bike Cooperative is focused on teaching bicycle construction and maintenance through a unique volunteer program. We hope to support a thriving biking community within Springfield by providing our services at little to no cost. The program holds to cooperative values by creating shared ownership and responsibility for the project. By relying on volunteer power and contributions we hope to create a thriving environment of mutual support for all bikers in the Springfield area.

Basically, anyone who wants to put in hours on their bike or other bikes will in turn receive training and help from people who know what they are talking about, such as Will Boder. According to Will,

The Enos Park Springfield Bike Co-Op is focused on building a shared space where anyone in the community can work on building, repairing, or maintaing a bike. We want to build a stronger and larger biking community in Springfield by creating an environment of mutual support and education. Everyone is welcome to participate and contribute to building the Co-Op. We ask volunteers working with us to put in a solid four hours of work. Afterwards volunteers can use all of the equipment, parts, and tools in the shop. Feel visit us at www.springfieldbikecoop.com for the latest information. Please email us at springfieldbikecoop@gmail.com to sign up for our volunteer list to save a spot for yourself in the shop. Looking forward to working with you! 

This bike co op is definitely a venture that is worthy of attention and help, especially for those of us who are looking to cut down on driving. Co-ops themselves are excellent ways to build local community support as well as to promote the D.I.Y ethic, so don’t be reluctant to get involved! To see what’s happening with Springfield’s one and only developing food co-op, like the facebook page and sign up for their newsletter right here! Keep it real.