Roundtable Meeting This Saturday

Posted on January 29, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

It’s been a little while since we have had a Black Sheep Roundtable Meeting. Usually we come together and have these meetings to brainstorm new ideas and ways to improve our space. Plenty of great things and ideas have come out of these meetings, including a lot of the work behind Dumb Records, The Black Sheep Radio Show, this website, and more.

This Saturday, February 1st we will be having our first roundtable meeting that we have had in a while. This time we will meet inside Dumb Records (which is located at 1107 South Grand Ave for those of you who do not know). We will be meeting at 2:00 pm. We will be talking about how the record store is going, upcoming show ideas, and whatever else there is to talk about. Then we will split up big time and go on a Black Sheep street team run to hang up upcoming show fliers around town. Don’t forget there is also this great show happening at Black Sheep on Saturday at 7:00 pm!

If you are unable to make it to the meeting but want to help out with the behind the scenes at Black Sheep or Dumb Records, be sure to check out our get involved page. There you can find a long list of things you can do to help us out and support things going on in South Town.

February 28th at Black Sheep: Montagh, Good Times, Devin Williams, Old Fox Road

Posted on January 29, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

On our list of shows coming up in late February, we have this one on Friday the 28th! It will be featuring a few farmilar faces and sounds, such as the honest folk-punk tunes of Old Fox Road from Arthur, IL. St. Louis band Good Times, who is no stranger to Black Sheep, will also be playing tonight. The loungey, ambient rock tunes from this artist is sure to please so come and check it out! We will also be featuring the Florida based act Devin Williams, who will be playing some bluesy delta rock jams- so come out, listen to his tunes and feel the soul. We almost forgot to mention that this show will also feature acoustic folk-punk band Montagh. Catch them before they blow up and go off to Hollywood!

It’s likely that are going to be acts added to this show so keep your eyes peeled for updates on that front! This show will be at 7pm for $5. Here’s the facebook event, and make sure to check out the other shows we have coming up in the next month!

Rat King Records to release “Cartoon Girlfriend”

Posted on January 28, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

The small and mighty Champaign based label Rat King Records is going to be releasing a comic from local goon and artist Mike Tirehaus called “Cartoon Girlfriend”.

Here’s a statement from him on this project:

“Cartoon Girlfriend” collects comics from the past two years and are a representation of the growth I’ve experienced as a cartoonist since I started really trying to do comics. There are two brand new 4 page comics that no one has seen before as well as newly remastered versions of several of my earlier comics from 2012 that had been published in the “Odium Comix” anthology. The whole thing comes out to 14 pages of content published between a beautiful screenprinted cover that Brian from Soap Scum has graciously offered to print. When Aaron from Rat King Records offered to publish “Cartoon Girlfriend” it was a life saver. If it wasn’t for Aaron this project would still be just a pipe dream. The book should be available at the end of January.

Mike has worked on projects before, such as Gamer Heaven/Day of the Month, which was a self-published collaboration with another local cartoon artist, Brett Freeman. He has been printed in other anthologies, but this is his first solo work- so there you have it ladies, gents and its! Cartoon Girlfriend will be featured at both Dumb Records in Springfield and Error Records in Champaign, so keep your eyes open for that because it will be coming soon! Make sure to peruse the Rat King Records website and facebook page in order to observe their other rad releases.

Skeletal Lightning Fest Announces Full Lineup

Posted on January 28, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

Skeletal Lightning Fest happening in Champaign/Urbana on April 11th, 12th, and 13th this year have announced their full lineup consisting of forty-something bands from all over the country. The festival focuses on DIY bands and ethics of the Midwest and this will be the second year of the fest. For some photos of last year’s fest head over here.

Notable acts playing this year include Circle Takes The Square, Weekend Nachos, Enabler, Joie De Vivre, Dumb Fest’s Tenement, and Springfield’s very own Our Lady. The festival will be taking place over the course of three days between Friday, April 11th and Sunday, April 13th. This year the festival will be held at Error Records in Champaign and the Independent Media Center in Urbana, Illinois. You can go here for more information on ticket pre-orders for single-day and three-day passes for the fest.

Mystery Gift: “Link Together With All”

Posted on January 27, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

Today we are bringing you another brand new stream of music from a newer Springfield band. Today the band is Mystery Gift, and they have released some sort of an acoustic four-song EP on their bandcamp entitled Link Together With All. You can find the songs on the Mystery Gift bandcamp right here, and also download the songs for free, or also stream them on the player embedded below. Keep an eye out for any upcoming Mystery Gift shows at Black Sheep.

New Band Pages: Owen Davis

Posted on January 27, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

Today we are bringing you a brand new page here at blacksheepspringfield.com for Springfield noise artist Owen Davis. Owen Davis has yet to perform live at all at this point, but he has released many many things on various labels. Owen also runs his own label called Clouded Sky Recordings, where he has released music and noise from artists from various parts of the globe. You can check out Owen’s new page right here, where you can stream some of his noise and find out more about Owen’s project.

Check out any of the sixty-something band pages that we have set up for bands local to Springfield here on our current bands page. Do you play in a Springfield band that we do not have a page for yet? We would love to hear from you. Shoot us an email at blacksheepspringfield@gmail.com and we will work with you to set up a new page.

February 8th at Black Sheep: Jess Knight, Jordi, Dustin Sendejas, Rella, Honey/Suck

Posted on January 26, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

Coming up on Saturday, February 8th we have another “big and bad” Black Sheep acoustic show! This will be a great time for all, and hopefully the weather will be also getting warmer. There will be some sort of potluck going on, and also Dumb Records will be open until 9:00 pm that night. Acoustic acts playing include Jess Knight of Looming and Asthma, and also Jordi, or Jordan Fein of Looming. Also on this show is Dustin Sendejas formerly of the band The Transatlantic. This show also has two newer acts. This will be the second show of Rella, which features Clare Frachey’s solo work and also Honey/Suck which is the spoken word of Aubrey Puyear.

This show begins at 7:00 pm and admission is $5. You can find a facebook event for the show right here. Don’t forget to stay updated with all of the shows coming up at Black Sheep by looking at our shows page.

Meredosia Recording New Material

Posted on January 25, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

It looks like Springfield post-rock band Meredosia are in the studio working on recording some new material. And by “studio” we mean our very own South Town Studio, which we made a new page for yesterday. This will be the band’s first official release, while they have released a few songs on their bandcamp before this. The new release is tentatively seven to nine songs in length. We will keep you all updated when more info about the release is known or when the songs are streaming online.

Happy Birthday Kevin Bradford

Posted on January 25, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

Today we would like to wish Black Sheep owner for eight and a half years, Kevin Bradford a very happy birthday. If it wasn’t for Kevin sticking it out through many, many shows over the eight and a half years none of this would exist. Happy Birthday Kevin!

There is no show happening tonight at Black Sheep due to this national holiday, but Dumb Records will still be open from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm tonight. Stop by and hang out or pick up a record for Kevin’s birthday!

New Pages: Recording Studio

Posted on January 24, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

You might remember a while back when we announced that Brandon Carnes (Looming, The Timmys, Big Storm) has started his own home studio right here in South Town. Today we are bringing you a new page on our site so you can learn more about the studio, which has been named “South Town Studio” and find out how you can contact Brandon if you are looking for affordable rates on quality recordings for any band. Check out the new page right here, or hover over the “studio” tab where you can now find the recording studio page and also the page for The Black Sheep Radio Show, which is now recorded inside South Town Studio.