Springfield Business Journal: “Young Entrepreneurs Revitalize Southtown Neighborhood”

Posted on February 2, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

South Town has been recognized by a journal published for the local business community called Springfield Business Journal! As you guys can see in the title of this article, people like George Sinclair, Kevin Bradford, Brian Galecki, Brandon Carnes and Cory VanMeter are being recognized for the initiatives they have taken to make South Town a D.I.Y. headquarters inclined towards music and community growth. As you’ll read in the article (which you can find right here) It all started with the opening of Skank Skates. Black Sheep came later, as well as the flourishing of Dumb Records and South Town Studio. In the words of Brandon Carnes, “It’s not about what we’ve got, it’s about what we do with it and who we can affect with it”. It’s a really special thing that we have people pushing us forward and upward on both the spectrum of music as well as locally grown food, so definitely check this article out and get involved!

Caterpillar Club Recording New Material

Posted on February 2, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

With the recent opening of South Town Studio, we are starting to see more and more Springfield bands recording new material there. Today we are bringing you news that shoegaze/sludge Springfield three-piece Caterpillar Club are recording new material for some sort of upcoming and unknown release. Caterpillar Club released Path On The Sea on Cassette through Patch Records last year.

You can find more info on South Town Studio right here. On the South Town Studio page you can find contact info for master recorder Brandon Carnes, who will be able to get you a reasonable quote if your band is interested in recording in South Town.

March 15th at Black Sheep: The Timmys, Better Days, The Oswalds, Mystery Gift

Posted on February 1, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

It’s February and our March show announcements at Black Sheep are starting to roll in. This punk show is going to be happening on Saturday, March 15th. The show will feature long time Springfield punk band The Timmys, who have not played a show at Black Sheep in a little bit. We also have the punk/hardcore band Better Days coming from St. Louis. You can check out some of their music playing below. Then we also have a very new and very punk Springfield band playing this show called The Oswalds. Opening things up will be the two-piece band Mystery Gift. Rumor has it that someone in the band will be celebrating a birthday, so be sure to bring a mystery gift for Mystery Gift.

This show will start at 7:00 pm and admission will be $5. There is no facebook event, but that’s okay. You should check out our shows page to see everything else that is coming up at Black Sheep!

Tonight at Black Sheep: Dirt Wizard, Hope For Now, Witchweed, Loses The Mighty, Remington, Kharybdis

Posted on February 1, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

Tonight is going to be a wild night at Black Sheep as we have this six-band throw down as our only show this weekend. Our new record store Dumb Records is going to be open until 9:00 pm and bands are going to be playing non-stop inside Black Sheep so Southtown is going to be popin’. Who do we have playing tonight? We have the newer Peoria heavy sludgy rock band Dirt Wizard headlining the bill, so make sure you stick around and see them. We have Central Illinois post hardcore band Hope For Now playing the Black Sheep as a part of their weekend tour. We also have the return of Taylorville stoner-metal band Witchweed! We have Champaign-area Central Illinois post hardcore band Loses The Mighty, who also just played the last show at Black Sheep one week ago. We have Chicago pop-punk band Remington, featuring one member of hardcore Dumb Fest band NEED. And first but not least we have a performance by a brand new Springfield metal band called Kharybdis, which features members of Table Drama.

The show will start at 7:00 pm but Dumb Records will be open all day today from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm. The show is also $5 (less than $1 per band). You can find a facebook event for the show right here. Don’t forget to also check out our shows page for a look at everything coming up at Black Sheep in this wild and crazy 2014.

February 22nd at Black Sheep: Repo Man (Film), Worms, Mystery Gift

Posted on January 31, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

Coming up next month we will be hosting another movie-night at Black Sheep that will accompany a three-band local show that is going to be a lot of fun. The last time we had a film screening inside of Black Sheep was for Dither: The D.I.Y. Sound and it ended up being a big success. This time coming up on Saturday, February 22nd we will be showing the 1984 classic sci-fi classic, Repo Man. The movie will start at 6:00 pm so make sure you bring some popcorn and a friend and show up early. As soon as the movie is done (which is one hour and a half) we will be hosting a three band show. Playing this show will be the two-piece Worms, who have never played at Black Sheep before this. This will be their cassette release show, with their cassette being put out by new Springfield label Blackbox Records. We also have another great two-piece Springfield band, Mystery Gift. To top the night off we have a set from some sort of surprise new punk band that we know nothing about.

The movie starts at 6:00 pm, the show will kick off around 8:00 pm and you can have all of that for just $5. Be sure to check out a facebook event right here. Also be sure to check out what other shows are coming up at Black Sheep over on our shows page.

February 7th at Black Sheep: Negative 17, Red Light Compliance, Full Chroma, Yogi Beara

Posted on January 30, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

We have a show announcement for a show that’s coming up fast! So fast that it’s actually happening a week from tomorrow! How about that? This show will be the return of Chicago pop punk rockers Red Light Compliance. They played at Black Sheep way back in July, if any of you can remember that far (we sure can’t). We have some of their music streaming on the player below. Also playing this show is the crowd favorite local rock band Negative 17. Hopefully the temperature outside will be higher than -17 by the time of this show. We also have the second Black Sheep performance of Full Chroma, one of Springfield’s newer and younger pop bands. Kicking of the show is the two-piece heavy jam rock band Yogi Beara.

This show will start at 7:00 pm and admission is $5. Don’t forget that Dumb Records will be open until 9:00 pm this night, as they will be ever night there is a Black Sheep show. There is a facebook event for this show right here. Also be sure to check out our shows page for a good look at everything coming up at Black Sheep.

New Arrivals At Dumb Records This Weekend

Posted on January 30, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

Here we go! Another weekend is approaching and we have a long list of goodies that will be new at Dumb Records this Friday and Saturday! What is Dumb Records? It’s the new record store that just opened up right next to Black Sheep on 1107 South Grand Ave, silly! Ready for that list?

LPs
Andrew Jackson Jihad / Ghost Mice – Split
Direct Hit! / Hold Tight – Split
The Disappeared – Bridges
Dogbreth – Sentimental Health
The Evens – The Odds
The Evens – Get Evens
House Boat – 21^st Century Breakdown
Fugazi – Margin Walker
Fugazi – In On The Kill Taker
Kyle Hall – Kyle Hall
Like Bats – Midwest Nothing
Minor Threat – First Two 7”s
Ramshackle Glory – Live The Dream
Rational Anthem – Sensitivity Training

CDs
Andrew Jackson Jihad – Only God Can Judge Me
Best Friends Forever – Romance Conflict Adventure
Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind
Eric Ayotte – Wavering
Ghost Mice – Death: Hatred To Mankind
Heathers – “Here, Not There”
Lipstick Homicide – Out Utero
The Max Levine Ensemble – OK Smarty Pants
Rosa – I, Mississippi, You
The Taxpayers – To Risk So Much For One Damn Meal
Tooth Soup – Casting Off Curses
The Wild – Set Ourselves Free
You Blew It! – Grow Up, Dude

7″s
Dead North / Strong City – Split
Everything Went Black / Rattletooth – Split
Jabber – Too Many Babes
Jetty Boys / Boys Club – Split
Operation: Cliff Clavin / The Max Levine Ensemble – Split
Pity Party – Do A Little Dance
The Punchlines – It Ain’t Funny
((Thorlock)) – S/T
Science Police – You Are Under Arrest In The Future
Wild Assumptions / Run Like You Roots – Split

Whew, and that wasn’t even all of it! You can check out Dumb Records on Friday and Saturday this weekend to see all of what we have (there’s a lot). Dumb Records will be open from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm on Friday and Saturday from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm (one extra hour because of this show). There is also a show at Black Sheep coming up on Monday, February 3rd, so Dumb Records will be open from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm that night.

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.