2/3 at Black Sheep: Table Drama vs. Orator, Endeavor, Like…With Jetpacks, Servants

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We’ve got some rad shows coming up in February- check it out! This show on the 3rd is going to be pretty epic and here’s why: Local wrestle-grind band Table Drama and Champaign based sludgy jammers Orator are having a face-off. Who will win? Come find out, listen to these crazy people and sludge around. Then Virginia based Endeavor will give us some slushy melodic hardcore to enjoy. They are no strangers to Springfield, they played at the Scott Blacula farewell show so come out and see them again! East Coast folks Servants will then give us some progressive jams to mosh to, and then our local video game mongers Like…With Jetpacks are gonna tickle our tech sides…with jetpacks!

This is on February 3rd for $5 dollars. Circle pits are required. Be There. Here’s the facebook event, check out our other upcoming shows too to see what else we have coming up!

New Band Pages: Asthma

1484256_604929712894370_1146879663_nToday we are bringing you a new band page for Springfield’s newest and potentially hazardous “filth punk” band. They are Asthma, and you can find out all about them on their new page. Go here to check out the new page, and be sure to keep your eyes and lungs out for any upcoming Asthma shows at Black Sheep or some newly recorded material that may surface.

You can check out any of our hundreds of band pages that we have put together for Springfield bands right here on our current bands page. Do you play in a Springfield band that we don’t yet have covered? 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 page.

 

WUIS: “Dumb Records Is Latest Addition To Southtown Culture”

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Springfield media outlet and radio program WUIS have done a nice segment on the opening of Dumb Records. From the WUIS website:

A new record store is opening in Springfield this weekend. Making a profit off vinyl records may sound risky, but the four co-owners have a lot experience building a following in the punk music scene especially. Kevin Bradford recently joined us to talk about it. He owns Black Sheep Cafe, a music venue, and will be one of the co-owners of the record store at 1107 South Grand, called Dumb Records

You can head over to the WUIS site to play the audio for the 10 minute segment, which aired on Friday. To listen to that, GO HERE.

Again we want to thank all of you for making Dumb Records a reality. That includes all of you who helped us work inside the store leading up to the grand opening, all of the volunteers, all the bands and people who donated records, and all of you who came and checked out the shop this past weekend. All of your support means a lot to us. Dumb Records will continue to be open from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm on nights when there are shows at Black Sheep.

Black Sheep + Dumb Records Mailing List

BdvZ4IKCUAEFYKK.jpg-largeHey you! Yeah, you! We know you already check this site and stay pretty updated with all things relating to The Black Sheep and Dumb Records. But now we are making it even easier for you to stay updated with a new Black Sheep/Dumb Records mailing list!

With the new mailing list we will be sending out a weekly email every Monday. This email will go over the main news articles on blacksheepspringfield.com for the past week. It will also tell you about what shows are coming up at Black Sheep that week. AND you will be the first to know of any new arrivals that come in to Dumb Records.

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MAILING LIST.

We also want to say THANK YOU to all of you who came out to the Dumb Records grand opening and Black Sheep art show yesterday. Without your support none of this would be possible. Dumb Records will continue to be open from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm on nights when there are shows at Black Sheep.

 

Dumb Records Grand Opening + Black Sheep Art Show TODAY

fffffffToday is a very big day for South Town and our music community! We’ve been filling you all in for awhile on the development of Dumb Records and the grand opening is finally HERE! After the weeks of painting, remodeling our space and collecting cool records, tapes, shirts and CDs, we’re finally ready to greet the world. This is exciting for everyone involved- including you! We will be happy to be a fresh Springfield connection for all music-from local bands, classic oldies, bands from the surrounding areas and hopefully even cool bands from other countries. This should give South Town a nice boost and give people more opportunities to get involved, so if you’re interested in getting involved or donating come around today and talk to us about it!

Dumb Records will be open at 10:00 am and the grand opening festivities will kick off at noon. Come in at any time until 9:00 pm and check out all of our records, cds, tapes and shirts and hang out. Not only are we opening this record store today, there’s going to be a full fledged art show featuring everything from spoken work to acoustic acts to local artwork taking place in the Black Sheep! Check out the facebook event to get the details on all of the acts we’ll be featuring. This whole day is going to be an extraveganza so try to come around and help us welcome this new addition to South Town! You can find Dumb Records at 1107 South Grand avenue, right next to Skanks Skates and Black Sheep Cafe. The events themselves will be free but bring around your spare dough to buy some records and get dumb.

The Science Of: Past EP and a New Year

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So what is the science of creating a strong first EP? An EP strong enough to carry a band through a year while gaining followers and solidifying their identify? The Science Of recorded their first EP back in January of 2012 and since then have played throughout Springfield and even graced the Black Sheep stage. But getting that first EP together was a big step for the band.

“The recording process was very intense and a lot of hard work. We initially booked a three day weekend at Waterfront. After we finished up that Sunday night we knew we would have to come back. You really test your skills in the studio and I think that shows in our EP. When it came to recording the EP we went with the songs we felt were the strongest and tightest,” Justin Hagerman, drummer and vocalist, said.

Experimenting for the first time came with a few difficulties for the band.

“The biggest obstacle was that none of us had recorded professionally as musicians and that made certain parts of the recording process very stressful, but it pushed us to become better musicians and I think we needed that kick in the ass to get going,” Josh Hagerman, bassist and vocalist, said.

With that push came “Which is What I Am”. By handing out free copies at shows in the Springfield area the band actively started to create a buzz about who they were. It was definitely a success after playing at the , Black Sheep and the Whirlwind Bar tour in just the past month.

“[We] pretty much solidif[ied] our identity since these were songs written over the course of several years of us being a band and some written before. I just see this EP as more of a starting point for us. Not to go somewhere but to get us going,” Tony Rose, guitarist and vocalist, said.

The work done on “Which is What I Am” helped in their next recording experiments.

“With working towards new material for the next EP we are going try to take more of group effort at writing; setting aside specific times for writing and creating these new songs. For what we’ll be putting on the next EP I think we will continue the dynamic of Josh and Tony both taking turns with leading vocals and guitars on different songs. I’d say at this point we have one song for sure that we will be putting into the 2014 release,”Justin said.

With slightly modified formulas, The Science Of hypothesizes they will have a great 2014.

“We are hoping to get to do some recording in 2014 and also put together a small tour if possible. A goal of 50 shows this year is what I’d like to see,” Justin said.

To check out what they have been playing this past year check out their facebook.

Dumb Records Soft Opening Today

dumbrecs1As you all probably know, Springfield’s newest record store Dumb Records will be having their official grand opening tomorrow (Saturday) with a great big celebration and Black Sheep art show from 12:00 to 9:00 pm. We hope you can make it out and check out the new record store as well as some wonderful artists, acoustic acts, and spoken word acts. For all of the information you can handle the grand opening, go here.

Today we are going to be giving the record store a test-run. We are planning on being open from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm, so come on by if you want to be one of the first to see what we have in store. We are also going to be able to sell records but we might not have our credit card reader 100% up and going, so you might want to have some cash on hand! See you at Dumb!

 

Worms: Somewhere Far And In Between

a0839916262_10Today we are bringing you a stream of some brand new material from Springfield acoustic duo, Worms. Worms features members of Montagh and Wir Können. Their newest release is called Somewhere Far and in Between and you can find it streaming below. If you head over to the band’s bandcamp you can also download the four-song release for free or your own price. Not a lot is known about the release, but we do see a small Blackbox Records logo on the album art, so this could mean that Somewhere Far and in Between will see a cassette release on new Springfield label Blackbox Records.

 

Tonight at Black Sheep: Mobile Death Camp (ex-GWAR), Sunnyvale, Table Drama, RDNT, Say Something

1545225_10152136269515619_1734669328_nTonight is the forth show we’ve had in a row, but the shows just keep getting bigger and better! Tonight is a big one! We have Mobile Death Camp coming, which features an ex member of the legendary rock band GWAR! Check out one of their music videos embedded below, and come tonight ready to ROCK. We also have a good lineup of some great local bands tonight. We have the Black Sheep debut of Springfield rock band Sunnyvale! We also have the ultimate wrestling villains and heels Table Drama, who might be signing some contracts accepting a new vocalist tonight. Make sure you are there to find out what that is all about. This show will also feature young and rowdy Springfield punkers RDNT. To make this show complete, hectic ska-punk-hardcore band Say Something will be starting the night off with circle pits going at 60mph.

The show starts right at 7:00 pm and admission this time around is $6. 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 what other shows are coming up at Black Sheep.

February 1st at The Radon Lounge: The Strumbellas, Alex & The XO’s

detail_the_strumbellasSpringfield house venue and some of our best buds The Radon Lounge have announced that they will be having a killer indie-rock show on Saturday, February 1st featuring touring Toronto band The Strumbellas. The Radon Lounge site says that this is the show that you shouldn’t miss in 2014, so if you ever plan on going to a Radon show, go to this one! This is also the first Radon show to feature a band from outside of the country! You can check out some music by The Strumbellas below. Also playing this show is Alex & The XO’s– a pop band from Normal, Illinois.

This show will start at 7:00 pm and costs $5. If you head over to the The Radon Lounge’s show page you will see that they also have a open mic night and some sort of a cover show also lined up. The Radon Lounge has also done a neat little list of their 13 favorite things of 2013 that happened at the Radon this past year. Check that out here. Also check out our Springfield shows page for a better look of what is coming up around town outside of Black Sheep.