Those of us at blacksheepspringfield.com headquarters want to wish all of you mutants a happy and safe Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Halloween. Especially Halloween. Be sure to keep an eye out for those pesky basement clowns. We will be posting the results for our 2013 Springfield music poll on Friday.
If you’re looking for something to do for you post-holiday high try enjoying some music and food with the Whirlwind Bar Tour. The Whirlwind Bar Tour is event created to help those affected by the tornadoes in November. 13 bars will be donating 100% of funds raised during an all day pub crawl to relief efforts. Saturday December 28th this 21 and up event will have 8 hours of music in all 13 bars with free food plus free transportation! Because this is a charity event bars and bands will be donating their time to the cause. But some bars still have OPEN SLOTS for their music portion of the event and need your help! Bands, solo acts, or any form of musical performers are encouraged to play during the event. There are three bars that have pretty bare line-ups. Trading Post (731 S Durkin Dr), Jw’s Lounge (2266 S 6th St), and Celtic Mist still need of live music. While you are welcome to contact any of the bars listed on the tour some bars above only have one band playing and the event is supposed to have 8 hours of live music. Not only is this a great opportunity to help those affected by the tornadoes it’s a way to get name out in the community and play more mainstream venues. If you or your band is interested in playing a time slot at the bars above please contact the bar directly. If you run into any trouble contact James McCormick anytime at jamesmc349@yahoo.com or 217-741-2898. When explaining the event James said, “This is basically an alliance of people and bars and music people coming together to raise what they can. I thought of Black Sheep as a place where a lot of bands are coming together and thought that maybe some people are ready to get out there and get seen.”
You can sign up for slots at multiple bars as well and if you do play at the event don’t be afraid to show bar owners a demo or even record your performance from the event. This is a 21+ event but band members that are under 21 can still play. In order for that to happen band members need to contact the bar’s owner and talk with them about getting necessary signatures.
If you just want to come out to support and enjoy free music and food wristbands are $30. They will get you access to all of the bars from 11am to 7pm and can be purchased at any of the participating bars- preferably before the event. There will also be 4 buses will running every 30 minutes, once again for free.
For more information check out Whirlwind’s Facebook page. The page has detailed lineups for each bar and the route for transportation.
To stay on top of other community events outside of Black Sheep make sure to check out our Springfield Shows page.
Remember a little while back when we told you that Mobile Death Camp (ex-GWAR) will be coming to play at Black Sheep? Well today we are coming back at you to tell you about the full lineup for this incredibly awesome and rockin’ show that is going to be happening on Thursday, January 9th! As you know, this show will feature Mobile Death Camp, which is a rock band featuring “Beefcake the Mighty” of GWAR. There will also be a great lineup of local bands on this show! We have Sunnyvale, which is a Springfield band that will be playing their very first show at Black Sheep! We also have Table Drama, who might be stirring up some trouble with some of the other bands. Will they take on battling Mobile Death Camp? Come to the show and find out. Come to the show for a chance to also catch the rowdy punksters in RDNT. Also playing this show is ska-punk madness band Say Something, who are currently working on recording some new material.
This show starts at 7:00 pm admission this time around is $6. You can find a facebook event for the show right here. We might also see some type of a soft opening for Dumb Records at this show? Be there to find out! Also check out our shows page for a complete list of upcoming shows at Black Sheep.
On Monday, January 6th we will be hosting our second show of 2014 at Black Sheep and it is going to be a real punk one. We will be having the touring band Back To Back come and play at Black Sheep. They are from Houston, Texas and play short and sweet punk songs that you can find streaming below. Next up on the lineup is NEED from Champaign and Chicago. The last time NEED played in Springfield was during Dumb Fest, where they performed inside Skank Skates next door. Also playing this show is the fierce “asswolf” and his gang, Wolf Luv. If you like seeing bands fronted by real live wolves, then this is the show for you. To top this all off we have the second show ever of Springfield’s newer punk band The Oswalds.
This show kicks off at 7:00 pm and admission is $5. You can find a facebook event right here. Also don’t forget to check out what else we have coming up next year on our shows page.
It looks like Springfield puke punks Soap Scum will be doing a short run with Champaign pals Kowabunga! Kid at the end of the month. The two bands will be hitting up a few cities in the midwest and ending the run with a big band at the Harm House 45th Annual New Year’s Eve show. You can check out the dates below.
12/27 @ The Livery – St. Louis, MO
12/29 @ Technodrom – Chicago, IL
12/30 @ Center Street Free Space – Milwaukee, WI
12/31 @ Harm House – Springfield, IL
Soap Scum will also be playing the very first show of 2014 at Black Sheep along with Falter, Asthma, Nos Bos, and Table Drama. For more information on that show you can head here.
Tonight is the third and final show of our three “Winter Weekend” shows at Black Sheep. Tonight will be the big GRAND FINALE of those shows and this is also our last show of the year at Black Sheep so let’s make it a good one and come out! Tonight we have the pop-punk all star band Hospital Job playing all of their old hits and probably a few new ones. We also have folk punk sweethearts Lovecow starting up the circle pits and all of the sing-a-longs. This show also features one gem of a touring band called Ravenhill from Southern Illinois. Don’t forget to come early to catch the crown jewel band Looming, who will be playing first before they head out to the bars of Springfield to play with the reunited Park.
The show tonight starts at 7:00 pm and admission is $5, as usual. You can find a facebook event for the show right here. Don’t forget to check out our shows page for tons of shows that we have lined up for 2014.
Today we are bringing you news of yet another new installment in the Black Sheep neighborhood. It looks as if our very own Brandon Carnes (Big Storm, Looming, The Timmys) has opened up a recording studio and practice space for bands right next to Black Sheep! This also means we have new headquarters for The Black Sheep Radio Show (which airs today from our new location at 4:00 pm).
Brandon will be offering very cheap and affordable recordings and practice space rentals for all kinds of bands and musicians. If you are curious about what Brandon can do to help your band don’t hesitate to get ahold of him at brandontcarnes@gmail.com.
This is very exciting news for South Town and the Black Sheep community. With Dumb Records opening next month, South Town will soon include Black Sheep, Skank Skates, Dumb Records, and Brandon’s Recording Studio (yet to be named). Once a name for the new studio is established we will set up a new page on our site for general info and FAQ’s.
Today is our special 50th episode of The Black Sheep Radio Show! It is hard to believe that we have been on the air for almost one full year now. To celebrate this special event we have Miles Fowler, Black Sheep “janitor” for close to eight years coming in to talk to us. We also might have a few special guest surprise appearances such as George Sinclair and Brian Galecki. It also looks like we have a new studio for our radio show? Listen at 4:00 pm to find out more about that.
You can tune in to The Black Sheep Radio Show from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm on 88.3 WQNA fm. If you don’t have a radio you can stream the show on the internet at wqna.org. If you missed a few shows dont’ forget that we have them all up for download on our radio tab.
Kicking off the Winter Party Weekend tonight we have the Belleville dream pop punkers coming through, the Cinema Verite, as well as locals Caterpillar Club, Meredosia, and The Science Of making their first Black sheep appearance.
The show starts at 7 p.m. and will be five bucks. The event page can be found here. Come out and have a good time bearing down for the ensuing permafrost of winter. Don’t forget that tonight will be the first of THREE holiday weekend shows at Black Sheep happening back-to-back-to-back, and for info on the other shows and all other shows coming up head over to our shows page.
It looks like Springfield public media provider WUIS has begun releasing segments that they have been working on focusing on bands local to Springfield. Their first segment features Springfield weirdo-rock band Epsom. If you head over to the WUIS site right here you can find an audio track of some band performances and an interview. From the WUIS site:
Local band Epsom is Steven Sgro on vocals and guitar, Scott Faingold on vocals, Timothy Harte on drums, and Kristopher Zander on guitar. The group describes their music as “gratuitous shock rock.
Be on the lookout for more WUIS segments on local bands soon! We sense that they may have a few coming up featuring local bands War Magic and boon.
Dumb Records 