New Band Pages: Table Drama

Posted on December 9, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

It’s Monday, so today we are bringing you a brand new band page for Springfield band Table Drama. Table Drama is Springfield’s newest metal wrestling-themed band, not to be confused with the broken up and disbanded villains of Scott Blacula. If you check out the new band page right here, you can read up more on the band. They’ve been disturbing the peace for quite awhile, especially since they released their “Heel” EP around this time last month under Springfield label Patch Records. The next show they’re playing is on January 3rd and it will definitely be super rad, featuring bands like Nos Bos and Soap Scum! Try to make it out!

While you check out Table Drama and feel the smack down, make sure to peruse our other local bands as well.

Tonight at Black Sheep: Big Storm, Brick Mower, Big waves of Pretty, Kevin Greenspon, War Magic

Posted on December 9, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

We’re having a really rad show tonight! Check it out, we’ve got the local power pop band Big Storm to give us a healthy dose of charisma and self confidence. They’re swell are sure to provide an enjoyable set as always. Brick Mower is a cool rock band with an indie streak coming all the way from New Jersey, so come out and listen to their honest tunes! Wisconsin based band Big Waves of Pretty is going to give us some water space tunes so that’ll definitely be cool to listen to as well. There’s also going to be a fine fellow coming all the way from California. His name is Kevin Greenspon and his set is going to be interesting because he uses the visual element of projection in his shows, so that combined with some ambient and droney punk influenced songs will be sweet. The last band on this set is War Magic! These local dudes have a rad dream folk shtick that’ll mellow you out and make you feel mysterious, so come out to this show and release a little stress by listening to some swell sets.

It’ll be at 7pm for $5! Support the touring bands! Check out the facebook event right here and make sure to take a look-see at the other shows we have coming up.

Tonight at Black Sheep: Brandon Carnes, Michael Tietjen (Family Lumber), Jess Knight, Austin Connelly

Posted on December 8, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

Welcome to the end of 2013, ladies and gentleman, theys and its!
Yes, this is it, the end of the world grows farther away with each passing day and 2014 is on its way. Since we’ve survived this long, we should definitely enjoy it. How? By coming to Black Sheep and listening to music.
Tonight, we’re featuring some raw acoustic tunes. Brandon Carnes is going to wig us all out with his beautifully blasphemous acoustic songs. They’ll knock you off your feet and on to the dark side, so check him out! Michael Tietjen is a fine fellow from the band Family Lumber that’s going to be travelling solo this cold winter. Show him some support and listen to the jams he’ll have for us this evening! They’re sure to be delightful. Jess Knight from Looming will be singing a sweet acoustic set as well, followed by Austin Connelly (of Wir Konnen and Montagh) performing some bad jokes and sad songs.

This show will be at 7pm, so come get your heart warmed by these acoustic tunes and bring 5 bucks! Here’s the facebook event, and you can also check out the upcoming shows we have here at the Sheep.

Harm House New Year’s Eve Show 2013

Posted on December 7, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

It’s that time of year again for Springfield-based Harm House. This New Year’s Eve the house will be putting on their 45th annual New Year’s Eve show. The Harm House has been occupied by punks since Abraham Lincoln lived in Springfield. You can check out their famous “record of the night” blog right here. Want to hear who will be playing the New Year’s Eve show? Looks like there will be a performance from Milwaukee emo band and #1 fans of Springfield, Estates. Estates were a band that played the New Year’s Eve show last year. Springfield raw punk band Soap Scum will also be in attendance. This show will mark one year since their first performance at The Harm House last year. Soap Scum will be playing a few dates with Champaign/Urbana rockers Kowabunga! Kid in the days leading up to this show. Kowabunga! Kid will also be playing this show, of course. Also on this show is Toopin featuring Kyle Hall and Springfield’s own Mitch Baker.

You can find a facebook event with a few more details about this show somewhere around the internet sometime later tonight. Based on the flier we can say that the show starts at 8:02 pm and they will be taking “donutions” for the touring acts. In the meantime, check out our Springfield shows page for a closer look at things going on all over town all the time.

Help Us List 2013 Springfield Releases!

Posted on December 7, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

This has been an amazing year in our music scene. Bands have been climbing out of the sewers, emerging from the clouds and doing everything in between. So, of course we’re going to make a compilation list of all of the releases of 2013 and eventually start our year-end poll! You can check out the list we started below. We are sure that we are forgetting a number of Springfield releases from this year! We need your help in listing all of them. If you can think of any Springfield releases or play in a band that we missed, comment below or email us at blacksheepspringfield.com. Our year end polls will start very soon. In the meantime you can check out your voted best Springfield albums, shows, and songs of 2012 right here, here, and here.

Aporia – Brusque Changes
Battalion – Resilience
Borealis – Borealis
Caterpillar Club – Path On The Sea
Dog Of Panic – Tip Of The Tongue
Epsom – Epsom 7″
Gazeebo – Forever
Go!Tsunami – The Tsultri Tsounds of Go!Tsunami
Good Times – Good Times EP
IAMIAM – Welcome
Josh Catalano & The Dirty Thoughts – Give Away The Night
Like… With Jetpacks – Melt Faces Melt Hearts
Looming – Looming EP
Lovecow – Lovecow
Lovecow – More Afraid Of You Than You Are Of Us
The Luzhin Defense – The Luzhin Defense
Montagh/Worms – Split
Montagh/Unraveler – Split
Naughtalus – Copyright Infringement EP
Nephrons – Black Bedroom
Obi-Wan Kanblo Mi – Episode VI: Return Of The Red Eyes
Our Lady – Dawning
Our Lady – Dawning (II)
Our Lady – Vessels 7″
Runic – Turning Tides
The Seething Coast – Olympia
The Seething Coast – We Would Have Saved You If We Could
Skywalker – Mind of a Martytr
Soap Scum – Demo
Scott Blacula – Jobbers
Table Drama – Heel EP
War Magic – Cyclomancy
Wir Können – Glow/Man Pedi
Witchweed – The Temple Of Doom
Worms – Dirt Pile EP

The Buzz: All’s Well In Dumb Town

Posted on December 6, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

Champaign/Urbana weekly newspaper and online magazine The Buzz have an article all about the recently announced Dumb Records coming to our very own South Town. The Buzz interviewed Brian Galecki and also Nathan Landolt of Error Records about the upcoming record store. From the article:

The long-term relationship between the Champaign-Urbana and Springfield music scenes will become even stronger in 2014.

Error Records owner Nathan Landolt will be teaming up with the owners of The Black Sheep Cafe in Springfield to open his second record store in a year.

The store, Dumb Records, is set to open sometime in the early part of 2014 and will be located at 1107 S. Grand Ave. in Springfield.

The idea came about when Brian Galecki, who helps run The Black Sheep Cafe with owner Kevin Bradford and Cory VanMeter, approached Landolt about opening the store after a former art space closed next door to The Black Sheep Cafe.

“The opportunity came up sort of unexpectedly, and we just took the opportunity and ran with it,” Galecki said. “I’ve always felt that Black Sheep needed some type of distro for local bands’ releases and bands that have come through and played our space. Now we aren’t just doing that; we’re opening an entire record store.”

While Landolt will still spend most of his time managing Error Records in Champaign, the owners from The Black Sheep Cafe will operate Dumb Records.

You can find the entire article about Dumb Records right here. If you missed our big Dumb Records announcement last month, you can find it right here. You can expect some more news on Dumb Records coming up very shortly. A date for a grand opening is being worked on right now.

Today on Black Sheep Radio: War Magic

Posted on December 6, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

Today is Friday. That means there is going to be another episode of The Black Sheep Radio show traveling the air waves all over Springfield. Who will our magic guests be this week? It’s War Magic! Alistair and Steve of War Magic will be in to talk to us about their upcoming show this Monday at Black Sheep, as well as talk about their “dream folk” band and their beards. We also might be playing a brand new War Magic song? You will have to listen to hear that.

The Black Sheep Radio show airs from 4:00 to 6:00 pm on 88.3 WQNA fm. You can also stream the show at the same time on the internet at wqna.org. Miss an episode? Don’t worry! We have an archive of all of our previous episodes on our radio page.

The Illinois Times: “State of the Arts”

Posted on December 5, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

The cover story of the Illinois Times this week is an in-depth look of five different perspectives on the current Springfield arts and music scene. The perspectives covered include Allison Lacher (UIS visual arts gallery), Patrick Russell (Legacy Theater), Aaron Phillips (Torch Tuesday), Tom Irwin (Illinois Times), and our very own Black Sheep Cafe. For the Black Sheep, The Times talked to Brian Galecki and Kevin Bradford about Black Sheep being a stop for touring bands as well as an outlet for locals. From the article:

Punk and indie rock music, both on the regional and national levels, are also on the upswing in town, largely thanks to the continuing activities of all-ages venue Black Sheep Café, which in the past few years has made the once routinely bypassed Springfield into a regular stopover for rough-edged independent touring bands, as well as a reliable outlet for locals. Ninety percent of Black Sheep shows are for touring bands, providing a place to do shows between St. Louis and Chicago dates. “Bands sometimes need a place to play on a weekday night and it’s not always easy to find that,” says Brian Galecki, who helps to book shows and run sound at Black Sheep. “A lot of great Springfield bands have been popping up in the past year, year and a half,” he enthuses. “It’s really awesome to see some of these new bands putting out vinyl. There have also been a lot of young kids coming out too – a lot of high school kids in the audience and a lot of high school bands and that’s helped the scene overall. There have been a lot of full-house shows in general over the past year.

You can take a look at the full article online right here, or also by picking up a copy of The Illinois Times this week.

Park Announces Another Springfield Show

Posted on December 5, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

Reunited Springfield/Chicago band Park have announced anther show, making this their second show in Springfield since they announced their reunion earlier this year. This show is happening on Saturday, December 21st and it is going to be at Marly’s Pub downtown. This show does coincide with part of Black Sheep’s holiday weekend, but that is okay because this show is starting later (doors at 8:30 pm). Other bands playing include Looming (who will also be playing at Black Sheep that night) and The Sun & The Sea. This show is $8 and ages 21+ but don’t worry for those of you youngsters! We have caught word that Park will be planning at least one all ages show in Springfield sometime next year. Park has also been busy recently recording a new EP as well as gearing up to record a full-length album.

You can find a facebook event for the Park show right here. Also don’t forget to check out our list of Springfield shows for a look at shows going on outside of Black Sheep.

Skeletal Lightning Fest Announce First Wave of Bands

Posted on December 4, 2013 by blacksheepspringfield

It looks like Skeletal Lightning have announced their first wave of bands for “Skeletal Lightning Fest Two,” happening in April of 2014. Last year was the first year the festival happened in Champaign/Urbana, Illinois focusing on DIY music of the Midwest. You may have seen clips of last year’s festival in the Dither documentary, which had a screening at Black Sheep this past fall.

This year’s festival is happening over the course of three days- from April 11th through the 13th. Notable acts playing include Weekend Nachos, The Reptilian, Cloud Rat, Northless, and Thou, but there are plenty more acts that you can see on the flier above or here at the Skeletal Lightning site. There are still more bands and venue information to be announced later on in January, so keep a heads up for that!