Look out world, here come the Old School Dropouts, a new band formed by Springfield music scene veterans to play “old school” rock. First imagined as a rock power trio in 2011 with Dan Luparell (guitar), Jim Engel (drums) and Mike Paoni (bass), the three-man OSD covered a range of popular rock, punk and blues […]
Band Spotlight
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Deep Lunar Blue
Original and classic rock jam band Deep Lunar Blue commemorates 120 shows as a band with a four year anniversary celebration this weekend. The rollicking band of Shane Quigley (guitar, vocals), Casey Cantrall (guitar, vocals), J.J. Moffat (drums) and Jay Bohn (bass) plays around town on a regular basis, as well as at area clubs […]
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SPREAD
From origins as a college jam band formed at SIU-Carbondale in 2008 of friends drawn together by intellectual and interesting likes, SPREAD continues in a progressive march across the Midwest sharing magic in music with audiences everywhere. Creating delightful musical mayhem through improvisational stylings with space-intensive, psychedelic rock leanings, Patrick Reynolds (drums, vocals), Dave Petrizzo […]
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Bossa Azul
Combining jazz guitar with Brazilian leanings, percussion beats of a universal nature and American blues harmonica with vocals in the original Portuguese of classic samba and bossa music, Bossa Azul invents a sound both “playful and sophisticated,” creating an acoustic/electric blend of inter-hemispheric influences that comes across as simultaneously familiar and distinctive. Translated from Brazilian, […]
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China Ryder
If what the world needs now is another Grateful Dead-style band doing a terrific take on the jam band genre, China Ryder is it. With former and current members of Perfunctory This Band, Brad Beneky (bass, vocals), Jeff “Smegma” Williams (keyboards) and Al Hibbert (rhythm guitar, vocals) in cahoots with Casey Cantrall (lead guitar, vocals) […]
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The Seething Coast
In 2006 when “Springfield’s beloved indie pop band Resident Genius abruptly imploded at their peak,” The Seething Coast incarnated from the resulting tumult. Guitarists, singers and songwriters, Jay Vanselow and Jason Perry, scrounged the fresh moniker from a song by the band the Mountain Goats and carried on the soul and style of RG with […]
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Dizolver
The music tandem team of Mark Packenham (bass, backing vocals) and Zac Broaddus (lead guitar, backing vocals) began working together in 2000, spanning a myriad of bands in their journey through the Springfield rock music scene. Pat Pierceall (drums, backing vocals) joined the guys in 2006 in an original group called Digdowndeep, and with a […]
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Mulligan Munro
With the full intent of blending Irish and American folk music in song, Mark Butler (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Don Wright (vocals, five-string banjo), Mark Hudson (vocals, upright bass) and Katie Heilman (vocals, fiddle) became Mulligan Munro. As for what’s in a name, Mulligan comes from both the term for a stew made from on hand […]
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The Great Waltz
Hailing from our neighboring city of Decatur, The Great Waltz calls its music “aggressive folk,” and began with Matt Skinner writing songs in his basement. The rest of the band, Josh Dimmick, Joe Gerard, Luke Alan and eventually, Kevin Gillman, came along to flush out arrangements and give Skinner’s songs life on stage. Soon they […]
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Geoff Turner
Singer-songwriter Geoff Turner returns to his native Springfield from his current home base of Nashville, Tenn. on a mission to introduce fans, family and friends to his new EP CD. Winter Songs, Turner’s self-produced and independently released recording, “has been over a year in the making.” He credits much of the CD effort to encouragement […]
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Chicago Farmer
After an upbringing among offerings of punk and grunge sounds in his hometown of Delavan, Ill. in southern Tazewell County, Chicago Farmer, aka Cody Diekhoff, saw the light upon hearing the songs of Hank Williams. Soon he discovered Woody Guthrie and John Prine, finding in the simple melodies and complex themes a sense of kinship […]
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Hospital Job
A self-described “melodic indie/punk band,” Hospital Job also says to, “think Superdrag meets The Ramones trying to play Jesus and Mary Chain covers” as a good way to understand where they’re coming from musically. The quirky quartet consists of Luke McNeill (singer, songwriter, guitarist), Tim Reynolds (guitar, vocals), Cory VanMeter (bass) and Fred Malcom (drums). […]
