THURS.JULY 2nd-8pm-$5.00

The Working Man's Blues Band Johnny and the Boomers is a collaborative effort of five working stiffs that grew up in Northern Illinois under the influence of Chicago Blues. This influence expresses itself through the band’s dynamic live performances. They play a wide range of music from traditional blues ballads like Little School Girl to the hard driving Whammer Jammer. Their original music proves that they are an emerging force to be reckoned with in the Illinois blues scene. www.johnnyandtheboomers.com

FRI JULY 3RD - 8PM - $5

kickstand productions present

w/ Victor Villareal/ Good People/ Wood

"[Loose Lips Sink Ships] seemed to flaunt their unintelligence and continued their conversation by constantly referring to their genitals as well as repeating the phrase, “beefing,” which I can only conclude was a crude reference to flatulence." "Through this one brief encounter, it was clear that these boys were completely enraptured by themselves and most certainly spent the majority of their time standing naked in front of a mirror with one another, arms linked together, masturbating whilst not one of them is capable of unlocking their fixated eyes from the image that lies before them." Dean Koontz

TUES. JULY 7TH - 7PM - $8

kickstand productions present

w/ Secret & Whisper/ Elysion Fields/ The Oath We Took / Under The Lights

Hailing from the Chicago area and taking their name from the Alan Moore-penned Watchmen comic book series, indie rock group Dr. Manhattan formed in 2005. Matt Engers (vocals, guitar), Adam Engers (bass), Nick Vombrack (drums, vocals), and Andrew Morrison (keyboards, percussion, keyboards) became known for their boisterous live performances and earned praise from critics at AbsolutePunk.net. In 2007, Dr. Manhattan signed with Vagrant Records and began working with producer Jon Alvin on their first album. The self-titled debut was released in 2008.

THURS JULY 9TH - 8PM - $7

kickstand productions present

w/ Miles Nielsen/ 3 In Counting / Shane Sarros

Born in 1877 in Calw, on the edge of the Black Forest, Cameron McGill was brought up in a missionary household where it was assumed that he would study for the ministry. McGill's religious crisis led to his fleeing from the Maulbronn seminary in 1891, an unsuccessful cure by a well-known theologian and faith healer, and an attempted suicide. After being expelled from high school, he worked in bookshops for several years. His first collection, 'Stories of The Knife and The Back', describes a youth who leaves his mountain village to become a poet. The lush instrumentation and beautifully crafted melodies, belie the darker nature of the song content. Mostly focusing on personal admissions of guilt and failure, the album's characters struggle in coming to terms with their mortality. All throughout, they simply try to find a friend and fall in love. This was followed by 'Street Ballads & Murderesques', the tale of a schoolboy totally out of touch with his contemporaries, who flees through different cities after his escape from home. The collection of material on Streets...takes pop musick to the dark libraries of your old house, inhabits a stark and desperate corner of the mind, and simply tells a good story.

FRI. JULY 10TH - 8PM - $20

kickstand productions present

w/ Eagle Twin/ Harpoon

Sunn O))) (pronounced simply sun) is an American drone metal band that incorporates some elements of the dark ambient, noise and black metal genres. Their sound is extremely slow and heavy, using droning guitars accompanied by feedback and other sound effects to create their soundscapes. There is very little drumming and a lack of any discernible beat. When performing live the band wear long hooded cloaks, fill the air with fog, and play at an extremely loud volume.

SAT. JULY 11TH -6PM -$7

kickstand productions present

w/ Sequoia/ Lets Go Wild Cats/ White Dove Resurrection/

Mike Felumlee, a native of Crystal Lake, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), is known as the former drummer for the influential rock band The Smoking Popes. After the Smoking Popes split in 1999, Felumlee joined Alkaline Trio. He was the drummer on the album "From Here To Infirmary". He released “64 hours” in late 2001 and recorded a split CD with Alkaline Trio bassist Dan Andriano in 2002. He just released another split with Friendly Enemies this year.

SUN.JULY 12th-7:00pm-$6

w/ TBA

Upbeat, but never abrasive, the band’s music represents everything they love about pop and blues with enough grit to add a modern edge and enough eclecticism to span across multiple genres. The band’s unique spin on British rock and pop owes its catchy arrangement to frontman Keith Fertwagner who honed his songwriting touring and recording in rock outfits such as The Fonzarellies, The Shocker (with Jennifer Finch of L7 on lead vocals), and Ammunition Affair. Armed with a rough self-produced demo, Fertwagner sought to surround himself with veterans of the local scene. The result was fiery group of serious musicians that put on a high-octane show that always promises concert-goers something to talk about on the way home.

SUN JULY 12th-1:00p.m.-FREE

Dekalb Illinois is known as the “Barb City” since Barbed wire was invented there in 1874 Since 2005 it is also the home of the “Barb City Stompers” an 6 piece Jazz Band that plays a driving, toe-tapping version of Traditional Jazz. The Stompers play regularly at “The House Café” in Dekalb on Sunday afternoons. The members are: John Skillman (Clarinet and leader), Roy Rubinstein (Trombone), Larry Rutan (Rhythm Guitar), Roger Hintzsche (Bass), Aaron Puckett (Drums) and Diana Skillman (Vocals). Contact John Skillman at jlskill@aol.com or by phone at 443 340 5868

THURS. JULY 16TH -7PM -$6

kickstand productions present

w/ Charming Rooks / Twinge

SAT. JULY 18TH -8PM- $6

kickstand productions present

w/ An Aesthetic Anaesthetic/ Bugs As Trees / The Unstable

A superlative example of how the youngest generation of up and coming musicians is perfecting a conglomerate sound that will transform rock genre musics in ways both familiar and engagingly odd. Robbers toss in a number of unusual factors, from strange spoken satirical rants to electronica to pop to folk, in a highly progressive mode impossible to nail down... a very wide cosmos of influences have resulted in a mega-smooth spacey sound that marries mainlined mellifluous vocals to vaulting arrangements layered in an encyclopedia of sound techniques...

SUN JULY 19TH - 7PM - $8

kickstand productions present

w/ Illinois Tollway

'With only a guitar, a drum kit, and the occasional piano or organ, the music of Minneapolis duo Now, Now Every Children may be sparse and minimalist, but there is no shortage of flare or gusto. Cacie Dalager and Brad Hale have mastered their craft to the extent that it becomes difficult to distinguish whether Hale's pulsing beats or Dalager's magnetic voice is the driving force of their new album, Cars. Instead, both parts seem inextricably woven together to create a relationship in which neither half falls prey to the other or is in its control.

THURS. JULY 23rd-8pm-$7

w/ TBA

"Punk makes nice with Country" -Rochester, NY, Democrat & Chronicle. "Potentially offensive hillbilly band" -Indianapolis, IN, NUVO. "Satanic Johnny & June" -Manhattan, NY, Lush Life Bar Notes (by Mark Wheeler) "Imagine the Nickel Creek kids growing up smoking crack.. traumatized in Appalachia..and there you go." -Mobile, AL, Weekly Jangle. "Polly Punkneck residing somewhere between Dolly Parton and Gwen Stefani" -Rochester, NY, Democrat & Chronicle. "Jason and the Punknecks brought the Trash and Twang" -Rochester, NY, City Paper. “Heavily tattooed, L.A. based, punk-country band, who mixes Social Distortion with a little bit of hillbilly hollerin’ and a hint of Hank Williams” -Nashville, TN, RAGE Magazine. "Imagine if the HBO television show “Carnival” had a house punk-rock band and you’d have Jason and the Punknecks." -Los Angeles, CA, Rarwriter (by Rick Alan Rice) "Country Punk Mayhem" -Freetime Magazine, New York "An Acoustic sound somewhere between hillbilly-rock and Americana" -Vindy.com/news, Youngstown, Ohio

FRI. JULY 24TH - 7PM - $6

kickstand productions present

w/ Onasis/ Come Alive

SAT. JULY 25TH - 8PM - $7

kickstand productions present

w/ The Patience/ Caught In Your Pockets/ Ourglass

Sybris do their own thing and its nasty good. They remind me of a sexy game of tag. The band is loud, fierce and fast moving, constantly running after Angela Mullenhour's sugar coated knife-edge voice. The music propels upward in an epic sweep while bringing back the dreamy, heavy sound before it all glides back down to catch its breath. Such gorgeous undulations and eclectic song writing make Sybris one act worth catching. Sybris' new record, Into The Trees, explores themes of perception, relationships, and decay while combining genres from post-punk to power-pop. It is available on Absolutely Kosher as of May 20th. In To The Trees was recorded with Grammy nominated engineer John Congleton (Explosions in the Sky, Mountain Goats ) in the backwoods of Minnesota at Pachyderm Studio, the same studio where Nirvana's "In Utero" and P J Harvey's "Rid of Me" were recorded. An early posting of one of the album's songs, "Oh Man!", received impressive reviews and prompted Pitchfork's Brian Howe to write the following; "they haven't tinkered with their style-- "Oh Man!" is of a piece with Sybris' "The Best Day in History Ever", from the blocky yet aerodynamic drums to the nervously chiming guitar lead. This is a good thing, since the band's anthemic indie rock was refreshing precisely for its unabashed classicism."

THURS JULY 30TH - 6PM - $7

kickstand productions present

w/ Gas Mask Catalogue/ Deities Of Darkness/ Spiritual Black/ Abortion With A Shotgun

SAT. AUG 1ST- 6PM - $7

kickstand productions present

w/ Final Round Knock Out/ Write What You Know

Growing up we've all heard 'two heads are better than one'. madeAVAIL wants to expound on that. If you know our music, you know the message behind our songs..If you have ever sat down and talked with any of us, you know our hearts. We want to make a difference in our world. Our message is hope. The world can be falling down around you, but you are not alone, their is unity in our faith, and strength in our numbers.

SUN. AUG. 2ND - 7PM - $8

kickstand productions present

w/ Astral Guard/ Aktar Aktar/ Idle Idol

garage-y but now channeled through the blues with experimental breakdowns, unpredictable tempo changes, crazy rave-ups and fuzzed out psychedelic guitar work; This is a live rock and roll band.

WED. AUG 5TH - 7PM - $10 adv / $12 dos

kickstand productions present

w/ Empires/ Joie De Vivre

Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Kevin Devine spent several years fronting the emo-indie rock outfit the Miracle of 86 before releasing his first solo album, Circle Gets the Square, in early 2002. Sounding something like Bright Eyes crossed with Dashboard Confessional by way of Elliott Smith, Devine followed up in the fall of 2003 with Make the Clocks Move, issued through Triple Crown Records. His thoughtful lyrics and heartfelt melodies brought praise from fans and critics alike, and he supported the record on a range of shows -- with Nellie McKay to Bright Eyes to Bob Mould -- playing both solo and with \"the Goddamn Band.\" The Miracle of 86 broke up prior to Split the Country, Split the Street, a much fuller-sounding record that found the twenty-something musician exploring themes of love, death (his father had recently passed away from a stroke), and political protest (largely in response to the 2004 presidential election). The album was issued in May 2005, and several months later, Devine was officially part of the roster over at Capitol Records. For his major-label debut he worked with producer Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Beck), and the resulting Put Your Ghost to Rest appeared in October 2006. Devine spent time surrounding its release playing gigs with acts like Corinne Bailey Rae, KT Tunstall, Cary Brothers, Straylight Run, and matt pond PA.

FRI AUG. 7TH - 8PM - $7

kickstand productions present

SAT AUG 8TH - 8PM - $6

kickstand productions present

w/ Hellvis/ Desolate Sky/ Dead Man's Wake / Without Return

THURS. AUG 13TH - 8PM - $6

kickstand productions present

w/ Copper Harbor

Corduroy is Naperville, Illinois’ response to the growing fad of teenage heavy metal and jam bands in the Chicagoland suburbs. Influenced by Pop Rock bands such as Third Eye Blind, Coldplay, Travis, and Keane, this trio knows how to present pop hooks in fresh and interesting ways. The band consists of Ed Sinnott (19, Vocals, Guitar, and Keys), Dan Laumbacher (22, Drums and Percussion), and Zach Porlier (19, Bass and Background Vocals), all of who have been playing music since they can remember, and have taken their knowledge and combined it to create this group.

SAT. AUG. 15TH - 6PM - $7

kickstand productions present

w/ Aux Sable Embers / Chase This City / Headlit Haze / Case In Point

Now into their their six year as a band, A LOSS FOR WORDS is ready to break out with a second release early this Summer. Powerful, heavy and fast guitars, Punchy drums and heavy hitting vocals. Constantly winning over new fans with their intense live performance and Mikey Fresh’s good looks. They are always on the go, playing countless shows to support the release of their debut E.P “These Past 5 Years”, out off of Rock Vegas Records. In under two months they sold over a thousand copies. They hang somewhere in between Hot Water Music and Rufio, with their infectious hooks and melodies.

SAT AUG 22ND - 7PM - $10

kickstand productions present

w/ Sparks The Rescue / Under The Lights / We Can Do Everything

The Morning Of hailing from Newburgh, NY, have quickly built up a rabid and loyal fan base through regional and national touring. Their first released EP "Welcome Change. Goodbye Gravity.", achieved tremendous indie success through internet promotion and touring. No small feat considering the band had up until January 2007 solely toured the Northeast. The band’s presence on purevolume.com has attributed to their immense popularity as they garnered upward of 1,000,000 plays through word of mouth alone. "Welcome Change. Goodbye Gravity." maintained a steady spot in the Top 50 best selling albums on Smartpunk.com for six months. The band has been featured on many webzines, including Absolutepunk.net as one of their Absolutely Unsigned Artists. Absolutepunk.net reviewed the EP, saying that "Welcome Change. Goodbye Gravity." was a "stroke of brilliance." The band has poised to spread the reach of their music even further with a full-time touring schedule beginning in January 2007 leading up to their first nationally released full length titled "The World As We Know It" in stores January 29th 2008.

WED. AUG 26TH - 8PM - $7

kickstand productions present

w/ Adult Videos

The phrase, "the agony of the leaves," derives from hot water pouring over tea leaves. As the tea steeps and the leaves unfurl, they release various flavors to the water, evolving the taste. While The Daredevil Christopher Wright's debut album, In Deference to a Broken Back, doesn't dramatize the agonies given them, they do face the weighty issues of cancer, death, and loss with a realistic and offbeat tone. Their joyful music is layered with the profundity of small moments that flavor life. The first notes begin with Jon Sunde of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, who studied classical voice, plays tennis, and dislikes fruit in his desserts. Mutual friends introduced him to Jesse Edgington, frequently clothed in grandpa sweaters with a knack for making some mean pesto, and finally, Jon's older brother Jason Sunde came on board after some hesitancy and a stint to Finland. And the music continued to evolve. Two years ago, Jason's struggle with a back injury inspired the recording of In Deference to a Broken Back, the band's debut full-length (release date: 5.19.09). Mixed by fellow Eau Claire friend, Justin Vernon of the acclaimed Bon Iver, each song offers a story, whether centered on the true events of a brother's move to New England ("The East Coast"), or fictionalized as in the couple who have plans to be a playwright and stewardess ("Stewardess"). It is the depth in the mundane they prefer, the grouping together of "faith and rocks and slings and things" ("A Conversation About Cancer"). The Daredevil Christopher Wright are the park bench overlooking a mighty river, the subtitles to a foreign film, and the back screen door left to slam shut in the excitement of a ten-year-old on a summer day. - Abi Zimmer

FRI AUG. 28TH - 7PM - $10

kickstand productions present

w/ Sleeping Under 47 / Dead Town Revival / Man Made Hell / Westbury

A Celtic punk band from the working class south side of Chicago, this band of brothers and a bagpipe player is stirring things into a circle pit frenzy. Comprised of brothers Tobin, Justin and Kyle Bawinkel (respectively frontman, drummer and bassist) along with tartan-toting multi-instrumentalist Josh Robieson, Flatfoot 56 attacks dark subject matter—avarice, faithlessness, cowardice—with a gravity that belies their barely legal ages. That said, in the tradition of their street-punk forefathers, they’re just as adept at dialing up bone-crunching good times. Most of the Flatfoot live show is improvised, and it’s all contingent on Robieson and crew making swift transitions between guitar, mandolin, bagpipes and whatever other eclectic instruments they bring to the party.

FRI SEPT. 4TH - 8PM - $7

kickstand productions present

w/ Color Radio

Princeton was officially formed in 2005, during a year long academic stay in London that found the three young men reunited for the first time since parting ways for college. Due to the steep costs of shipping their instruments overseas, the group was forced to perform live with a very limited musical setup, but the often-harrowing conditions of their London shows forced them to mature and develop into a finely tuned live act. Each member reacted differently to the change in culture: Jesse found Virginia Woolf, Matt discovered John Cale's Paris 1919, Ben pursued a short lived career in international finance, while David was back in California tasting fine wines and working on Gary Coleman's campaign for governor. Graduation from college and a move back to Los Angeles in the summer of 2007 allowed Princeton to resume recording and performing full time. This summer, Princeton released their Bloomsbury EP. A collection of four songs, based on the lives of four members of the influential Bloomsbury intellectual collective of the early 20th century. The songs are about Virginia Woolf, Leonard Woolf, John Maynard Keynes and Lytton Strachey.

SAT SEPT 5TH - 10PM - $7

kickstand productions present

formed by a vocalist / bassist Malgorzata Babiarz. Influences of the Polish Highlander tradition of the village, from which she originally hails, can be heard in her compositions as well as in her style of singing. Andreas Kapsalis, an acoustic guitar prodigy, adds elements of flamenco, while the accordionist Marek Lichota evokes the pathos of klezmer with fluidly melodic runs, all backed by an innovative drummer Jamie Gallagher.

THURS. SEPT 9TH - 7PM - $7

kickstand productions present

w/ Danger Is My Middle Name / Artifex Pereo

nept is a band that brings an explosvie live show to each stage that they perform on. With over 3 years of live shows under their belts, each show now is better than the one the night before. Hailing from Chicago, IL, Inept brings to the table only what they deem as their best. Inept has played on the 2004 and 2005 Warped Tour, the 2006 Taste of Chaos tour, Dirtfest 2006, and The Bamboozle Left in 2006. In addition, Inept has shared the stage with some of the biggest and brightest names in music today, including; The Deftones, Story of the Year, Quietdrive, TheAudition, Lucky Boys Confusion, My American Heart, Trapt, Alter Bridge, Blindside, Madina Lake, Thrice, Bowling For Soup, MC Lars, Atreyu, and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Inept has received praise and play from Q101 (WKQX 101.1fm) in Chicago including winning the "Chicago Street Fight" constest hosted by James Van Osdol for ten nights in a row and being the first band "retired". In addition, Inept has played live acoustic sets on WONC 89.1fm and WXAV 88.7fm.

SAT. SEPT 12TH - 8PM - $7

kickstand productions present

w/ Kid, You'll Move Mountains / Crayolala / Dustin Darnold

Mark Rose is a singer/songwriter from Chicago, IL who plays his own blend of pop, rock and r&b. Front man and key songwriter for rock band Spitalfield from 1998-2007, Rose has made a name for himself as a versatile songwriter and performer. “The guys deserve credit for knowing exactly where to go big and when to hold back for maximum effect,” says All Music Guide’s Corey Apar, of Spitalfield’s 2006 effort, Better Than Knowing Where You Are.

SAT SEPT. 19TH - 8PM -$7

kickstand productions present

w/ Clifton Roy & Folkstringer

Codys voice is powerful and gritty, emotionally piercing while subtly imbuing additional layers of meaning and poignancy in his lyrical delivery. His song-writing is deeply rooted in the American Folk tradition and all of its grit but with a post Dylan sense of wit, perspicacity and that certain savior-faire. He didnt go to college but he drank all of their beer. Every folk-singer has to migrate to the city, in a way it seems to be hidden in definition of a folk singer anymore. Cody has come to remind Chicago that it is in Illinois. And to remind the rest of the world that when Louis Armstrong redefined, some say invented the art of Jazz in the 1920s he brought his Hot Fives to Chicago to do it. When Robert Johnson wanted to put his Mississippi Mud on wax, his hellhound chased him to Chicago to do it. And same like, Cody has come to Chicago to deliver what it needs, when it isnt even sure itself. He is currently recording a collection of songs from his vast back-catalog and performing across the heartland.

SUN SEPT. 20TH - 7PM - $7

kickstand productions present

ow a resident of Chicago, Cameron McGill grew up in Champaign-Urbana, IL, where he first started writing and recording songs. Having fronted Chicago's power-pop trio Morris Minors for three years, McGill decided in favor of a more orchestral approach to his new group of songs. On his solo debut, Stories of The Knife and The Back, McGill takes pop music to the dark libraries of your old house. With lush strings, vintage keys, and introspective lyrics, these songs inhabit the new era of intelligent pop song. In the vein of The Webb Brothers and Brendan Benson, these songs range from scarce heartfelt piano ballads to everything-but-the-kitchen-sink pop tunes that playfully abduct Elvis Costello and take him to the Midwest. All the while they weave literate and elegant tales of the jigsaw puzzles of ordinary life and tasteless/tasteful heartbreaks.

FRI. SEPT. 25TH - 7PM - $10 adv/ $12 dos

kickstand productions present

w/ Good Old War/ Cory Branan

The Brooklyn-based alternative rock quartet the Honorary Title initially formed as a duo between vocalist/lyricist/guitarist Jarrod Gorbel and bassist/multi-instrumentalist Aaron Kamstra in 2003. Gorbel, who took up guitar at 13 while living in the Long Island suburbs, cut his teeth playing solo gigs in Manhattan\'s downtown venues before teaming up with Kamstra, an N.Y.C. transplant from Indiana. The pair\'s emphasis on acoustic-based hooks and soul-baring narratives attracted the attention of Dashboard Confessional\'s Chris Carrabba, who handpicked them as Dashboard\'s opening act for a series of touring dates in fall 2002. The warm-up slot generated label interest, and the Honorary Title inked a deal with Ohio-based indie Doghouse Records in September 2003. A self-titled EP featuring only Gorbel appeared in 2003, while a debut album featuring both musicians, Anything Else But the Truth, followed the next summer. The Honorary Title embarked on a slew of tours in support of their debut, hitting the road with such acts as the Format, Switchfoot, Lucero, and Taking Back Sunday. A brief headlining tour alongside Limbeck in February 2006 led to the reissue of their debut (with five bonus tracks and two music videos) later that month, while a contract with major label Reprise Records (under the Warner umbrella) followed soon after. In anticipation of their sophomore release, the band issued a short EP, Untouched & Intact, in July 2007. Containing two B-sides and two new tracks, the EP also announced the promotion of former touring members Jon Wiley (keyboards/guitar) and Adam Boyd (drums) as full-fledged bandmates. The Honorary Title\'s second full-length album, Scream & Light Up the Sky, was released the following month, featuring a fuller sound more reminiscent of contemporaries Rock Kills Kid and Jimmy Eat World than the band\'s earlier acoustic material.

FRI OCT. 2ND - 9PM - $8

kickstand productions present

Not only is Andreas Kapsalis quickly building his reputation as the most important torch bearer in the tradition of the one-man guitar army since Michael Hedges left his legacy with the music world, he’s also raising the bar for the 21st century film score; a composer who uses his idiosyncratic style to create an impressonable perspective on the silver screen. With the release of the Andreas Kapsalis Trio’s self-titled album, Kapsalis consummates the alliance between eight-fingered guitar virtuosity and outstanding melodic theme and variation. This album also helps to tell the story of an unusual musical journey. For Kapsalis, this journey began by accident.

SAT. OCT 10TH - 8PM - $8

kickstand productions present

“God (would admire) the band’s musical diversity, which includes everything from melodic, radio-friendly rock songs…to robotic electro seethings….And Satan would admire OMG’s hedonistic, possessed live shows….Perhaps most impressive is the infectious pop hooks the band cranks out.” —Phoenix New Times