Kickstandproductions Weblog

Metal troupe August Burns Red recently debuted a new video for “White Washed,” one of the many bombastic tracks on their most recent full-length, Constellations. The album debuted in the Top 25 on the Billboard charts when it was released last summer. View the video below!

Kickstand welcomes August Burns Red to Mad Maggie’s in Elgin, IL on Thursday, July 8th. Tickets are $15 and available via YourTicketStand.com. Get yours today!

On May 16th, 2010 at 7:45AM, American music lost one of its most influential icons in Ronnie James Dio. He surrendered to his long-fought bout with stomach cancer after he took a turn for the worse earlier this month.

Dio is Italian for the word “God,” and in the world of metal, not many other monikers could be a more apt representation of what RJD meant to his genre of music. His musical legacy spanned an astounding six decades, dating all the way back to 1957. Dio’s earlier bands like Elf and Rainbow paved the way for heavy music as we know it today. He also sang lead vocals on arguably one of the best Black Sabbath albums, Heaven & Hell, after the departure of then frontman Ozzy Osbourne. While his solo work is more popularly remembered for its unapologeticly campy videos and song stylings, one cannot deny the powerful and unique vocal stylings that Dio exhibited.

One of the biggest things that RJD will always be synonymous with is the heavy-metal gesture of throwing up the horns. While Dio has always stated that he popularized the gesture after seeing his Italian grandmother make the horns as a cultural superstition to ward off the “evil eye,” he never said he invented the sign. In a 2001 interview Dio went on to state “I doubt very much if I would be the first one who ever did that. That’s like saying I invented the wheel.”

Ronnie James Dio truly was like a rainbow in the dark.

Last week, the annual Chicago festival Lollapalooza announced its much buzzed line-up for 2010. A few weeks before the list was released, there was a “Wheel of Fortune”-style guessing game on the event’s official website, in which a few letters were revealed with daily amongst lots of blank spaces for bands. Now that the line-up is set in stone, as Larry David would say, it’s” prettay, prettay good”. The big surprise for the fest is the newly-reformed Soundgarden as one of the headliners for the weekend. Rounding out the headlining spots are Lady Gaga, Green Day, The Arcade Fire (pictured above), Phoenix and The Strokes.

Other notable bands playing Lolla that have played Kickstand shows throughout the years are MGMT, Matt & Kim, Minus the Bear, Company of Thieves, Miniature Tigers, HEALTH, Foxy Shazam, Royal Bangs and Jukebox the Ghost.

The three-day fest will be held August 6th-8th, 2010 in downtown Chicago at beautiful Grant Park.

What tour do you know of that’s had it’s own theme song? Well, it’s downright necessary for all the energy that’s encompassed on this year’s Breakin’ Dawn Tour, hitting Otto’s Nightclub in DeKalb on Friday, April 30th!

Minneapolis’ Brother Ali (pictured above) headlines this fantastic hip-hop bill, bringing his old-school charm and a socially conscience message with some of his finest beats yet, courtesy of Atmosphere’s Ant on Ali’s 2009 Rhymesayers album, Us. Joining Ali is California rapper Fashawn, who’s riding high on his debut album Boy Meets World album from last year, as well as Rhymesayers’ labelmate BK-One.

Ali, Fashawn and BK-One all stepped up recently to record “Breakin’ Dawn Boys,” an anthem for this country-spanning tour, and you can download it FREE via this link! It’s a fantastic track, and only a taste of what you’ll get with these guys Friday, April 30th at Otto’s!

Local heavyweights State Champs open this 9pm show; Tickets are $13 in advance and $15 at the door.

Check out Ali’s “The Preacher” below, recently recorded for 89.3 The Current in Minneapolis.

The infectious, dirty sound of Nashville’s Legendary Shack Shakers will make its way to Otto’s Nightclub in DeKalb on Tuesday night, April 20th!

Currently on tour supporting their upcoming album, Agridustrial (in stores April 13th), the band is giving away a FREE DOWNLOAD of the new track “Sin Eater”. CLICK HERE to snatch it up and get pumped for what’s sure to be a wild night at Otto’s on 4/20!

Local dancefloor-movers The Great Influence Machine open up, and tickets are $12 this 9pm show.

Here’s the guys talking recently at this year’s South By Southwest, about the recording process for Agridustrial: