Champaign Rock

Hum Rocks Cowboy Monkey

Last night Hum made an appearance at a packed Cowboy Monkey opened by New Ruins. You could barely move inside the club and both bands played a great set. It was a very nice change from the empty bars you usually see supporting a local rock show.

Matt Tabott (singer/guitar for Hum) had some difficulties keeping his duct tape supported guitar strap attached- even giving up and singing sans guitar for the middle section of their biggest hit ‘Stars’. Even with this, they pulled off every song without a hitch.

As you may know, Hum is playing a New Year’s Eve show in Chicago this week- last night proved they’ve still got it and hangin’ with Hum may be the best way to rock the new year.

Lucky Mulholland

On the 14th Lucky Mulholland performed at the Iron Post with Backyard Shark and Dan Hubbard and the Humadors.

Mobile updates!

Hello C-U! It’s been a while now with no updates. It’s been a busy hiatus, and we’re glad to be back (and just in time for the Pygmalion Festival!)

Something exciting here for Champaignrock.com is an update that allows us to update the site remotely (think: from concerts, etc).

Look out for live updates from here on out!

Champaign Rocks! (literally)

This morning around 4:36 AM the majority of the Champaign-Urbana area was awakened by the largest Earthquake to affect the area since 1987 (reports on this vary – today’s quake may have been comparable or even slightly larger). No injuries have been reported, and only minor damage has occurred – mostly in cities closer to the epicenter (SE IL near Olney). The earthquake registered 5.2 on the Richter scale.

USGS Stats on the 4:36 AM Quake

(update): Another fairly large earthquake occurred in SE IL (very similar location) around 10:14 AM. This second quake registered 4.5 on the Richter scale.

USGS Stats on the 10:14 AM Quake

….we realize this has nothing to do with rock music… but the pun was too fun, and this sort of thing doesn’t happen very often around here!

Cursive @ the Canopy

Tonight (actually… in a few hours) Cursive will be playing at the Canopy – you should go.

http://www.cursivearmy.com/

Backyard Shark at Salute

It’s not a well-known fact that half of Champaign’s Backyard Shark is originally from the state capital. Next weekend the band will be playing a solo show at Salute (107 W. Cook St) in Springfield IL – closing the bar down for good as the 28th is Salute’s last night in business.

Anyone interested in a carpool to Springfield can contact the band on MySpace for more info:

http://www.myspace.com/backyardshark

Curb Service with Backyard Shark

in High Anxiety Music’s attempt to bring more attention to local music – a series of house shows are being hosted regularly on weekends at the High Anxiety Music Center at 302 S. State St. in Champaign.

This weekend Curb Service, the latest brainchild of ex-Loreno Goetz frontman Larry Gates will play at the High Anxiety Music Center with Backyard Shark, the side-project of JigGsaw drummer Ed ‘Hell’ Waldmire.

The Moves @ the Canopy Club

The Moves, a three piece from Chicago was one of 4 bands featured at the Canopy Club’s ‘New Sound Sundays’ yesterday. Although The Moves was a three piece, they sounded like a rockin’ four piece with the use of a mini-disc backing track. The singer stepped on stage with his orange Brian Setzer Gretsch (complete with dice knobs), white v-neck t-shirt and was a spitting image of Mike Ness from Social Distortion. I’ve got to say: I was blow away by this band’s pop rock. Grab a PBR, check out a show (or myspace cranked to 11) and enjoy.

Local Music Podcast

There’s a new podcast in town, and it’s the HAMP (or the “High Anxiety Music Podcast”). The High Anxiety Music Podcast will be released on the 1st and the 15th of each month and will highlight local music and news. The first episode (from 02/01/08) features Arwin, The Brother Whys, Chyme, Conrad, Deconstructing Jim, Five Oh First, Grinner, Sequoia, Shipwreck, and Temple of Low Men.

For more information see:
http://www.highanxietymusic.com/podcast.html

To subscribe to the podcast with iTunes or another media player use:
http://www.highanxietymusic.com/podcast/hamp.xml

The Great Cover Up Is Over.

Last night concluded another successful cover up.

Check out pictures here: 
http://www.smilepolitely.com/music/2008/01/covering-the-great-cover-up-night-3.php

Check out videos here: 
http://www.smilepolitely.com/music/2008/01/the-best-of-the-great-coverup-2.php