Bending Brains

Shelby Pollard is the founder and Black Bobbin, a company that works with and constructs guitars, amp, effects pedals, and more. Shelby is a multi-discipline artist from Chicago that specializes in product and portrait photography. www.blackbobbin.com 

“I don’t think I’ve listened to a band that had a genre distinct unto themselves. Even crazier is that every song on Robot Heart Throb’s first album is almost completely unique”- Pacific Ridge Records. Jared casts Saxophone solos with explosive ADHD, lucious flute-playing sings in midwest Emo style. Heart-on-your sleeve lyrics spin stories with hip-hop and folk-inspired lyrics. Jared’s band Robot Heart Throb Jared studied Jazz at Oberlin Conservatory and improvises throughout shows, making each live performance unique.

Dan Stewart is an independent filmmaker and musician based in Chicago, IL. His directorial debut feature film 'Local Band' will begin its festival run in 2024.

Seth Engel is recording engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and music instructor living and working in Chicago. Over the last decade, he has toured nationally and internationally. He has engineered a continually-growing volume of music for both nationally recognized and local artists. In 2013, he received a BA in Music from Columbia College Chicago. He is a recording engineer at Ohmstead in Humboldt Park, which he co-runs with Adrian Kobziar, Also, he enjoyed working out of Minbal (now Jamdek), Earth Analog, Pallet Sound, and The Owlery. His solo project is called Options and he plays drums in the band Patter. www.sethengel.org

Will Stephan is a Chicago born Skateboarder and founder of Sapient Skateboards. Will builds skateboards from scratch and gives skateboarding lessons at Sapient Skateboards. Will also puts on Skateboarding events around Chicago. www.sapientskateboards.com

Introducing Friday James, a gifted songwriter originating from Nashville, Tennessee. Relocating to Chicago in November of 2021, Friday swiftly immersed herself in the local music scene, enthralling audiences with her mesmerizing performances. Her artistic essence is centered around a profound appreciation for lyricism and poetic depth, artfully weaving true events from her own life into poignant and relatable musical narratives.

Sean Neumann is a musician and sports reporter from Chicago, Illinois. He’s currently on tour with his band Ratboys. As a reporter, Sean works for People Magazine, GQ, and other entertainment magazines. seanneumann.us has any info you might need!

The Eastern and Western halves of Washington can seem like two different states; one dry and pastoral, the other overcast and lush. Rob Joynes is a singer-songwriter who's music captures these two contrasting landscapes. Raised on the East side of the Cascade Mountain Range, Joynes often invokes his home town of Spokane directly in his lyrics. Pairing themes of queer identity, abjection, family and aging with piano driven melodies and sentimental guitar riffs influenced by artists like Red House Painters, Jason Molina, Carissa's Wierd and Kath Bloom. Joynes presently resides in Seattle and contributes to bands Sunnyland and Fell Off. robjoynes.bandcamp.com felloff.bandcamp.com sunnyland.bandcamp.com IG : @rob_joynes

Julien Fontaine is french-canadian percussionist, drum teacher and now certified public accountant from Montréal. Firstly a passionate music lover and compulsive record buyer, he went on completing an interpretation jazz drumming diploma in Québec before making a complete change of path into obtaining a CPA licence. Music, arts and business are now coexisting in an unorthodox amalgam the showed him that creativity and rational thinking can be express simultaneously.

Joe Gaspar is the owner and founder of 2 Bici Bicycle shop in Willow Springs, IL.