Friday, January 3, 9 p.m.
Rock Island Brewing Company, 1815 Second Avenue, Rock Island IL
A quartet of rock, punk, and metal ensembles based in Cambride, Morrison, and the Quad Cities serve as co-headliners in the first 2020 concert at the Rock Island Brewing Company, with the venue hosting a January 3 concert set featuring the high-energy musicians of Northbrook, Dynoride, Echoes & Afterthoughts, and Murnau.
The Davenport-based Northbrook unofficially began when guitarist Luke Sears and vocalist Billy Hudson, in 2012, started writing songs for the pure joy of musical collaboration. As their list of compositions grew and the musicians decided to take their creation to the next level, Northbrook was born as a band in the basement of guitarist Mike Gustafson in 2016. The local trio was soon accompanied by Steve Merritt's progressive rock drumming styling and Nickle Bambauer’s thundering melodic bass riffs, finalizing the lineup of Northbrook that continues today. With the outfit's influences including such groups as Metallica, Kings X, Stone Temple Pilots, Foo Fighters, and Jimmy Eat World, Northbrook has made recent appearances at Rascals Live in Moline and Hook's Pub in Clinton, and earlier this year, released its self-titled, seven-track debut album on iTunes and Spotify.
Joining Northbook for the January 3 RIBCO set are three groups of fellow rockers with Midwestern origins. Based in Cambridge and boasting Burnell Eckardt on guitar and vocals, John Taylor on bass, and Alex Triece on drums, Dynoride formed in 2002, and in addition to the musicians' 2012 album What You Wanted, the have released a trio of live albums recorded as local venues the Bier Stube, the Redstone Room, and RIBCO. As stated in their online biography about their (to date) 17-year rock career: “By all measures, the trio should have given up their rock dreams long ago, but, just like real dinosaurs, the fossils and fragments of old ghosts keep the mystery and adventure alive.” Playing melodic hard rock blending elements of alternative, pop, and punk, the Echoes & Afterthoughts quartet formed in Rock Island in 2012, and is composed of Ian Bishop on lead vocals and guitar, Kyle Jecklin on bass, Zach Bognar on keyboards and synth, and Peter Letendre on drums. And rounding out the January 3 RIBCO bill are the Morrison-based gothic-psych rockers of Murnau, a two-piece drums-and-guitar band whose talents led the Reader's Max Allison to rave: “The tom-heavy drum performances ably groove along with the guitar work, cutting out when the composition demands silence and blasting into heavy fills when the intensity factor amps up.”
Northbrook, Dynoride, Echoes & Afterthoughts, and Murnau play the Rock Island Brewing Company on January 3 starting at 9 p.m., and more information on the night is available by calling (309)793-1999 or visiting RIBCO.com.
