Bending Brains

Lawrence Tome is the King of the River. Lawrence Tome rests at the bottom of hollowtop lake in the tobacco root mountains outside of Pony Montana. Many fishermen have felt the water stir as somber melodies float up from the depths breaking the surface, reaching toward the stars. A man known by most as Flint Michigan claimed to have Lawrence Tome on his line for 17 hours, 46 minutes, and 22 seconds. Repeatedly pulled into the water...

Jeremiah Collier is a Drummer and Chicago native that started playing drums at the age of two. Skilled in a wide variety of musical genres, Jeremiah has been performing with Stanley Clarke for several years, including at the 2022 concert where Clarke was honored as an NEA Jazz Master. He has also played at the Kennedy Center with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and with a plethora of artists such as Ernest Dawkins, Ari Brown,...

Martin Clive Atkins is an English drummer, best known for his work in post-punk and industrial groups including Public Image Ltd, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Pigface, and Killing Joke. He also works as a consultant, has written multiple books on the music industry, and is the music industry studies coordinator at Millikin University in Decatur, IL. Atkins is the owner and operator of the Museum of Post Punk and Industrial Music in C...

Chicago-based, Tanner Dane (of Hollyy), places his voice front and center, to explore the depths of identity and intimacy through his debut EP, Cut Me Loose (Easy Does It Records). Blending the rawest of human emotion with reflective storytelling, Cut Me Loose creates a journey that feels both deeply personal and universal in just 5 tracks. Lauded as “the future of retro rock” (CLASH Mag), Dane masterfully imparts a sound both grou...

Mike Altergott is a multi-instrumentalist, audio engineer, mechanical engineer, and math/science educator. You can catch him playing shows around town with Chicago bands Space Gators, Middle Sister, Doc, Obliger, and Pub League. His new solo musical project called Winter Mako just did a DZ Session with Ben, word on the street is that some videos are coming soon! If you need a live sound engineer, planning an event with music, help ...

Shlomo Franklin is an American singer/songwriter born on a small cow farm in upstate New York. Raised off the cultural grid, without music, television, or radio, his songs are strongly influenced by his cult-like religious upbringing. Shlomo released his debut album in 2019 which was produced by Grammy Award winner C Lanzbom and was followed by a double album from his now Nashville, TN home. Franklin has opened up for Jakob Dylan a...

Dr. Shannon Switzer is the Director of the Sensaphonics Musicians’ Hearing Clinic in Chicago and is a featured audiologist in the MusiCares x Tuned partnership. A native Vermonter, she completed her Bachelor of Science at the University of Vermont and then moved to Chicagoland to earn her Doctorate of Audiology from Northwestern University. She provides hearing healthcare for the music industry through a variety of channels; the Se...

Beverly Rage (she/her in drag, he/him out of drag) is the singer, guitarist, and songwriter in Chicago’s all-original drag fronted punk rock band Bev Rage & the Drinks. Bev has been a musician for over two decades, nearly half of that fronting BR&TD, and a drag artist for 15 years. As a lifelong queer activist, Bev uses music as a way to empower folks to work outside of the expected to get their message out. When not playin...

Mary Rose Gonzales, known as "Beef," is a Filipino American drummer from Chicago, making waves in the punk and garage rock scenes for over a decade. She currently plays with Bev Rage & The Drinks and will be reuniting with Mystery Actions for a special show at Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas in May 2025. When she’s not behind the drums, she works a 9 to 5 at a merchandising photo studio. Outside of music, she enjoys pickleball, ...

Lillian Wong is a local Chicago musician who started her bass journey during the pandemic in 2020. She has a musical background from playing violin and oboe as a child, and always had dreams of playing music.  She began learning bass by watching videos on Youtube, and soon began posting her own covers online. In September of 2021, Lillian answered a Craigslist ad and officially joined her first band, Gnarly Gap, an indie punk band....

Katherrin is a first-generation American, multimedia visual artist from Chicago. Through paintings, sculptures, photographs, murals, and linocuts, she explores her Mexican-Argentine roots, colorful facets of everyday life, and philosophical concepts. She is motivated to create in hopes of portraying underrepresented perspectives, inspiring empathy, and establishing meaningful relationships.

At age 16, she founded the 501(c)(3) nonp...

Emma Kleidon is a piano technician who services instruments all around the Chicagoland area. On top of acoustic piano work, she also runs her own repair shop focusing on vintage electro-mechanical keyboards. You may have seen her online documenting rare and unusual instruments, along with the repair guides she posts on YouTube under Analog Emma. While most of her day is spent in front of keys, her primary instrument is the guitar, ...

Alex Santilli is a drummer-percussionist/composer/producer who is Thee Sacred Souls touring percussionist and Drummer/Member of local Chicago group Late Nite Laundry. He also plays with countless artists here in Chicago in a wide variety of styles and genres. He is also a composer and producer of his own solo music under the name “the adventures of anacleto”, where he explores all instrumentation and composition. He is also a self ...