BMI’s stage attracted fans by kicking off daily shows at 11:15 a.m., resulting in a successful three-day run of memorable shows featuring the blues-inspired Back Door Slam; tween indie-rock duo Smoosh; swagger-heavy Inward Eye; and message-oriented Kevin Michael. Lake Michigan provided the backdrop as Chicago-based bands Bound Stems and Wax on Radio enticed fans old and new to check out their music, while giving the experience a participatory feel. Ireland’s Mr. North provided international representation, while Missouri-based quintet Ludo offered Lollapalooza attendees another dose of solid stateside sounds.

BMI also hosted an Acoustic Brunch on Saturday, August 4 at the Hard Rock Hotel with a surprise performance by Cameron McGill and the Quartet Offensive.

Photos by Jamil Walker

Chicago’s Bound Stems is Dan Fleury (guitar), Bobby Gallivan (vocals, guitar), Janie Porche (vocals, guitar, sampler, violin, etc.), Dan Radzicki (bass, keys, vocals) and Evan Sult (drums, tapes). Fleury, Radz, and Bobby were friends from high school basketball on; Evan arrived from Seattle and Harvey Danger in September 2002. They started writing songs all the time, then playing out, then writing some more, and by the time Janie had completed the transition from friend to roommate to band member, The Logic of Building the Body Plan EP had been released by Flameshovel Records and they were deep into the construction of Appreciation Night, Bound Stems’ debut full-length, also on Flameshovel.

Appreciation Night was two years in the making; the songs themselves cover a dozen decades. Chicago is the album’s host city, where the Civil War blends with the roar of the elevated train and the songs’ edges are embroidered with the found sounds of airport patter and clattering turnstiles, parties, private conversations, snow crunch and drifting histories. Produced by Tim Sandusky and Evan at Chicago’s Studio Ballistico, Appreciation Night is a large and complex album in which each song could as easily be a story as a chapter. Mathy, too: opener “Andover” hides tricky time signatures under a warm patchwork blanket of vocal melody, and “This Is Grand” rolls sevens hard against sixes. There’s history rock (“Walter Waters Addresses the Bonus Army”), lit. rock (“Rented a Tent”), and social studies pop (“Wake Up, Ma & Pa Are Gone”), and each song contains moments of fierce, earnest success, where all of Bound Stems' sonic experiments converge and fall into crashing, exultant hooks. Appreciation Night is a record of a band’s optimismism: fascination with life, a diet of interesting objects, the narrative thread.

Recording began to blend with playing farther and farther from home, as Bound Stems followed a sizable storm of surprised and favorable press around the East Coast and Midwest. Jon Pareles wrote them up in the New York Times (“Bound Stems finds plenty of room in a zone that borders Wilco, Animal Collective, Tortoise and the Fiery Furnaces”), as has Spin magazine, Entertainment Weekly (“a woozy triumph”), Alternative Press magazine (“experimental yet strangely accessible,” 4 out of 5 stars), the Chicago Reader (“emotionally super-saturated, achieving post-rock's complexity without its aridity or pretension”), and a starburst of blogs by people who’ve heard Bound Stems online and caught their shows. Their live shows glow with pleasure, swinging from the tight curls of “Crimes and Follies” to the roaring cheer of “Excellent News, Colonel” to the baroque-ass pop of “Western Biographic.” Instruments appear and disappear behind ivy vines while Bobby sweats out his lyrics and stomps alongside Janie’s harmonies, Fleury’s Camaro of a guitar, Radz’s melodic bass leads, and Evan’s distracted smile. It’s a pleasure to see.

Now that Appreciation Night is complete, the members of Bound Stems have disengaged their real jobs (high school history teacher, comic book art director, lab tech, hi-tech techs) in favor of their heretofore fake job as a touring band. It’s an act of faith consistent with the characters on the record, the architecture of the songs, and the implied narrative arc. It’s time to spread the good word. Get excited about counting again.

Appreciation Night will be in stores Sept. 19th on Flameshovel.

Presenting acts from the U.S. and abroad, BMI will showcase an array of rising rock, pop and singer/songwriter acts. From the blues rock of the Isle of Man’s Back Door Slam, to the power rock trio of Inward Eye, infectiousness of Bang Bang Bang and John Paul White’s rhythmic guitar, BMI’s Lollapalooza stage is guaranteed to satisfy all musical tastes.

The schedule for the BMI sponsored Lollapalooza stage is as follows:

Friday, August 3
11:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. - The Switches: Hailing from London, England, the Switches debut album, Heart Tuned To D.E.A.D, is influenced by artists such as David Bowie, The Rakes, Super Furry Animals, and the Beach Boys.

12:30 – 1:15 p.m. - Tom Schraeder: With a delicate, drunken honesty and a knack for setting the simple desperation of young love against a background of Brit-pop-laced Americana, Tom Schraeder’s songs for his upcoming album, The Door, are not for the faint of heart.

1:45 – 2:30 p.m. - Bang Bang Bang: With influences like The Sex Pistols and Lenny Kravitz, Bang Bang Bang inked a record deal with Warner Brothers after dazzling them with their irresistible, infectious brand of greasy, sleazy Southern rock, spiked liberally with punk energy and songwriting smarts.

3:00 – 3:45 p.m. - Powerspace: This young quartet specialize in a cross between hooky power pop à la Fountains of Wayne, ironic glam metal in the tradition of the Darkness, and '80s-influenced dance-rock textures that recall early MTV stars like INXS and Duran Duran.

4:15 – 5:00 p.m. - Inward Eye: With a nod to the Jam and the Who, this rock trio from Winnipeg, Canada write and perform songs with the wit and guitar-based energy that have won them a global audience.

5:30 – 6:15 p.m. - Wax on Radio: Chicago' s Wax On Radio has emerged at the forefront of a new breed of important young rock bands. At once artistic, virtuosic, heavy, and reminiscent of an era when great songs and evocative aural atmospherics coexisted with strong hooks, the bands music resonates as an uncommonly multifaceted, engaging, and convincing statement.

Saturday, August 4
11:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. - Dear and the Headlights: Rock band Dear and the Headlights, calls Phoenix, Arizona home and consists of five members influenced by artists such as Radiohead, Bob Dylan, The Flaming Lips, and Leonard Cohen.

12:30 – 1:15 - Ludo: Critics embraced their second album, The Broken Bride, as “a rock and roll adventure for the ages” and “a competitor for the best EP of the year.”

1:45-2:30 - Kevin Michael: With an irresistible blend of soul, funk, r&b and pop, Kevin Michael invokes greats from the past while bringing something totally new to the game on his debut album, YaDig?

3:00 – 3:45 - Lady GaGa: Lady GaGa’s debut album combines her love of Beatles’ melodies with retro dance beats, plastic synth sounds, and a quirky rock piano style. Her dramatic live shows have won over fans and critics in her hometown of New York City.

4:15-5:00 - Cage the Elephant: Bowling Green, Kentucky’s Cage the Elephant formed in 2006, debuting their self-released album this past March. With a strong buzz off of their SXSW and Bonnaroo performances, the band is winning indie rock fans over with their no-frills,  no-boundaries performances.

5:30 – 6:15 - Back Door Slam: This blues-rock trio from the Isle of Man has made jaws drop when 19-year-old singer Davy Knowles showcases his exceptional blues-rock guitar skills and vocals, showing that the passion and heart of the blues is evolving outside the U.S.

Sunday, August 5
11:15 – 12:00 - The Graduate: After their debut album, Anhedonia, hit stores this past April, The Graduate has gained momentum due to memorable songs, an interactive live show and the friendly disposition of its members.

12:30 – 1:15 - Mr. North: This four-piece band, comprising two brothers, a first cousin and a next-door neighbor, started playing together when they were young teens. Their second album, Fear and Desire, showcases the bands’ powerful live sound.

1:45 – 2:30 - Smoosh: the first true rock Tween act to come from the indie scene, Smoosh offers a rare combination of honesty, perseverance, and passion for music.

3:00 – 3:45 - The Diffs: Inspired by early L.A. punk bands like The Germs, Black Flag and the Adolescents, the Diffs go back to the source and make the sound their own. The LA Weekly hails The Diffs as “L.A.’s coolest high-school band.”

4:15 – 5: -  John Paul White: John Paul White, a Lawrenceburg, Tennessee native, journeyed over to Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals this past fall to record his debut album with Capitol Records.

5:30 – 6:15 - Bound Stems: When reporting on the Bound Stems, Rolling Stone exclaimed, “These Chicago indie rockers build on Modest Mouse’s quirky popiness with low-fi samples and a bouncy groove all their own.”
Press credentials can be requested through Lollapalooza at www.lollapalooza.com/credentials_start.asp

BMI presents and sponsors a stage at all three of C3 and Capital Sports & Entertainment’s music festivals: Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits Music Festival September 14-16, and the inaugural Big State Festival, October 13-14. BMI’s partnership with this elite festival is designed to offer more prime showcasing opportunities to its songwriters — a distinct priority of the organization. For more information on Lollapalooza, please visit www.lollapalooza.com; for information on the Austin City Limits Music Festival, visit www.aclfestival.com; and for details regarding the Big State Festival, please go to www.bigstatefestival.com.