Saturday, January 26, 8:30 p.m.
The Redstone Room, 129 Main Street, Davenport IA
Performing in support of their most recent album Odd Boat, a release that SoundRenaissance.net called “a gem of our time” for its “infusion of melodic punk and anthemic rock n’ roll,” the Chicago-based musicians of Flatfoot 56 perform at the Redstone Room on January 26, filling the Davenport venue with what IndieVisionMusic.com called “their rambunctious style that their fans have come to love.”
Playing a positive-natured brand of hardcore-tinged Celtic punk, Flatfoot 56 has been touring its singular brand of Christian rock for nearly 18 years. Formed in 2000 by brothers and Windy City natives Tobin, Justin, and Kyle Bawinkel, the band recorded its first demo in the summer of 2002 and followed it later that year with the Flatfoot 56 debut Rumble of 56, created in the Rockford, Illinois studio The Noise Chamber. The musicians' second album, 2003's Waves of War, found its song “That's OK” enjoying heavy radio play on stations across the Midwest, and its success led to the band's 2004 performance at Bushnell, Illinois' Cornerstone Festival, a Christian-music gathering at which Flatfoot 56 released its third album Knuckles Up. It went on to become the ensemble's best-selling record, and 2007's Jungle of the Midwest Sea solidified the group's reputation as an enticingly original recording and touring act.
Landing the band on nine separate Billboard charts, 2010's Black Thorn found Flatfoot 56 reaching a new level of national awareness, and proving that it could consistently reach an expanding audience while treading in a genre not often associated with widespread success. The musicians' fame was advanced further with its songs being heard on the hit TV series Sons of Anarchy and the video game Watchdogs, and in 2012 Flatfoot 56 released its sixth album Toil, a work that earned the band newfound praise both for its unique sound and its assuredness. According to AbsolutePunk.net: “It’s not every day you come across a Christian group that’s unabashedly liberal politically. On Toil, it’s much less a gimmick and much more a reflection of the band’s genuity – their working-class roots and the ability they have to combine faith, culture, and song to stand up for them.”
Flatfoot 56 plays the Redstone Room on January 26 with opening sets by Other Brothers and Must Build Jacuzzi, admission to the 8:30 p.m. concert is $12-15, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)326-1333 or visiting RiverMusicExperience.org.
