Bad Planning, The Reaganomics, Space Age Zeros, and Burn Rebuild all shared the small stage at Reggie’s Music Joint in Chicago. It was a solid night of spirited performances by bands staffed with veteran musicians.
Bad Planning, a pop-punk/melodic hardcore band founded in a couple of Chicago suburbs but now based in Chicago itself, headlined the more intimate stage at Reggie’s. Whatever planning Alex Crook, Jack Coombs, Kevin Levonyak, and Laurence Bactat, may have put into this show, it was anything but bad. They tore through their set which included, “Full Stomach” “Actors,” “Dead Ends and Amends,” “Midwest Classic,” and “A Year Without Sleep.” The set also featured, at the very start, “FMN,” and “Sad Truth,” both of which are 2024 newly released singles. It was an exhilarating performance.
Up next, per Alex Crook, is a short East Coast tour this spring. One of those stops will be in Queens, NY for the Music Fests Here II. Bad Planning, off of Jump Start Records, will be sharing the bill with, among many others, Warn the Duke, which includes one of Dying Scene’s occasional contributors, Dan McCool.
The Reaganomics, from Joliet, IL, has recently made a few appearances on this site, for good reason. The band – made up of Terry Morrow, Greg Alltop, Nick McLenighan, and Eddie Cantu – continues to deliver entertaining performances since its start a decade and a half ago. This night was no exception. The driving set was drawn from across the band’s discography, and included, “Directive Five (Robocop’s Always Down),” “Don’t Worry, We’ll Play First,” “Grown Ass Man,” “Four Cliches,” “Dear Jaymez,” and “Smug Punx,” among others.
Terry Morrow told me they are writing new music now. I’d hazard a guess there will be more opportunities for you to catch The Reaganomics in the not-too-distant future. Do yourself a favor and make sure you are near the front of the stage when that future becomes the present.
Chicago’s own Space Age Zeros may be on their way to being local pop-punk heroes. The band members, who go by Nathan Zero, Tommy Zero, Steev Zero, Jason Zero, and Brian Zero, made their first live appearances in late 2022 and had a busy 2023. Presently, it is finishing up the recording of its debut album with producer Dan “Dan Precision” Wleklinski at The Bombshelter.
The band’s name was inspired by a carnival kiddie ride known as Space Age Umbrellas, according to Jason Zero. However, he told me,
“We changed it to “Zeros” to sound more punk rock.”
Jason Zero also told me he came up with something else. Short sleeve button-down shirts adorned with the group’s logo, a lightning bolt.
“I had come up with the idea for the matching shirts. All were on board aside from Nathan who does his own thing. But being a frontman I think that works well.“
On this night, Space Age Zeros blasted through a strong set, including, “Merry Go Round,” “Smile,” ” “Wishing Well,” and “On A Date With Suzi Moon.”
You can next check out Space Age Zeros at Beat Kitchen, on February 25, 2024. The band will share the stage with The Winks, and Zoanoids.
Burn Rebuild, from the southside of Chicago, is, in 2024, celebrating its 20th anniversary as a band. It also laid the foundation for this show with a combustible performance. Band members, Frank Tsoukalas, Brian Hampson, Andy Paik, and Kyle Prillaman, ripped through a set, which included “Save The Date,” “Monsters,” “Skin and Blood,” “Ignite,” and “A Decade of Hating Yourself Gets Old.”
Frank Tsoukalas, also of Much the Same [he mentioned he does not like to use the MTS card when it comes to his other projects], told me how Burn Rebuild got its name,
“The name came from Brian and I revamping our lives, attending UIC in our mid-thirties. Both of us were in this creative purgatory while trying to navigate what people have been asking since B.C. times, “What am I doing with my life.” The line, burn and rebuild, worked its way into the first song we wrote and seemed to fit where we were and what we were doing artistically and with our lives.“
Tsoukalas also updated me on what the band is doing now,
“Currently, we are writing and have a few ideas sketched out we’re excited about. We’d like to release new music ASAP. No shows right now; we’ve emailed the Chicago venues a bunch so if you read this, we want to play your place.”
With regards to this show, Tsoukalas described it this way,
“The Music Joint show was so fun and in 20 plus years of playing punk shows, Reggie’s is my favorite place in the city to play and has always been good to us. Bad Planning is a great upcoming band, I’ve known most of The Reaganomics for over a decade, and how fun are they to watch play? This was also my second time playing with Space Age Zeroes who couldn’t be nicer. It was an honor to open the night up with a nice group of people, and thanks to Chris [Tracy] with 630 Productions for calling us in. Being our first show back since the shutdown, it felt really good to be back on stage.“
Please check out more photos from the show! Thanks & Cheers!
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