We will be in the I AM FEST Battle of the Bands on June 4th!

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Andy Metz

Alright, so here’s the deal: we will be in the I AM FEST Battle of the Bands on June 4th and we need your support! If we win this round and the subsequent rounds, we will play at I AM FEST at the House of Blues at the end of the Summer. We would very much like to do this and we need your help.

If you live in Chicago, we play on MONDAY, JUNE 4TH at 9PM, so even though it’s Monday, we won’t keep you up past your bedtime! Please email me at Andy@AndyMetz.com for $5 pre-sale tickets. I will get them to you! Otherwise, tickets at the door will be $8.

Here’s the lineup:

7:30pm – KF Jacques
8:00pm – East Lincoln Avenue
8:30pm – Castillo
9:00pm – ANDY METZ AND THOSE MEDDLING KIDS
9:30pm – Vision
10:00pm – The Good Die Young
10:30pm – Tomorrow Has Arrived
11:00pm – Mindshatter
11:30pm – Ecstasy
12:00pm – Trell Love

If you don’t live in Chicago, we still need your support! Please VOTE ONLINE for us at http://battle.iamfest.com/ starting at 7pm on June 4th! We must crush the competition with an iron fist of fury!

Thanks for coming to “Artist Gumbo!”

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Andy Metz

Thanks so much to everyone who come out to “Artist Gumbo” last night and thanks so much to Dramatis Personae for putting it on! I had a lot of fun doing an acoustic set with Seth Williams as we rocked out some of our 8090 jams. Videos from the event will be posted on DPChicago.org in the near future.

8090 acoustic set on Saturday, May 12th!

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Andy Metz

It’s only two days away! On Saturday, May 12th, I’ll be performing a short set at “Artist Gumbo” with Seth Williams! We’ll be doing a few of our 8090 jams (check out the debut album for free here), so come on down and check it out! It will be a lot of fun!

Here’s the lineup:

The Obrothers (comedy folk songs)
Andy Metz and Seth Williams (8090)
Heroes of the west (Improv group)
Louis and the Hunt (acoustic set)
Klaudia Siczek

The show will start at 9pm and WE GO ON FIRST so get there on time! It is located at 1450 W. Barry in Chicago, Illinois. Cover is $10 and drinks are only $2, so it’s a pretty sweet deal. You can check out the Facebook invite here!

Busy Summer!

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Andy Metz

It’s going to be a busy Summer for music and I’m happy about it. It all kicks off with Artist Gumbo, which will start at 9pm on Saturday, May 12th at 1450 W. Barry in Chicago, Illinois. Cover is $10 and drinks are only $2, so it’s a pretty sweet deal. You can check out the Facebook invite here! I’ll be doing a short acoustic set with Seth.

The madness continues with the upcoming I AM FEST battle of the bands, which we’ll need your support for! The first round is Monday, June 4th at the Elbo Room. I’ll be with the full band, “Andy Metz and Those Meddling Kids” (name subject to change…again) and we go on at 9pm for a five song set. If you are in the Chicago area, please email me at andy@andymetz.com for $5 pre-sale tickets! More details coming soon.

We’re also working on putting out a demo, which will be a mix of some familiar songs and some unfamiliar songs. It’s been a lot of fun to record and I know you’ll like it when it comes out.

More full band shows are slated for Saturday, June 30th (at Ultra Lounge in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago) and Friday, July 20th (at Goose Island Wrigleyville), so it’ll be a Summer full of awesomeness! I’m also in the planning stages of a new album with Seth Williams (as 8090) that we hope to have wrapped up at the end of the Summer or early Fall.

Stay tuned!

Be there for 8090 on May 12th!

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Andy Metz

Don’t forget! On Saturday, May 12th, I’ll be performing a short set at “Artist Gumbo” with Seth Williams! We’ll be doing a few of our 8090 jams (check out the debut album for free here), so come on down and check it out! It will be a lot of fun!

“Artist Gumbo” is put on every other month by Dramatis Personae, and it features musicians, comedians and performance artists of all different types!

Here’s the lineup right now:

The Obrothers (comedy folk songs)
Andy Metz and Seth Williams (8090)
Heroes of the west (Improv group)
Louis and the Hunt (acoustic set)

The show will start at 9pm and will be at 1450 W. Barry in Chicago, Illinois. Cover is $10 and drinks are only $2, so it’s a pretty sweet deal. You can check out the Facebook invite here!

Hope to see you all there! Also, check out our video below if you haven’t yet!

Poor Derrick Rose

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Andy Metz

As you may know if you watch basketball or live in Chicago, Derrick Rose went down with a season-ending (and then some) ACL tear over the weekend. The Bulls will have to make due without him for the rest of the playoffs, and though their chances at a championship are probably shot, I still think they can at least beat the 76ers in the first round.

I can understand the pain Derrick Rose is going through right now. I’ve never torn my ACL before, or even played in the NBA, but I did sprain my ankle last summer in a pick-up basketball game in Wicker Park. I could feel the whole city take a collective gasp as I came down on my opponent’s foot; my ankle twisting like a wet piece of spaghetti against the unforgiving concrete. The media coverage of this devastating event was surprisingly minimal, but I can only assume that’s because their moral consciences told them to respect my privacy in those trying times. Whatever the case, I am now back at full strength on the basketball court, and if I can do it, I think Derrick Rose has a reasonable chance at being able to do it as well. Chin up!

Ain’t life crazy?

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Andy Metz

I started dating my girlfriend, Maggie, five years ago today. We went to see the movie, “Grindhouse,” which, if you’re unacquainted, is probably the worst first date movie I could have possibly picked. It’s incredibly violent and way too long. To be fair, we were supposed to go to a baseball game, but it was rained out, so I had to think quick…clearly not my strength.

After the movie ended, we discovered that the car I had borrowed from my friend Maura had gotten broken into (a window was broken and the stereo was stolen). I called Maura to let her know what happened, and she said that she and a group of my friends would pile in a cab and come down as soon as they took another shot. It took us a while to successfully file a police report, but after we did, we all went back to my apartment and drank the night away.

I was embarrassed a little by the series of unfortunate events that was our first date, but thankfully, Maggie didn’t seem to mind. Just to make sure she was in it for the long haul, I threw up in her bathroom the next night. Ha! So started the best five years of my life and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I love you, Maggie.

Playing at “Artist Gumbo” with Seth Williams on Saturday, May 12th!

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Andy Metz

Hey folks! On Saturday, May 12th, I’ll be performing a short set at “Artist Gumbo” with Seth Williams! We’ll be doing a few of our 8090 jams (check out the debut album for free here), so come on down and check it out! It will be a lot of fun!

“Artist Gumbo” is put on every other month by Dramatis Personae, and it features musicians, comedians and performance artists of all different types!

The show will start at 9pm and will be at 1450 W. Barry in Chicago, Illinois. Cover is $10 and drinks are only $2, so it’s a pretty sweet deal. You can check out the Facebook invite here!

Hope to see you all there!

Excellent recording session last night!

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Andy Metz

Hey yo! Two things:

First, I’m working on not double-spacing after periods because no one does it anymore (apparently) and this blog has formatting problems when I do it. So begins an arduous process to relearn everything I’ve ever known.

Second, and this is more important, we had a great recording session last night for a demo we’re going to release. We may change our name from “Andy Metz and Those Meddling Kids,” so stay tuned for that as well. The demo will be a mix of old songs and new, and so far, they are sounding fantastic.

“Work Music” is now under construction!

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Andy Metz

Hey good people! 8090 (my super rap group with Seth Williams) will be back with a second album. I’ve just started compiling beats for it and writing and recording will begin within the next couple of months. The theme for this album will be “work/job music.” We both work normal jobs, and frankly, not a whole lot of hip hop even touches on that subject.

In more immediate news, I’ll be doing a short acoustic set with Seth on Saturday, May 12th, so mark that on your calendar. More information is coming soon, but it’ll be in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago. Stay well.