Featured Artist Friday: Sad Jokes

This Friday's featured artist is DeKalb pop-punk band Sad Jokes. The band consists of five longtime friends; Tony Armor, Will Baker, and Brandon Durden on guitar and vocals with Nick Cipra on the drums and Dave Grochowski on bass and synth.

“We've all played in bands prior to joining this one,” said Grochowski. “So we all kind of have our own songwriting method. I think that works to our advantage, because we can all throw our own perspective on to a song.”

The writing process consists of one member coming to the group with a skeleton of a song and everyone sitting down and perfecting it, inputting different perspectives and ideas until a finished product is produced.

Contributing to a fun and productive culture is the group's openness to constructive criticism and unselfishness within the group, any member can come forward with a new idea and the band will attempt to incorporate it.

The laid back group of rockers bring a new sound with influences by Brand New, Title Fight, and Prawn. Their first Ep "Shamus" is in the works right now and should be available soon.

Sad Joke's number one goal is just to have fun with the music, they don't allow the pressures of the industry to get to them. First and foremost, they enjoy being in a band, but beyond that they are looking to release more content in the near future and beginning to make a bigger splash on the scene

“As far as goals go I think the number one priority is to have a good time,” said Grochowski. “We all love being in a band and playing shows. We're looking to release music and start playing bigger venues.”

One constant is the band's unofficial mascot Shamus, a 14 year old American Bulldog whom the band is naming their first EP after, that is at every practice.

ODMG has filmed Sad Jokes twice in the past at Camp/Out (Night 2) and Sergiopalooza. I also had the chance to hear them play at the House Cafe in DeKalb, opening for "Hidden Hospitals" on their national tour. Keep Sad Jokes on your radar, and look out for "Shamus" an EP releasing soon.

Next week we will be continuing our “Featured Artist Friday Series” with Elgin based rock band The Smoking Revolvers. Make sure to subscribe to our new YouTube channel and like our Facebook page for all of our latest productions and updates.