Founders' Days Band Lineup

Luka Brat Z July 27, 2012 at 12:18 pm

Did Algonquin sign a multi year deal with American English? THEY ARE NOT THAT COOL.....MOVE ON FROM THIS! And...another 80's cover band..Yawn. how creative! Way to phone it in... again. I want tHe best for FD, but the ALG yocals planning this thing are out of thier league and their picks are very, very dated. LAME!

Pettine July 28, 2012 at 02:21 pm

Can someone enlighten me why Modern Day Romeos are so popular and are getting booked by every festival in the area? I've seen them twice now (more involuntary last night) and it is a proven fact that the singer just can't sing. They would be an enjoyable, fun band if the other members sang themselves (better than their singer) or if they found someone who actually DOES sing. I went to see Mike & Joe who only played about 20 mins. before MDR took the stage and did this long block - we had to leave b4 seeing Mike & Joe again, it was just too dreadful. Loose the singer and find someone who actually does sing instead of letting the audience do it for him - oh and the audience is in front and not back by your drummer.

Michael August 1, 2012 at 03:07 am

Pettine
I can try to enlighten you if you will. My name is Mike and I am the drummer for MDR. On behalf of all of us in the Romeos, we are very sorry to hear that you did not have a good time at Algonquin Founders Days. I would like to share a few things with you if I could. First, you asked why we are so popular and getting booked by every fest in the area? Why we are so popular is not for me to answer per-say but what I can tell you is this. We put 110% each and every time we step foot on that stage. We are a fun, interactive band that tries to take a “typical” fest atmosphere and turn it into an intimate party. We do silly dance moves on stage, put together obscure medalys, have bad dance competitions, and imitate other iconic musicians (Michael Jackson, etc). All for what reason you ask? A reaction. Whether it’s laughing, singing, dancing; we try to “entertain” the audience.

Michael August 1, 2012 at 03:10 am

I can try to enlighten you if you will. My name is Mike and I am the drummer for MDR. On behalf of all of us in the Romeos, we are very sorry to hear that you did not have a good time at Algonquin Founders Days.
I would like to share a few things with you if I could. First, you asked why we are so popular and getting booked by every fest in the area? Why we are so popular is not for me to answer per-say but what I can tell you is this. We put 110% each and every time we step foot on that stage. We are a fun, interactive band that tries to take a “typical” fest atmosphere and turn it into an intimate party. We do silly dance moves on stage, put together obscure medalys, have bad dance competitions, and imitate other iconic musicians (Michael Jackson, etc). All for what reason you ask? A reaction. Whether it’s laughing, singing, dancing; we try to “entertain” the audience.

Michael August 1, 2012 at 03:11 am

In regards to why we’re playing all the area fests? Simple. The fest wants people to come to their fest. They want to make money and they want their vendors to make money. You may have a hard time believing this but……People do come to see us. Numbers are numbers. The vendor’s numbers are up when we play and the fest numbers are up when we play. A little background in case you’re not familiar. We’ve been around and been one of the Mchenry’s top bands for over 10 years now. We celebrated that feat back in April at Sideout’s in Island Lake and had almost 2000 people attend. Now mind you I’m talking about a bar here. What other bands played with us that night, what other events were going on at that venue to draw those people? None. We have played close to 600 shows that include: Clubs, fests, weddings, Christmas parties, graduation parties, proms, charity/benefits and other corporate events.

Michael August 1, 2012 at 03:11 am

Now to Founders Days. In regards to seeing Mike and Joe for only 20 min and then us “taking the stage and doing a long block”. I’m sorry if you were not aware but this show was put together back in Feb with Joe from Mike and Joe, along with myself and the promoter of the festival. It was discussed at that time to do a “Co-Headlining” concert with MDR starting the night off and playing an hour set, followed by Mike and Joe for an hour set, followed by MDR for an hour then to have Mike and Joe close out the night. That is how it went down to a T. We took the stage at 6:30pm sharp and were off by 7:30. Mike and Joe were on at 7:35pm. We are very sorry that you missed the memo and showed up late and only got the last 20 min of their first set. You could have done a little more research and found out who was playing at what time and what time you needed to be there to see who you wanted to see. We’re sorry you couldn’t stay for their 2nd set, but again in no way is that the fault of MDR, Mike and Joes or Founders Day Fest. It sounds a little more like bad planning on your part.

Michael August 1, 2012 at 03:13 am

In regards to “the singer can’t sing it’s a fact etc……” We have never claimed to be the end all be all musicians. We do the best we can with the God given talents we have. One thing I will tell you that we are very proud of and take extreme pride in. MDR is 100% organic. What I mean by that is, we do not use: Click tracks, overdubs, backing tracks or any smoke and mirrors that some bands might use. Some bands in the Chicago music scene do use those. Next time you’re at a live show around town look and see if you see a computer on stage. Why is it there? Sets are pre-programmed and the drummer plays to a click track. At certain points in a song keys or vocals come in. All this is stored and being run by the computer. Pay attention and when you hear keyboards playing, look to see if you see a keyboard player. Do you know what a harmony is? The singer might be singing live in a lower register the low harmony while he pre-recorded his voice and overdubbed the middle and high harmonies. My point……..We play 100% LIVE! Yes you are not going to sound as good singing live as you would in you were in a controlled environment, in a studio using pro-tools.

Michael August 1, 2012 at 03:14 am

. Our singer is a front man. He’ll say it himself. Is Mick Jagger a great singer or a great frontman? Is Steven Tyler a great singer or a great frontman? These are living legends and couldn’t hold Steve Perry or Freddy Mercury’s jock strap VOCALY. If you want great singers there are a ton of great bands out there with great voices. But you take those same band and those singers with awesome voices and shredding guitar players and ripping drummers and ask them who are one of the bands that is the most entertaining, fun and down to earth nice guys around the scene, you’d be hard pressed to find any of them not put MDR in the category.
Thanks for reading. Hope you’ll loose up, put a smile on your face and re-consider MDR again someday. If you do, look me up and I’ll buy you a drink. Best wishes……. Mike MDR