Champaign-Urbana Bands

Champaign-Urbana is the home of many popular music groups; REO Speedwagon, Ludacris, and Jack McDuff are just three examples. Like them, new and blooming artists are playing at house venues, restaurants, and on the streets in and around the University of Illinois campus.

Snack’d Out   

Snack’d Out is a Midwest emo and pop-punk band. The band consists of the singer and guitarist Kris Ward, the bassist Juli Sherry, and the drummer Doug Hodges. 

When asked about how Champaign has affected their music, Sherry said “It was a great spot for us to be in simultaneously. I mean, it made us meet each other, and then we were able to start the band and it was just a good place for us to, you know, come together and start to play music.” 

Snack’d Out has released an EP titled It’s Too Clean and an album titled Obstacle Illusion. “Our album is coming out on vinyl,” Sherry announced. She also expressed her excitement about their new record label called Pretzel Records.

Manifest West

Manifest West is an alternative/indie rock band. The band is made up of Coggan Banerian on drums, Levi Isaac on guitar, Roan O’Brien on bass, and Cade Whitt as the lead songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist. They met in February 2022 through social media. 

The band prides itself on making each song diverse in its own way. “We just create, and we try to do things differently, especially as a unit,” Whitt said. “I think we just kind of try and let our sound be influenced by whatever we are doing at any given moment.” 

In agreement with Whitt, Isaac stated “Never in the studio are we ever trying to create a certain sound. It’s always trying this or trying that.” 

When talking about the band dynamic, all of them quickly agreed that they are all friends with each other. “There’s never a dull moment; it’s never quiet,” O’Brien said. 

Manifest West plans to release new music “by the end of the year,” according to Banerian. They have released two singles titled The City Sleeps Alone and I-72 and two albums titled Wright St. and I Just Feel Nothing At All.

Daisy Chain

Daisy Chain is a rock band originating in Chicago, Illinois. They met in high school and eventually made their way to the U of I where they continued their musical journey together. The band is made up of Wolfgang Burtner on the guitar, Will VanDerLaan on the drums, and Dominic Mini on the bass.

 “We just like rock,” VanDerLaan said. “We like the intensity of it and we like to go crazy on stage. We like playing from our influence; just music you like growing up. It’s like the type of music I envisioned playing in a band when I was 11.”  

The band named many local bands when asked who they find inspiration from. VanDerLaan said, “You’ll see really cool bands and they’ll inspire you to want to do more and work harder”. 

Daisy Chain has released a self-titled EP, a single entitled Deep Shit, and an album titled Burning Up. 

American Football

American Football is an emo rock band that started in 1999. The band is made up of the singer, guitarist, and bassist Mike Kinsella, guitarist Steve Holmes, and trumpet player and drummer Steve Lamos. They released their self-titled debut album while still in college. After the album was released, they parted ways. 

15 years later, they reunited to find they had a big fanbase and it was only growing. The album made it onto Rolling Stone’s “40 Greatest Emo Albums of All Time” at number six. They released two more albums with features like San Holo and Hayley Williams. 

For their 25th Anniversary, they released original tapes that were remastered by Jonathan Pines, the engineer who captured the band’s debut. Covers of the album American Football were released by artists like Ethel Cain and Manchester Orchestra.