William Beckett, Kristen Cavallari, Whose next? Mack McConnell Perhaps...

This morning was like every other summer day for me. I woke up around 9am and went downstairs to grab a water bottle and the Daily Herald Newspaper. To my wonderful surprise the entertainment section had an "extra" TIME OUT! Dive into summer concerts section. For all you Chicago Suburbanites, it's the section with Chris's girlfriend Feist diving into a crowd full of raised hands. I flipped through it quickly looking for eye catching bands and headlines, and saw a band called Santa (no relation to Claus). Under a little header it stated the type of sound the band played, which read: "Vampire Weekend meets Fleet Foxes". The first thing that came to my mind was obviously, Kapolas. I first thought, A. Dare I find a band that he may not know about? B. Is there a shot he would like them too? Before reading the full-page article, I took a long gaze at the two pictures thinking that one member looked very familiar. Sure enough, one of my friends from middle school and high school sat legs crossed, staring off aimlessly like most indie rock members do during photo hour. Could Mack be the next Barrington High School grad to enter world of entertainment fame?

The band is made up of my schoolmate Mack McConnell (Guitar/Barrington), cousin Stan McConnell (vocals/guitar/Dixon), Otto Stuparitz (bass/Highland Park), Tommy Trafton (keys/Naperville) and drummer Steve Plock (Dixon). They put out their first release, "My Bones EP" in March. The article went on to describe the music as "a sonic college-rock playground packed with subtlely intricate arrangements and easy, familiar vocals comparable to the Shins." My favorite song and recommendation would be a catchy pop tune called "Poles" which can be heard on their MYSPACE.

They will be playing a show at Abbey Pub in Chicago tomorrow at 8pm. Tickets are $8. If you will be around the city, this might be something that you are interested in...