UPCOMING SHOWS
6/24 Cursive
7/2 Bilal / Liv Warfield
7/4 Boys Like Girls
7/7 Jim Rose Circus Sideshow
7/9 Reverend Horton Heat
7/10 The Gourds & Patterson Hood
7/28 Gomez
8/11 Peter, Bjorn & John
8/15 RX Bandits / Dredge
8/27 Bat for Lashes
9/22 Meat Puppets / Dead Confederate
10/14 KMFDM
11/20 Cherry Poppin' Daddies





Unless otherwise noted, all tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster. Note: The cheapest
way to buy tickets in advance is to purchase in person at the Wonder Ballroom Box Office to avoid internet/phone order charges.

Prior to day of show, tickets may be purchased at UnderWonder Lounge, open show nights only, 5pm to midnight. Tickets can also be purchased at the Wonder Box Office on Saturdays from Noon to 5pm. Cash Only. All tickets subject to $2 surcharge. Sales based on availability.

Day of show tickets are only available 1 hr prior to show at the Wonder Ballroom Box Office located on street level, CASH ONLY. All tickets subject to $2 surcharge. Sales based on availability.


07/02/2009 • 8pm (doors open at 7pm).
 

Buy Tickets
  Bilal
Liv Warfield
21 & Over. $20.00 advance. $25.00 day of show.

Bilal: For Bilal Sayeed Oliver, dreams started falling into place quite rapidly. A self-confessed jazz junkie from Philadelphia, PA, Bilal started out by singing in small clubs until he began training in jazz and big-band arrangements at the Mannes Music Conservatory in New York. With this formal training, the singer/songwriter learned to sing opera in seven languages. His debut album, 1st Born Second, is a collection of songs entirely by the artist himself, right down to the music, lyrics, and notes. His single "Soul Sista" appears on the Love & Basketball movie soundtrack. In addition, Bilal sang the hook on Common's "The 6th Sense" with neo-soul singer Jill Scott. He also scats and plays keyboards. Bilal has appeared on Common's Like Water for Chocolate, Guru's Jazzmatazz, Vol. 3: Street Soul, and has written and produced for the likes of Erykah Badu. Bilal, the same musician who has called jazz "the original booty shake," is also known for heaping truth in his music. Talks of record contracts came about when Bilal met brothers Fa and Damu Mtume, creators of Moyo Entertainment, in 1995 at a Philly barbershop. After hearing his demo, the Mtumes asked Bilal if he was interested in becoming a recording artist. Eventually Bilal moved to Brooklyn, NY, and began gigging around the city until his tape landed in the hands of Erykah Badu, for whose Mama's Gun album he appeared and produced. Bilal is a member of the Soulquarians collective, along with Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, Q-Tip, and D'Angelo.

Liv Warfield: Liv Warfield is one of the most promising voices in Indie soul music today. Her triumphant debut album, Embrace Me, is a compelling overload, combining warm, seductive vocals and vintage R&B with a funky new-age twist. Her music is a celebration of love and life; a powerful package of brilliant songwriting and flawless harmonizing. But Liv's greatness lies in her simplicity. She still has that demure mid-western charm about herself and a unique vulnerability that paints a picture of a young woman with an old soul full of timeless, liberated melodies. Liv didn't inherit her love of music by way of genetics, Sunday morning church choir participation or school band rehearsals, although she did play the violin for 13 years, Liv was a track star who longed to sing. Born and raised in Peoria, IL to a family of prideful, standout athletes, Liv kept her emotions, talents and dreams to herself and lived vicariously through her musical hero's such as Jill Scott, Nina Simone, Tina Turner, Sarah Vaughn, Sade and Mary J. Blige.
 

07/04/2009 • 7pm (doors open at 6pm).
 

Buy Tickets
  Boys Like Girls
Never Shout Never
The Ready Set
All Ages. $19.99 advance. $23.00 day of show.

Unafraid to wear their heart on their collective sleeve, the Boston-based emo-pop outfit Boys Like Girls features singer/guitarist Martin Johnson, bassist Bryan Donahue, drummer John Keefe, and guitarist Paul DiGiovanni (the last two members being cousins). After Boys Like Girls posted several demo recordings online, the band's lively hooks and youthful enthusiasm had gathered them quite a following by 2005's end, while also catching the attention of industry players like booking agent Matt Galle (My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday) and producer Matt Squire (Panic! at the Disco, Northstar), both of whom contacted the band about working together. Following a national PureVolume-sponsored tour with Hit the Lights and A Thorn for Every Heart, Boys Like Girls entered the studio with Squire to record their debut album. The resulting self-titled effort appeared in August 2006 on Red Ink. Although initial sales were slow, the album eventually went gold, and tracks like "Thunder" helped Boys Like Girls maintain a presence on the Billboard charts through 2008.
 

07/07/2009 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
 

Buy Tickets
  Epidemic Music Presents
Live at The Wonder Ballroom
The When Legends Collide Tour

The Jim Rose Circus
Bebe The Circus Queen
Formally KIZARNY of WWE SiNn BoDhi
Super Geek League
21 & Over. $15.00 advance. $18.00 day of show.

The Jim Rose Circus: The Jim Rose Circus is a modern-day version of a circus sideshow. It was founded in Seattle by Jim Rose in the early 1990s. They came to prominence while performing on the second stage at the 1992 Lollapalooza festival as the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow. Rolling Stone magazine called the Jim Rose Circus "the absolute must-see act" and USA Today termed Rose's troupe "Lollapalooza's word-of-mouth hit attraction".
 

07/09/2009 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
 

Buy Tickets
  Reverend Horton Heat
Nekromantix
21 & Over. $20.00 advance. $23.00 day of show.

Reverend Horton Heat: Undeniably, The Reverend Horton Heat, aka Jim Heath, is the biggest, baddest, grittiest, greasiest, greatest rocker that ever piled his hair up and pounded the drinks down. Without question, for all of his outlandish antics, blistering stage performances and legendary musical prowess, the one thing The Rev always gets asked about is the story behind his unusual and rather clerical moniker. "Well, there used to be this guy who ran this place in Deep Ellum, Texas who used to call me Horton- my last name is Heath," says The Rev. "Anyway, this guy hired me and right before the show he goes, 'Your stage name should be Reverend Horton Heat! Your music is like gospel'... and I thought it was pretty ridiculous. So I'm up there playing and after the first few songs, people are saying, 'Yeah, Reverend!' What's really funny is that this guy gave up the bar business, and actually became a preacher! Now he comes to our shows and says, 'Jim, you really should drop this whole Reverend thing.'" It's been an almost 20-year journey for Heath, whose country-flavored punkabilly and onstage antics have brought him and his band a strikingly diverse fan base and a devoted cult following, not to mention the respect of fellow musicians worldwide. Revival, the band's first release for Yep Roc Records, is a return to Heath's roots - musical and geographical. The album was recorded at Last Beat Studio in the Deep Ellum area of Dallas, just a block from where The Rev played his first gig and next door to where the group currently rehearses. Along with eating a lot of world-class Mexican food and BBQ, the band recorded the album's 15 tracks with a minimum of overdubs, bells and whistles. With tour manager/engineer Dave Allen at the board, they wanted an album they could duplicate live. "I got this lick called the 'hurricane,' and I call back on the hurricane on this album for the sake of keeping things really rockin,'" he says. (The "hurricane" is a trademark lick where The Rev plays lead and rhythm guitar simultaneously to give the trio its full live sound.) He's also got a top-secret lick he'll introduce on this disc. It's so top secret that he won't even divulge the name, but listen up for it! Lyrically, the album's themes run "from death to silliness," says The Rev, who lost his mother earlier this year. "I'd been going through so much stuff, losing my mom so quickly, new baby, touring, getting back and having to work," he says of making the album. Revival finds the Rev dealing with these issues and more: The track "Someone in Heaven" is written for his mother, while "Indigo Friends" deals with a friend's heroin addiction. But the album's themes aren't only dark and/or serious: "Calling in Twisted" is about calling in sick to work and "using the fake cough," "Rumble Strip" is a truck drivin' song and "If it Ain't got Rhythm" - "that's a really fun one to play," says the Rev - is classic RHH. And "Party Mad" is pretty self-explanatory. Reunited with legendary producer/engineer Ed Stasium, who mixed the album, Revival is a 40-plus minute slab of rockabilly, blues, R&B that shows an artist - and a band - in their prime. It's true that the Reverend Horton Heat have been called a great many things over the course of their storied career: Perpetual Carriers Of The Rockabilly Flame, Genre-Shattering Shit-Starters, Filthy Drunks, and The Most Electrifying Live Act In America (150 shows every year can't be wrong) among them. "I think it's cool we've lasted this long," says The Rev. "People still come out to see us play after all these years and all the shows and tours. It's amazing. I mean, I get to sing songs about cars I love, drinking and chasing girls. Beats the hell out of the alternative."
 

07/10/2009 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
 

Buy Tickets
  The Gourds
Patterson Hood (of Drive-By Truckers) & the Screwtopians
21 & Over. $15.00 advance. $17.00 day of show.

AUSTIN, TEXAS' THE GOURDS HAVE NEVER BEEN MUCH ON SENTIMENT. Since the band started defining Gourds Music, as it has come to be known, with Dem's Good Beeblein 1997 and the quirky Stadium Blitzer in 1998, they have chugged through America fueled by music and a near-pathological need for a good time. And while songwriters Kevin Russell and Jimmy Smith have written the most dense, reference-laden country songs of the last 10 years and almost single-handedly made a place for deep thought in a genre of "Honky Tonk Badonkadonks" they have, for the most part, shied away from the tear-in-my-beer ballads that made country music a commercial powerhouse over the last 50 years. But on this go-round with Noble Creatures, Russell and company have put the irony and redneck post-modernism on the backburner for a bit, instead building their ninth studio release around a single song, a song based on an accident. Upon fiddling around with a ukulele chord book while spending time with his young daughter, Kevin strummed a few chords that were like a glass of ice water to the face. "I was messing around with this ukulele chord book and I stumbled upon this C to E minor chord progression that's really simple, but it woke my ears up." "I just started messing around with it and that's how the melody for "Promenade" was written," says Russell in his everyman Texas drawl. "I knew when I wrote that song I wanted it to be on the album but I wasn't sure it had a place in the Gourds. It's not the type of thing we usually do." Faced with what is surely the most stirring and beautiful song he has ever written, Kevin set out to make it fit into the Gourds canon. "I knew there had to be more ballads on the album so that "Promenade" would have some context. I couldn't just throw it on the usual Gourds record." As a result Noble Creaturessports a somber soul not found on any album to date. Despite some initial trepidation, Russell soon warmed to the idea of a different sort of Gourds album, "I wasn't really sure how all the ballads would sound with the band just because they aren't really our style traditionally, but for some reason I thought it would be cool just because we had never done anything like it before, and now seemed like as good a time as any. Luckily the guys liked the songs!"
 

07/28/2009 • 8pm (doors open at 7pm).
 

Buy Tickets
  Gomez
Mother Hips
21 & Over. $20.00 advance. $22.00 day of show.

ATO Records recording artist Gomez has revealed details of its highly anticipated new album, A NEW TIDE . The eagerly awaited collection - the band's sixth studio outing and follow-up to 2006's breakthrough HOW WE OPERATE - arrives in stores and at all online retailers on March 31 st . A NEW TIDE marks a return to the always-freewheeling British band's more experimental roots, with songs like "Win Park Slope" and "Airstream Driver" evincing a spirit born of boundless imagination and a longstanding collaborative relationship. With the band members now scattered across two continents, from Brooklyn to Brighton, England, early tracks were written and recorded individually and then merged online. The process allowed for an open and adaptive songwriting approach, the material taking on its ultimate shape when Gomez officially convened in studios in Chicago and Charlottesville, VA, with producer Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Iron and Wine, Counting Crows). As ever, a wide range of styles is incorporated into Gomez's matchless musical brew. Flavors of Delta blues, psychedelia, and Krautrock all come into play, resulting in a musically mischievous and remarkably forward-thinking collection. In short, A NEW TIDE is Gomez at their inimitable, incomparable best. A NEW TIDE also sees Gomez accompanied by a number of illustrious guest musicians, including vocalist Amy Milan (of Stars/Broken Social Scene fame), bassist Josh Abrams (The Roots, Sam Prekop, Godspeed You Black Emperor!), cellist Oliver Krauss (David Gray, Paul Weller, Beth Orton), and multi-instrumentalist Stuart Bogie of Brooklyn's world renowned Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. Gomez has stood apart from their very beginning just over a decade ago, earning critical praise and an ever-growing fanbase for their eclectic and ambitious musical tack. HOW WE OPERATE - Gomez's ATO Records debut - proved the venerable band's biggest popular success thus far, debuting at #1 on Billboard's "Heatseekers" chart upon its May 2006 release. The album's title track - prominently featured on the 2006 season finale of ABC's Grey's Anatomy - drew major airplay at multi-format radio outlets nationwide, including Triple A and Modern Rock. The second single, "See The World," was later featured on a 2007 episode of Fox's House M.D. , and included on the series' "Original Television Soundtrack" album release. Gomez toured extensively surrounding the album's release, as both headliner and a variety of high profile opening slots, not to mention performances at such annual gatherings as the Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Sasquatch!, Vegoose, Summerfest, and the UK's V Festival. The band also made a number of national TV appearances, including performances on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno , Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and A&E's Breakfast with the Arts . In October 2008, Gomez celebrated the 10 th anniversary of their Mercury Music Prize-winning debut, "BRING IT ON," with a special one-off performance of the album at Chicago's Vic Theatre. The concert was highlighted by a second set which included the live premiere of many of the new songs featured on A NEW TIDE. In addition, the band's Ben Ottewell and Ian Ball have each performed multiple solo tours in both the US and the UK. Gomez will be touring in support of A NEW TIDE throughout 2009.
 

08/11/2009 • 8pm (doors open at 7pm).
 

Buy Tickets
  Peter Bjorn & John
All Ages. $20.00 advance. $23.00 day of show.

Peter Bjorn & John: Peter Bjorn and John formed in 1999 in Stockholm, Sweden, comprising members Peter Morén on vocals, guitar, and harmonica; Björn Yttling on vocals, bass, and keyboards; and John Eriksson on drums, percussion, and vocals. Although influenced by the sounds of classic '60s baroque pop, power pop, and new wave, the band shunned the "revivalist" tag and, instead, created some of the most exciting and original indie rock of the mid-2000s. The band began playing gigs soon after forming and eventually found themselves on music compilations alongside artists like Sahara Hotnights, Badly Drawn Boy, and Holiday for Strings. After releasing the Forbidden Chords EP and a pair of singles ("Failing and Passing" and "I Don't Know What I Want Us to Do"), the band released its self-titled first album in 2002 on the tiny Beat That! label. After more shows, more EPs (People They Know, 100m of Hurdles), and another release of a single ("See Through"), the group jumped to the Planekonomi label in 2004 and released the Beats, Traps and Backgrounds EP. It was soon followed by the 2004 album Falling Out, which was picked up for American release by Hidden Adenda in late 2005. The record placed them -- along with the Concretes, the Shout Out Louds (both of whom Yttling has produced records for), and the Legends -- at the forefront of the sparkling wave of promising pop bands coming from Sweden. The band's third album, Writer's Block, followed a year later and became a minor international hit, buoyed by the catchy single "Young Folks." The song's video also boosted the band's profile, gently propelling Peter Bjorn and John into a very 2000s kind of fame that culminated in them playing the tune with Kanye West at the 2007 Way Out West Festival in Gothenburg, Sweden. After completing their various tours in support of Writer's Block, the band focused on other projects (including Yttling's production work and Morén's 2008 solo album, The Last Tycoon) before coming together to record and release a largely instrumental album, Seaside Rock, in the autumn of 2008. Living Things, the band's fourth full-length album, was released several months later in early 2009.
 

08/15/2009 • 8pm (doors open at 7pm).
 

Buy Tickets
  Dredg
RX Bandits
As Tall As Lions
All Ages. $15.00 advance. $16.00 day of show.

Dredg: dredg is comprised of Dino C. (drums), Mark E. (guitar), Gavin H. (voice) and Drew R. (bass) - vividly paints a cultural picture within the music they create. Their musical abilities, desires, and many influences allow them to cover all ends of the musical spectrum; everything from rock to jazz to ambient drum and bass. It is only fitting that the band members grew up in the Bay Area, where computers and the sun have their capital while providing a birthplace for the dredg sound and its many dimensions. Their sound can never be categorized, but it has been best stated as: Audio Scenery. Dino and Mark, began jamming together in eighth grade, and their older cohorts joined during the next few years. Dredg was all over the place musically at the beginning, starting as a "rapcore" band, which is evident from their first two demo releases, with nothing else really being known about the 1st, but the 2nd, being titled: "Conscious". It contained the tracks: "Juggernaut", "Ignore Me", "Conscious", "Nuhgm". Both of these two demos were released around 1996. The band began playing clubs while they were still in high school, playing original material with cover songs thrown in. Then in 1997, the band set out to record an EP which was released independently. "Our first two recordings were written to be rhythmically aggressive" Dino says. "We did the third one, Orph E.P., because we wanted to grow up the right way, from our roots with harmony and melody." The "Orph" EP was released in 1997, and contained three tracks: "Is Not Everything", "Orph", and "Kayasuma". This was the first real sign of what was to come two years later! The band relentlessly played area venues, gaining fans one by one. Their unique sound gained interest from all over the Bay Area, and beyond.

RX Bandits: RX BANDITS thrive on playing live, and have become well known for putting on both physically and musically explosive shows. For them musicianship is paramount and is always the top priority which is why the band's 5 th album 2006's "...And the Battle Begun", and their previous release 2003's "'The Resignation' were both recorded live. RX BANDITS then make it a priority to go about making sure that they create a unique and different experience from those recordings for their live shows. RX BANDITS have become more than just a band, they have started their own musical community of sorts, a matrix of music and art with all of it's members participating in various side projects including: The Sound of Animals Fighting , Apotheke , Love Me Moon, Technology and many others. Stemming from this 'community" came the record label Mash Down Babylon (MDB) Records, that will release the RX BANDITS New Album "...And the Battle Begun ".
 

08/27/2009 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
 

Buy Tickets
  Bat For Lashes
21 & Over. $12.00 advance. $14.00 day of show.

Bat For Lashes: Brighton, England's Bat for Lashes is the brainchild of singer/songwriter Natasha Khan. The Pakistan-born Khan pulls from her art school education and her experience producing multimedia installations when it comes to writing songs. She also cites Steve Reich and Susan Hiller as influences, while echoes of Björk and Siouxsie Sioux are heard throughout Bat for Lashes' mystical indie rock sound. Bat for Lashes' first single, "The Wizard," was digitally released by DiS, and issued as a 7" on Khan's own She Bear imprint in early 2006. That fall, with "Trophy" burning up the BBC indie rock chart, the Fur & Gold LP arrived in the U.K. in September. The album was released a year later in the U.S. to much critical acclaim. Bat for Lashes' ambitious 2009 album, Two Suns, revolved around the concept of Khan and her blonde, hedonistic alter ego Pearl, and featured a duet with Scott Walker.
 

08/29/2009 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
 

Buy Tickets
  GLOBAL FAM & HIGH SCHOOL OF RAP PRESENT
D-12
Potluck
All Ages. $15.00 advance. $18.00 day of show.

D-12: "We all knew each other growing up in Detroit," Proof remembers. "I used to sneak Em into my school lunchroom just so he could battle. Later, when we started battling once a month at Maurice Malone's Hip-Hop Shop, everybody had a crew. So, we decided to form our own. That's how D12 was born. Before we even thought about making records, our only goal was to be like verbal ninjas and kick ass." Although the Detroit hip-hop scene might not be on the scale of New York or Cali, those who are down take rap very seriously. Having known each other since the days when they were rapping just to be heard, head nodding on stage inside Detroit's infamous Hip-Hop Shop (where Proof was also the host), these brothers from different mothers have always had a special bond. "We were the All-Star Team of battle rappers," Kuniva recalls. "And when somebody like Bizarre got in front of the mic, we never knew what he might say. Bizarre is wicked 'cause he'll say shit that others won't." While the group was a priority, each of the members has worked on solo and side projects. Still, it wasn't until Eminem's own legendary solo success with Dr. Dre that D12 finally got a chance to move beyond their neighborhoods. "Em was able to take D12 to the next level," Kon Artis says. Prior to teaming-up in front of a mic, the two worked together at a local pizza joint called Gilbert's Lounge. "He helps to bring stuff out of us. With him, no matter what happens, it's always been about real friendship."
 

09/03/2009 • 8pm (doors open at 7pm).
 

Buy Tickets
  Daniel Johnston
All Ages. $18.00 advance. $20.00 day of show.

Daniel Johnston: Daniel Johnston has spent the last 20 or so years exposing his heartrending tales of unrequited love, cosmic mishaps, and existential torment to an ever-growing international cult audience. Initiates, including a healthy number of discerning musicians and critics, have hailed him as an American original in the style of bluesman Robert Johnson and country legend Hank Williams. A number of artists -- among them the Dead Milkmen, Yo La Tengo, the Velvet Underground's songs. And he as collaborated with the likes of Jad Fair (a founding member of Half Japanese, who've also done Daniel's songs), the Butthole Surfers, Bongwater/Shimmydisc guru Kramer, and members of Sonic Youth. Daniel gained his widest public exposure to date when, at the 1992 MTV Music Awards, Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain (who constantly touted Daniel in interviews) wore a Johnston T-shirt. Surprisingly, the bulk of his considerable acclaim snowballed from a series of homemade, lo-fi cassettes which Daniel started recording and handing out to fans and friends alike in the early 80s. Eventually, the independent label Homestead re-issued some of these tapes on CD, and Johnston recorded a few new albums in almost-proper studios. Daniel was born in 1961 in Sacramento, California, the youngest of five children in a Christian fundamentalist household. He and his family soon moved to New Cumberland, West Virginia, where his father, an engineer and World War II fighter pilot, landed a job with Quaker State. Drawing for a long time before he took up music, Daniel grew to appreciate such artists John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Bob Dylan, David Bromberg, Queen, Neil Young, the Sex Pistols, and especially the Beatles. "When I was 19, I wanted to be the Beatles. I was disappointed when I found out I couldn't sing." That Liverpudlian quartet continues to inspire Daniel today, who sings, "My heart looked to art and I found the Beatles/Oh God I was and am a true disciple on Rock 'n' roll/EGA." While it would be years before Daniel committed his first songs to tape, he began composing at an early age. "When I was a kid, probably nine, I used to bang around on the piano, making up horror movie themes. When I got a bit older, I'd be mowing my lawn and I'd make up songs and sing them. No one could hear me 'cause of the lawn mower." As a teenager, Daniel and his friends began to record their own tapes and trade them among themselves. After high school, he attended an art program at a branch of Ken State near his family's home. This was a prolific period of his life. Unemployed, and attending classes sporadically, he began to spend most of his time in his family's cellar, writing and recording. The tapes he made there included "Songs of Pain" and "More Songs of Pain," which both centered around his unrequited love for a woman named Laurie who ended up marrying an undertaker. The aspiring cartoonist -- whose playful, symbol-heavy sketches have graced the covers of may of his releases, including "Fun" -- moved to Texas in 1983. FIrst he went to Houston, living with his brother and working at Astro World, while also recording the seminal tapes "Yip/Jump Music" and "Hi, How Are You?" on a $59.00 Sanyo mono boom box. These recordings featured such classics as "Speeding Motorcycle," "Sorry Entertainer," and odes to everyone from "Casper the Friendly Ghost" and "King Kong" to "The Beatles." From there he moved to San Marcos, TX, and even joined a traveling carnival show for a spell, selling corndogs. "It was like a movie all the time. Everybody around me was a great story that never stopped, and for the first time, I realized how much freedom you have to do what you want."
 

09/22/2009 • 8:30pm (doors open at 7:30pm).
 

Buy Tickets
  Meat Puppets
Dead Confederate
21 & Over. $15.00 advance. $17.00 day of show.

Meat Puppets: Out of all of the bands that made SST Records a towering force in the American underground during the mid-'80s, the Meat Puppets lasted the longest, surviving where other bands fell apart. The Meat Puppets never had the dedicated following of Hüsker Dü or the Minutemen -- two fellow SST bands who played the same circuit as the Puppets -- but they were able to carve out a long career where other hardcore bands could not, because they always drew from conventional hard rock as well as punk. Not only did they play hard, loud, and fast, but they also had elements of the blues-rock of ZZ Top, the ambling folk-rock of the Grateful Dead, and Neil Young's country-rock and hard rock. As they grew older, the band matured musically, developing an accomplished instrumental technique and moving closer to the traditional hard rock that was always underneath their punk. But they never quite abandoned their punk roots, even when they briefly broke into the mainstream in the early '90s.

Dead Confederate: Dead Confederate take a spacy approach to indie rock by peppering their music with psychedelic songcraft and atmospheric washes of guitar. Seeds for the band's formation were planted during the late-'90s, when future bandmates Hardy Morris (vocals, guitar), Brantley Senn (bass), Walker Howle (guitar), John Watkins (keyboards), and Jason Scarboro (drums) bonded over a shared affinity for Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath. Although hailing from Augusta, GA, the quintet relocated to Atlanta following college. A second move quickly followed, this time to Athens, where the group doubled its touring efforts and caught the attention of former Capitol Records president Gary Gersh. Impressed with the band's haunting sound, Gersh signed Dead Confederate to his new label, The Artists Organization, and issued their debut EP in early 2008. A full-length album, Wrecking Ball, followed in September.
 

10/14/2009 • 8pm (doors open at 7pm).
 

Buy Tickets
  KMFDM
Angelspit
Legion Within
21 & Over. $21.00 advance. $23.00 day of show.

Spawned in Germany during 1984, KMFDM pioneered the crossover between techno/dance and heavy metal with their signature industrial sound. Moving to Chicago in the mid-80' s KMFDM was the pride of Wax Trax Records during the label's peak. Rapidly evolving year by year through intense experimentation and touring; the band has redefined themselves with each new release. Spawned in Germany during 1984, KMFDM pioneered the crossover between techno/dance and heavy metal with their signature industrial sound. Moving to Chicago in the mid-80's KMFDM was the pride of WaxTrax! Records during the label's peak. Rapidly evolving year by year through intense experimentation and touring; the band redefined themselves with each new release. Venturing on to dabble in side projects and then re-establish KMFDM in Seattle during 1999, Sascha's revolving band of misfits have stood the test of time. To quote themselves, "The future belongs to those of us still willing to get our hands dirty". Living by their D.I.Y. philosophy, KMFDM launched their own online store, KMFDM Store and record label, (KMFDM Records). Helmed by the dual vocal attack of the band's founder Sascha and siren Lucia KMFDM celebrated 20 years of musical excellence by performing 62 shows in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia in 2004. In 2005 they embarked on a World Tour of 18 countries in support of their full length CD Hau Ruck. 2006 saw the release of a new remix EP titled Ruck Zuck and the Hau Ruck Zuck USSA Tour. 2007 brought Tohuvabohu, featuring a grand mixture of the band's many styles. In 2008 the band, now relocated to hometown Hamburg, Germany released their first full blown remix album ever, Brimborium. Celebrating their 24th Anniversary on February 29th, KMFDM announced KMFDM 24/7, a series of twenty four seven inch vinyl singles featuring tracks from the band's original 12" singles and classic album cuts. The singles will be released on the first of every month in the order they were originally released for 24 months culminating on Feb 01, 2010 with a brand new exclusive single. Each of the 24 singles is available in a Limited Edition First and Only Pressing of 250 copies. All tracks have been remastered specifically for vinyl and the covers for all the singles will feature original classic KMFDM artwork, most by famed KMFDM cohort Brute!. All KMFDM 24/7 releases are exclusive to the KMFDM Store. KMFDM remain a musical entity to be reckoned with. Through relentless musical exploration and reinvention they have continued to top themselves. KMFDM's new 2009 album, Blitz, is no exception. Featuring an electro cover of The Human League's "Being Boiled", the Russian language "Davai", the German sung "Potz-Blitz!" and the disco-amped "Strut". In addition to Blitz KMFDM presents - SKOLD vs. KMFDM, the new 22 track album by Tim Skold and Sascha Konietzko. The juggernauts of the alt-underground come together again to tear it apart. SKOLD vs. KMFDM is available from KMFDM Records exclusively through the KMFDM Store in fan-friendly CD, audiophile Vinyl and high quality MP3 formats. As further evidence that their 25th year, 2009, will be one to remember, the band are set to take Europe by storm, hitting a number of festival and headlining dates across ten countries in the Spring and Summer. Later this year they will make their way back to the US and Canada for more stops on the Kein Mitleid Tour 2009. In addition to their new material KMFDM has re-released their entire back catalog from the band's WaxTrax! Records era as KMFDM Classics via Metropolis Records/KMFDM Records. All KMFDM Classics are remastered with deluxe booklets and some contain extra tracks. Their ten classic albums, What Do You Know, Deutschland?, Don't Blow Your Top, UAIOE, Naive, Money, Angst, Nihil, Xtort, Symbols and Adios are available now. To accompany the KMFDM Classics, KMFDM has released Extra, a three volume set of double disc collections of all KMFDM tracks not included on the ten KMFDM Classic albums. It features remastered tracks from the band's 12" singles and CD singles. All of the material on Extra has been out of print for many years. Extra Vol. 1, Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 are out now on Metropolis Records/KMFDM Records. The classic KMFDM side project Excessive Force has had their entire catalog re-released with the same treatment given to the KMFDM Classics by Metropolis Records/KMFDM Records. Both Conquer Your World and Gentle Death are out now. As can plainly be seen, the self-proclaimed fathers of industrial-rock show no signs of stopping.
 

11/07/2009 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
 

Buy Tickets
  Dinosaur Jr.
lou barlow + the missingmen
21 & Over. $24.00 advance. $22.00 day of show.

Dinosaur Jr.: Dinosaur Jr. were largely responsible for returning lead guitar to indie rock and, along with their peers the Pixies, they injected late-'80s alternative rock with monumental levels of pure guitar noise. As the group's career progressed, it turned into a vehicle for J Mascis' songwriting and playing, which had the ultimate result of turning Dinosaur's albums into largely similar affairs. Over time, Mascis shed his hardcore punk roots and revealed himself to be a disciple of Neil Young, crafting simple songs that were delivered at a crushing volume and spiked with shards of feedback. Consequently, Dinosaur Jr.'s '90s albums -- when the group was essentially a front for Mascis -- don't sound particularly revolutionary, even with their subtle sonic innovations, yet their original '80s records for SST were a different matter. On their early records, Dinosaur lurched forward, taking weird detours into free-form noise and melodic soloing before the songs are brought back into relief by Mascis' laconic whine. Dinosaur's SST records laid the foundation for alternative rock's commercial breakthrough in the early '90s, and while the band's profile was raised substantially in the wake of Nirvana's success, they never really became much bigger than highly respected cult figures.
 

11/20/2009 • 8pm (doors open at 7pm).
 

Buy Tickets
  Cherry Poppin' Daddies
All Ages. $16.50 advance. $20.00 day of show.

The eight-piece ska/swing revival collective Cherry Poppin' Daddies formed out of several groups around the University of Oregon in Eugene. Vocalist/guitarist Steve Perry (aka MC Large Drink) and bassist Dan Schmid originally played in the Jazz Greats and the Hucks, then formed Cherry Poppin' Daddies in 1989 with a lineup which gradually encompassed guitarist Jason Moss, drummer Tim Donahue, trumpeter Dana Heitman, Sean Flannery on tenor saxophone, Ian Early on alto and baritone, and keyboard player Dustin Lanker. The group released their debut album, Ferociously Stoned, in 1990 on Sub Par Records and followed it up four years later with Rapid City Muscle Car. The Pacific Northwest was in the grips of the grunge wave during the early '90s, though, so the Cherry Poppin' Daddies' live show puzzled quite a few fans of alternative rock. By the mid-'90s, the fascination with formerly neglected musical styles (including easy listening and swing) had increased the band's prominence, along with bands like Squirrel Nut Zippers and Royal Crown Revue. After third album Kids on the Street was picked up for distribution by Caroline Records, the group compiled the most swing-oriented tracks from their back catalog for release on Zoot Suit Riot. Following up to their 1997 multi-platinum Zoot Suit Riot, Soul Caddy was released in mid-2000. Lanker and Schmid left the group the next year and formed the Visible Men.
 

Artists that have appeared at Wonder Ballroom include:
Peeping Tom, The Raconteurs, Eagles of Death Metal, Squeeze, Fountains of Wayne, Blitzen Trapper, Breeders, Colin Meloy, Daniel Johnston, Deerhoof, The Eels, The Gutter Twins, Ingrid Michaelson, Jamie Lidell, Kate Nash, The Kooks, Ladytron, Blonde Redhead, The Melvins, Melissa Ferrick, The Mountain Goats, The Old 97s, Pinback, Reverend Horton Heat, Silver Jews, Stars, Stereophonics, Tom Morello, Tiger Army, Was (Not Was), The Zombies, Roky Erickson, Viva Voce, Mason Jennings, Vagabond Opera, Devotchka, El-p, Lyrics Born, Meat Puppets, Dead Prez, Dashboard Confessional, Rogue Wave, Architecture in Helsinki, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Dengue Fever, Sparklehorse, and many more.

Check back often. More events are on the way!