Wolves in Sheep's Clothing / The Speedbumps

Wolves in Sheep's Clothing & The Speedbumps

with Jeremy Colbert and Heather Styka

Doors are at 8 PM. Show is at 8:30 PM.

Tickets are $12 in advance, and $15 at the door.

Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

Wolves in Sheep's Clothing (WISC) originally consisted of the acoustic duo of Jason Gamble and Brendon Bassler, who began playing together in 2011.  After building and performing a large repertoire of original music (primarily written by Jason Gamble) the need for the group to expand became more evident.

Over the next few years, the group gigged with several different musicians, finally settling on their current lineup in December of 2013 - with Josh Williams on percussion and Nick Adams on upright bass.  The goal had always been to have a brush oriented percussionist and an upright bass player to incorporate elements of jazz into the compositions.

The Speedbumps

The Speedbumps are an award-winning American band with a warm, authentic sound, built on a passion for hollow-bodied instruments, indie-folk influences, and singer-songwriter Erik Urycki’s breathy, commanding vocals and canny phrasing.

The band’s roots lie deep in the Rustbelt, where quiet strength and limited embellishment define the culture. The working class towns around Akron, the former rubber capital, from which artists like The Black Keys, Jessica Lea Mayfield, and Joseph Arthur have emerged, have provided the band with an aesthetic that seeks to tease out beauty from the gritty details of everyday life.

The band consists of Erik Urycki on vocals and guitar, Abby Luri on vocals, guitar, banjo and keys, Sam Kristoff playing cello -- often where you’d expect a guitar riff, Kevin Martinez on acoustic and electric bass, and two members on drums and percussion, Pat Hawkins and Danny Jenkins. In addition to her ethereal vocals, Luri is also a songwriter and has co-written several of the band’s tunes.

The Speedbumps have won IMA and AMA awards and performed with artists including Andrew Bird, G-Love and OKGO. Daryl Rowland, writing for the Huffington Post, said that singer Erik Urycki’s lyrics “often tackle complex human emotions with elegant economy.”

While the band cites influences from Paul Simon to Nick Drake to Radiohead, their material and vibe have more in common with festival favorites like The Decemberists, Wilco, Ryan Adams or Mumford & Sons, with their consistently smart, spare and rootsy approach.

Their latest album, “Soil to the Seed,” was recorded in a remote cabin in the woods of Pennsylvania, where the band lived together, writing songs and laying down tracks at all hours. The resulting recording reflects that total emersion. As with seminal house-based recordings like The Band’s “Music from Big Pink,” the songs have an effortless unity. 

The Speedbumps’ unique live shows include instruments like Cello, Banjo, Ukulele, Wurlitzer, Glockenspiel, Vibraslap and Mandolin. On several occasions, the band has performed with a 40 piece symphony orchestra, featuring arrangements written by bass player, Kevin Martinez, who holds a degree in Music Theory and Composition.

The Speedbumps winning combination of thought-provoking singer-songwriter material and high-caliber musicianship have earned the band a large and loyal fan base in the Northeast and Midwest. With the May 5th release of the their new album, the band will be touring United States and abroad, sharing their new songs and soaking up the world to feed the next batch of tunes.

Heather Styka

Chicago songwriter Heather Styka is not afraid to go where others fear to tread — and to get a little messy on the way. Beneath “sweet, soulful vocals” (Portland Press Herald) and “nimble fingerpicked guitar” (Dispatch Magazine) lie narratives of vulnerability, strength, and wanderlust, drawn from her extensive touring. Styka’s image-heavy lyrics brim with sincerity and heartbreak, but she veers towards an unexpected edge, more interested in questions than answers. Half road-weary, half persistently optimistic, these are the sort of songs that take you on a journey and haunt you all the way home.

Styka started writing and performing as teenager in the Chicago suburbs. Honing her craft among Chicago’s long-standing folk community, she hit the road after graduating with a degree in creative writing. At the age of 28, Styka has performed for over a decade, released four full-length albums, and toured from coast to coast. Her 2011 release Lifeboats for Atlantis brought her to national attention, hitting #3 on the FOLK-DJ charts. In addition to being a 2015 New Folk Finalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival, Styka received first place in the Big Top Chautauqua Songwriting Competition (2009) and second place in the Great Lakes Songwriting Contest (2012). She’s performed at the Folk Alliance International (FAI) and Folk Alliance Region Midwest (FARM) conferences as an official showcase artist.

While living in Portland, Maine, Heather Styka released While This Planet Spins Beneath Our Feet. Recorded in the Adirondacks with Beehive Productions and printed by Styka on a 1901 letterpress in Maine, this 2014 release charted for four months on FOLK-DJ. Songs like “Love in the Multiverse” and “Caspian Sea” reveal Styka’s intellectual curiosity — and her passion for philosophy, history, and theoretical physics — while the earnest and catchy pop sensibilities of “Careful With My Heart” caught the ears of a number of peers who now cover that song, including Joe Jencks (Brother Sun) and Scott Cook.

Styka’s latest album, The Bittersweet Tapes (2016), “tugs the ear on first listen and greets you like an old friend on subsequent visits” (Simon Rigby, Indie Music Portal). These gut-punch pretty songs nod to traditional folk, classic country, and even garage rock, carried by Styka’s emotive vocals. Recorded in Tulsa, Oklahoma on an old four track recorder with sparse, ethereal production by John Calvin Abney (John Moreland, Samantha Crain), The Bittersweet Tapes retains an unfiltered immediacy. “In this raw and intimate portrait of life, disguised as a collection of songs, Heather Styka has truly created a masterpiece… A writer with this kind of vision and ability doesn’t come along very often” (Chris Darby, Independent Melody).

With training both as a poet and an actor, Heather Styka is equal parts wordsmith and entertainer. Colored by a quirky sense of humor and peppered with confessional storytelling, Styka’s live shows are intimate and candid as late night conversation. Styka is currently writing a new album and collaborating on multiple upcoming projects. There’s no telling where this young troubadour is headed next, but if Heather Styka’s songs are any indication, she’ll be getting there with fierce and fearless honesty.

Jeremy Colbert