Bending Brains

Omar Menci a biotech professional from Iowa who lived in the Chicago area for the past 10 years. He is an entrepreneur and host of the podcast Harlem lights podcast and the creator of the Lateef App with link of www.lateefapp.com He is also an investor in MIGHTY Halal a fried chicken and Shawarma place. Lastly, Omar now owns the original DZ house where DZ Records and DZ Fest were created.

Lawrence Tome is the King of the River. Lawrence Tome rests at the bottom of hollowtop lake in the tobacco root mountains outside of Pony Montana. Many fishermen have felt the water stir as somber melodies float up from the depths breaking the surface, reaching toward the stars. A man known by most as Flint Michigan claimed to have Lawrence Tome on his line for 17 hours, 46 minutes, and 22 seconds. Repeatedly pulled into the water, Flint nearly drowned keeping hold of his rod. When he finally pulled in the line, there was a treasure map at the end of his hook. Lawrence Tome was born and raised in a Norman Rockwell painting. When startled, Lawrence Tome dissolves into a puddle of tears.

Jeremiah Collier is a Drummer and Chicago native that started playing drums at the age of two. Skilled in a wide variety of musical genres, Jeremiah has been performing with Stanley Clarke for several years, including at the 2022 concert where Clarke was honored as an NEA Jazz Master. He has also played at the Kennedy Center with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and with a plethora of artists such as Ernest Dawkins, Ari Brown, Robert Irving III, Willie Pickens and many more. Follow https://www.instagram.com/dzrecords/ for more Bending Brains episodes Follow https://www.instagram.com/theejeremiahcollierofficial/ for Jeremiah's Instagram Follow https://www.instagram.com/jcandthe_reupband/ for Jeremiahs own band Follow https://www.instagram.com/stanleyclarke/ for more music

Chip is the long time guitar player from the band Romancoke. His current project is the Chicago based band Cosmic Bodies. Keep your eyes out for new releases coming soon! For collaborations, architecture, or construction help reach out to: itschipcreative@gmail.com

Martin Clive Atkins is an English drummer, best known for his work in post-punk and industrial groups including Public Image Ltd, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Pigface, and Killing Joke. He also works as a consultant, has written multiple books on the music industry, and is the music industry studies coordinator at Millikin University in Decatur, IL. Atkins is the owner and operator of the Museum of Post Punk and Industrial Music in Chicago, is an honorary board member of the Chicago-based nonprofit organization Rock For Kids, and is a fellow of In Place of War. https://martinatkins.com/

Chicago-based, Tanner Dane (of Hollyy), places his voice front and center, to explore the depths of identity and intimacy through his debut EP, Cut Me Loose (Easy Does It Records). Blending the rawest of human emotion with reflective storytelling, Cut Me Loose creates a journey that feels both deeply personal and universal in just 5 tracks. Lauded as “the future of retro rock” (CLASH Mag), Dane masterfully imparts a sound both grounded in youth and transcendent.

Leah Morris is a forester drone pilot, artist, reiki healer, permaculture gardener, and dear friend. A lifelong traveler, Leah weaves together her passions for adventure, art, health, innovation, and environmental restoration into a life of purpose and beauty. Her mission to plant one million trees is well underway, with over 1,000 trees and 100,000 native plants already planted. None of it would be possible without collaboration, determination, and the loving support of her husband, family, and friends. Find her art on instagram @leahpersona.art or reach out to ReachingSeedlings@gmail.com

Mike Altergott is a multi-instrumentalist, audio engineer, mechanical engineer, and math/science educator. You can catch him playing shows around town with Chicago bands Space Gators, Middle Sister, Doc, Obliger, and Pub League. His new solo musical project called Winter Mako just did a DZ Session with Ben, word on the street is that some videos are coming soon! If you need a live sound engineer, planning an event with music, help with touring needs, or want to make a studio record together, reach out and say to him on Instagram as Malt Audio or send an email to maltergott@gmail.com Otherwise, he is likely to be found curled up on the couch enjoying the company of his dog Strawberry and partner Maddie, or out and about playing soccer.

Shlomo Franklin is an American singer/songwriter born on a small cow farm in upstate New York. Raised off the cultural grid, without music, television, or radio, his songs are strongly influenced by his cult-like religious upbringing. Shlomo released his debut album in 2019 which was produced by Grammy Award winner C Lanzbom and was followed by a double album from his now Nashville, TN home. Franklin has opened up for Jakob Dylan and The Wallflowers and shared festivals with The Nude Party and The Bones of JR Jones. His songs seem just as comfortable in front of a crowd of two thousand as they are in a living room house concert. Shlomo sees himself as a bare bones troubadour and is stubbornly trendless.

Dr. Shannon Switzer is the Director of the Sensaphonics Musicians’ Hearing Clinic in Chicago and is a featured audiologist in the MusiCares x Tuned partnership. A native Vermonter, she completed her Bachelor of Science at the University of Vermont and then moved to Chicagoland to earn her Doctorate of Audiology from Northwestern University. She provides hearing healthcare for the music industry through a variety of channels; the Sensaphonics clinic, concierge visits at music venues, hearing clinic residencies with orchestras around the country, and telehealth visits with musicians around the world. Dr. Switzer is passionate about promoting hearing health through public education and advocating for a collective effort to prevent sound-induced hearing injuries. She is a committee member of the WHO’s Make Listening Safe Initiative. As a lifelong clarinetist and avid concert-goer, she continues to be fascinated by the intersection of hearing and music for both work and play. NIOSH Sound Level Meter app: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/noise/about/app.html MindEar app: https://www.mindear.com/ hearWHO app: https://www.who.int/teams/noncommunicable-diseases/sensory-functions-disability-and-rehabilitation/hearwho Can loud music damage your hearing? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R307w05iJc

Matt Muffin is the lead singer and guitarist for Chicago Thrashers Lollygagger as well as being a professional amp tech with 10 years experience.

Otruta is a Ukrainian musician from Kyiv, Ukraine. He is a student at Columbia College Chicago studying audio production and music. Otruta produces music and performs as a DJ all over the world. He has put on a music festival in Kyiv, Ukraine and hopes to do more with music and education in Ukraine.

Beverly Rage (she/her in drag, he/him out of drag) is the singer, guitarist, and songwriter in Chicago’s all-original drag fronted punk rock band Bev Rage & the Drinks. Bev has been a musician for over two decades, nearly half of that fronting BR&TD, and a drag artist for 15 years. As a lifelong queer activist, Bev uses music as a way to empower folks to work outside of the expected to get their message out. When not playing music, she enjoys gardening, DIY projects at home, and going to the gay beach.

Mary Rose Gonzales, known as "Beef," is a Filipino American drummer from Chicago, making waves in the punk and garage rock scenes for over a decade. She currently plays with Bev Rage & The Drinks and will be reuniting with Mystery Actions for a special show at Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas in May 2025. When she’s not behind the drums, she works a 9 to 5 at a merchandising photo studio. Outside of music, she enjoys pickleball, playing pool, and fingerboarding.

Stephanie Robertson is a comedian from Chicago. You can find her producing and hosting a weekly showcase at The Vixen in McHenry, IL or at Zanies Comedy Club producing and hosting Roast Battle Chicago. Her most recent credits include opening for Rosebud Baker, Liz Koplitz, and Taylor Williamson.

Lillian Wong is a local Chicago musician who started her bass journey during the pandemic in 2020. She has a musical background from playing violin and oboe as a child, and always had dreams of playing music. She began learning bass by watching videos on Youtube, and soon began posting her own covers online. In September of 2021, Lillian answered a Craigslist ad and officially joined her first band, Gnarly Gap, an indie punk band. Since then, she has joined two other bands: Wratheon (melodic death metal) and Hoverboard (aggressively dreamy alt-rock). She hopes to continue to grow in her music career, and to help inspire others in their own pursuits, no matter the age or dream. gnarlygap.bandcamp.com wratheon.bandcamp.com overboardmp3.bandcamp.com youtube.com/@arugula666/videos

Katherrin is a first-generation American, multimedia visual artist from Chicago. Through paintings, sculptures, photographs, murals, and linocuts, she explores her Mexican-Argentine roots, colorful facets of everyday life, and philosophical concepts. She is motivated to create in hopes of portraying underrepresented perspectives, inspiring empathy, and establishing meaningful relationships. At age 16, she founded the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Visionary Art Gallery. Seeking to provide more exhibition and networking opportunities for young visual artists, she independently organized four annual pop-up youth art galleries and hopes to expand them across the East Coast. https://katherrinbillordo.com/

Emma Kleidon is a piano technician who services instruments all around the Chicagoland area. On top of acoustic piano work, she also runs her own repair shop focusing on vintage electro-mechanical keyboards. You may have seen her online documenting rare and unusual instruments, along with the repair guides she posts on YouTube under Analog Emma. While most of her day is spent in front of keys, her primary instrument is the guitar, where you might have heard her in Crash Birmingham; a father-daughter garage rock duo from Plainfield, IL.

Alex Santilli is a drummer-percussionist/composer/producer who is Thee Sacred Souls touring percussionist and Drummer/Member of local Chicago group Late Nite Laundry. He also plays with countless artists here in Chicago in a wide variety of styles and genres. He is also a composer and producer of his own solo music under the name “the adventures of anacleto”, where he explores all instrumentation and composition. He is also a self working ethnomusicologist, studies the origins of music, its core pillars, and similarities throughout all cultures. https://linktr.ee/Anacleto44?lt_utm_source=lt_share_link#429471729

“We’re Matt and Jess and we’re the co-founders and primary runners of Brain Graffiti, an independent DIY music zine that covers the current state of independent music across the country.”