The Prime is a hard rock band based in Chicago, IL that was founded in 2010. The band's music can be described as energetic guitar driven rock and roll with soaring lead vocals. Their style is a mix of catchy hooks, solid grooves, and big riffs that blends together for a unique hard rock sound. Their music has been praised for its catchy melodies and intricate instrumentation.

Zaq Baker's original music is featured in 2024 film How to Break a World Record; as keynote at Youth Mental Health Day, a conference of 730 attendees; and in magazine cover stories, talk shows, festival headlines, and numerous podcasts and radio interviews. Zaq Baker's quirky, verbal, intricate, earnest catalogue brings pop-punk and emo to the piano with a major flair for synthpop and theatre. Zaq's debut novel, Unspectacular -- a Chicago music story -- has been met with gracious praise in its first two months in the U.S. and UK. Unspectacular is available online, in sixteen bookstores, and at three bakeries. Zaq's brand-new single "bri" expands on a variety-loaded catalogue of three full albums, two EP's, eight standalone singles, a rockumentary, and four concept music videos, of which the top have each garnered more than 83k views. Photo credit: Adam Nantz

Charlie Otto has been a Chicago favorite for 15 years. The founder of the cult darlings This Must be the Band and DJ noDJ, he’s sold out venues around the United States, and has had the honor of playing alongside many amazingly talented people including some of his musical idols, like Umphrey’s McGee and members of King Crimson and Smashing Pumpkins. “charlie otto + his gear” is his first solo project, running on the cutting edge of both music and video performance, spontaneously letting the music he's playing generate what you see on the screen. The technology to connect the sound and visuals to this degree is only recently being developed, and with the help of video guru DRMBT, Charlie experiments and pushes this tech forward every show. The songs are not experiments though, they’re fully developed SONGS. The lyrics and chords are gushing with feeling, the drums are throbbing, the synths are huge, it’s very electronic while still achieving rock and roll status – probably because most of it is controlled by Charlie’s multi-guitar. Although the entire show is danceable, don’t be surprised if there are times you’re glued to where you stand and your jaw stays open. Either way, it’s something that you’ll have to talk about later. Since 2020, Charlie and his gear have been playing shows big and tiny all over the country, from two consecutive years at Summer Camp Music Festival to a brewery tour of SW United States. He's always thrilled to do what he loves best, and thankful for the music fans that make that possible.

Zombie Mañana is an Indie Electronic/Art Rock artist from Chicago, IL. This dreamlike music is made with love by creator Danny Biggins, crafting adept songwriting paired with potent/thought-provoking lyrics. ZM's first two albums, 2015's Idle Brains and 2017's S'more R'morse are available on soundcloud. Enjoy!