Breakout artists bloom under the trees as their careers grow at Lolla

Massive music festival Lollapalooza returned once again to Chicago from August 1-4 this year. Many of the performers let loose and talked to the press while relaxing after their individual set times in the designated media area in Grant Park.

Artists dropped in from around the world to show audiences what they were all about and to strut their stuff. Breakout artist Blondshell comes from a bisexual perspective and belted out tunes at the Bacardi stage on Thursday. She flew in from Los Angeles to spotlight new material such as her cover song “Thank You for Sending Me an Angel” on the Stop Making Sense tribute album. She said, “I'm such a big Talking Heads fan! They were looking for people to interpret the music differently so I was asked to perform on it.”

Sabrina Teitelbaum was renamed Blondshell just a few years ago and has noticed the growth of more LGBTQ+ musicians representing their true selves openly in 2024. She was a classmate of Blu DeTiger who performed earlier at Lolla and was recently interviewed for GoPride, “I love the fact that she and her brother Rex tour together.”

The talented singer just finished mastering her new record and will be playing at more shows. She left for Europe to perform just a few days after Lollapalooza.

She describes her musicality as being made for people with “intense feelings.” Blondshell went on to explain, “For me, my concerts are a place to not feel shame about a person's feelings.”

Minneapolis, Minnesota duo TWINSICK were happy to see many of their friends and family showing up at their set for support when they played on Perry's Stage Friday. Alex Ingalls said, “We looked out at the crowd and saw them partying. That is what matters and it felt like we were at home.”

Casey Schneider describes the heat from the equipment used, “The pyro and fire was sick. You have no idea how hot it is up there. It felt like we were by a fireplace!”

Some of the latest tunes the two were spinning came from Calvin Harris and Ingalls gushed about his influences that they played, “I'm a fan of John Summit. We threw in a throwback of 21 Pilots too!”

Qveen Herby has recently dropped The Alchemist and plans on touring in November to feature the new EP. She said, “Starting with Halloqveen on October 31 we are going to build out an insane walk-thru experience in LA where people can go through the history of where Qveen Herby came from. My fans will take a quiz to see which path they should follow in the haunted Herby House. It will be spooky and crazy!”

Other musicians talked about their history to GoPride, Band Nico Vega's lead singer Aja Volkman moved to LA from Oregon after trying several bands out to find the perfect fit, “Back then I used Craigslist to contact people. It was intense and nothing was in alignment. I played solo shows for a while. Michael Peña and Rich Koehler were looking for a singer after their singer left their group. We started playing together and Mike's acting career took off, but we kept practicing together so here we are. We were road dogs for years together on various tours!”

Drummer Daniel Epand joined them for the first time at Lollapalooza as part of Nico Vega, although he's played the festival in other bands. Their plans for the future include releasing several songs and videos before the end of the year. “We will see where that takes us!” Volkman exclaimed excitedly.

Fashionable band Happy Landing wore black jumpsuits on a blistering sunny Saturday to perform on the Bacardi Stage. Keyboardist Jacob Christensen said after their set, “We wanted to be remembered visually as well as sonically.”

The group met in college in Mississippi and Golden is their first full-length album.

Lead singer Matty Hendley described the endeavor as a way of “Dialing in their sound and staying true to their roots. We carry the motifs of landscapes, love and loss. The name comes from my grandpa when he was in the military. They would say have a happy landing before they jumped out of an airplane. We also named the land we live on as Happy Landing, so it just fit the band as well.”

Andrew Gardner plays the fiddle and mentions all the work involved with the instrument, “You have to put some time into it. Many people who play the violin will play a local symphony, but I have the travel bug and I like seeing the world on tour.”

Christensen followed that up with, “While he plays the fiddle he runs it through a pedal board. It's like a violin meets a classic guitar!”

Bassist Wilson Moyer described the Happy Landing sound as “having a folk element combined with the settlers of Appalachia who are playing an electric guitar with stacked amps. That's where we land…” This unique band returns to Chicago on November 9, 2024, with tickets at lh-st.com.

Stay tuned to these musicians and watch their musical careers grow, but they all showed at Lollapalooza that these flourishing and original artists will never be fenced in!