If you’ve been scoping the Canopy Club calendar lately, you may have noticed a recurring theme: Today’s Children is playing three shows between April 20-28. I chatted with Nick Arger, the band’s singer and one of their two guitar players, to learn a little more about who these guys are and what they’re up to.
Smile Politely: Tell me a little bit about who you guys are as a band.
Nick Arger: We are a rock band from Urbana that is composed of Nick Arger (me, guitarist/singer), Robert Audino (guitarist), Alex McAfee (drummer), and Cameron Kern (bassist). We play original material that I write and present to the band.
SP: I see you’re playing a bunch of shows in the near future, are y’all ramping up your live performances?
Arger: Lately we have been writing songs as a group, and we are preparing to record something this summer. We are still deciding how many songs will be on this release, whether it will be an album or an EP, etc. We are trying to play as many shows as we can and are searching for management.
SP: What new stuff is on the horizon for Today’s Children?
Arger: For our upcoming Canopy Club shows we are preparing to use a music visualizer that will be projected on stage and we are playing some new original songs.
Photo by Alan Mitchell
SP: What’s your favorite venue to play in C-U?
Arger: Our favorite venues to play in C-U are probably house show venues such as Portlandia House and Waluigi’s Mansion, but we also love the Canopy Club and we hope to make it to the Canopy Club’s bigger stage sometime in the future.
SP: How about your favorite venue to watch other bands perform?
Arger: Our favorite venue to watch other bands was The Accord in Champaign [formerly the Highdive, and most recently 51 Main], but since that is no longer around I will say Audible Meats, which is another house show venue, and Canopy Club again.
SP: What’s one thing you want readers to know about you and what you’re doing?
Arger: One thing that we would like SP readers to know is that we are trying to pay homage to the classic rock bands that everyone knows and loves while also trying to do it in our own style and modernize it. Our influences cover the genres of blues rock, psychedelic pop, indie/alternative, punk, heavy metal, and garage rock. If its rock, we will most likely have a song that tries to cover a certain sound. The main goal of this band is to write great original songs, put on energetic live performances, and most importantly get people to have as much fun as possible. That’s what rock is all about, and that is what we have set out to do.
You can catch Today’s Children playing live at these upcoming shows:
Saturday, April 20th
Bad Columbus, Today’s Children, & Jack Johnston
►The Canopy Club // $5 // 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday, April 24th
Today’s Children host Open Jam
►The Canopy Club // free // 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 28th
Grant Milliren with Today’s Children
►The Canopy Club // $3 // 8 p.m.
Top photo, clockwise from top: Cameron Kern, Robert Audino, Nick Arger, Alex McCaffee