Vaudevileins is Bill Aldridge (bass), Brennen Chouinard (drums/vox), Alex Jaskula (lead guitar), and Jeff Julian (vox/guitar). The band has roots in Chicago, Joliet, and Kankakee and also considers Champaign-Urbana a home away from home. Written during the pandemic and in the wake of its aftermath, the songs on Vaudevileins’ new album Lights Out (April 8, 2024) explore darker themes, the sense of giving up, and inevitability—a reflection of 2020’s isolation and the era’s political and societal landscape. 

The eight-song album leans into the band’s signature energy, loud guitars, and memorable melodies, which started with 2011’s self-titled album, continued with a collection of EPs and singles, and solidified with 2016’s Magician. Lights Out spotlights themes of transitions and endings, mining the fears of not being understood even as the album underlines precisely who Vaudevileins is: “There’s not a lot of quiet on this record,” Julian says. “It’s a banger from beginning to end.”

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