Bound Stems

Chicago's Bound Stems feature Bobby Gallivan (guitar/vocals), Dan Radzicki (bass), Dan Fleury (guitar), and Evan Sult (drums). Gallivan, Radzicki, and Fleury played on the same high-school basketball team and had been playing music for several years by the time they met Harvey Danger's Sult in 2001. A year later, the self-conscious indie rock sounds of the Bound Stems were born. The band's debut release, the Logic of Building the Body Plan EP, arrived on Flameshovel in late 2005. Vocalist Janie Porsche was also added to the lineup around this time. A performance at the annual South by Southwest conference in Austin, TX, followed in March. Appreciation Night was slated for a September 2006 release. While touring in support of the album, Gallivan realized he wanted to return to teaching, so the band returned to Chicago and began working on new songs, but hit an impasse. After a brief hiatus, they regrouped and continued recording in fall 2007, and their third album, The Family Afloat, arrived a year later.