After a four-year hiatus, Midwest Punk Fest is back.
Dirty Rotten Revenge frontman Jeremy Plue launched the regional festival gathering punk and punk-adjacent bands in 2009 at a [now closed] little bar called Coconut Louie's.
It got unwieldy. Plue told WGLT he got burned out managing more and more bands—over 50 when the last Midwest Punk Fest took place in 2022—and changing venues every few years.
Plue said now was an ideal time to resuscitate Midwest Punk Fest, in large part, because he's got a space of his own.
“We moved the show every two years, just because of venue issues,” he said on WGLT’s Sound Ideas. “Either had to get bigger, or it just didn’t work out at a certain venue, or the venue was closed. We now have our own venue and can kind of control a little bit more of how it’s done.”
Plue is the president and self-proclaimed “chief creative juggernaut" of Meltdown Creative Works, a graphic design and screen-printing outfit that, increasingly, hosts bands and other live events.
The space is now officially, legally, a club after hours, with Meltdown’s design and production studios taking up one half of the industrial space off of Constitution Trail, and the other half housing a small stage for music, comedy and other entertainment.
Plue said the freedom that comes with Midwest Punk Fest having a dedicated space allowed him to get back to “the heart” of why it started in the first place: “basically just bringing my friends to come play.”
This year’s festival, running Friday and Saturday at Meltdown, is relatively pared down, with the 26-band lineup including Plue’s band, Dirty Rotten Revenge, and others from throughout the region. A pair of bands started by Midwest brothers, the Smoking Popes and Didjits, headline the weekend.
“I’m ready to open back up and bring more people to the Bloomington-Normal area,” Plue said. “It’s such a great stop between Chicago, St. Louis and Indianapolis. And so many people don’t know that we have a great little music scene here.”
That includes a connection to the only Smoking Pope who’s not related, drummer Mike Felumlee, who lives in the Twin Cities. Former Allister drummer David Rossi played with the Chicago pop-punk band in the early 2000s and now owns Bombsight Studios in Bloomington.
And Plue said the scene is home to up-and-comers reviving the genre.
“I’ve always liked to wear my socks high,” he said. “It’s coming back.”
Plue said a few of the bands on this year’s lineup are from a younger generation that’s more heavily leaning toward the grungier end of the spectrum.
“Total ‘90s vibe,” he said. “I’m definitely trying to get them more intertwined with the skate punk and the hard core that we’ve had, and melodic pop-punk—stuff like that. It’s bringing ‘em into the fold as much as possible, and they’ve definitely go it going on. I’m jealous.”
Midwest Punk Fest is riding a wave of live music cropping up at Meltdown, which has served as a gap-filler since the Downtown Bloomington club Nightshop closed in 2024.
“I knew there was always an interest, and there’s tons of great bands floating around in Peoria and Champaign,” Plue said. “When Nightshop closed, they lost a home to play at here. Fewer and fewer bars are hosting music of the punk and the metal—even just, like, experimental jazz stuff. They’re just not wanting to do anything that’s not that bread-and-butter covers or radio rock.”
Another distinction: Meltdown shows are designed to be inclusive for families. Plue wanted it to be a place he could bring his 8-year-old son. He just advises bringing ear protection for kiddos.
“Just being able to offer those people who were playing at Nightshop a place to come and play feels really great to me,” he said.
Midwest Punk Fest runs May 29 and 30 at Meltdown Creative Works, 716 E. Empire St., Bloomington. Tickets are $15-$40 at midwestpunkfest.com.
