Post Animal at Beachland Ballroom & Tavern

Offering an ambitious mix of hard, soft, prog, and psychedelic rock spiked with hooks, fills, and riffs, Post Animal are an indie rock group from Chicago. They issued their full-length debut, When I Think of You in a Castle, in 2018. Formed in 2014 by childhood friends Dalton Allison (bass) and Matt Williams (guitar), the band expanded to include guitarists Jake Hirshland and Joe Keery for their debut EP, Post Animal Perform the Most Curious Water Activities, released in 2015. Adding drummer Wesley Toledo to the official lineup, Post Animal began packing basement shows and small clubs in Chicago. They issued a series of three two-track singles in the first half of 2016 and collected them on the Garden Series EP that July. Around that time, Keery began appearing as Steve Harrington on the Netflix series Stranger Things, and the band added Javi Reyes as fourth guitarist. The sextet soon headed to a lake house in Watervliet, Michigan, to record their full-length debut. Allison spent the next several months working on mixing the album, and in May 2017 Post Animal released "Special Moment," their first single as a six-piece. The group also embarked on their first tours, including opening shows for hometown headliners Twin Peaks. Late in 2017, Post Animal signed with Polyvinyl Records, which released the self-produced When I Think of You in a Castle in April 2018. By that time, Keery's acting career had taken off with multiple seasons on the hit show, and he parted ways with the band while continuing to collaborate on various side projects as time permitted. The remaining five-piece followed up with another eclectic set of songs, Forward Motion Godyssey, in February 2020. Keeping things in-family, it was produced and mixed by Allison and prior collaborator Adam Thein.