Old School is a Classic Rock band based in Palatine, Illinois. I love the way Cass (Mike Cassady, drummer) put it in his bio, except I’ll addend it a little bit; “Old School is a team of musical brothers”, who make music because they love it. We aren’t in this for the money or fame; in fact we all have careers, families, and many other things we juggle to make room for this.
One of my friends refers to us as “The Old Guys”, and it’s apropos. If I’m doing the math right, we have 207 years of musical experience collectively. More than experience, though, we have a passion for music that keeps us going, through many challenges and situations, to make music that we love. Our hope is to share this passion with any we get the opportunity to perform in front of, and we hope that’s you!
You can click on any band member in the image below to learn more about them.
Meg Shanahan
Below you will find more information about frequent guest vocalist Meg Shanahan. She is an amazing talent that Old School enjoys performing with whenever we can!
Meghan started her singing career at the ripe age of 8 years old burning through all of the CD’s that came with the karaoke machine her parents got her for Christmas. A purchase she is sure they sometimes regretted. She spent her childhood tagging along to her parents gigs seeing the ins and outs of the music biz.
She began singing professionally at 16, starting off in musical theatre and obtaining her BFA from Western Michigan University and spent a summer in the UK studying abroad and becoming a regular at the Karaoke pubs in London. (Her picture may or may not still be on the wall at The Four Horsemen bar)
She then moved to New York with no job or money (very smart) and hit the cabaret concert scene, performing at iconic venues like the Duplex and the Underground.
After a while she started to miss deep dish pizza, so she returned to Chicago where she fell into the Chicago comedy scene. She began working at the Public House Theatre writing and performing in the long running sketch comedy show “Bye Bye Liver” where instead of singing, she got to use the microphone to tell jokes and playfully harass audience members.
After her stint in comedy, she decided it was time to get back to music, so she picked back up with singing, playing in various bands and performing all around the city and surrounding burbs. Fav Chicago venues she’s performed at include The Cubby Bear, Chicago House of Blues, and getting to play “pre-game” to the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago Bears.
These days you can catch Meg singing with her Band “Out Late” or moonlighting as a guest vocalist for Old School