STRFKR impresses at Bluebird

Amidst floating balloons and animal costumes, STRFKR took the stage last night at the Bluebird Nightclub with Rod Tufcurls.

This is the band’s first time in Bloomington, but it has been touring across the country — two nights ago, it was in Chicago, and Friday it will be in St. Louis, said band manager Chance Jackson.

Jackson met the drummer Keil Corcoran when they were 16-years-old at a Modest Mouse concert, and he ran into the band by chance several years later.

“I met the rest of them at Outside Lands festival in 2011,” Jackson said. “Then they asked me to go on tour with them to help drive, sell merchandise, breakdown and set up.”

Jackson said STRFKR saved him from a bad time in his life.

“I was miserable in my job and depressed,” Jackson said. “I just got out of a long relationship, and I got the opportunity to travel with the band, see the world, go to New York, so I quit my job and had the best week of my life.”

Even after that tour ended, Jackson stayed on board with STRFKR and has since gleaned more responsibilities and become a part of the greater team.

“I became tour manager, so each time we go out, I do more and more stuff,” Jackson said. “Before the tour starts, I help with organization, renting practice space, ordering records, getting to design the shirts. But pretty much every night, I get to crowd surf as an astronaut so that’s pretty awesome.”

Fan Nick Kieper said he was visiting a friend in town when he heard STRFKR was playing, and he couldn’t help but believe it was divine intervention.

“It’s funny how when you go about existing in the world, things fall into place, and I just think finding it here is one miraculous moment,” Kieper said.

Follow local music reporter on Twitter @JanicaKaneshiro.