Flint Under the Stars: Local Flint Legends

Flint Under the Stars: Local Flint Legends
Kinetic Stereokids and Billy O’Neill of Oh My God

During the 20 year closure of FIM Capitol Theatre, music continued to thrive in downtown Flint at spaces including The Loft, Metropolis, and Flint Local 432. Due to the long closure, many of the bands that dominated downtown Flint in the early 2000s did not have the opportunity to perform under the starry dome of FIM Capitol Theatre. In February 2026, we’re changing that and taking you down memory lane with Flint Under the Stars: Local Flint Legends featuring Kinetic Stereokids, Billy O’Neill of Oh My God, and special guest artist Andrew Sartwell.

Billy O’Neill of Oh My God. Formed in 1999 in Chicago, Oh My God quickly gained popularity in the early 2000’s with their unique sound and energetic live shows, fronted by their famously charismatic lead singer and bassist, Billy O’Neill. The band was signed to Split Red Records and toured across the US and beyond for over a decade, including one of their favorite tour stops, Flint, where they played dozens of shows and established a large fanbase. The band parted ways in the mid-2010’s to pursue other projects, and Billy has since gone on to write, record and perform live music with a number of successful groups. In response to the undying devotion of the fans, Billy is bringing back the Oh My God catalog in 2026. He will be joined by Joshua Varichak on drums and Jamison Fernandez on guitar, keys and backing vocals. With an electric guitar replacing the organ, the group offers a fresh take on the songs while still invoking the iconic spirit of classic Oh My God.

Kinetic Stereokids are an experimental indie rock band from Flint, Michigan, known for a sound that fuses rock, hip-hop, and electronic sampling into something both raw and carefully constructed. Emerging in the early 2000s from the Rust Belt’s gritty landscape, the band built music rooted in classic rock traditions while pushing into collage, texture, and abstraction. Formed by four high school friends, Kinetic Stereokids began as a creative refuge during a period of economic decline and social strain in Flint. Basement rehearsals turned into a full-scale project that blended live instrumentation with layered sampling, tape collage, and found sound. Their debut album, Basement Kids (Overdraft Recordings, 2007), captured that hybrid energy and quickly drew attention beyond Michigan, allowing them to tour across the Midwest and beyond. Kinetic Stereokids’ sound pulls equally from experimental rock and hip-hop lineage. Their music integrates snippets of dialogue, laughter, and electronic noise into melodic frameworks, creating songs that feel cinematic, restless, and emotionally grounded. Operating largely within the indie underground, their work stands as a document of Flint’s resilience, transforming limitation into invention and hardship into sound that still feels urgent, strange, and alive.

Our special guest opener, Andrew Sartwell, is continuing the tradition of making music in our city! Andrew is a musician and artist who has lived and worked in the city of Flint for over 15 years. He was the singer and one of the creative figures in the band Sadie Lee and also the sole creator of the project Yo. Bro. His music is influenced by folk-punk and lo-fi/emo, along with artists like Bob Dylan and Charles Bukowski.