Mr. Blotto was born in Chicago as an off-night vehicle for musicians who loved each others playing but were in different bands at the time. The only rule was that they would only play what they loved. That philosophy continues today and has led Mr. Blotto into unique musical situations.

Mr. Blotto takes the Jam band asthetic into areas unfamiliar to the standard Jam Scene. They have been known to cover entire albums by Led Zeppelin and the Who as well as perform entire shows of Country and Reggae. Artists as diverse as the Grateful Dead, the Flaming Lips, Willie Nelson and The Velvet Underground have seen their material interpreted by Mr. Blotto in the 2000+ shows the band has performed in the last 15 years, yet covers only pepper the bands hefty catalog of original material stemming from five studio albums and other unreleased crowd favorites.

Going To California is Greg Firak on guitar (Fifth World, Dirty MF and the Smokin’ Sextion, Mano) and Jimmy Cobb (The Snake Oil Salesmen) on vocals. Both are avid Led Zeppelin fans who decided to infiltrate open mics around Chicago and play strictly acoustic Zeppelin songs. The audiences were amazed at how well this duo performed. Firak and Cobb mimic the powerful yet delicate dynamics of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant and can recreate everyone’s favorite Zeppelin songs . The open mics proved to be successful and paid gigs followed, playing Reggie’s Music Joint opening for Mr. Blotto, Reggie’s Roof Top, and Sylvie’s. Going To California also performed these influential songs to a bunch of young aspiring rockers at CampJam 2012. You won’t believe your ears.