West suburban band flowersatherfeet takes the stage Friday at Milwaukee’s Summerfest
For a relatively new band like West suburban-based flowersatherfeet, a booking at Milwaukee’s Summerfest is huge.
“It was definitely a shock,” guitarist Rob Biskoski said.
A slight bit of panic came after the music festival confirmed the band’s appearance.
“After they said it, we didn’t see our names on the site,” Biskoski said.
“So I went, ‘Did I just dream that this happened? or …’ And then finally they got back to us.
“Thank God.”
Flowersatherfeet, formed two years ago in May, will play at the Generac Power Stage at 12:30 p.m. Friday, June 19, during the first of three weekends of the festival, which runs noon to midnight Thursday through Saturday, June 18-20 and 25-27, and July 2-4.
Wheaton natives Biskoski and drummer Tim Vallaro also have to thank singer Ivory Flores, from West Chicago, for solidifying the band’s blend of alternative rock, dream pop and shoegaze.
Biskoski and Vallaro played together in another band, which, after a lineup change, was in the process of working on a new album.
Not fast enough for Biskoski. He was writing three or four songs a week and waiting for his band mates to get up to speed.
Meanwhile, Vallaro knew Flores through the grapevine. Though she had not previously been in a band, the trio met in May 2024 for what Biskoski and Vallaro considered a possible side project.
A fan of Mazzy Star and Jewel, Flores had no formal training, just a cassette tape of her singing to an acoustic guitar.
That jam session expanded into flowersatherfeet after they composed the song “Fade,” a layered blast of shoegaze guitar broken by Flores’ uplifting vocals that opens the band’s 2025 debut album, “elegy.”
“When she left, I told Tim, ‘We’re quitting the other band and we’re just going to do this,’” said Biskoski, who now lives in Downers Grove.
“We found out we just worked really well, and especially really quickly,” he said. “We could write a song and have it out on streaming platforms within, like, three, four weeks if we so want to. We work really well together, really efficiently.”
The singer in his prior bands, Biskoski put aside his ego and shifted to background vocals after Flores came aboard.
“When I heard her sing over the stuff I was doing, it just gave it a different feel to me. I’m like, I’ll just quit singing because she’s better than me,” said Biskoski, who came of age listening to WKQX-FM Q101 and Billy Corgan’s guitar playing in the Smashing Pumpkins.
The response has been positive, including a recent feature in the Chicago Reader. Since January, flowersatherfeet has played Chicago gigs at Cobra Lounge, Beat Kitchen, the Cubby Bear, Subterranean and the Gman Tavern, plus out-of-state shows in Ohio and Michigan.
After Summerfest, the band is on the bill for the Afterlife Music Fest Aug. 15 at BaseCamp Pub in Lisle.
In concert, Biskoski has an array of effects pedals, while a bass track joins Vallaro to create rhythm, with no current desire to expand beyond a trio.
For their recordings, Biskoski adds bass and keyboards. He’s turned over lyric duties to Flores.
“I’ve always been interested in writing about the things people carry with them, the love, grief, longing, hope and the ghosts that follow us through different chapters of life,” Flores said.
“Flowersatherfeet has given me a place to turn those feelings into something beautiful. We’re not chasing perfection, we’re chasing connection. If someone hears one of our songs and feels understood for three minutes, that’s success to me,” she said.
That’s clear when she sings, “Addictions make me cry” in the song “Dopamine.” Despite Flores’ skepticism, Biskoski insisted that song was included on “elegy.” Out of the ethereal Mazzy Star playbook, it’s an emotional album closer.
“Ivory really just puts it straight out there, and she’ll connect with you when she’s singing,” Biskoski said. “She’s just really good with a crowd and she’s just real honest about everything in her performance.”
The band has completed five songs — “Ghost” and “Name” among them — for a new album targeted for release by the end of the year.
But first … Summerfest.
“I hope everybody checks us out,” Biskoski said. “We love what we do and hope everybody does, too.”
• • •
flowersaherfeet at Summerfest
When: 12:30 p.m. Friday, June 19
Where: Generac Power Stage at Henry Maier Festival Park, 200 N. Harbor Drive, Milwaukee
Tickets: General admission starts at $30 at store.summerfest.com/tickets. Other packages, including three-day and nine-day, are available. See summerfest.com/ for details.