Stillystock 2026 raises $800 for youth musicians as Dreamsickle prepares for first Texas tour

Stillwater alternative metal band Dreamsickle is heading out on its first Texas tour this month, days after performing at Stillystock 2026, a free, all-ages festival at Block 34 that raised $800 for the Greenwood School of Music's Prep Rock Academy.

The fourth annual festival, held April 18 and organized by the OSU Music Industry Association, was the second event of Block 34 Live's 2026 free concert series. Headlined by Ben Quad, it drew eight acts to the outdoor venue, with canned food admission benefiting the Our Daily Bread Food & Resource Center.

The Next Generation

Before the bands took the stage, students from the Greenwood School of Music's Prep Rock Academy opened the festival at 2:30 p.m. with a five-song set that included covers of "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet, "Hotel California," "Barbarism Begins at Home" by The Smiths, and "Creep" by Radiohead, plus an original song with lyrics by vocalist Eli Morris and music by guitarist Lohden Walker. Rounding out the band were Gwen Surratt on bass guitar and Wyatt Sanders, a new member, on drums.

"They made a lot of progress this last year. They arrived early, stayed late and practiced outside of class," Mark Perry, Prep Rock Band instructor and associate professor at the Greenwood School of Music at Oklahoma State University, said. "They took it seriously."

The Academy, which offers 12-week rock music programs for youth, was the festival's primary beneficiary. At $550 per student for a full session, the $800 raised covers tuition and instrument access for at least one student, with funds remaining toward a second. Donations to the program remain open at philanthropete.osugiving.com/project/49407/donate.

Dreamsickle is hosting a send-off show Monday at Velvet Fudge with Krack and Losing Connection before the tour. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 7:30 p.m. A $10 donation is suggested, with proceeds going toward gas, lodging, and beer for the run. The tour kicks off May 14 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with Within Arms Reach, continues May 15 in Austin with DIE.Mart, and wraps May 16 in San Antonio with anewday and Four Days Dead.

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Noon Open-Air Gathering — Block 34 Simmons Bank Pavilion, 218 W. 9th Ave. Bring a lawn chair.

Evening Gathering, 7 p.m. — CREC Community Center, 3305 S. Boomer Rd.

Come together to pray for our community, county, state, and the world. Bring your family, friends, church, and neighbors. This is a public, community-wide gathering — everyone is welcome.

At Stillystock, Dreamsickle took a risk with their set — they played a song that was still a work in progress.

"We had never played it before. We just decided to throw it on tonight, and the people were very receptive. It just meant a lot," Asa Thompson, the band's vocalist, said.

The outdoor setting at Block 34 presented practical challenges for a band accustomed to playing indoors. "Being just outside in general is kind of different for us," Thompson said. "Your throat dries out a lot faster in the open air. I've got to keep the water ready. But it's nice to have the potential for more people to be there and just be outside and feel the air."

Thompson did not hesitate when asked about other bands on the lineup. "Just a group of some of the nicest people on the planet," Thompson said of Garden Ants. "I just love the spirit that they bring to every show. It's always entertaining and always just makes you feel good."

Ryan Northcutt, president of the OSU Music Industry Association and coordinator of Stillystock, said the event represented years of late nights and hoping it would come together.

"I see the effort my peers put into their music," Northcutt said. "I know that they do it because they love it, and so do I. I want to see other large opportunities for alternative music come out of Stillwater, and we have to start somewhere."

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Setting the Afternoon

EZ4U2SEY, a Stillwater shoegaze and alternative project led by vocalist and bassist Lee Burns, opened the festival's band sets at 3:15 p.m. Burns used the set to revive a song she had not played in years.

"We played a song we've never played before," Burns said. "It was the first song I ever released in high school, so that was pretty cool."

For a band accustomed to indoor clubs, the outdoor setting at Block 34 presented a different energy. "Outdoors, definitely different," Burns said. "But they did great, and yeah, it was good energy."

Cash Layton, singer and rhythm guitarist for Losing Connection, a Tulsa-based post-punk, emo, and post-hardcore band, came in eager to play the three songs the group had released in January.

"They're three high-energy songs, they get stuff going," Layton said. "It seemed like people moved up to the front of the stage after we played our first couple songs, so it seemed like people were stoked on it."

The band includes Aaron Sageser on lead guitar, who also plays in Garden Ants. For Layton, the outdoor afternoon vibe was a welcome change from the usual sweaty, packed clubs. "It was definitely a vibe change, but it was sick," Layton said.

Layton singled out Limp Wizurds, a band they had shared a bill with the previous month at Red Sun's Record Release Show. "They're an awesome band. They've been around for so long — like literally local legends," Layton said.

Layton closed with gratitude for the organizers. "Thank you guys for putting on Stillystock. Whoever's in charge has been doing a great job. We're very fortunate that we got to play. So yeah, thank you and all the love to Stillwater," Layton said.

Logan Jones, lead singer of Peoria, was particularly excited about unveiling a new song the Stillwater grunge band had been working on.

"It's fun to kind of just experiment and do something a little bit mathy like that," Jones said. "We've been really excited for that one."

For a band accustomed to the intimate energy of the Moss Pit, the outdoor stage at Block 34 was a different experience. "A little less intimate, but it's really cool in its own way — just playing for everybody out here outside having a good time," Jones said. "Just being out in the sun is always fun."

Jones singled out Losing Connection and Dreamsickle as highlights from the rest of the lineup. "We've played with them once, but it's always great to see those guys," Jones said.

The DIY Ethos

Garden Ants took the stage with their characteristic high-energy set. For drummer Preston Loucks, the highlight was a song about Pokémon Black & White.

"Especially the slowdown at the end of that," Loucks said. "It's a good moment for people that just kind of move."

Playing on a proper stage was an adjustment for a band more accustomed to crowds at their level. "Usually we're kind of used to the more grounded sets or shows where you're on the same level as the audience, there's no stage," Loucks said. "It's a bit of a different feel — the difference in energy and how you have to kind of feel it out."

Donald Stark, bassist from Garden Ants, had watched Stillystock grow from its earliest days. Stark had been attending since it was "a tiny thing" at the Seretean Center for the Performing Arts, when barely 12 people showed up. "It's really cool seeing it grow," Stark said.

Connor Edens, guitarist and vocalist, offered the band's philosophy on venues. "No matter how big we get, I don't wanna ever stop trying to play shows like house shows," Edens said. "The closeness and personality you can get from house shows — everybody is on the exact same level, and there's nothing else like it."

Lead guitarist Aaron Sageser, who also handles screaming duties, was particularly excited about performing the chorus of their song "Milo of Croton," which features two-handed tapping techniques. As a fan of Ben Quad — who employ similar techniques — getting to perform that song in front of them was "super exciting," Sageser said.

Sageser added a message for the crowd. "It's kind of basic, but support local music. Go buy merch when you can. Hang around, say what's up to the people in the bands. We're not some higher-up beings — we're just people," Sageser said.

Old Homies

Limp Wizurds, a Norman and Oklahoma City-based pop-punk and punk rock band that has been a fixture of the Oklahoma alternative scene since 2012, brought something special to their set — a new song released that day, plus "John Rosner," a song they had never played live before.

"That was the first time ever playing it live," Taylor Young, who plays bass and sings for the band, said.

The band had been at the festival since the early afternoon and had watched the crowd stay engaged for every set. "It's been jumping the whole time," Young said. "Sometimes there's ebbs and flows — it'll be packed for one band and a skeleton crew for the next one. So the support for all the bands has been really cool to see."

Limp Wizurds held a unique place in the lineup's history. While most of the other bands were experiencing Ben Quad for the first time, Limp Wizurds had played with them years earlier. "It's kind of like a full circle moment," Young said. "First time we've got to play with them in a long time. We've both been around forever, and so it's like old homies linking up."

Young noted that his band was the only one on the bill that had shared a stage with Ben Quad before. "Everybody else on stage today is a newer band," Young said. "So that's really cool to see."

When Ben Quad took the stage as headliners, it marked a return to Stillwater for the band. Edgar Viveros recalled writing the instrumentals for "I'm No Loon" in his bedroom while living in the city. "It was even the last song we worked on before I moved out of town," Viveros said. "My in-ears fell out for a moment, and it was awesome hearing the roar of the crowd as we started that song up."

The band — Sam Wegrzynski, Henry Shields, Edgar Viveros, and Isaac Young — is known for dynamic shifts between emo and math rock. "That's always the energy we go for, live and recorded," Wegrzynski said. "We love that the crowd is down for any of our moods."

Despite the mud on the ground, the crowd responded. "We love a good rowdy set," Viveros said. "Despite all the mud on the ground, the crowd was super into the wall of death and circle pit callouts."

Viveros reflected on the band's early days in Stillwater, when they couldn't get booked anywhere. "I'd just respond to touring DIY bands on Reddit or Facebook and have them play my living room" at an old frat house that is now a parking lot near Qdoba, Viveros said. "Those shows were really special because there wasn't any pressure to sell tickets or worry about career advancement. We were just partying and living in the moment."

Seeing the current Stillwater scene, Viveros said he was heartened. "It was really heartwarming to come back to Stilly and see the blossoming DIY scene," Viveros said. "There's so much more infrastructure now than there ever was. The fact that there are multiple venues around the city and a big crop of local bands is such a good sign."

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The Stillwegian Lightbox | StillyStock 2026

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Behind the Scenes

Northcutt had been carrying the weight of the event long before the first band took the stage. "The audience will never see the late nights making graphics, drafting emails, scheduling said emails to send at 10 a.m. so they don't know I wrote it at 3 a.m. — the stress, the doubt," Northcutt said.

The moment he had been waiting for was when Ben Quad finally signed the contract with the Block. "We were afraid for so long that they wouldn't take the show," Northcutt said. "I was afraid of what would happen if they didn't, and how it would have reflected on us if it was a 'lie.'"

Getting Ben Quad — a band now accustomed to major festival stages — for a free show in Stillwater was, by Northcutt's own account, a long shot. Northcutt credited the Stillwater Community Center Foundation, particularly Jarrod Beckstrom, for making it possible. "Jarrod was actually the one to suggest Ben Quad, and that's when I knew Stillystock could be something great," Northcutt said.

Working with the city of Stillwater and Parks & Recreation came with challenges. "Block 34 is a city venue, and with government comes red tape," Northcutt said. "I don't know if something like this will come to the Block again, but I'm proud to have done this one, regardless."

When asked about his hopes for Stillystock a decade in the future, Northcutt said the mission matters more than the trappings. "I hope the goals of Stillystock never change: to provide career experience for Music Industry majors, to provide a killer show and memorable experience for the audience, to showcase local talent, and most importantly, to give back to the community I love," Northcutt said.

Viveros, reflecting on what the day represented, offered a final word on what makes scenes like Stillwater's last.

"All of this is built on community and ethos," Viveros said. "It only survives when there's a new generation to bear the torch. Uplifting each other is such an important thing, and I think Stillwater is doing that well."