Today's Children: The Story
How They Got Here
Today’s Children is the recording project of Nick Arger. The band's roots can be traced to the DIY scene of Urbana, Illinois. The band consisted of Nick, Robert Audino, Cameron Kern, and Alex McAfee, all of whom were students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The boys started playing together in September 2018 after Nick started teaching the group some of his original songs. The band started to grow a small following by playing local house parties, bars, and clubs, and eventually they found their way up to Chicago, playing to escalating crowd sizes at Subterranean in Wicker Park, Safari Lounge in Rogers Park, and The Curragh in Edison Park for a benefit concert. Upon returning back to Urbana, the group booked two radio appearances, one for WEFT in Champaign, and the other for WPGU, the University of Illinois student-run radio station. After performing for 3 nights at The Canopy Club in Urbana towards the end of April, Nick, Cameron, and Alex graduated from the University and played one final show together at the Tonic Room in Chicago. After graduation, the band members are all in different locations, with Nick working in Chicago, Cameron and Rob still in Champaign, and Alex in his hometown of Peoria, IL. Now with a new lineup consisting of Nick, Derek Rice, Jake Kay, and Alex O'Malley, the band hopes to continue to grow its fanbase by playing shows all across the country and to steadily release new songs. As the primary songwriter, Nick has been steadily writing material for the band’s streaming debut. The first single, "Things You Wish," was released on Friday, August 7, 2020.