Keep Away From Julie

Keep Away From Julie was a suburban Joliet/Aurora ska/punk band active in the mid to late 90's. They largely performed at Riley's Rock House and other local venues of the time including Shenanigans and Homewood's famous Off the Alley, as well as playing a part in the booking and production of what was, at the time, an annual gathering of southwest suburban bands at the Joliet Arsenal. They were responsible for assisting a lot of other bands from the same area in getting booked at shows. One of their "sister" bands was Blue Collar, also primarily out of Joliet.

They had an undeniably unique style and stage presence and among other influences were inspired by Reel Big Fish, and also arguably The Voodoo Glow Skulls (who at the time (on a mostly unrelated note), made many trips to Chicago and Indiana because they enjoyed the Chicago city and suburban punk scenes). In fact, a fan favorite was their song "Fat Robbie," which seemed quite obviously a nod to the famous VGS song "Fat Randy," which was the embodiment of the strangely largely identifiable stereotype of the overweight, suspender wearing, two-tone dressed ska fan who was transient and considered as a party or show "crasher," who was (not without argument) likely originally depicted in the very early MTV music video "One Step Beyond" by Madness.

Keep Away From Julie disbanded permanently sometime in 2000 or 2001... While some of the members did go on to pursue other musical projects, they largely faded into obscurity after that. They released one recording on CDR.