Aurora band Invisible Cartoons to perform as part of two-day Hong Kong Pizza Party in Plano

Photo by Liz Lowie

By ERIC SCHELKOPF

Listening to Invisible Cartoons’ music and watching the band’s unbridled energy on stage is bound to put a smile on your face.

Invisible Cartoons will bring its smile rock to the Hong Kong Pizza Party May 19-20 at the PNA Youth Camp, 10701 River Road, Plano. The band will perform at 10 p.m. May 20.

Tickets are available at https://hkpp.ticketspice.com/hkpp2023.

I had the chance to talk to Invisible Cartoons frontman Chris Shern about the upcoming show. The band also features Jeff Goluszka on drums and backup vocals, Ryan Caldwell on keytar and backup vocals, Ryan Worthy on bass and backup vocals and Justin Birchard on guitar and backup vocals.

 

Q – Great talking to you again. Of course the band will be performing as part of the Hong Kong Pizza Party. Have you played at the event before?

Yeah. It’s a fun festival. And then after the show, they do a big bonfire and people start congregating and having a good time.

Q – And I understand that a couple of your bandmates are in other bands that will also perform at Hong Kong Pizza Party.

Yeah, my bass player, Ryan Worthy, he’s also in a band called GoatBelly. And then my keytar player, Ryan Caldwell, he’s playing drums in a band called Jesus Coyote.

Q – Tell me about the band’s music. 

All our music is positive. We try to be uplifting and have a good time.

Q – I know smile rock is kind of your trademark phrase. You try to make people smile.

Oh absolutely. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel as far as where we’re coming from with our music.

We take being silly seriously. When you come to an Invisible Cartoons show, our goal is for you to have a good time and that’s it.

There’s no deeper meaning to what we do. We just try to have fun and we want people to enjoy what we’re doing.

We enjoy playing music with each other. And that’s what is so awesome about it. 

Q – That’s great. I understand that you are working on your second full-length album. What should people expect from the album?

We’re a small band, but we think big. This album is going to be big.

We’e going to have a horn section and strings and we’re going to make these big theatrical music videos, because I know how to do all that stuff.

I’m excited.

Q – What other projects are you working on?

We’re going to try and create a film based on our previous EP, “Space Cat.” I’m going to try and do a comic book as well.

Q – It seems like your audience continues to grow.

What I love about our fan base is that it is so diverse. You have people who are in their ’50s and ’60s along with people who are in their late ’20s and early ‘30s.

And then when we play all-ages shows, we play in front of kids and they have a good time. That’s what I love about playing festivals. You are playing in front of different types of people.