When I signed onto a Zoom call with AG Club, I didn’t expect to be greeted by a group of some of the most genuine guys and artists anyone could expect to meet. These days it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of the music industry, especially when you’re performing at Lollapalooza. But AG Club keeps it real, not only as human beings but as performers and artists as well.

AG Club, or Avant-Garde club, is a hip-hop group from the Bay Area, and they’re all about creating something new and exciting, Jody Fontaine said. He’s one of AG Club’s lead rappers. He also describes himself as a songwriter and an occasional creative director.

“We wanted to choose something that really represented us and had some type of deeper meaning, but also just visually was cool to look at,” Fontaine said about the group’s name. “And then the ‘club’ part is, you know, we wanted to add something to our name, like an element to our name that kind of represented an openness and a sense of community. I mean. something that people can look at and be like, ‘Yo, like I feel a part of this.’” 

And from day one, that feeling of openness and community was established when Fontaine met one of his bandmates Baby Boy on Twitter. He said he discovered Baby Boy, rapper, singer, graphic designer and co-video editor, after seeing his video edit to “Bad and Boujee.”

“The editing of it was really cool and he shot something really dope, and I saw that and he got retweets on my timeline, and then that’s how we kind of met,” Fontaine said.

He said a mutual friend of theirs invited Fontaine and Baby Boy to a studio session on the same day and they clicked instantly. He said they made a few songs and the collaboration between the two has been like that ever since.

And there wasn’t much hesitation or struggle about what works and what doesn’t, Baby Boy said. He said he and Fontaine fit like pieces of a puzzle, which could a big part of the reason why their music is not only great but cohesive and unique.

“Everything just worked out, and we always pretty much see eye to eye on the s— we make,” Baby Boy said. “It kind of just falls together because of the way we work, which has always been kind of solid.”

Not many band members are lucky enough to find bandmates whose vision lines up so closely with the other. Fontaine and Baby Boy said both agreed to create something different, something that hasn’t really been done before, and ultimately something that “sounds cool,” Fontaine said.

“We don’t really want to limit ourselves and that’s why we say that we’re the Avant-Garde Club,” Fontaine said. “It’s about who we are but also who we try to be and what things we’re trying to do and not follow a specific pattern.”

And AG Club is ready to prove that this year at Lollapalooza, where they’ll be performing on the Grubhub stage Friday. AG Club said it’s been two years since they last performed live and that that performance was about 70 people, so this performance is a huge deal for them.

But it’s safe to say that their Lollapalooza set will attract more than 70 people.

“I mean, no guarantee how many people are going to be at our set, but it’s definitely going to be more than like 100 people, so it’s really exciting, but also it’s a little scary,” Baby Boy said.

The nerves aren’t going to stop AG Club from giving their all though, and they said they have a few surprises planned, including some spoken word fusion, some country, jazz and classical type flute. They also promised a Ryan Seacrest appearance, but I can’t promise they were serious about that. It looks like you’ll just have to attend their set to find out.

AG Club will also be performing at Bottom Lounge in Chicago Thursday night, where they’ll have over an hour to perform, which they said they’re really excited about.

“We’re just gonna bring it all up there and go crazy,” Baby Boy said.

They also mentioned they’re stoked that some of their good friends will take the stage this weekend as well, including Sam Truth and Redveil.

“Hopefully it’s a really good time,” Fontaine said. “We’re really excited for that one.”

Be sure to check out AG Club Thursday at the Bottom Lounge and Friday at Lollapalooza at the Grubhub stage from 7:45 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

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