{"id":319530,"date":"2025-10-20T21:35:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T21:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/319530\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T21:35:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T21:35:20","slug":"this-chicago-bar-is-home-to-probably-the-worlds-only-robot-dog-house-band-heres-how-to-see-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/319530\/","title":{"rendered":"This Chicago bar is home to (probably) the world\u2019s only robot dog house band\u2014here\u2019s how to see them"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve strolled past Logan Arcade<\/a> sometime in the past week, you\u2019ve probably been swept up by a sea of strobing lights and the sound of Danzig\u2019s unmistakable yawp billowing onto Fullerton Avenue. Peering through the bar\u2019s window, you\u2019ll catch gaggles of smiling pinball wizards head banging and waving their glasses to the hacksaw rhythm of \u201cSkulls\u201d by the Misfits. Occupying the stage is not a formidable cover band\u2014or even human beings. Drawing a sizable crowd to Logan Arcade night after night is the Biscuits, an animatronic dog band that\u2019s\u00a0been popping up at Logan Arcade since 2018.<\/p>\n

Every year, sometime between their late-summer slot at Riot Fest and Halloween, the Biscuits reappear on a modest stage nestled between rows of manically blinking pinball machines, turning the retro bar into what can only be described as \u201cChuck E. Cheese for drunk punks.\u201d All are welcome to enjoy the Biscuits\u2019 rousing five-song catalog for no cover charge, but there is a catch: No one\u2014not even Jim Zespy, Logan Arcade proprietor and caretaker of the Biscuits\u2014can say how long their triumphant return will last. Only a handful of times has the band reappeared outside of their spooky season residency.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was my dream to have a band,\u201d\u00a0Zespy says, voicing a sentiment familiar to any diehard music fan. While most folks would attempt to actualize their rock\u00a0& roll dreams by stapling \u201cdrummer wanted\u201d flyers on telephone poles or turning friends into bandmates, Zespy took a decidedly different approach: Acquire a fleet of animatronic dogs, reprogram them to sing Misfits songs on a disintegration loop and take the world by storm. You know, the next best thing.<\/p>\n

Almost a decade ago, Zespy\u2014an avid collector of robots, tchotchkes and all manner of vintage game ephemera, most of which lines the walls of Logan Arcade\u2014found the score of a lifetime: an original edition of the Beagles<\/a>, the animatronic canine quartet that once soundtracked Chuck E. Cheese dining rooms with Beatles songs throughout the 1980s. Upon hauling the band home on a trailer, Zespy\u2019s son\u2014a then-five-year-old with a burgeoning Misfits obsession\u2014requested that his father build him a personal version of \u201cthe skull band,\u201d referring to band\u2019s iconic \u201cCrimson Ghost<\/a>\u201d logo.<\/p>\n

\"Biscuits
\nPhotograph: Shannon Shreibak <\/p>\n

Zespy went on to recruit a robotics dream team to bring his son\u2019s vision to life. Fellow animatronics lover Dave Vondle took leave from his design job during summer 2018 to reanimate the Beagles into a pup punk outfit. From completely rewriting the robots\u2019 programming to designing the band\u2019s logo, Vondle\u2019s handiwork was integral to the realization of the Biscuits. Vondle then recruited Lex Huckabay to give the Beagles head-to-tail makeovers, outfitting them in skeleton shirts and leather vests and styling their mattered fur in jet black coifs remaining\u00a0faithful to the Danzig-era Misfits aesthetic. To complete the transformation, the Beagles were\u00a0anointed with new, band-appropriate names: Glenn Dogzig, Doyle Von Frankenbone, Jerry Bonely and, aptly, Robo.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s one thing that is true, we commit to the bit to the detriment of all else,\u201d Zespy says with a laugh.<\/p>\n

The Biscuits made their world premiere at Logan Arcade on October 26, 2018, as a Halloween surprise, playing a five-song set from a meager stage stationed a few feet away from the bar\u2019s entrance. Since then, the Biscuits has amassed a fanatical following\u2014the band has its own merch<\/a> and has performed at Riot Fest for the past three years. According to Zespy, out-of-towners have flocked to the festival exclusively to catch a set from the four-legged shredders.<\/p>\n

Further doubling down on the bit, this year Nathan Lilley, director of operations at Logan Arcade, recruited a Danzig impersonator to record a dog-themed riff on \u201cWhere Eagles Dare,\u201d the frayed Misfits banger. Titled \u201cWhere Beagles Dare,\u201d the Zespy and Vondol\u2013penned cover has quickly become one of the Biscuits\u2019 flagship songs. Last week, the Biscuits made their return to the stage where it all started, where they play roughly every hour, depending on the room\u2019s turnover and the mental fortitude of the bar staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you can imagine, it\u2019s hard for the bartenders to hear the same 10 songs every time they work,\u201d Zespy chuckles. \u201cBiscuits is kinda like the McRib\u2014we bring them out for a couple months, people get it and then we take them away for a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Signage
\nPhotograph: Shannon ShreibakA sign adorning the exterior of Logan Arcade advertising the Biscuits’ residency. <\/p>\n

Zespy\u2019s love for animatronics is one that has defined his life as a self-proclaimed \u201cscience fair nerd\u201d with an all-consuming passion for robotics. From being awed by Rock-afire Explosion\u2014an animatronic band that once\u00a0dazzled diners at\u00a0Showbiz Pizza Place\u2014as a child in Fargo, ND, to learning about Walt Disney\u2019s original animatronics experiments, Zespy has long been enchanted by the willing suspension of disbelief that retro animatronics demands of its viewers: an inimitable combination of fun, sincerity and magic.<\/p>\n

That sense of childlike glee is what\u2019s kept the Biscuits thriving\u2014and constantly evolving. The Biscuits have nothing if not range: Zespy has supplanted two other bands onto their furry architecture. In 2022, the Biscuits was temporarily rebranded to the Rush cover act Ruff<\/a>, with founding Rush band members Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee admitting that \u201cRuff is an amazing bark and roll band,\u201d according to Zespy. A year later,\u00a0the band was reimagined\u00a0as the Fur Fighters<\/a> to celebrate a Foo Fighters pinball game. Will there be a Stone Temple Puppies or Duran Dog-an residency on the horizon? Zespy and the Biscuits brigade, ever the adventurers, are open to possibilities\u2026<\/p>\n

How long will the Biscuits\u2019 valiant return last? Zespy insists that it\u2019s a decision that will be made by feel. That said, he is open to\u00a0the possibility of a cross-town tour, with a stop at Logan Arcade\u2019s sister location, Elston Electric<\/a>, under consideration. Regardless of the band\u2019s upcoming travel plans, the Biscuits will soon enjoy a well-deserved break from the spotlight. \u201cMaybe we\u2019ll put them on Cameo and people can talk to them,\u201d Zespy jokes.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Zespy is chuffed by the reception of his pet project. \u201cWe\u2019re always over here on Fullerton and Western doing weird stuff all the time,\u201d he says. \u201cAfter seven years of having [Biscuits] out and about, it\u2019s validating that people see it\u2019s amazing. Thank you for making it worthwhile for us to spend money doing silly things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Biscuits gigs are free to attend and held daily on a rolling schedule at Logan Arcade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019ve strolled past Logan Arcade sometime in the past week, you\u2019ve probably been swept up by a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":319531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[29500,960,5386,1818,29501,12079],"class_list":{"0":"post-319530","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-categories-nightlife","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-news-nightlife","13":"tag-nightlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115408649182627262","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}