Red Scarves
Fun, eccentric pop from Chicago, brought to you by four best pals. We are an indie rock band originating from Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, IL.
07/31/2025
Wishing a safe journey to our brother and his partner Gia as they embark on their move to Philadelphia. Ryan had an insanely ambitious past several months, crowdfunding his first solo record and recording and mixing some of the most ambitious music that has ever come out of our scene. On top of that he was still playing shows while still recording new songs and parts for the final Scarves record and more.
We can't wait for Philly to experience the virtuosity and soulfulness of Ryan the artist and person. We also can't wait for him to come back next year to play the true final Red Scarves show as we release our final album.
Pictured here is us just a few minutes after finishing his album "I Can Die Now" at a listening party. You all are in for a treat of a record so singular. It is completely unique and confounding and lovely and funny and heartbreaking. All the superlatives in the world can't really prepare you for what he's accomplished. Can't wait for you all to hear.
Send good luck wishes to our pal 🙏🏼
05/13/2025
Thank you to everyone who came out to the show last night. It truly felt special to see the Bottle packed out and for the kindness everyone shared with us during and after the show.
We've been blessed to be creating and performing together for the last decade. Red Scarves in a lot of ways has been our life's work and for anyone who's bought a record, been to a show, connected to a song, we truly love and appreciate you 🫂♥️
We are about to turn the page and close this chapter, but in total Scarves fashion it's going to take several months/year as we finish this final album and plan a BIG release show (next Spring most likely) so the band can ride off into the sunset. We've been throwing around the idea of making it a "Last Waltz" situation? Maybe we can pretend to be Martin Scorsese and turn it into a little film too.
Getting ahead of ourselves though. Keep an eye out this summer for updates as we work on our final record. So lucky to have each other.
Scarves Forever ⚡
Photo by
Video clip by Empty Bottle Dave
05/09/2025
Hello friends,
We are here to announce that our next show on May 12th at Empty Bottle with will be one of our last shows as Red Scarves. Our dear Ryan is moving at the end of the summer to Philadelphia to enter an exciting new chapter in his life. Upon some discussion we've decided to retire "Red Scarves" as it just wouldn't be right to continue without one of our brothers.
We have decided to go all in on making one last LP that we already have half-recorded, and hope to get the bulk of that second half done this summer. It'll be a culmination of 12 years of songwriting, arranging and learning about what it takes to make a great record. We would all agree that these are some of the best songs we've ever put together. The hope is that later in the year or early 2026 we can do one last farewell/album release show and truly send off the Scarves into the sunset.
Very few bands get proper closure when things come to an end, but this group deserves it. This sentiment gets thrown around rather easily, but we're a family and will continue to be so for the rest of our lives.
Braden and I started this band in 2012 in order to compete in a cover song contest at IWU. We covered Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" and Mumford and Sons' "I Will Wait" and somehow we won. Ryan and Robby joined officialy in fall 2014 completely overhauling the way we sounded. We played a battle of the bands that following spring playing an all original set, including oldies like "Shrug" and "Old Flames" (these song titles are so funny in retrospect). We won that too, and were awarded a recording session at At the time we didn't have any recorded music and I don't think any of us had any longer term plans for the group.
Over a decade later, we've made several albums, recorded dozens and dozens of songs, traveled the country, and played some of the best shows and stages we could have ever hoped for.
I'm sure we'll share more words as we truly start winding things down. In the meantime mark your calendars for our (penultimate?) May 12th show at and keep an eye on our progress of making our fourth and final LP.
-AT
05/09/2025
Our penultimate show as the band Red Scarves will be this coming Monday, May 12th, at Empty Bottle. We've really appreciated all the kind words people have sent our way since announcing our closing of this chapter.
We'll be playing brand new songs we haven't even recorded yet. In our recent rehearsals for this show and our upcoming recording session it's been hard not to feel emotional hearing this collection of best friends be so in tune and so quick at knowing what the other person is thinking. We can't wait for you to hear these new songs and to see us perform. If you've never been to a Scarves gig this will be one of your last chances.
As for our actual last show, that'll be an album release show after we finish this last record. That could be anywhere from this Fall to even next Spring.
But that's something we'll figure out down the line. The important thing is playing this Bottle show and making this final record.
Hope to see you on Monday ❤️
AT
03/13/2025
Hello friends. Big news to share.. We'll be backing up for their album release show at Sleeping Village on April 9th. We'll be celebrating the release of Dangerous Cat which is a record that we helped collaborate on in terms of arranging and producing songs they had written. We're going to put the ticket link in our bio!
Featured here are some random looks behind the creation of the record at both and . We're excited to be back at almost a year after we had our very own album release show for Nice Try. It's a fantastic venue, we're playing with the very awesome and , and we're excited to play the Dangerous Cat record in full!
It should be an incredible night. Hope to see you there ⚡⚡
01/31/2025
Hello friends, we are playing a hometown show next week (February 7th) with our friend Ben put out a beautiful and lovely record today called Faking It, and we'll be celebrating with him next Friday at Burlington Bar. The record is filled with many many great melodies and sonic goodness all throughout. It gets our highest recommendation. The song in this post being a particular favorite.
We're playing fewer shows these days, but we're still working on new music. Pictured here are the boys putting the finishing touches on an EP that we plan to mix in the next few weeks. You can expect these news songs to be played at the show.. Grateful to still be making tunes, and having really damn good shows to prepare for.
Mark your calendars for the 7th! Also if you have an instrument in your lap, pen or paper in hand, idea in your head, now's the time to get to work. We need you more than ever. Feeling more empowered to make art and give back to our small community of artists and chosen family.
Have a great weekend
01/17/2025
Congratulations to for putting out "Stereo Sunshine" yesterday. We had the great privilege to get outside of our usual comfort zone and play studio band for another artist back in Fall 2023. We cut six songs for Olive Avenue's upcoming record Dangerous Cat, and you can hear one of them today! Stereo Sunshine was a blast to put together. Ryan from Olive Avenue, took to our tried and true approach of tracking songs live, and it was very fun to play with his immensely talented brother on bass. It was a family affair all around and lots of smiles with
The song has some personal favorite hallmarks of the Scarves. 's propulsive acoustic guitar playing, and ability to harmonize with everyone. once again showing his effortless virtuosity, especially with the solo at the end. being the most creative and versatile drummer in the city with an unbeatable groove. But we can't forget the big credit to be given to Ryan O'Toole for writing an unforgettable pop masterpiece.
Here's some pictures I took of the recording session that weekend from with an additional pic of Ryan D on piano at during the overdubs.
Enjoy the song 🥳
Ayethaw
01/03/2025
About a year ago we put out the music video for "Runner". With the help of director + cinematographer .luna_ (who shot it on 16mm). Together we meticulously created a visual world for the song. This led to almost a whole year of preparing and releasing our third record, Nice Try.
The mantra of "no one will love it more than us" motivated us to do everything DIY as possible for this video and the other two we made with Olivia (Alice and Missed Approach). We built sets, bought costumes, flew in planes, covered Robby in food, shot out of the sunroof of a car, and more
This dedication was part of a bigger lesson that we learned in 2024. We had spent so long shopping this record around to labels and seeking some sort of unspecified validation from the outside world. All of this just proved to be antithetical to actually making art and truly loving the process of creation.
2024 was the year we truly embraced doing all of this for the love the game. The hope to make the best record, music video, best show possible, just because we know we are capable. Our album release show at Sleeping Village with and was one of the most magical nights of live music we've ever had the chance to be a part of.
We've ended the year booking our own mini tour and even tracking and recording a whole EP we hope to release in the new future. Making art together with our friendship and connection is the most important part of this band.
Never will we wait so long to put something out. Look forward to new music both from this group and from solo releases we've all been cooking in some form or another. Thanks everyone for listening, watching, and being along for the ride.
-Ayethaw
Picture number 2 by
11/12/2024
Scarves are back in the saddle again. This past Halloween we were in the studio working on 4 brand new tunes that we feel very proud of. You have the opportunity to hear all of these new songs at our next show at on Friday, November 22nd. We'll be playing with the wonderful and Ticket link is in our bio for our last show of 2024.
Feeling more empowered than ever to make art, love our friends, and give back to our community. Looking forward to playing and seeing you all.
📷 (pic 4 by )
10/28/2024
We got a headline show coming up next month, Friday November 22nd at We'll be playing with some of our favorite Chicago bands at the moment, with the cathartic and melodic and Seriously you're missing out if you haven't listened to them yet.
As much as we loved working on and gigging our last two projects, Ghost Hunter and Nice Try, this marks the beginning of a new era for us. We have new songs we've been rehearsing and we've been excited about fresh sounds, lusher arrangements, and even just letting ourselves rock out a bit. We'll be hitting the studio later this week, and we are pumped for you to hear these songs, both at this upcoming show and on record.
Ticket link in bio
Poster by
Photo by
10/26/2024
Ryan's first solo release, "Real-Life Beauty" is out today. It's a song that features all the hallmarks of his great talent. Intuitive and unique harmony, thoughtful poetry (with the help of .gi on this one), musical passages that make you gasp, and a killer melody. Other than being in awe of his talent for the past decade, we love him like our brother. Show our dear Ryan some affection by listening to his song, we know you'll dig it.
Ryan also plays his first solo show tonight at 8 pm. DM us for the address. It's going to be a great great show.
--
Photo taken by in Bloomington, IL on the most recent Scarves tour. Ryan was most likely looking up how to perform some obscure, convoluted chess maneuver, or on some forum discussing one of the chapters of Infinite Jest.
10/20/2024
Signing back into our account to give light to something very exciting. Our very own is on the verge of releasing his first solo music ever. He has spent a whole decade plus, elevating the sounds of so many great artists in this city including being an integral part of the Scarves sound. Ryan is not only one of the best and smartest musicians you'll ever meet, but he has also become a bonafide songwriting wizard, as evidenced by tunes he's put out on our records (Runner, Love Song, Lines in the Snow, to name a few).
He's playing his first live show this coming Saturday and you should definitely consider attending to be a part of some major Ryan/human history. He'll be releasing his first single this week called "Real Life Beauty" and it's one of his best yet (and that's saying something). DM us for the address!
In other news, we have some new tunes as a band we plan to record at the end of this month, and it is so wonderful to be in this new era of growth and creation and just having some fun. Making music together is in our bones. More on that later, but check back here later this week when the song comes out and in the meantime give Ryan a follow. Hope to see you at the show
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