Matthew Morgis

The band formed in the south side of Chicago during the summer of 2000. Three brothers, the youngest of which was 12 years old, wanted to play punk music together. Tobin, Justin and Kyle Bawinkel started writing songs, and by the Christmas season the three played their first show. Now, 10 years later, the band known as Flatfoot 56 will be making a stop at Eleanor Rigby’s on Monday, Dec. 13.

Since that first show in 2000, the band has added two members, Eric McMahon (bagpipes, guitar, bass drum) and Brandon Good (mandolin, guitar, vocals) to become a popular Celtic punk group on the national touring circuit playing major venues and festivals through out the country and is comparable to Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly.

“Some would call it stupid, and some would call it love,” Tobin Bawinkel said of playing music for so long in a recent phone interview. “I think it is about loving the guys you play music with and loving the music you’re playing that keeps you going for so long. One of the reasons bands break up is because the people get sick of each other. Three of us are brothers, so we have had to live with each other our entire lives.”

Flatfoot 56 is currently signed to Old Shoe Records, with its newest release being “Black Thorn,” which was out on March 30. Two songs from the album, “Shiny Eyes” and “We Grow Old,” were featured in episodes of the TV show “Sons of Anarchy.”

Some major influences of the band are acts like Minor Threat and Black Flag, but the bands that played the biggest role were classic punk bands such as The Clash.

“We all kind of grew up on ’80s punk rock,” Bawinkel said. “It was kind of a thing where if you didn’t know where punk rock started, you weren’t considered cool. You didn’t know what you were talking about if you didn’t know where it all began.”

Flatfoot 56 is most noted for its live performance and large following of people who love to have a good time. The band plays high-energy sets while its fans do all sorts of crazy shenanigans.

“Brandon and Eric are both very intense, high-energy dudes with a lot of live experience. They bring a lot to the table and kind of make the entire stage explode when they hit it.”

For instance, the group encourages the audience to participate in a circle pit called the meat grinder, which has become immensely popular. The meat grinder has three layers: the inner and outer most circling in one direction while the middle is moves the opposite way.

“There was one show we played a year and a half ago called Cornerstone with about 1,200 kids,” Bawinkel explained. “They actually went so crazy they knocked over the poles of the tent, including the heavy-duty center one. They had to stop the show and put the poles back in before we could continue to play again.”

The band is also known for the Braveheart, where the audience splits down the middle and rushes towards each other at the beginning of a song, obviously an imitation from the movie. Also, at the end of the set, the audience wraps its arms around each other and sings along while Flatfoot 56 plays “Amazing Grace.” After the first verse, the crowd devolves into a massive circle pit for the remainder of the song.

“The meat grinder is something that takes a lot of setting up from stage, but it is worth it because it is really cool to watch,” Bawinkel said. “The same goes for Braveheart. ‘Amazing Grace’ was just one song that became a tradition by accident. We just wanted to end with it one night, and it became something we just never pulled away from. It always does a good job of getting everyone involved, because even if you don’t speak English, you can still understand what is going on. I’ve even seen Japanese kids sing that song.”

At the show, one can expect to hear tons of new material from the latest record as well some of the band’s classics like “That’s OK” and songs from Flatfoot 56’s best-selling album, “Knuckles Up.” Fans will experience anthemic street punk sensibilities and Celtic instrumentation where bagpipes and mandolins are just as important as guitars and drums.