Description
Event Details:
Date: Friday, August 15th, 2025
Time: 7PM
Venue: MUSE Sturgeon Bay
Directions: 330 Jefferson Street, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin 54235. On the corner of Third Avenue and Jefferson Street in downtown Sturgeon Bay.
Phone: 920-333-2859
Email: tickets@musesturgeonbay.com
About the Band:
Born from the rust-stained wreckage of the Midwest’s post-hardcore punk movement, Jon Mueller and Gregory Roteik as Non-Participant is a two-piece sonic force that refuses standard categorization. Veterans of the late ’90s underground scene, Mueller and Roteik unite not to relive the past—but to obliterate expectation.
Armed with just drums and bass, the duo constructs immersive, often improvised soundscapes that are as heavy as they are hypnotic. Sludge-thick tones crash against walls of noise, rhythms collapse into drone, and silence fractures under the weight of deliberate chaos. Each performance is a journey—a ritual of texture and tension that veers between meditative and volcanic.
More séance than show, Non-Participant invites the listener into a raw, unfiltered communion with sound. No two sets are the same. There are no anthems, no choruses, no nostalgia. Just two lifers chasing the edge of what can still be felt.
About the artists—Jon Mueller:
Jon Mueller’s singular performance idiom is an awe-inspiring display of elegant athleticism, preternatural focus, brute restraint, and ecstatic, monastic reverie.
Mueller’s approach requires and demands a state of inner quietude from witnesses. Yet, from his seemingly metronomic exercise blossoms every possible tint and hue of infinite spectral sound.
“My connection to playing drums is to use them to enter a different state of mind. What may seem like an escape is actually bringing an energy or feeling into a room. That energy is something I can’t really define, but it is distinct. Achieving it is the basis of quality by which I analyze my work. Ultimately, the construction of performances and the arrangement of sound in recordings, is to create an experience with that energy.”
Mueller studied jazz drumming with Hal Russell at Columbia College in Chicago, and singing with La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela at the Kirana Center for Indian Classical Music in New York. A prolific performer, he tours extensively and has appeared at festivals and venues throughout the United States, Canada, England, Europe and Japan.
In addition to his solo work, Mueller has collaborated and performed with groups such as Mind Over Mirrors, Volcano Choir, Collections of Colonies of Bees, and Pele. He has also worked with artists including Olivia Block, Aaron Turner, Faith Coloccia, Dawn Springer, Chris Hefner, Jason Kahn, Hal Rammel, Asmus Tietchens, Z’EV, Rhys Chatham, Jarboe, James Plotkin, Duane Pitre, and Raymond Dijkstra. He has released music on renowned labels such as Table of the Elements, Type Recordings, Important Records, Taiga Records, SIGE Records, and American Dreams, among others.
About the artists—Greg Roteik:
Greg Roteik is a multi-genre bassist whose playing carries the restless spirit of Midwest post-hardcore and the precision of math rock, layered with a deep commitment to community and collaboration. A fixture in the local scene, Greg has become known as the go-to player for everything from noisy improv to groove-heavy rock, bringing a unique voice to every project while anchoring the sound with intuition and grit.
Whether it’s a last-minute call to fill in or a long-term collaboration, Greg thrives on adaptability without dilution—never straying far from the tension, urgency, and odd-time beauty that shaped his early years in the 90s DIY circuit. His bass work is more than support; it’s an active presence that responds, lifts, and sometimes leads with unexpected power.
“One of the greatest feelings in the world,” Greg says, “is sonically backing up my friends in need.”
You’ll find him on stage most weekends, lending his low end to whatever band, moment, or chaos needs it. He’s not chasing spotlight—just the perfect line that makes the whole thing move.
