As Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park gears up for another summer of concerts, one could hearken back to the American Express slogan of yore — membership has its privileges. With the members-only presale launching on April 25, the annual scrum for the most popular of the season’s 30 performances will begin.

Growing up in southern Arkansas, Larry McCray has been steeped in music since day one. His grandparents were musicians, as were his parents — eventually, he and his nine siblings followed in their elders’ melodic footsteps.

Any room with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion playing is a tough room. Civilization takes a back seat. So imagine two decades-plus later to find that a talk with Russell Simins, the drummer from the JSBX, explores the Oscar Niemeyer architecture of Brasilia and the ramen joints of Fukuoka, Japan.

Bands with any sort of depth tend to sprout from unorthodox beginnings. The Ramones perfected its stage show at the gritty CBGB. The Velvet Underground preferred to get weird with Andy Warhol at The Factory. For La Dispute, its genesis can be traced back to one particular DIY spot: the Division Avenue Arts Collective (DAAC).