‘Rookie of the Year,’ ‘American Pie’ star brings band to Piazza

On-screen, he’s been a Chicago Cub, a teenage sex-pact instigator and a young Walt Disney. Off-screen, he’s a bit of a rock star.

Thomas Ian Nicholas is an actor known for his roles in “Rookie of the Year,” the “American Pie” franchise, “The Rules of Attraction,” “Halloween: Resurrection,” “Walt Before Mickey” and Steven Spielberg’s “The Red Band Society.” He recently produced and starred in the 2021 movie “Adverse,” which co-starred Mickey Rourke, Lou Diamond Phillips, Sean Astin and Penelope Ann Miller.

He’s also been a working musician for the last 15 years.

Local audiences can see the Thomas Nicholas Band as part of the Beer & BBQ Fest with Saving Abel, Sunvolume and Whatever Nevermind July 28 at the Piazza in Aurora. The doors open at 5 p.m. with music starting at 5:30 p.m. and Nicholas taking the stage at 7:30 p.m.

He was recently in town for “Rookie of the Year” night at Wrigley Field, where he threw out the first pitch.

“It was pretty awesome. I’ve been doing the first pitch and singing the seventh inning stretch for the Cubs since 2008, but obviously to have an official day and 10,000 Henry Rowengartner bobbleheads was pretty amazing,” he said.

Last year, he released the “American Pie”-themed single “1999,” a parody of Bowling For Soup’s “1985.” He’s currently working on his seventh album.

“I started playing music and learning guitar in 1994,” he said. “You know what they say, it takes 10,000 hours to get where you want to go when you put your time in to something. I think my music career is gearing closer to the 10,000-hour mark.”

His sound has a ‘90s alternative, pop-punk vibe, he said.

“Obviously, that’s very synonymous with the soundtrack of ‘American Pie,’” he said. “When I was touring overseas, I had this offer to play universities over there and they wanted more cover songs. I was like, ‘Nah, we don’t do covers, we’re an original band.’ But (the tour) was too good to pass up.”

Thus began the quest to find songs he liked that he could cover in a way that made sense.

“I decided to embrace the soundtrack of the ‘American Pie’ movies and pick my favorite songs,” he said. “We intertwine originals with some of my favorite songs from bands like Blink-182, Foo Fighters, Lit, Sum 41.

“And we have a really fun rendition of Fountains of Wayne called ‘Stifler’s Mom.’ We like to have a good time and we want to make sure that everyone at our show has just as good a time as us or better. There’s nothing like the energy of a live music show and we put it all out there onstage.”

Beer & BBQ Fest featuring Thomas Nicholas Band

When: 5:30 p.m. July 28

Where: The Piazza, 85 Executive Drive, Aurora

Tickets: $20-$35

Information: 630-978-2088; piazzaaurora.com

Annie Alleman is a freelance reporter for the Beacon-News.