THE SARGE

By THE SARGE — breaking down the wildest brand move on the internet right now, from Colorado Springs. If you've scrolled past the Nutter Butter Facebook page lately, you might've thought the account got hacked by a horror movie. Cryptic videos. Distorted imagery. A villain called the Nutter Butter Man stalking through an ongoing lore like a creepypasta come to life. People online are saying the posts give off dark, demonic energy — and they're not wrong about the vibe. But nobody hacked anything. This is the plan. What Nutter Butter Is Actually Doing Since 2023 — exploding into the mainstream in September 2024 — the 50-plus-year-old peanut butter cookie brand has been running one of the strangest social media marketing strategies in corporate history. We're talking: Fever-dream videos : cookies with human faces seared into them, playgrounds on fire, dollhouses smeared with peanut butter, a peanut-butter-cookie crime scene Cryptic lore : recurring characters named A...

Most people get one life. Michael K. Ung has earned four: soldier, artist, producer, promoter. He was a U.S. Army Infantry Sergeant with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan before he was a hip-hop and pop-punk-rock artist published on Billboard Hip Hop and HipHopSince1987. He was a producer and sound designer with a Full Sail degree before he was a UCCS music student, back in the classroom chasing the craft between shows and sessions. And for the last decade, through all of it, he's been the man building the stages other artists perform on — as the founder of Bust Out the Box, the monthly multi-genre music residency at the Wagon Wheel Sports Bar & Concert Hall in Colorado Springs. They call him The Sarge. The name wasn't given. It was earned. This is the long version of how. ACT I: BANGKOK — 1984 The story starts an ocean away from Colorado. Born March 20, 1984, in Bangkok, Thailand, Michael K. Ung's earliest years included only a brief time with a foster mother. The ...

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — The Sarge LLC is expanding. Plans to expand the LLC are officially underway: a FULL branded merchandise lineup repping THE SARGE and BUST OUT THE BOX, a full comic line, the music coming back available, and brand-new platforms built for the local community and independent artists. THE OFFICIAL MERCH STORE — LIVE NOW The full branded merchandise lineup is underway for the official merch store — posters, canvas prints, shirts, hoodies, hats and more , all carrying THE SARGE and BUST OUT THE BOX branding. Every piece repping the underground. Stay Different. Wear it loud. Go to www.thesarge.net/shop today! THE SARGE COMIC LINE A full comic line is in the works — The Sarge and his fellow artist friends tackling "the machine" and teaching local aspiring artists how to navigate the music industry. Real stories from the underground, in ink. BUST OUT THE BOX — CHANGES COMING (TBA) The residency is evolving. Changes to Bust Out the Box are in the work...

  If you're hitting Bust Out the Box #11 at the Wagon Wheel Sports Bar & Concert Hall in Colorado Springs on Saturday, September 26, you're walking into two hours of straight jazz-funk-rock from 8 to 10 PM — and the headliner bringing that fire is Dain Silva & the Mighty Potent Force . Who is Dain Silva? Dain Silva & the Mighty Potent Force are an in-your-face, unforgettable three-piece straight out of Colorado Springs. Their sound is a sweet eclectic mix that runs from classic and hard rock through pop-punk and into funk rock — which is exactly why they fit this show's jazz-funk-rock theme like a glove. This isn't their first time on a Colorado stage. The band has been putting in real work across the Front Range — they rocked the Wagon Wheel back in June and tore up Globe Hall in Denver on September 4 alongside Mossgatherers, Null & Void, and Hemline. When a three-piece keeps getting booked on bills like that, it means one thing: the live show hits....

  COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — From piano lessons to the pulpit choir to the battlefield to the stage — now to the theater. Michael Ung, aka THE SARGE, has announced he is auditioning for a part in Stephen Sondheim's COMPANY, the UCCS theater production slated for this spring. Auditions are being conducted through the end of September, with casting callbacks to follow. The full production will be announced publicly at a later date. Music has always been a thing for him. Classically trained in piano from a young age until 7th grade, raised on school and church choirs — the foundation was there long before the stage name. His military years were brief by design in this story: he served, got out, and came back to start his music career. Starting as a hip-hop artist, then transforming to pop-punk-rock, and now pushing into an even wider range of music while attending college at UCCS. That range is the point. Ung is currently a Music Major at UCCS, studying voice, choir, and theater — and thi...

Bust Out the Box #11 is storming into Colorado Springs on Saturday, September 26, 2026 — and the Wagon Wheel Sports Bar & Concert Hall is about to shake with a full night of jazz funk rock! Listen up, Sarge's crew — the one and only Dain Silva & the Mighty Potent Force are bringing the heat, the groove, and the thunder. This is the box you've been waiting to bust out of, and there's only ONE way in: lock down your tickets now. GRAB YOUR TICKETS NOW before they're gone. Don't sleep on this one. Rally your people, lock in your night, and get ready for a show that hits harder than a drill sergeant's wake-up call. Saturday, September 26th. The Wagon Wheel. Be there — or hear about it from everybody who was. GET TICKETS

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — The wait is over. THE SARGE comic line officially hits digital comic platforms on September 27, 2026 — and Issue #0, “THE ASSEMBLY,” drops September 27 — FREE on GlobalComix, Tapas, itch.io, and the Internet Archive, and $0.99 on Kindle. From Bangkok to the battlefield to the stage — now to the comic page. THE SARGE, the U.S. Army Infantry veteran turned hip-hop and pop-punk-rock artist (BS in Audio Production, Full Sail University; currently a Music Major at UCCS), brings his real-life saga to a full comic book series. Issue #0 “THE ASSEMBLY” introduces the crew and the mission. Read it FREE September 27 on GlobalComix, Tapas, itch.io, and the Internet Archive — or grab it on Kindle for $0.99. Then the saga keeps rolling: new issues drop every Sunday starting October 4 on Kindle ($2.99), Webtoon Canvas in December, and libraries in March with the collected book. Free issues always trail the paid drops by 8 weeks — the story stays within reach of everybody. ...

Photo: J Angel Visuals FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: The Sarge LLC THESARGE10MHX@GMAIL.COM · (719) 229-5212 https://poplme.co/hash/fAAZ8IVA/1/s ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: WHO IS AUSTIN TOKER? COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — September 18, 2026 — Austin Toker turns an independent career into a platform. The Aurora-raised hip-hop artist, live performer, and founder of the Toker Collective has spent over a decade building raw Colorado hip-hop in public: honest records, magnetic shows, independent merch, and a community-first vision that keeps widening. Austin began releasing music in 2014 under the name Nitsua. By the end of 2019, he reintroduced himself as Austin Toker — more than a new stage name, it was permission to widen the frame while keeping the direct, unapologetic energy at the center. The music carries the hard edge of the artists who shaped him — Tupac, Tech N9ne, Immortal Technique, Snow Tha Product — but the larger story is evolution: rap as a place to document the full journey, from ambit...

ANTI FAMOUZ — real name Richard Huempfner — is a Colorado Springs promoter and the founder of AntiFamouz Ent. For years he has been one of the hardest-working engines in the local scene, and today he co-organizes and promotes Bust Out the Box, the monthly multi-genre music residency at Wagon Wheel Sports Bar & Concert Hall in Colorado Springs, alongside The Sarge. Ask Mike and he'll tell you what Richard is: his right-hand fellow promoter — sometimes sidekick and backup — on every mission the residency takes on. AntiFamouz does the work most promoters talk about. He pulls stages, vendors, lineups, and crowds together and makes a show night actually run — from the February 'Unity' showcase to the August 'Sarge & Friendz' blowout to the jazz-funk-rock of #11 and the horrorcore Halloween costume party of #12 HALLOWEINER. The Guy Fawkes-style mask is the signature, but the reputation underneath is built on follow-through: if AntiFamouz said it's handled, it...

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — Witch Hound is calling the circle together. The Colorado Springs band celebrates the release of "Second Summoning" with a full CD release party and costume contest on Saturday, October 24, 2026, at Vultures, 2100 E. Platte Ave in Colorado Springs. Doors at 7:00 PM, show at 8:00 PM. $10 cover, 21+. Stepping into the circle for one night only: The Sarge joins Witch Hound on stage as a special guest vocalist — a single-show appearance, not a band member. The night runs heavy with special guests Doctor Nez, Uncle Goober, and Malkasian, hosted by Panda Strike, and presented with Electric Desert Records. The costume contest pays: first place takes $150 cash, merch from every band on the bill, and an exclusive one-off Witch Hound merch piece; second place takes $50 cash plus merch; third place takes merch. Word is this may be Witch Hound's last performance for a while — Colorado Springs, don't sleep on this one. ABOUT THE SARGE: U.S. Army Infant...

  THE SARGE LLC × ROBIN HOOD INITIATIVE BRING BUST OUT THE BOX #13 — UCCS NIGHT TO WAGON WHEEL ON NOVEMBER 21 Colorado Springs, CO — The Sarge LLC is partnering with the Robin Hood Initiative to bring Bust Out the Box #13 — UCCS Night to the Wagon Wheel Sports Bar & Concert Hall on Saturday, November 21 — and this one's big. The Sarge LLC is curating the full artist lineup and connecting with charity partners across the city to make the night hit hard for the community. Monetary donations go to the UCCS Music Department, and toy donations go to D11's Palmer High School and Wasson High School holiday drive. "It's a huge cause, so we need everyone's hands on deck," says The Sarge. "We're talking real money for the music department and real toys for real kids. Pull up, donate, and let's show this city what the underground does when it moves together." How to help: monetary donations supporting the UCCS Music Department and new toy donations ...

The Sarge LLC and AntiFamouz Ent raise the dead with BUST OUT THE BOX #12: HALLOWEINER, an underground horrorcore rap Halloween costume party hitting the Wagon Wheel Sports Bar & Concert Hall (2308 Platte Ave, Colorado Springs, CO) on Friday, October 30, 2026. Headlining the night: ASSASSINATE. Confirmed openers: CU$H (aka REAL KU$H), HAZADIS, and XO RECKLE$$. Additional supporting acts TBA. Doors at 8 PM, show runs 8–10:30 PM. $15 at the door, $10 in costume. 21+ only. "October is ours," says The Sarge, founder of BUST OUT THE BOX. "We're bringing the underground out for Halloween — horrorcore energy, costumes, full production. Pull up in your best fit and let's pack the Wheel." Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-sarge-llc-presents-bust-out-the-box-12-halloweiner-assassinate-tickets-1999209990900 About BUST OUT THE BOX: BUST OUT THE BOX is a monthly multi-genre music residency at the Wagon Wheel Sports Bar & Concert Hall in Colorado Springs, ...

  The Sarge LLC and AntiFamouz Ent bring the monthly multi-genre music residency back to the Wagon Wheel Sports Bar & Concert Hall on Saturday, September 26, 2026, at 8 PM with Bust Out the Box #11 — a full night built on a jazz-funk-rock theme. Headlining the night is Dain Silva & the Mighty Potent Force, bringing a high-energy horn-driven sound to the Wagon Wheel stage at 2308 Platte Ave. Joining the lineup is Gold Camp Road, rounding out a bill that keeps the residency's promise: every month a different genre, one stage, and a night you can't get anywhere else. Bust Out the Box is the monthly music residency founded by The Sarge — U.S. Army Infantry veteran turned hip-hop and pop-punk-rock artist, producer, and sound designer (BS in Audio Production, Full Sail University; currently a music major at UCCS), and CEO of The Sarge LLC. Published and featured on Billboard Hip Hop, The Sarge built the residency as a home for Colorado Springs' independent music scene, gi...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: The Sarge LLC Email: THESARGE10MHX@GMAIL.COM Phone: (719) 229-5212 ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: WHO IS LIL CHIN? COLORADO'S EMO-RAP OUTLAW BUILDS A CULT FOLLOWING ONE BREAKDOWN AT A TIME Underground artist fuses emo rap, metalcore, and punk into a genre-destroying sound — from Grand Junction to El Paso, Texas Colorado Springs, CO — September 18, 2026 — He doesn't walk the line between genres. He obliterates it. Colorado-based artist Lil Chin has carved a distinct path through the underground music scene with a unique blend of emo rap, metalcore, and punk — intertwining melodic, raw vulnerability with heavy, aggressive breakdowns and dark, atmospheric production. That seamless sonic crossover has built him an unbreakable connection with an ever-growing cult following stretching far beyond his home state. Tracks like "Dial Tones" and the deeply emotional "Love For You" serve as the perfect blueprints for his genre-defying sound,...

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: The Sarge LLC Email: THESARGE10MHX@GMAIL.COM Phone: (719) 229-5212 WHO IS THE SARGE? FROM BANGKOK TO THE BATTLEFIELD TO THE STAGE — U.S. ARMY VETERAN TURNS LIFE STORY INTO COLORADO SPRINGS MUSIC MOVEMENT Colorado Springs artist, producer, and promoter builds the Bust Out the Box residency while joining Witch Hound on stage October 24 as a vocalist for their "Second Summoning" show that may be its last for a while Colorado Springs, CO — September 18, 2026 — Before he was The Sarge, he was little Mike Ung — a toddler in Bangkok, Thailand, wearing a name tag that read "KENG PINMEE," standing beside his foster mother in 1987. Decades later he is a U.S. Army Infantry veteran, a hip-hop and pop-punk-rock artist, a music producer and sound designer, the CEO of The Sarge LLC, and the founder of Bust Out the Box, the monthly multi-genre music residency at the Wagon Wheel Sports Bar & Concert Hall in Colorado Springs. The name wasn't g...