Each Sunday evening from 7-9pm you’ll find EQXposure on WEQX, featuring two hours of local music from up and coming artists. Tune into WEQX.com this Sunday night to hear music from El Modernist, E.R.I.E.and many more!
WEQX has long been the preeminent independent station in the Capital Region of New York, broadcasting from Southern VT to an ever-expanding listening audience. NYS Music brings you a preview of artists to discover each week, just a taste of the talent waiting to be discovered by fans like you.
El Modernist delivers a new take on the world of indie rock. With pulsating hooks and lush melodic waves of psychedelia, the band combines upbeat, catchy garage-rock with a modern alternative hip-hop sound.
“Evolution” is an anthem for queer artists who have been contributing and pushing the boundaries of art since the beginning of time, while more often than not having to hide their true selves while doing so. Artists like Freddie Mercury and Elton John were often thought of as eccentric rather than LGTBQ+ (occasionally thought of as womanizers), but laid the groundwork for today’s LGBTQ+ artists and pioneers. “Evolution” is a fight song. A fight for equality. A fight against hatred. The future is gay as hell.
When asked by WEQX’s Pearson on what they are currently working on and how they are coping during this time, they shared:
What we’re working on/how we’re coping… Well, now that the bustle of the record release and the release party is over, we suspect performance opportunities will unfortunately be few and far between as the weather gets colder. We have a nice collection of songs just waiting to be properly demoed for what will eventually be LP2. So, the plan will be to hunker down and focus on that, which will be the first time the four of us write together. We’re definitely looking forward to letting some pent up creativity bounce off the walls, albeit mostly from separate houses/studios. The pandemic has certainly taken a toll on us all, personally speaking. The opportunities we get to play together in a room have been incredibly therapeutic, and we’re certainly grateful we can still do that responsibly. But ahead of the pandemic, we were all gearing up to play out a lot – it’s something all four of us really needed in our lives for a variety of reasons – so the fact that it all came screeching to a halt is tough to cope with, especially with no real end in sight. Like everyone else, I think we’re just pivoting the best we can and diving into the next record maybe a little sooner than we otherwise would have. I write a lot of songs, so I’m always ready and willing to jump behind the board and make some magic happen.
All BandCamp proceeds for the track will be donated to The Trevor Project.
Hailing from New York’s vibrant Capital Region, rock outfit E.R.I.E. debuted on Mint 400 Records with Don’t Wanna Live, Don’t Wanna Die in September. Combining addictive progressions with alternative undertones, the record boasts an anthemic pop-rock aesthetic, with the integrity of an early 2000’s basement or VFW hall.
E.R.I.E. has brought me back to my roots, in a way. Growing up, I played in scrappy punk bands and as I got through college and beyond, my interests and writing style began broadening. I started taking myself more seriously, arguably to a fault. While creating this record, my main goal was to have a positive and fun studio experience. I paid a lot more attention to content rather than mechanics. Ultimately, creating Don’t Wanna Live, Don’t Wanna Die was a natural process, without most of the stresses recording can bring.
TJ Foster, E.R.I.E.
Upon listening, it’s not hard to hear that sense of lightness and clarity songwriter TJ Foster was striving for. The record exudes a sense of urgency that has drawn comparisons to the likes of Frank Turner and The Gaslight Anthem, while also embodying an intimacy one would expect from Death Cab For Cutie or Frightened Rabbit.
Nada Surf‘s Matthew Caws has released a new political song, “When History Comes,” via Barsuk Records. Recorded and produced by Caws himself at his home studio, the song was created for the Rough Trade Publishing compilation Talk – Action = Zero, Vol. 2, which enlisted artists to write songs relevant to the current state of the world, with profits from the single benefitting the ACLU.
Formed in New York City in 1992 by Matthew Caws and Daniel Lorca, the Nada Surf gutiarist and bassist met at the Lycée Français de New York, with both having spent some of their childhoods in France and Belgium. A chance run in with Ric Ocasek would lead to The Cars frontman producing the band’s first album, High/Low. The band would be best known for their hugely successful 1996 single, “Popular,” although the groups catalog goes far deeper, now well into their third decade together.
Regarding the song, Matthew Caws wrote the following statement about the lyrics and timing of the release:
I was asked to contribute a song to a compilation organized by Rough Trade Publishing called Talk – Action = Zero Vol. 2, benefitting Spread The Vote, an organization helping people register and get their votes in. The prompt given was to write a song “relevant to the state of the world right now.” I chose to write about the election because I think it’s such a crucial moment in our lives.
I want to make a quick disclaimer (and pre-emptive apology) that I know that all of what i’m about to say will seem obvious to a lot of people, but I think it needs to be repeated. We’re always in danger of becoming numb. There’s such a circus of chaos coming from the top right now that it’s easy to get distracted from how far (and how quickly) the country is sliding in a dangerous direction..
The title of the song comes from a line in the chorus, “When history comes and sticks out its thumb / asking you for a ride / I hope that you see how fast it can be / it goes by in the blink of an eye.” In this analogy, by voting, you’re giving history a ride, helping it get where it wants to go.
Despite its difficult history and present, the United States is a precious and miraculous entity, an ambitious experiment in equality that has been functioning for 244 years, and we need to cherish and preserve it, and keep our essential norms from eroding. We need to understand how fragile our democracy is, faced with someone who is ready to call an election illegitimate before it takes place and won’t commit to a peaceful transfer of power.
In writing a song about an election your main choices are to try to energize and rally the potential voters on your side or try to speak to and influence the minds of people who are on the other side or undecided. I tried as much as I could to do both. I’ve been told that there is no point trying to change the mind of a Trump voter, that all our energy should go towards energizing the democratic base. That is probably true, but I can’t help believing that there’s a crack in that wall.
Over the past few years, I’ve found myself debating a few Trump supporters on social media, and invariably the conversations start a little hot. I’ve found that by keeping a measured tone and by looking for and respecting the cause of someone’s opinion, if not the opinion itself, it was always possible to bring down the temperature a little. One misconception that kept coming up was that all Democrats wanted Trump to fail. In the song I say “I didn’t want him to fail / I wanted him to do great / he didn’t / but I wanted him to.”
One of the great privileges of being a touring musician is getting to see people night after night being somewhere they chose to be,happy, open, ready to experience something. While it’s certain that among all the faces I’ve looked at from the stage there have been people with opposing political views, and probably some with wildly different views about equalities of all kinds, I always felt a human connection. I think almost all people have more in common than not.
I think it’s important to refrain when possible from calling out or dismissing any whole group. Even though at this point, I don’t understand how one could support this very problematic administration, I wanted to say “I don’t hate republicans” because… I don’t. Despite my commitment to humanism and constructive positivity feeling totally innate, I’m conscious of the fact that if I’d been born into a different environment and community and hadn’t been exposed to certain ideas, I might be a Trump supporter too.
My wife often points out that the world would be a much better place if every government decision taken took into account how it would affect the poorest and most vulnerable parts of the population. I agree. This calls for a lot of empathy, a quality in us that needs to be cultivated, checked in on and renewed. We drift in our comfort, we drift in our bubbles. It is always a good time to look around, try to see, try to understand, and re-evaluate our priorities. The common good should always be the ultimate goal. That is the basis for a great country, and despite our growing pains, that has always been the basis for ours.
The new single “Heartbeat,” just released by Brooklyn-based Middle Part is upbeat and catchy, with a dreamy sounding synth. Middle Part says the song is centered around that chaotic feeling somebody in their 20’s can feel when they’re learning to navigate life or what is “the point of it all.”
“Heartbeat” is the new single from his upcoming EP, Wish I Was Alive. His new EP was inspired by his personal experiences, his shortcomings, his struggle with depression, dissociation and overall loss.
“Middle Part” was born when singer Andrew Selkōw needed time to self-reflect, and moved to the deepest parts of Northern Alaska after experiencing a major meltdown. Selkōw had turned a new lead and even in the Alaskan wilderness, expressed his strong passion for music and literature. “Art is important, Andrew says, no matter how you decide to approach it. There’s no age or formula so just create. It’s the most healing form of therapy I’ve ever experienced.”
His last single was added to Spotify’s popular Fresh Finds and Indie Fresh Finds and received many plaudits from many outlets such as American Songwriter, Earmilk, Culture Collide and much more. “& Cry” has both a 90’s and modern approach, with either influence not drowning the other one out.
The song’s message insists on emotional release through the pitfalls of that said emotion. Selkōw explains, “I think it’s supposed to be a very romantic plot but it has this dark side of not being entirely there if that makes sense.
You want all these things, you think it’s great, but you’re mentally unfit to take it on. You don’t understand why, so just cry, it’s okay…I’m here.” The song is out now on Spotify and Youtube. You can also find out more about Middle Part on Instagram and Twitter.
Brooklyn-based indie rock band, The Next Great American Novelist (NGAN), recently released their second record, Careless Moon. The DIY psych band is known for their electric and energetic live shows, where vocal harmonies showcased on the album can surround audiences in a way that even the most high-end speakers couldn’t capture.
One track, “Ice Moon,” won Best Music Video from the Harlem International Film Festival and won Best Dance Video from the Paris Underground Music Festival.
Songwriter and singer Sean Cahill of The Next Great American Novelist describes each track:
Blackberry – “This song is about insatiable lust; Finding peace in being selfish and embracing that desire. It came from a memory of being a child, standing in front of a massive blackberry vine and reaching through its thorns to get the fruit. As pretentious as our band name may make us seem, we keep the lyrics pretty simple in telling a story. The upbeat pacing and dynamics were a good way to open the record.
When we were in the studio, we became enchanted with playing the mellotron and found every excuse to use it. We played with atmospheric sounds to float into a psychedelic range.
Sometimes all it takes is a delay pedal to tap into feelings of nostalgia and give the impression of a memory. For a while I felt guilty about playing music, playing shows, as if it was a shameful or self-serving pursuit. After some reflection, I’m realizing that music is the best way I can spend my time, as it brings more light into the darkness and opens up an avenue for sharing joy.”
Gravity’s Rainbow – “The title is a tip of the hat to Thomas Pynchon, author of the post-modern classic, Gravity’s Rainbow. Though, you’d be hard pressed to find any other reference to the book in the song lyrics, rather we took inspiration from that colorful title. I wanted to explore the romance of celestial bodies moving through space, locked in a dance with one another like the planets to the sun or the moon to the earth. It is similar to the experience of falling in love, when you see someone across the room and you are helplessly attracted to them.
Our band will use any excuse to use delay pedals and Mellotron so there’s a heavy dose of those vibey-studio effects on here. One of my favorite moments recording this was during the last chorus, we stacked my voice on several different tracks and ran it through a rotary speaker. The effect makes it sound like an old organ playing but it’s really just my voice stacked in a three-part harmony.”
Bad Animation– “I wanted to have as much fun as possible with three chords. The lyrics were written as a stream of consciousness. I wanted to sing a rock anthem because you don’t hear too many of them out today.”
Baby Duck Song– “A few years ago I decided to read all the books I could on how to make money making music. I found that the biggest demand came from Christian record labels seeking to license songs. I am agnostic, so I knew that wasn’t going to work for me, but it lead me to think, ‘can I write a song about something I don’t care about?’
So I gave myself a prompt to explore a subject I normally wouldn’t write about: a baby duck. The song became a story of a duck who wanders from its family and explores a state of wonder and terror as they move through the world alone.”
It’s Been You – “This song is about finding someone who you can be brutally honest with. I was aiming in genre of soul. Also, I think there are enough minor seventh chords in there to claim a fingerprint of jazz too. It’s about surrendering to the one you love and finding bliss in the moments you hear them singing along to their favorite song.”
This one’s pretty on the nose as a 90’s alternative banger. It unabashedly harkens back to the drum thuds in Queen’s, “We Will Rock You,” and the modern classic stomp pedal chorus you’ll hear on an early Weezer song. I was looking to find a way to use words like “innocuous” and “neurosis” in a song without being pretentious.
Wicked
Drag – “I love New York City, though, some days it feels like a dysfunctional landscape of ill-routine. Living here, you realize you’re functionally necessary but of small significance or importance within the larger enterprise. I’m immersed in a series of habits: standing in line, getting on a train, heading to work, buying coffee, buying booze… Are these choices I want to make or am I just keeping the machine going?”
I was going through a break up and it felt more like a death to me than the end of a romance. Kübler-Ross, a Swiss-American psychiatrist wrote about the five stages of grief in her groundbreaking book, On Death and Dying. This song draws those comparisons to the experience of losing a lover; the process of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
Kubler
Thursday – “This one is a fast moving blender of blues and Americana influences. It’s a love song about psychedelics with some dark commentary on what it feels like to be in love with someone in the age of porn. It starts with a surf rock feel, drenched in reverb then builds into a blues progression.There are no words in the chorus, just a guitar riff. We felt that it said enough.”
Ice Moon – “This song is a reflection on living as an artist. I was working working shit jobs ad nauseam, alienated and finding relief in psychedelic dreams only available in inner life. Creating or performing felt fruitless, a vanity project, which in this age feels deplorable considering our culture, from top to bottom, is focused entirely on benefiting yourself. When you devote your life to performing, the benefits don’t happen immediately, they come sometime in the future, when you can look back and see the impressions you left and what that meant to someone else.
There is a difference between chasing dreams when you’re 23, wet behind the ears in New York City and being 31, in a place saturated with world class talent and insurmountable bills. Whatever choice I make turns into some struggle, it might as well be the right one. Either way I’m sacrificing something. Making art allows you a feeling of impermanence, unlike many other forms of industry.”
For more information on The Next Great North American Novelist, visit their website.
Brooklyn alternative quintet, Gooseberry, evolves with their third 2020 single “When I’m Gone.” Their inception began last fall. It takes form of an elusive fruit – a ploy to keep listenes guessing, or, a disregard of boarders in their infinite musical exploration.
The band collides at an unpredicted crossroads of endless influence. Blues, jazz, soul, rock and R&B genres meet. Yet they create and audibly different constant. Each flavor is interjected, shapeshifting the whole.
“When I’m Gone” sounds familiar, like a sitcom intro with an alternative edge. The intro sweeps you up with an airy keyboard melody from Sam Rappaport. Asa ‘Baked Goods’ Daniels on guitar hints at a more explosive end. The band caries on.
Drummer Colin Ashen and Bassist Will Hammond keep a solid backbone for the bands energetic bursts and ever-blooming hook. There’s something ear-catching at ever bar, including a clever placement of vibraslap.
Each chorus grows into a more indie sound. The band flourishes as they stew on the title lyric. Ashen’s drums sweep into an open ride crescendo and Gooseberry takes on in an explosive indie-jam band fashion. Something they’ve only hinted at throughout each verse. Daniels amps-up, showing of his ear-grabbing guitar work.
The song highlights the band’s eclectic range of influences, showing resonances of classic rock, 70’s soul, and the piano-forward pop of artists like Randy Newman and Carole King. When I’m Gone is a lamentation over the certainty of loss and an ode to those we leave behind in the search for higher ground.
Gooseberry, on “When I’m Gone”
The album art is elusive and colorful, paring well with Gooseberry’s musical intent. Each part melts together. It shape-shifts the whole. The door is wide open to explore.
“Berkshires” goes back to major influences like D’Angelo, Donny Hathaway, and Stevie Wonder, while their newest, “The Protagonist,” showcases a more alternative/indie sound in the styles of the Foo Fighters, Courtney Barnett, Arctic Monkeys, and Spoon. Before the pandemic, Gooseberry had a biweekly residency at Harefield Road in Brooklyn, where they were steadily growing a devoted audience around their live shows. They had been gigging fairly regularly in and around New York City, running the full gamut of venues from The Cobra Club to DROM to house shows across the boroughs.
Harlem-native, Kyle Stockman, has suffered through an unexpected 2020 along with many fellow Americans. After receiving buzz on singles “Opal” and “Sunday,” the Shooting Star singer believed it was best to combine his passion and interests by majoring in music at Hudson Valley Community College.
The curriculum was not as progressive as Stockman had hoped. He already self-taught much of the course. Out of that, came Solace. A multi-instrumental laden record that serves as a chameleon amongst the genres. Containing elements of folk, pop, rock and R&B.
With the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic making classes virtual, he decided this was the time to abandon ship and focus on his latest. Stockman’s retreat to the studio ensued, trying out new beats and entering his sound.
“That’s what my music is geared for, I love the dark rawness of songs that bring out emotion.”
Kyle Stockman
In it, Stockman croons about a breakup. First, he tries to find closure in a relationship’s end, dejectedly singing, “you left the heart baby, but you took my soul. It’s clear you don’t care about the way things go.”
He goes on hashing out his feelings towards his significant other. He searches for “solace” in the solitude that comes with life after a breakup.
“I make music for people who could be going through a break up, or lost someone close to them, [anything] that’s hard to deal with that at the moment,” says the indie crooner. Stockman is having fun making records and puts his soul into his music.
His brand of Indie-pop R&B is drawn from the likes of Frank Ocean. “Frank Ocean is who I’m into the most right now. I love his album Blonde for its simplicity [and] the rawness the emotion it incites. For me, that project was a masterpiece. I know that it got a lot of mixed reviews at the time but, the more I listened, the more I got what he was trying to convey. I try to make my music the same way, so you can feel the emotion.”
Each Sunday evening from 7-9pm you’ll find EQXposure on WEQX, featuring two hours of local music from up and coming artists. Tune into WEQX.com this Sunday night to hear music from Ciarra Fragale and many more!
WEQX has long been the preeminent independent station in the Capital Region of New York, broadcasting from Southern VT to an ever-expanding listening audience. NYS Music brings you a preview of artists to discover each week, just a taste of the talent waiting to be discovered by fans like you.
Ciarra Fragale – “Miss That” and “Too Good For You Baby”
Ciarra Fragale is an indie pop act born and raised in New York’s Hudson Valley. By blending the nostalgic traditions of songwriting with unique new-wave sensibilities, she creates a sound all her own. Ciarra spent years playing solo, until early last year when she joined forces with Kingston drummer Eli Marzano. Since then they have brought their dynamic set all across the Northeast, opening for renowned acts like Sammy Rae & the Friends. Ciarra relocated to North Adams, MA at the end of last year and just last weekend sold out two shows at Mass MoCA, her first shows since March.
After the release of my second LP, Call It What You Will, I found myself already collecting a bunch of new material. Last fall, I visited a friend of mine’s studio (Sleeper Cave Records) while I was passing through for a show and really fell in love with the space. I had been familiar with [Andy’s] engineering work, as a lot of my friends had recorded with him. After a few conversations, we went in to record “Too Good (For You, Baby)” and quickly realized that we weren’t just recording a single—we were making a record. We’ve been plugging away on it ever since. It feels really good to push the envelope. I just know so much more now than I did when I was making the previous records, both as an artist and as a producer. I’m really excited to share these new songs, most of which no one has never really heard. The climate is different now…usually you write a new song and you try it out at a few shows to gauge interest. Since that is not really an option right now, we’re just going for it on this record and it feels quite liberating. The collection of songs on this album feel like my most honest, which is why I decided to make the record self-titled. This new album is not necessarily a “quarantine record,” even though a lot of the songs were written during this tumultuous time. They are just a snapshot of where I am, right now.
EQXPosure will open the show 7pm Ciarra’s “Miss That” and later play “Too Good For You Baby” later in the 7 o’clock hour.
Hold off on making your Album of The Year lists, alt rock fans, until you’ve taken the debut album from Carpool for a test drive. Erotic Nightmare Summer checks all the right boxes: electrifying riffs, crafty turns of phrase, and choruses you can’t help but sing along to. In short, it slaps. Hard.
Erotic Nightmare Summer is a follow-up to their 2018 EP I Think Everyone’s A Cop, a work that launched them on the East Coast touring circuit and a spot at Fest last year. They’ve already been named on the lineup when Fest resumes in 2021.
NYS Music caught up with band members Stoph Colasanto (lead vocals, guitar, synth), Tommy Eckerson (lead guitar, vocals), and Alec Westover (vocals, drums) to talk about the album, starting with the overall concept and inspiration.
“Lyrically, it’s about the realization that some close relationships had become toxic, and the need to move on,” said Stoph. The music follows suit, pushing the boundaries of what is expected from an emo band. With the help of their producer, RJ Demarco, they challenged themselves to leave their comfort zones instrumentally, incorporating unexpected touches like classic rock elements and instruments that are unconventional for the genre, like violin, sax, and glockenspiel.
The story of the album artwork is also intriguing. For most works, the visuals are an afterthought. But Erotic Nightmare Summer was actually inspired by the striking collage that now graces its cover. It was a print Stoph had bought off artist Aaron Gordon from Buffalo to hang up on his wall. “I was just sitting in my room staring at it, and I got some ideas for songs. It just went from there.”
That spark fueled the concept of the album, and the melodies and lyrics for a handful of songs. Stoph called Tommy over that day, and together they started crafting the majority of the songs that comprise Erotic Nightmare Summer. They’ve fielded a lot of questions since the release. We went track by track through the album because there’s a lot to unpack.
Cruel Intentions
The guitar progression on “Cruel Intentions” may seem slightly familiar to Carpool fans. There’s a reason for that. Tommy explained, “The main riff for Cruel Intentions is one that Stoph has been playing, in several variations. The way he played it for ‘Cruel Intentions,’ we built the song off that.”
In the story arc of this concept album, this starting point represents the dawning comprehension that some relationships are emotionally damaging, like the song’s 90’s namesake movie. Stoph recalled watching the movie as a kid with his siblings, and really being drawn in by the music on the soundtrack, including Counting Crows and The Verve.
The lyrics tell a heart-wrenching tale of trying to disentangle from a messy relationship. “And I’m drunk and waiting for your call / I reek like alcohol / When you finally pick up, this is my fault / And I won’t crawl back to you.”
Whiskey & Xanax
“That’s for sure the darkest song on the album. The first lyric is ‘Take two steps forward, take your 12 step back,’” explained Stoph, referring to 12-step self-help programs. “It’s like you’re doing well, then all of a sudden something happens and you lose something important to you like your sobriety.”
“A lot of people advocated for us to change the name before we put it out,” Tommy noted, “But it’s not like we wrote an edgy song just to write an edgy song.”
“The last thing it’s doing is promoting substance abuse,” added Alec.
Going against the grain can be hard in the music scene, where drugs and alcohol are pervasive. Bands who want to play live are often performing at bars and house shows, where there’s a lot of social drinking and casual drug use going on.
This song also points to how the unhealthy relationships and substance use become intertwined. Alec pointed out, “It’s easy to relate to people’s flaws, especially when it comes to addiction, or being attracted to people with similar flaws.”
The Salty Song (Erotic Nightmare Summer)
“I was mad, I was salty,” Stoph said about how he felt when he was conceptualizing the lyrics for the song. “But it’s okay to be mad.” “The Salty Song” was one of the first written for the album, and the seething intensity of the lines is counterbalanced with a mega-upbeat melody. The short, catchy pop song features a big chorus.
After writing it, Tommy knew this one was something special. “Stoph and I were texting each other, and I was like, I don’t care if the song or the album does well, I just want people to make a TikTok of one of our songs.” They put out a challenge on social media and it took off. They had responses from a lot of people, including an employee at a mall pretzel shop. “Shout out to everyone who did a TikTok to that song,”
Beauty School Dropout
Stoph refers to this song as Tommy’s baby. As a fan of the musical Grease, Tommy had been wanting to record the song he had been writing, inspired by his favorite character, Frenchie.
“Originally it was called Frenchie,” said Tommy. “We always have ideas for songs lying around, and finally I was like ‘I really want to do it.’ I liked the instrumental, and I wrote the lyrics in the studio under the gun.”
This song about low self-esteem was a natural fit for the storyline of Erotic Nightmare Summer. It also incorporates an audio clip from the television series Euphoria, pulling in a contemporary reference.
Driving Under the Skinfluence
“This was the first one we recorded for the album,” Stoph said. “This song is a sad one, and a slower one. At this point in the lineage of the album, you’re good, you’re kinda okay with yourself, but you wonder if that person still thinks about you at all.”
The chorus repeating “I lie, you lie, we both lie. We self-destruct every time,” really drives home the heart-wrenching pain and agony.
Come Thru Cool (Punk Ass)
Stoph admitted this is his least favorite to sing live. “I always feel like I’m going to throw up after.”
But Tommy loves playing it out. He recalled the day when they wrote the song. “We were literally rehearsing and Stoph started playing this riff. Meanwhile, I’m trying to show him ‘Beauty School Dropout,’ which I had written for like two years and I was dying to finally show them how to play it. And Stoph was like, this is a sick riff. That’s how we wrote ‘Come Thru Cool.’ I love the song now, but at the moment, I was like, seriously, you’re going to write a song in the middle of me trying to show you my song, with no other basis other than the riff sounded cool?”
Toronto
“That was our first studio song through and through,” Tommy said. They wrote it and recorded it in the studio with their producer, RJ Demarco. Demarco recorded all the bass lines on the album, and was in all of the group vocals. A man of many talents, he also plays saxophone.
“There’s a bridge, like a pre-chorus breakdown. I wanted a trumpet player to come in, and I had a specific melody,” Tommy said. “We were in crunch mode at this point, trying to finish it, so RJ played saxophone. It was something a little extra.”
Like the fan fave “Idaho” off their EP, “Toronto” is a destination song about getting away from it all. Based on the band name alone, Carpool fans can probably expect sing-along road trip songs like these to continue to be a staple in their discography.
Liquor Store Employee (Old Friend)
The band gets a lot of questions about this song in particular, regarding the lyrics and the complexity of the instrumentation. It’s a contrast from the shorter chorus-driven ditties like “The Salty Song (Erotic Nightmare Summer).”
“I just want to say about Liquor Store, first off, I’m the Liquor Store Employee. That’s me,” said Stoph. “It’s not about my friend Hayley at all – that part references a specific conversation that I had with my friend Hayley… it’s a little something I put in there because I had a conversation with my friend Hailey and it changed my point of view on things.”
This is Alec’s favorite song on the album. “There’s a super hot beat, and slow parts, and a part that bangs super hard with the lyric. It’s just great. That part in the middle with Tommy doing the lead is probably my favorite part in the album.”
“This is our band fave for sure,” Tommy agreed. “This and ‘Driving Under The Skinfluence’ are probably our strongest. There’s a good blend of instrumentation, lyrics, and structure.”
East Coast West Coast
This is the oldest song on the album, predating Carpool as a band. It’s one that Stoph’s been saving for the right time to record. “This is a song I wrote in 2014, when I was in my first year of college. I’d play it when I came home, at parties, and it was a thing that we did when we had a party. We’d sing ‘East Coast West Coast.’”
“This is more like a straight up indie rock song,” he continued, ”We’re a dirty emo DIY band at the end of the day, but if you listen to this album, you’re not just going to hear a lot of emo songs and open tunings. You’re going to hear Alec going off on the drums in ways you wouldn’t think. And then you’ll hear Tommy do a classic rock and roll solo that just fits better than anything you could imagine over a contemporary alternative song.”
They drew on some influences from the music they listened to in their formative years for this nostalgic song about long distance friendships. The sentiment of the song is underscored by the use of violin, played by CJ Westcott (who has now been dubbed CJ West Coast).
Stolen Self Help (I Like You)
This is a softer song, originally written for another musical project, but it made more sense to use it to complete the trajectory of the journey from self-loathing to self-love. And at the end there’s a clip of a little girl saying the band’s motto: Carpool is about sharing smiles with friends.
“That’s my sister’s best friend’s daughter. Her name is Lila,” Stoph said. “I sent it to my sister’s friend and said, would you be down to have Lila say this in a voice memo? She sent it to me. It’s so cool, especially on that song. It’s like a soft close.”
Tommy added: “Carpool is a band about sharing smiles with friends. Don’t get it twisted. It is what it is.”
The band cites numerous people who contributed to Erotic Nightmare Summer, including Taylor Kremis, Jake Amadon, Nick Jones, Trevor Balbierz, CJ Westcott, and artist Aaron Gordon. Also, John Naclerio at Nada Studios who did the mastering, and the crew at Acrobat Unstable Records. And they give a lot of credit to RJ Demarco at Skyway Studios, who also recorded their EP ‘I Think Everyone’s A Cop.’
“I really gotta shout out RJ,” said Stoph. “I feel like honestly if we didn’t go to him our first time, we wouldn’t know what our sound is. I feel like he understood us better than we understood ourselves. His guidance and structure throughout our time knowing him… especially this past year playing bass for us and being super integral… he made us grow.”
Erotic Nightmare Summer is out now for purchase on Acrobat Unstable Records, and can be heard on a variety of platforms, including Bandcamp and Spotify. The band has some material in the wings, including an music video and a cover song. Be sure to follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for the latest content and announcements.
Goose has been loose across New England in the past few weeks, performing Drive-In shows in Yarmouth, MA, Morris, CT, Essex Junction, VT and soon they’ll head to Ohio, Maryland and North Carolina. Goose hit a fever pitch with fans in 2019 and have made the most of this new era of live music, between a successful Bingo Tour in June, and recent Drive-In stops across the Northeast.
So when Goose headed from Northern Vermont down to Southwestern New Hampshire on Saturday, October 3, they marked the closest shows to New York State, and beyond their just announced Halloween run at South Farms in Morris, CT, these shows stand to be the final chances to catch Goose in the Northeast, possibly until 2021.
Arriving at the Cheshire Fairgrounds in Swanzey, NH, cars were greeted by a friendly staff and it was incredibly easy for you to locate your car’s spot. Areas on either side of your car were marked off for social distancing, and your party could begin once you were parked.
No matter where you parked, the sound was incredibly good. Speaker stacks made it so the folks in the C section towards the back got the same quality as folks in the A section up front, allowing all to hear the new clavinet for guitarist/keyboardist Peter Anspach. Even the sloping hill allowed for good views even from the top of the venue.
Highlights from the evening included an early cover of The Band’s “Look Out Cleveland” and 20-minute versions of “Madhuvan” and the second set opening “Tumble.” Tom Waits’ dark “Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis” followed “Tumble,” and was repeated in the encore due to skipping a portion of the song the first time. The encore was polished off by the second ‘Jive’ tune of the night, “Jive Lee.” Listen to the show on Archive here.
Swanzey has succeeded in a state where live music is still embraced and allowed, and should be looked at as a template for how to pull off live music until the pandemic has subsided. On Saturday, October 31st, Pink Talking Fish will headline a at Drive-In Live in Swanzey, featuring Mihali from Twiddle and Neighbor, marking the grand finale for the Drive-In Live concert series.
The night before in Burlington, Goose welcomed Giant Country Horns member Dave ‘The Truth’ Grippo for most of the show, including “Time to Flee,” seen below.
Setlist – Goose at Drive-In Live, Swanzey, NH, October 2, 2020
Set 1:Yeti, Look Out Cleveland*, Honey Bee, Jive I, Madhuvan, 726 Set 2: Tumble, Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis^, All I Need, Echo Of A Rose, Flodown Encore: Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis^, Jive Lee
* The Band ^Tom Waits
For Halloween, Goose will perform two shows on Friday, October 30th and Saturday, October 31st. South Farms has hosted numerous acts, using the multipurpose outdoor venue with a grid-like layout where the audience is situated in pairs, on 8’x8’ plots of grass.
Unlike drive-in shows, South Farms is equipped for the band to use live sound, as opposed to FM radio transmitters. Social distancing guidelines are in effect while attending the event.
Ticket presale begins on Wednesday, October 7 at 10 AM ET, followed by a general onsale on Friday. October 9 at 10 AM ET.
Live at the Drive-In announced performances by Dirty Heads, Almost Queen, and the Disco Biscuits at the Lafayette Apple Festival Grounds. The shows will take place throughout October with Dirty Heads on the 24 and Disco Biscuits on the 29, 30, and 31. The shows will follow social distancing guidelines made by the State of NY while providing some much needed live music.
The Lafayette Apple Festival Grounds usually hosts the LaFayette Apple Festival but due to COVID-19 the festival unforchinitly had to be cancelled this year. They are making room for five nights of musical fun. Doors open at 5PM for all the shows and they actually start at 7PM. Tickets are on sale already for the Dirty heads and Disco Biscuit shows and can be purchased here.
The Dirty Heads are a mix of hip-hop, reggae, and rock. They are a California bred and raised group with a similar sound to Sublime. They formed back in 2003 and their members throughout the years include Jared Watson, Dustin Bushnell, Matt Ochoa, David Foral, Jon Olazabal, Shawn Hagood, and Josh Freese. They have seven studio albums and have hit the Billboard Top 200 multiple times.
The Disco Biscuits are a well known and loved jam band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is made up of band members Allen Aucoin, Marc “Brownie” Brownstein, Jon “The Barber” Gutwillig, and Aron Magner and formed in 1995. The band is known for incorporating elements from a bunch of different musical genres. Their sound has a base of electronic and rock and has been described as trance fusion in the past.
For more information of the Live at the Drive-In performances visit Lafayette Apple Festival Grounds website and Creative Concerts.
