LIVE MUSIC CALENDAR

To add a show to our calendar, please email
meghan@wailingcity.com
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@wailingcity

*Please note we only list New London county shows 

Wailing City Spotlight: Interview With Hopeville General Store

Published March 14, 2024
Interview By Meghan Killimade

Tell us the history of the band – who are the members & instrumentation and how did you all come together?
Hopeville General Store is named after a small community store that was once at the corner of Stone Hill Rd and Rt. 201 in Griswold, CT. We had over 40 names in a hat and put it to a vote amongst friends while we were forming and that's what really stuck. It represents a time in our age that we can represent musically. The Band started as Ron and Roy. We met at a local open mic a couple years before when Roy was starting a group and I was performing solo. He became available at the same time I was looking to form one and he was my first phone call. We share musical roots and mindset and definitely see eye-to-eye both on stage and in the studio. We met Jake and Bobby through jams and friends also. Our original lineup had another drummer and an organist. As with most local bands we have evolved through lineup changes but still work with as many players as we can. We are both monogamous and poly-jamerous.

Wailing City Spotlight: Interview With Dirt Pile

Published March 3, 2024

Interview by Meghan Killimade

Tell us about Dirt Pile – who are the members & instrumentation and how did you all come together?
Dirt Pile is a three piece band based out of New London, CT. Our members are Dean on drums, Jeff is our guitarist, and my name is Matt and I do vocals. Dean and I have known each other for several years and have been in a few different bands together. In 2022 we decided we wanted to start a new project so we took to the interwebs to find some new people to work with and through the magic of Craigslist we found Jeff.

Wailing City Spotlight: Interview With Danny Fleet

Published February 22, 2024
Interview by Meghan Killimade

How did you get started in music? How about the band – how did you all come together and who are the members and instrumentation? 
The band started back in 2016, but everyone in the group has been playing most of their lives. Personally, my first experience was with my high school trio Sonnie and learning how to set up sound for shows in our gymnasium. Like many people, these were formative years that taught me how to pursue music in different forms. Fleet has gone through multiple iterations, but currently I'm honored to be joined by Christian Brunelle on drums/vox, Noah Greenleaf on bass/vox , Max Kelly on lead guitar, and Noah Feldman as our co-lead vocalist/ keyboardist/ multi- instrumentalist. As mentioned, we've all been playing most of our lives and have a rich history within this corner of Southeastern CT. Some of us had played in previous groups together or supported each other's projects, so this band has just felt like a natural extension of that.

Wailing City Spotlight Interview: Matt Gouette

Published February 8, 2024
Interview by Meghan Killimade

You’ve been writing and performing music in our area for a long time – how did you get started in music and how did growing up in this area shape you as a musician/songwriter?
It's just something that came naturally. I love music and always wanted to be a rock star. I used to play the guitar on tennis rackets when I was five or six years old. I convinced my parents to get me a guitar in 1992, took some lessons, learned the basics and went from there. I wrote songs before I could play an instrument. They weren't GOOD, but I was writing them. I'm glad those tapes were erased years ago. As for growing up in the area, I can't say it shaped me in terms of what I do musically. I just do my thing, and however it comes out, there it is. I've always marched to my own drum. But I will say that years ago, a friend mentioned that maybe I should do more original songs and not so many covers. That may have helped me to gain the confidence to just be myself and not try so hard to be another Elliott Smith or Nick Drake. Which WAS my trajectory in the mid-2000s, I cringe to admit.

Wailing City Spotlight: Interview With Bards Of Gungywamp

Published February 1, 2024

Interview by Meghan Killimade

Tell us about the band – who are the members & instrumentation and how did you all come together? 
Craig: It was the end of the winter of 2020. I was coming off of a 100 day sobriety bender. My day 1 of drinking was going to be on St Patrick’s day at the Strange Brew watching friends old and new playing Irish traditionals! It was kind of unbelievable… but then all the bars shut down because of some new outbreak called Covid.

Fast forward two years to the winter of 2022. Covid quarantines were relaxing and I found out the friends were going to try it again. Only this time they wanted me to play the banjo with them... I don’t play the banjo. Hell, I barely play guitar. I attempted to play 5 string banjo in January/ February, but learning new songs and trying to learn fingerpicking at the same time was too much. It was at this point I discovered the existence of the Irish tenor banjo. A four string instrument that is traditionally played with a pick. This seemed like it could be a much easier transition, only one hand would have to learn new tricks. So in the end of February / beginning of March I started to learn the Irish tenor banjo for the shows on St. Patrick's day. That first St. Patrick's was intense. I’m pretty sure we played sitting down, and it was a very stripped down version of one of our normal sets. Although, the main meat of our set was already established by then. It’s wild to look back at where I came from and where I am now after these few years of playing with these guys. They really have inspired me and have completely changed my life.

Wailing City Spotlight: Interview With Ben Parent of Superbald

Published January 24, 2024
Interview by Meghan Killimade

Superbald recently got back together after a fairly long hiatus – welcome back! Talk about the time off and what inspired you guys to start playing music together again!
First of all, thanks to Wailing City for the interest in the band! Superbald is stoked to be playing again. We hadn’t played seriously in about 10 years, but Steve Elci (Superbald singer/bass player) and I have continued to play and write together in other capacities over the years. Last summer, Steve joined Nancy Parent (of the Rivergods) and myself at an acoustic show for a few numbers, and we broke out a few Superbald tunes just for fun. And while the songs were great, we realized they needed the full electric trio to be Superbald songs! So we got in touch with Trevor (Superbald drummer), who was thankfully still interested in rocking. And things just progressed from there. 

Wailing City Spotlight: Interview With Emmanuel Thresher of Xenos

Published January 18, 2024
Interview by Meghan Killimade

Tell us about Xenos - who’s in the band, what’s the instrumentation and how did the band come together?
The band came together a little over a year ago after I got back into playing the Cretan lute after not playing it for a while. I had played for a couple years in my early teens, but then switched to guitar and never looked back. So after picking it back up, I had the idea to put a band together to play a more modern style of Cretan folk music, inspired by contemporary Greek bands. Jeffrey May, a good friend and multi-instrumentalist, jumped in to play keyboards and recommended the battle-hardened J Curland to play drums. We played as a trio for a bit until a few months later my brother Alexios LaBonne joined us on bass, and we've been playing as a quartet ever since. 

Wailing City Spotlight: Interview With James Burke

Published October 19, 2023
Interview by Meghan Killimade

You’ve been playing music in the area for quite some time – having played in rock bands such as Thick Thieves, Incessant Pop Group, Slander and Anderson Family Picnic, before developing into a solo artist armed with synths and drum machines. You’re also currently in the neo-soul/hip hop/synth trio The Look-A-Likes. What has this new musical path been like for you and what was the motivation/influence behind it? 
I took about seven years off from playing music at the end of Slander. In 2020 I ended up with a broken ankle during lockdown. As boredom set in, I realized I could play the bass from a wheelchair. I’d always pondered about the idea of doing a solo set with electronics, but it never fully materialized. Also, since I spend 8+ hours a day in front of a computer for my day job, making music “in the box” wasn’t something I connected with. I started assembling an array of synths and drum machines which evolved into the setup I use today. Tonally the sounds are a lot of the 80’s dance music classics, TR909 drum sounds, Roland Juno Synth pads, 303 bass sounds. 

Wailing City Spotlight: Interview with Chris Moore of Horns Of Ormus

Published November 9, 2023
Interview by Jeff Thunders

Hey Chris, how are you? 
Doing fine, surviving ww3 so far, can't complain. 

You Play guitar in Horns Of Ormus. I've been telling people you guys are New London's answer to Television. How would you describe the sound of the band to one who didn't know? 
I'm flattered by the comparison, maybe imagine television born in a dive bar w/ a nu wave guitarist

What are you currently listening to? 
Saved! by Reverend Kristen Michael Hayter, an alt project by the astonishing artist Lingua Ignota. 

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