nothin Stove Fires Up At BAR | New Haven Independent

Stove Fires Up At BAR

Elissa Sanci Photo

Steve Hartlett checked his microphone while guitarist Mike Hammond took a swig of his beer, having finished tuning his guitar. The lights in BAR’s backroom were dim, and people were beginning to crowd the small space. At 9:30 p.m., the house music turned off and Stove began to play.

Stove has been together for just a few months. It was one of three bands at the most recent free weekly Wednesday night showcase for up-and-coming acts at the Crown Street restaurant and nightclub.

Hartlett, who sings and plays guitar, recruited drummer Jordyn Blakely in October. Alex Molini, who hails from Greenpoint, Brooklyn, plays bass. Stove’s debut album, Is Stupider, originally began as a solo project that Hartlett started after the disbandment of New England indie band Ovlov, in which he played with Hammond. According to Hartlett, the album is about learning from stupid mistakes trying to fix them.

It’s really about embracing stupidity,” Hartlett said.

Self-described as fitting into the indie pop rock” genre, Stove emits a fun and relatable vibe. The band coasted through its seven-song set with ease, taking occasional breaks between numbers to sip from cups of beer on stage. When Blakely’s snare drum head broke mid-set, she calmly switched it out. She played shoeless, only wearing brightly colored socks.

I always take off my jewelry and shoes,” she said, claiming that she feels wearing too much will throw her off. I get self-conscious about what kind of socks I wear, though.”

The crowd, an intimate group of roughly 30 people, swayed in time with the music. A few standing closer to the stage mouthed along the words with Hartlett as he sang from Is Stupider, which he wrote and recorded with Exploding in Sounds Records, a Brooklyn-based label.

Valerie Henry, a recent Western Connecticut State University graduate living in the New Haven area, said she had never heard of the band before, but after listening to Is Stupider on SoundCloud, she decided to come hear them play live.

They were really good,” she said. I dig the female drummer.”

Henry said she was no stranger to BAR’s free Wednesday night shows. We come on a whim when our lives are dismal,” she said. She and her roommate, Max Tangvay-Colucci, agreed that it was a good excuse to pull themselves from their couches, where they fall victim to Netflix binging.

BAR has been holding its free music series every Wednesday night since 2011, excepting holidays and the night before Thanksgiving. It’s a great thing,” said Mario Nascimento, Manic Productionss day-of-show representative. It’s hard to get people out of the house on a Wednesday night, but what better way than with a free show series?” Manic Productions and BAR collaborate to hold the series; BAR provides the venue, while Manic Productions finds and books the bands.

Featuring up-and-coming acts for free is an effort to get those acts exposure as well as drum up business for BAR on an off night, according to Dan Brodoff, BAR’s manager.

After opening for both Dirty Dishes (in which Molini also played bass) and indie band What Moon Things, the members of Stove are looking forward to the future. They’ve set a short-term goal to record their second album, which they’ve worked on together, by April. Hammond said they have already written the lyrics and set up the general structure of the new songs.

Sign up for our morning newsletter

Don't want to miss a single Independent article? Sign up for our daily email newsletter! Click here for more info.


Post a Comment

Commenting has closed for this entry

Comments

There were no comments