Eleanor Polak Photos
Bajzelle plays at Gather.
A crowd assembled in the basement of Gather, at 952 State St., lit only by a few strings of red bulbs and the lurid screens of old-fashioned television sets. The scene felt intimate and grungy, stripped to the bare essentials of a show: lights, sound, and people. David Taylor Coffey, soft spot, and Bajzelle prepared to fill Gather with a buffet of genres and sounds. The audience swelled inside the confined space, with enough enthusiasm and energy to fill a stadium. What was an empty basement transformed into a party as soon as someone plugged in the mic.
That mic soon proved to be faulty, shifting around in the stand before Gianni Carponzano of soft spot volunteered to hold it still. This minor technical difficulty emphasized the feeling of community, where every performer appeared eager to share the stage with one another. Carponzano kept the mic in place throughout David Taylor Coffey’s opening set, a mixture of folk-punk and anti-folk that both soothed and invigorated the audience.
Coffey began with the original “Song for Sarah,” dedicated to a close friend of his who passed away. “No one’s gonna catch you if you fall / Maybe I’ll be fine, but I’m running out of time,” he crooned. The bittersweet ballad captured the human feelings of love and pain, how they commingle and intertwine as Coffey promised to “manage all your mania / wash away your dysphoria.”
David Taylor Coffey performs "Out Like a Lamb."
“I’ve got a song for y’all that is a sing along song… who likes to sing?” asked Coffey. The crowd cheered. He launched into “Out like a Lamb,” and the audience sang along to the chorus of “Oh, won’t you take me home tonight / Oh, won’t you make me feel alright / Tonight.” Carpanzano, already engaged in stabilizing the microphone, joined Coffey in singing into it as the song reverberated throughout the basement.
“Again, my name is David Taylor Coffey,” said Coffey. “Speaking of my name, here’s a song I probably shouldn’t attach it to.” He played “All My Friends Are Anarchists,” a rousing tune that had the crowd chiming in once again for the chorus: “Democracy is dead / I’m seeing red.”
soft spot performs "Time."
Next up came soft spot, a band from Stamford featuring David Eisermann on bass, Marc Marenco on drums, and Gianni Carponzano on guitars and vocals. The alternative rock band played a series of invigorating originals like “Static” and “Time,” as well as a cover of The Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Head On.”
“This one’s for Greg,” announced Carponzano, referring to Greg Poore of Bajzelle, who head-banged along with the music.
“Are you ready to scream your heads off? That’s what music is about, rock ‘n’ roll,” said Carponzano. The audience proved their readiness by screaming along to “Complicated,” bouncing and swaying as Carponzano sang, “Hey, I know what you want from me / But I don’t know how to give it to you.”
Bajzelle performs at Gather.
Bajzelle, composed of Shaun Larson on drums, Greg Poore on guitar and vocals, and Matt Valade on bass and vocals, finished the night with a combination of psychedelic and indie rock. They began with “Mop,” and Poore and Valade took over the space, head-banging toward each other and then apart like balls in a Newton’s cradle ricocheting against each other. They followed up with “Drip,” a “new new” song with a commanding beat that ran manic and subdued by turns.
“I gotta ask Matt, what’s with the mustache?” inquired Poore, referring to the fake facial hair the bass player had donned for the occasion.
“Just felt like a mustache day,” replied Valade.
“Can today be mustache day?” shouted someone in the crowd. Poore, with all the power he possessed as the man with the microphone, declared it so.
Bajzelle finished its set with “Root,” but the crowd disagreed. They reminded the band that they still had one minute left on their time, so Bajzelle took an encore with a shortened version of “Bike.” “That girl’s such a pretty little thing and she knows it, knows it, she knows it / I would do anything for her and she knows it,” sang Poore. The last song left the audience sated, but most of them still stuck around to congratulate the musicians before returning to the upstairs world. A once-empty room had become a vehicle for a musical experience. The basement of Gather had come to life.
Anarchy? yea, no.