Karen Ponzio Photos
The Split Coils.
“We’re The Split Coils,” said the band’s vocalist and guitarist Jay Russell after the band’s first song at Best Video on Thursday night.
“We have an album on Spotify, and it’s the only thing that matters,” he added with a laugh, eliciting more laughs from everyone in the room, including the band Bronson Rock, who were also on the bill.
Each played a set showing that what really matters in rock ‘n’ roll is imprinting the memory of a moment in the listener’s mind.
A small but enthusiastic crowd took in the two bands at the Hamden video store and performance space on a rainy night, beginning with The Split Coils, which included the aforementioned Russell, Joseph Ballaro on bass, Katelyn Russell on percussion and vocals, and Jon Scerbo on drums. The band played a nine-song set interspersed with banter about everything from Spotify to old set lists to curse words slipping out when they shouldn’t. The band’s songs combined an expansive sound with pointed lyrics, creating a soundtrack that would suit a long ride on a bright sunny day just as well as one on a dark stormy night.
The harmonies of the Russells shone through — especially on the title cut of the band’s latest album, Earth and Dust. “Without you by my side there’d be nothing but earth and dust,” they sang, offering tales of love and longing all completed with resplendent rhythms and just enough rowdy guitar to make you smile. Russell had promised the audience that Bronson Rock would “rock your faces off, not literally but sonically,” but his band was getting pretty wild as it offered up more songs, including “Old Ghosts,” which grabbed attention right from the first lines: “Wake up and get your shit / we’re getting out of this pit.”
Russell continued during the set to offer up praise for his friends, both for their music and their support. “I just want to say Best Video, Hank, Gary, Cafe Nine … all of them putting on shows and treating New Haven and Hamden like gold for years. I appreciate that so much.” The audience loved this band, which by all indications on this evening looks like it will be appreciated for years as well.
Local favorites Bronson Rock did exactly what Russell said they would, with a set jam-packed with everything from an Etta James cover to originals penned by vocalist and guitarist Buzz Gordo, who is also well known for his time in the seminal New Haven band Big Bad Johns. Some songs — like the newer “Self Medication Keeps the Show on the Road” — brought to mind the pop-punk aesthetic of Elvis Costello and The Attractions with its intricate and intelligent lyrics but fun and fast backbeat. Others — like “Hey Sally,” also new and on the band’s forthcoming album — showcased the band’s sultry side. Gordo got sentimental but sweet with a song dedicated to his daughter called “Come to My Party,” and even added a song with a basis in Buddhism called “Around the Sun,” where he postulated that “the energy released from a million different stars ends up in our atmosphere …and spreads good karma everywhere.”
The band members — Eric Bloomquist on bass and vocals, Lou St. John on organ and vocals, and Tom Smith on drums — all had their moments to shine, but also played as tight and with as much joy as any band in recent memory, including on the song “Smokin’ Joe,” a song about Joe Frazier that Gordo had played during an acoustic solo set last week at Next Door. Here it became an even more raucous rock ‘n’ roll tune. The song “The Bar That I Call Home,” the band’s final number, featured on the HBO show Divorce and exemplified the evening with the words “Your heavy heart’s been lifted.… you could ask for nothing more.”
