“We’ve probably played as many shows in New Haven as we have in Maine,” said Hannah Collen, half of the self-described “nerdy bass-music duo” Crunk Witch which began its most recent three-week tour of the East Coast at Three Sheets Thursday night.
Collen, a native of Maine, spoke of how Crunk Witch got to the city initially through New Haven-based musician Ceschi by simply “reaching out,” knowing him through his music, contacting him and asking if he could help them set up a show here. Six years later with paths crossing time and time again and friendships developing, New Haven has became a regular stop for the group.
Brandon Miles, the other half of Crunk Witch and Collen’s husband, also spoke of their affinity toward the city that has become the place to come back to and hang and play with familiar faces.
“We like to play left-of-center places,” said Miles. “Plus we have made a lot of good friends here.” But he waxed most poetically about his best friend of all, his wife and bandmate, who he met via MySpace in 2007. He immediately “knew this was the rest of my life,” he said. The couple got married almost 10 years ago and started the band a few months later, writing lyrics together and “working off of each other” to make the songs, though Miles was quick to note that Collen was “the curator of our sound” when creating Crunk Witch’s music.
Three Sheets was ready to celebrate the duo’s visit with friends continually building the crowd throughout the night, which began with local rapper Zak G accompanied by DJ Mo Niklz. Launching right into an a capella piece, Zak G followed it up with multiple punk-infused pieces both old and new, including one he mentioned he had never performed live before, all to the delight of the crowd. The audience cheered him on as he performed both on and off the stage, impassioned by such songs as “I Am the Virus” and “Wasteland,” off of his album of the same name. The latter song had him asking the audience to sing along with the chorus — “We’re headed for the wasteland, wasteland / we’re living in a wasteland, wasteland” — which the crowd did without hesitation.
Next to the stage was Sketch Tha Catacylsm who encouraged the crowd to come up closer and interacted often and joyfully with the audience, even letting two friends take pictures of his socks, which he mentioned had his son’s picture on them. He offered the crowd an a cappella verse while standing still for the pictures, but that was the only time Sketch was still. He delivered his oft poetic pieces with grooves and sway, even dropping to his knees at one point during the song “Sleep Deprivation and the Artist” from last year’s The MAYA Demos Remastered, conveying the fatigue of the song’s protagonist as he makes his way through another restless night. With frequent shout-outs to the other acts and many other friends throughout the set — including DJ Mo Niklz, who also accompanied him — Sketch continued to set the tone for the final act.
Crunk Witch came to the stage expressing kindness and gratitude before even beginning one song, but when the music finally started, it hit like a party that you never want to leave. Light towers pulsing and flashing and beams shooting out like lasers onto everything and everyone at Three Sheets accompanied the driving beats and contagious fun and frenetic funkiness of Miles, out front on vocals, and Collen, in back on lightboard and beats, who grooved along right with it — as did the members of the audience, many of them singing along with Miles to familiar songs, some from the band’s older records and some from their latest, the self-titled Crunk Witch, which came out last year.
Audience participation in all forms was mandatory as Miles told the crowd he wanted them to choose by applause whether they wanted the cover song they played to be one they had played before or one never performed. The crowd chose a never performed song. Miles then asked them to choose between Celine Dion and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. He offered the crowd a nice piece of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” that started with him a cappella, crooning up close to appreciative audience members and then launching into a hard-thumping verse that had nearly everyone singing and jumping along with him.
Karen Ponzio Photos
Crunk Witch having the time of their lives
He continued throughout the set to interact not only with the audience — jumping on and off the stage and dancing with a seemingly endless amount of energy — but with Collen behind him, singing “songs of love and friendship and sometimes video games” as well, exchanging loving looks and hugs often, and even ending the set by asking the crowd to back up from the stage so Collen could come down, run up to him, and be lifted overhead ala the Dirty Dancing finale, which brought screams and rousing applause. Even after the show the hugs and pictures and party continued on.
“We will always have a soft spot for New Haven,” Collen said. “There are so many wonderful people here. We will always come back to it.”
Crunk Witch continues its tour of the east coast for the next three weeks. More info can be found on their Facebook and Bandcamp pages.
