Two Bands Unplug At Three Sheets

“I don’t know what to do with myself, but I’m having a great time,” said a smiling Nick Martin, vocalist for Goat Herder, a band that stripped down its set but not its vibe and enthusiasm for the latest installment of the Unplugged series at Three Sheets Sunday afternoon.

Going strong since its inception in May, the series has showcased two bands — usually ones of different genres of music that typically would not be on the same bill — on one Sunday of each month since then, encouraging them to play acoustic sets and share stories about themselves and their songs if they so choose.

The first act to the stage was Voices of Change, normally made up of six members from ​“all over CT” but today showcasing two — vocalist Briana Ramos Smith and guitarist Sammy Chiba. The duo opened with ​“Valerie” by Amy Winehouse, making it their own with Chiba strumming sweetly and Smith letting her vocal range fill the air of the intimate room, garnering loud cheers and applause immediately from the audience that began to fill the room almost as soon as they started playing. The two covered other soulful and bluesy classics, including ones from Smokey Robinson and Etta James as well as Roberta Flack’s ​“Killing Me Softly,” with Smith’s chill-inducing vocals standing out. Chiba got in quite a few solos of his playful yet skillful string work in each song, eliciting more than a few smiles and shouts of yes in response. The duo was received with much applause at the end of their nine-song set, and the room was near full.

Goat Herder took the stage for its second turn at this series, the first being back in April of this year. Typically made up of four members — Martin on vocals, Sean Saxton on bass, Joe Zaffino on guitar, and Phred Rawles on drums — on Sunday the band added four more members, including Jim Valli on upright bass (Saxton played guitar for this show), Jacob Fisher on hand drum, Daryl Goucher on percussion, and Matt Bowen on ​“terror” tambourine. The small stage was chock full, with Martin and Fisher seated on the edge and Bowen standing off of it to the side. The band has a myriad of thrashing punk metal tunes that are lyrically insightful but also known to incite a mosh pit, and was able to strip them down without removing their impact, allowing the audience to get another perspective of their favorites while allowing space for the band to talk about the songs, each other, and their friends.

Songs such as ​“Stoned,” which Martin said was about nuclear proliferation (“basically, let’s stay away from World War Three,” he added) and ​“Capital Hill Fever” (“it’s self- explanatory” added Martin), were played in a way that gave them another type of raw energy. Throughout Martin was the vibrant leader of the proceedings, getting up and down to move about the audience as the music moved him. He shouted out his mother who was in attendance as well as his wife and other friends in the room. He also acknowledged former Goat Herder member and longtime friend Matt Rudd, who ended up joining Martin for the last verse of a song, the two head to head and hugging afterward.

Martin gave up the mic to Zaffino to tell an endearing story about his being left behind by the others after going record shopping while the band was on tour in Burlington, Vt. a few years back. ​“No matter how well you know people and no matter how far away from home you are, they’ll leave you there,” Zaffino said, which made the band as well as the audience erupt in laughter.

The band ended the night with two covers. One was written by Zaffino for his former band the Chore Boys. Before playing it, he shouted out former Chore Boys bandmate Sean Beirne, who passed away one year ago. The other was the folk song ​“House of the Rising Sun,” announced by Saxton as dedicated to local legend George Baker, who passed away last week. As the band began to play it, Martin struggled to recall the lyrics, much to his own chagrin. The audience readily helped out by singing along, and Saxton’s father — Captain Pat as he is known to all — was encouraged to come up and join Martin and the band on vocals, which he eventually did. It was a lovely and fitting finish to this friendly and familial gathering.

The Unplugged series at Three Sheets is held once a month on Sundays at 6 p.m. For more info on future shows please see the Three Sheets website and/or Facebook page.