Summer Music 2024 @ Mystic River Park June-Aug (Mon & Tue)

*Last Updated 8/8/24

Wailing City Spotlight: Interview With Lobotomist

Published May 2, 2024

Interview By Meghan Killimade

Tell us about Lobotomist - who are the members & instrumentation and how & when did you all get together?
Lobotomist is a 4 piece thrash metal band from the Connecticut / Rhode Island area. We all met through mutual friends, and we first started talking to each other in early August of 2023. Our first time jamming together was in September, and since then we try to meet up once a week to practice. Lobotomist is comprised of Owen McCarvill on drums, Liam Young on bass guitar, Gunnar Hofmann on lead guitar, and Lucio “Looch” Coleecchi on rhythm guitar and vocals.

4th Annual Country Music Fest 2024 @ Tamarack Lodge Sat May 25

*Last updated 5/20/24 12:02pm

Music In The Meadow 2024 @ Conn College Arboretum Fri May 31

*Last updated 4/5/24

Wailing City Spotlight: Interview With Pocket Vinyl

Published April 18, 2024
Interview By Meghan Killimade

Pocket Vinyl has been rockin’ the piano & paintbrush for a number of years now! How did you two get started?
Eric: We went to college together, and towards the end of that, we started hanging out due to the fact that we both had broken hearts. We were so heartbroken and blunt and just needed a friend. We both knew each of us was not ready for a relationship (and didn't want to jump back into one), and that had the wonderful effect of us becoming great friends. About a year after that, we had each healed and realized "Oh man, this person is pretty sweet." I (Eric) was going to go on tour in the summer of 2010 by myself on the piano, just because I'd never done it before. By that point we were dating and wanted to hang so Elizabeth decided to come along and paint. It went well enough that in 2011, we got married and decided to try PV full time, and 13 years later, we're still doing it amazingly. It feels like we've been hanging by the skin of our teeth for nearly that entire time, yet somehow we persisted.

Telegraph Hosts 'Record Store Day 2024 Weekender' Sat April 20 & Sun April 21

*Last Updated 4/21/24

Wailing City Spotlight: Interview With Hopeville General Store

Published March 14, 2024
Interview By Meghan Killimade

Tell us the history of the band – who are the members & instrumentation and how did you all come together?

Hopeville General Store is named after a small community store that was once at the corner of Stone Hill Rd and Rt. 201 in Griswold, CT. We had over 40 names in a hat and put it to a vote amongst friends while we were forming and that's what really stuck. It represents a time in our age that we can represent musically. The Band started as Ron and Roy. We met at a local open mic a couple years before when Roy was starting a group and I was performing solo. He became available at the same time I was looking to form one and he was my first phone call. We share musical roots and mindset and definitely see eye-to-eye both on stage and in the studio. We met Jake and Bobby through jams and friends also. Our original lineup had another drummer and an organist. As with most local bands we have evolved through lineup changes but still work with as many players as we can. We are both monogamous and poly-jamerous.

Wailing City Spotlight: Interview With Dirt Pile

Published March 3, 2024
Interview by Meghan Killimade

Tell us about Dirt Pile – who are the members & instrumentation and how did you all come together?
Dirt Pile is a three piece band based out of New London, CT. Our members are Dean on drums, Jeff is our guitarist, and my name is Matt and I do vocals. Dean and I have known each other for several years and have been in a few different bands together. In 2022 we decided we wanted to start a new project so we took to the interwebs to find some new people to work with and through the magic of Craigslist we found Jeff.

Wailing City Spotlight: Interview With Danny Fleet

Published February 22, 2024
Interview by Meghan Killimade

How did you get started in music? How about the band – how did you all come together and who are the members and instrumentation? 

The band started back in 2016, but everyone in the group has been playing most of their lives. Personally, my first experience was with my high school trio Sonnie and learning how to set up sound for shows in our gymnasium. Like many people, these were formative years that taught me how to pursue music in different forms. Fleet has gone through multiple iterations, but currently I'm honored to be joined by Christian Brunelle on drums/vox, Noah Greenleaf on bass/vox , Max Kelly on lead guitar, and Noah Feldman as our co-lead vocalist/ keyboardist/ multi- instrumentalist. As mentioned, we've all been playing most of our lives and have a rich history within this corner of Southeastern CT. Some of us had played in previous groups together or supported each other's projects, so this band has just felt like a natural extension of that.

Wailing City Spotlight Interview: Matt Gouette

Published February 8, 2024
Interview by Meghan Killimade

You’ve been writing and performing music in our area for a long time – how did you get started in music and how did growing up in this area shape you as a musician/songwriter?

It's just something that came naturally. I love music and always wanted to be a rock star. I used to play the guitar on tennis rackets when I was five or six years old. I convinced my parents to get me a guitar in 1992, took some lessons, learned the basics and went from there. I wrote songs before I could play an instrument. They weren't GOOD, but I was writing them. I'm glad those tapes were erased years ago. As for growing up in the area, I can't say it shaped me in terms of what I do musically. I just do my thing, and however it comes out, there it is. I've always marched to my own drum. But I will say that years ago, a friend mentioned that maybe I should do more original songs and not so many covers. That may have helped me to gain the confidence to just be myself and not try so hard to be another Elliott Smith or Nick Drake. Which WAS my trajectory in the mid-2000s, I cringe to admit.

Wailing City Spotlight: Interview With Bards Of Gungywamp

Published February 1, 2024
Interview by Meghan Killimade

Tell us about the band – who are the members & instrumentation and how did you all come together? 
Craig: It was the end of the winter of 2020. I was coming off of a 100 day sobriety bender. My day 1 of drinking was going to be on St Patrick’s day at the Strange Brew watching friends old and new playing Irish traditionals! It was kind of unbelievable… but then all the bars shut down because of some new outbreak called Covid.

Fast forward two years to the winter of 2022. Covid quarantines were relaxing and I found out the friends were going to try it again. Only this time they wanted me to play the banjo with them... I don’t play the banjo. Hell, I barely play guitar. I attempted to play 5 string banjo in January/ February, but learning new songs and trying to learn fingerpicking at the same time was too much. It was at this point I discovered the existence of the Irish tenor banjo. A four string instrument that is traditionally played with a pick. This seemed like it could be a much easier transition, only one hand would have to learn new tricks. So in the end of February / beginning of March I started to learn the Irish tenor banjo for the shows on St. Patrick's day. That first St. Patrick's was intense. I’m pretty sure we played sitting down, and it was a very stripped down version of one of our normal sets. Although, the main meat of our set was already established by then. It’s wild to look back at where I came from and where I am now after these few years of playing with these guys. They really have inspired me and have completely changed my life.