Alli's Articles
INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, CULTURE PIECES, MUSICAL RAMBLINGS.
Here at New Paltz, there are some bands that are simply..legends. Hometown heroes, household (or dorm-hold) names, ones that are already staples and whose names are always thrown around. Whispers in Snugs, flyers up Main Street, it seems that everybody knows this band, no matter what circle they’re in! To me, the band that captures this exciting feeling as of recent is Bby Carrots. Even if you haven’t heard their songs, you’ve definitely heard something that they have their fingerprints over. With members in other classic New Paltz acts such as What? and the booyah kids!, the influence of Bby Carrots goes far past the 4 singles and 1 EP they have released on their Spotify. They are a supergroup of six super-talented musicians: Julia Bellontine, Santiago Coto Segnini, Elizabeth Heh, Aidan Ludlam, Ryan Perrone, and Alex Endres. On top of being the main event for countless house shows over the past 2 years, the band has also been playing multiple outdoor concerts during the age of COVID. I’ve been meaning to talk to them forever, but now was the perfect time for me to have a conversation with them about being a band in New Paltz, playing during a pandemic and a strange, nearly-remote semester. I joined them around a socially-distant campfire and talked to them about their thoughts. How does it feel to finally be back playing music together again?
Santi: I wouldn’t say we’re 100% back...we haven’t played a show for probably a year, so I was nervous. They’ve (add) been playing shows with What? At least for me, it was awesome and exciting but I was nervous which was weird...but I liked it. I liked being nervous. I stopped being nervous a while ago, so I was like “Ooo! What are these jitters?” Ryan: For me it’s a bittersweet thing, because, like, yeah we’re back to playing music, but it’s not the same as it was before. There’s all these restrictions and guidelines that everyone has to follow no matter what business or event you’re doing. It’s like we’re getting that fix of playing somewhere for an audience, but it’s missing all those great aspects that a normal show might usually have, like people dancing. Everyone has to kinda stay seated in masks, apart. I think the energies could be a little strange now. Liz: I mean, there’s other aspects to being back, not just live shows. Just getting to jam together and rehearse, and even getting back to working on and creating new things. For me, that’s a great aspect of doing music. Santi: When COVID was at its peak, we would have to wear a mask when we saw each other, and our housemates wouldn’t be comfortable if everyone was here, which is understandable. But thankfully, at least we can meet up now in the same circle, and we can maximize making music without postponing shows. Liz: I feel like a lot of things went online after this crisis. I would like to create more content for that. We’re working on getting more content for Instagram, like videos. You guys have kinda been answering this question, but what is it like to be a musician during a pandemic? Are there any main thoughts or fears that you guys have had? Ryan: It’s...not...good. I used to do 1 gig a week on average, but that was all suddenly gone. It was like “This is cancelled. Oh, you have this thing in two months? Also cancelled. Things in the winter, no that’s cancelled.” It was scary. Like you make do, and as starving artists we’re used to that already. As a mostly-performing musician, it was kinda life-changing. Liz: Blaine (our manager) said something about one of his artists being “self-sustained” through his music, but mainly through live performances. I would assume that this made a huge change for him. Julie: One thing that we’ve been grappling with as Bby Carrots is that we’ve had an EP that we’ve been working on for a while. Ever since this hit, we’ve been like “When do we release this?” We want people to get together with their friends and listen to it, see it live, and really just grow a personal love for it from seeing it. Then we were like “Okay, let’s release our chiller song first, since everybody’s gonna be home and just chilling, so let’s save the fun ones for when everyone’s back out again.” It’s a lot of strategizing that goes into it that’s been really interesting. Santi: I thought it was going to be a lot of working on music and releasing and having a dialogue about that. Then the Black Lives Matter movement dominated social media, which was awesome and a very great thing to have happened. It felt so wrong to be promoting ourselves when that’s not what the platform was for. With that and COVID and everything, we didn’t know the right time to release anything. We were like “If we do it now, are we even going to get any listeners?” We will release it, obviously, at some point, but there’s just so much more going into it. It’s hard when your main thing is music and all of your avenues are blocked right now. Liz: I was wondering, when it gets colder, if this whole thing will persist. Ryan: I think this thing will get pushed until people get too cold. But then after winter, as soon as it gets warmer, it’ll bounce right back. Julie: Summer 2021...is about to be a movie. Ryan: The 21st century turns 21. Where does the name ‘Bby Carrots” come from? Santi: It’s…. Ryan: It’s trendy, bro. Liz: So many people have told me they love it. Santi: I mean...do you like it? *laughs* Alli: I like it! It’s cute! And I just feel like it fits. Santi: So me and Aidan were in a band called MICHELLE that’s now doing very well. We wanted to play their music at Fall Fest 2018, but we also wanted to play some of our stuff. So we were like, alright, let’s sign up, and just throwing names back and forth, and I just said “Bby Carrots,” and he was like, “I like it.” We hit up Julia and our friend Joe from On Pink, and then Ryan joined. Aidan was studying abroad, and so Alex joined also. Julie: Yeah, he doesn’t like carrots. Santi: I hate carrots! It’s like a Batman thing...he hates bats but he uses it. Ryan: It’s like a marketing strategy. I know you started telling the origin, but how did you guys really come together and start making music? Santi: So, I saw Liz sing once at a jazz ensemble performance, and I was like, about to cry, and I told her “We gotta make music together.” Liz: And then he sent me a love letter...nah, he basically just hit me up after that. Santi: Yeah, I made a group chat and sent a big paragraph to everybody. Aidan and I were writing a lot of music and we wanted to perform it, and then it turned into all of us making a lot of music together. Liz: I remember just doing it in your dorm, that’s how it started out. He had this whole setup, like amazing recording, all of these great mics, and it started out in College Hall. It was lit that you guys had these great speakers, but I just remember writing and recording music in there. Julie: We really were just performing for that one time, at Fall Fest, but then we just had that chemistry, so we were like let’s write more! Liz: I knew Ryan from a couple of music classes we had together. Ryan: They were already so set, and then I was like, “I wanna come vibe with you guys,” and..they let me vibe. Julie: And vibed we did. I really love the dream pop sound that you guys, as well as the booyah kids have. I feel like it really fits this community. It’s New Paltz, personified into music, if I had to describe it. Who are some of your biggest musical influences? Julie: Tame Impala. *laughs* Santi: I feel like especially now the best part is that we all have a very diverse taste, but we’re connected in key aspects of what we want to make. Julie and I are both into psychedelic rock. I’m into King Gizzard and Tame Impala. I’m also really into R&B, too. Like Solange.. Liz: Moonchild, jazzy R&B type stuff. Santi: Crumb. We love Crumb. Liz: Hiatus Kaiyote is also a big one, we cover them a lot. But that’s more prog-rock or jazz-fusion, but I love them. They’re really great. Santi: We’re going for a little Tom Misch-y vibe right now, too. I also want to do more brass track stuff. You guys have been in this scene for a while. I usually ask this question to newcomers, but what is your opinion on the New Paltz music scene right now, and even before everyone got sent home? Ryan: When I first came here four years ago, there were so many house shows and bar shows, doing multiple shows a night, and there were options galore to go and see live music as a college student. A little bit down the line, a group came together and made something very organized and admirable, but I think they took it in a direction where it was more about the musicians gigging rather than the people who wanted to go and see live music. It’s pretty much natural again, with everything going on. It’s up in the air right now, and doing what it wants. I feel like most of the bands in New Paltz are connected personally, and we’ll communicate with each other well to make things happen. I think that’s a great thing. Alex: Before the pandemic, for us, it was like Snug’s, Bacchus, and the occasional house show. When people didn’t have to distance, and you’d be *this* close to each other. There’d be 50-100 people in a basement, just surrounding the band, and the energy would be ridiculous. So, that was cool. The house scene was decent, until now. Everyone’s playing outside and fending for themselves, and we’re not even allowed to advertise our gigs. We have to be low-key. It’s just weird. Liz: Like when we had a yard sale/house show, that was good, because we had something else besides a show in case, God forbid, anything happened. Julie: I don’t know...I just love the scene. It’s just so much fun. One thing that’s for sure is that last year all the freshmen came in excited for the scene and it was just a couple of houses. The year before that, we definitely had more of a variety of shows to play at. But even then, it still wasn’t that much. That spring semester, we played this one show and because there wasn’t a show in so long the entire town pulled up. And that’s what I’m expecting when this whole thing ends. Santi: It was so good for my mental health to play shows. Julie: I feel like everyone in the scene is relatively friendly with one another. It could be so much worse. We’re definitely one of the better scenes out of the colleges. Liz: From my experience, I thought it was very welcoming. I was surprised by the amount of people wanting and willing to play music. It gives people something to do. Our first bar show, Moonunit, another band, just asked us to open for them and I thought that was so sweet. Bands help out each other here. Santi: That’s my favorite thing about here, we all help each other out. I’m into recording, so a lot of people ask me to record for them and I love that. I want to help all of my friends bands, we promote and support each other, and having a great group of talented people that are working to bring each other up is the ideal place to be. It’s a real...community, beyond all of the bullshit that gets in the way. Has the pandemic/quarantine affected the way you’ve written and play music? Ryan: As a horn player, I can’t wear a mask, and sometimes people are upset about that. I’ve heard of putting pantyhose over the bill, but...I don’t think I’m gonna try that. Otherwise, I don’t think it’s physically affected my playing; I just have more time to practice. And I don’t. *laughs* Santi: My problem now is that it seems a little bit conceited to write about my little love stories when the whole world is going to shit, but then I can’t really write about COVID or anything because I’m in a pretty privileged position, and I guess that’s a pretty privileged problem to have while writing music. It’s easy to be numb about the world in your own feelings, and so you don’t have that same inspiration to be genuine about your writing. You have all of the time in the world, but you can’t force yourself to write. I feel like now more than ever people are looking to hear songs about little love stories. Liz: It’s not like I’m even looking to write about that topic, it’s just what comes out. The words slur together nicely. Maybe that’s because it’s what I’ve been mostly exposed to. Santi: I feel like we all relate to it and it’s such a driving force in everyone’s life. Liz: This time has given me the opportunity to listen to more types of music. I’ve been listening to a lot of foreign stuff. You don’t even understand what they’re saying, but that just turns their voice into another instrument. Julie: When you’re always running around and doing things, it’s harder to get that motivation. The time has just given us so much leeway to learn and actually really have time and know that there’s no excuse not to make things. I think the product is different when you write songs during this time. There’s something not missing, but different, a different side of ourselves that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise, and that’s awesome. *** Thank you to Bby Carrots for agreeing to talk to me! Listen to their newest single, "Like No Other!" Follow them on Instagram!
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After nearly 6 long, empty months of quarantine, online learning, and suffering of boredom in good ol’ Staten Island, I have finally returned to the heart of it all, my cozy little dorm room at SUNY New Paltz. Both everything and nothing is the same; It’s nice to recognize the same faces I did last semester (even though it takes a minute because of the masks), and to hop right back into exploring the beautiful town and its surroundings. Obviously, a huge gaping hole in my sophomore year experience so far is the lack of house shows and live music events. There have been a couple of outdoor, socially-distanced concerts scattered throughout town, but it’s hard to have anything on campus without having to go through the 7 layers of Student Activities approval. Despite the depletion of live events, there are still local bands trying to put something out there for the community to grab onto.
Grampfather, to me, can’t be defined by one genre. They are punk, alternative, surf rock, and multiple variants of in-between titles. They are based out of Kingston, NY but have played a huge role in the New Paltz DIY community for the past year, playing at venues such as Crossroads and the Grove. The band consists of songwriter James Kwapisz, drummer Tony DiMauro, bassist Freddy Deltor, and guitarist Andrew Blot. Friday, September 4th, saw the release of their newest album, Magnum Grampus, after dropping two singles from it during the last 8 months. I’ve definitely witnessed Grampfather live a couple of times, and know friends that adore them and truly treasured their sets. After listening to MG, I can confirm my true hype for them, and the unique shadow they cast over the DIY scene. The album kicks off with a strong, energized track with a storytelling tone and layered guitar solos. “Bad Taxidermy” reminded me of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard during their Nonagon Infinity era with its mythological and cryptic energy. The clash of the instruments; the drums with their brazing symbols, the undertoned bass lines, and even some synths sprinkled onto certain tracks, truly made for a complex and well-made and produced album. Once you get deep into your listen, you will truly understand why I say they are multi-genre. You will see a good mix of a punk attitude with hints of psychedelica and garage rock, along with a perfect blend of classic and modern metal themes. The shocking titles of songs may jump out at you (ex. “Eat Shit and Die”), but that’s part of the punky charm that Grampfather possesses. The tempos of the songs range from heavy and fast-paced to a more pop-punk type beat with upbeat rhythms. The bottom line, though: No song sounds the same. Grampfather shows multitudes of talent at playing in multiple genres and styles -- with the way they play their instruments and even the way Kwapisz sings. There’s a good contrast of heavy and soft sounding songs, the switch from “Preorder” to upbeat “End Times (Major)” is impressive, and kept my first listen interesting. Out of all of the songs, I think my favorite is “Girtha.” I listened to it before I looked on their Instagram, so I wasn’t aware that there was a deeper meaning behind this pop-punk inspired banger. The song was inspired by an unfortunate experience Kwapisz had when he got arrested because a friend had parsley in his car. They had to do some community service at an adult day care center, and that is where he met the subject of the song. I loved the happy sound of the song, and it meant a lot more once I learned that it was inspired by bringing joy and dancing to the members of the center. I was a big fan of this album. It had a strong beginning and ending track, which kept the hearty middle tracks in touch like a delicious, jammin’ sandwich. In the New Paltz DIY community, I feel like we have our distinct sounds. A lot of the bands up here are pop-punk focused, with indie rock and emo themes. Magnum Grampus had these elements, but the majority of the album was a never-heard-before sound for me. That’s why I wish everything was back to normal and shows were allowed to be held in person; Grampfather and their new album would be able to continue to take audiences by surprise. In the meantime, I think that everyone in the New Paltz community should listen to this album, because this is a work that shouldn’t be forgotten or swept under the rug because of the lack of house shows. We need to support our local artists more than ever during this time, because artists are still making music at home. You have to show up for them, even though you can’t get high in a basement to their music anymore. Listening and getting the chance to review this album as the first article back at New Paltz has given me hope. I hope this amazing album can instill that same feeling of hope in you as well. Jam out, stay safe, and wear your mask when you’re around others on campus, please. Listen to Magnum Grampus on Bandcamp, Spotify, and most streaming services! Special thank you to James for reaching out to me! |