Space Ballroom Weekly Round up: Six new shows announced
Space Ballroom announces Eyes of Theia, Vundabar with Courting, Pilfers, Eliza McLamb, Rival Schools, and Slow Pulp.
Eyes of Theia
Space Ballroom • 295 Treadwell Street, Hamden, CT 06514
August 31, 2024
Click here to purchase tickets
Eyes of Theia
Vundabar with Courting
Space Ballroom • 295 Treadwell Street, Hamden, CT 06514
November 15, 2024
Click here to purchase tickets
Vundabar
There’s somewhat of a paradox inherent in Vundabar’s songwriting — a conflicting sense of nostalgia contrasted with the realization that they couldn’t sound more current. The music they make feels like something that should have been heard a long time ago, while simultaneously continuing to forge ahead sonically. Vundabar’s high energy live show is the stand out quality of this band and is an art they’ve undoubtedly perfected by touring non-stop around the country. Vundabar’s shows never fail to be captivating, complete with infectious jams, guitar moves galore, intricate drum work, and humorous stage banter to top it all off, the band has become known for putting on an entertaining show.
Courting
Courting are a band from Liverpool consisting of:
Sean Murphy-O’Neill
Sean Thomas
Josh Cope
Connor McCann
They released their Debut EP “Grand National” in 2021
They released their Debut Album “Guitar Music” in 2022
Pilfers
Space Ballroom • 295 Treadwell Street, Hamden, CT 06514
September 27, 2024
Click here to purchase tickets
Pilfers
Legendary NYC Band “Pilfers” Celebrates 25th Anniversary with Re-release of Iconic Album “Chawalaleng” by Sony Music
Pilfers, the iconic band hailing from the heart of New York City, is making waves in the music industry as their legendary album “Chawalaleng” sees the light of day once again after a quarter of a century. Sony Music, recognizing the timeless appeal of Pilfers’ music, has officially re-released “Chawalaleng” on all major streaming platforms.
This monumental event marks a rare occurrence for a small band, putting Pilfers in the esteemed company of musical legends like Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, and Elvis Presley. The re-release is a testament to the enduring quality and cultural significance of Pilfers’ music, which continues to resonate with fans across generations.
In celebration of this historic moment, Pilfers has announced a series of live shows scheduled for September, featuring the original members of the band. Fans can expect a nostalgic journey through the band’s illustrious career, with performances that capture the energy and spirit of their early days.
Adding to the excitement, there are strong rumors circulating within the music community that Pilfers is gearing up to return to the studio. The prospect of new material has sparked anticipation among fans, as the band is known for their genre-blending sound and socially conscious lyrics. If these rumors hold true, it would mark a significant chapter in Pilfers’ musical journey.
Formed in 1997 with members of several bands in NYC. Lead Singer Coolie Ranx is known for his role in GTA IV as little Jacob and the former lead singer of New York City’s legendary band The Toaster. Vinny Nobile known for his Trombone and vocal style hails from Boston legendary band Bim Skala Bim. The Rhythm section ,James Blanck on the drums and Anna Milat Meyer on bass also hails from NYC band Skinnerbox. Guitar of Thunder Nicholas Bacon
Together they seamlessly combine Hardcore, Punk, SKA, Dancehall, Reggae and dub to create a genre they dubbed “Raggacore”
Eliza McLamb
Space Ballroom • 295 Treadwell Street, Hamden, CT 06514
October 10, 2024
Click here to purchase tickets
Eliza McLamb
Picture Eliza McLamb’s debut full-length, Going Through It, as a plunge pool with a still surface that betrays its staggering depth. A dive beneath reveals excerpts from McLamb’s life, one that until recently could be described as “difficult” if not plainly “traumatic.” By the time you hit bottom, you’ve reached the midpoint of Going Through It, a song called “16” that bluntly recalls a year of familial and personal turmoil that made McLamb the songwriter she is today. “I’ve no idea why I didn’t kill myself, frankly,” she says. McLamb survived, but the trauma lingers. “Side A of the record is ‘show me everything,’” she says. “Side B asks: ‘How do I take this with me?’”
McLamb’s star rose during the pandemic, when she released a cheeky, catchy song called “Porn Star Tits” that became an instant success on singer-songwriter TikTok. She’s since removed the song from streaming sites because it felt like a false-start. “The song is clever, but it tells you everything you need to know, you don’t need to think further once it’s done,” she reflects. “It lacks depth and nuance.” She eclipsed “Porn Star Tits” on her debut EP, Memos, and on her 2022 EP, Salt Circle, a collection that demonstrated the breadth of McLamb’s talent and ambition. On top of pursuing a career in music, she’s the co-host of the enormously popular podcast Binchtopia and devotes time to a Substack where she publishes personal and investigative essays. While both of those avenues offer insight into McLamb’s mind, it’s the music that helps her work through the past. “I sit down to write when I’m feeling a certain way and I don’t know why,” she says. “It’s a process of translating an emotional reality into a musical one, something that can be easily shared.”
While the writing process is both intensely personal and therapeutic, McLamb’s songs speak to a wider audience beyond the self. Take the aforementioned “16,” a song in which McLamb recounts a devastating year; her mom was in and out of psychiatric treatment, her dad couldn’t handle parenting in crisis, and McLamb was forced to grow up quickly, at an enormous cost. She fought a restrictive eating disorder, intense depression, and a diminishing will to do much of anything beyond smoking weed in the parking lot of the mall where she worked at a perfumery. The intense specificity of McLamb’s lyrics become universal, though, towards the song’s rousing ending, when her voice is doubled, giving listeners a sense that she’s singing both for and with any girl who’s ever had the misfortune of being a teenager. “Being a teen girl is terrorism, no matter your circumstances,” she says.
McLamb enlisted close confidant and collaborator Sarah Tudzin (Illuminati Hotties) to make the record at Bear Creek Studio in rural Washington, where Big Thief recorded U.F.O.F., an album McLamb holds dear. She’s keen to reference her influences, and pays respect to them across Going Through It. Opener “Before” summons the soft spoken, confessional ethos of Sufjan Stevens’ seminal Carrie & Lowell, the story of which mirrors, to an extent, McLamb’s own. “That really deep dive into his childhood and the relationship to family was a major inspiration on this record. You don’t often hear those kinds of songs,” she says. But the folksy wistfulness of “Before” doesn’t linger long; it’s followed by “Glitter,” a pop song whose chorus promises retribution. “I wanna kill your boyfriend,” McLamb sings over a crushing guitar to a dear old friend with whom she shared a close bond growing up. She’s spent a lot of time yearning for the irreplicable intimacy of teen girl friendships, crediting them for buoying her in her toughest moments.
Going Through It’s B-side is decidedly more optimistic, opening with “Just Like Mine,” a timid love song whose choral cadence resembles Elliot Smith. “To look at all we lost/ Just buried in the shrine/ Well, honey/ Your grief looks just like mine,” McLamb sings to her mom, who she’s repaired her relationship with. The penultimate track, “Strike,” navigates the anxious beginnings of a relationship, one that has the power to ruin your life if it goes wrong. McLamb’s gentle delivery muscles up as the song progresses, mirroring the strength derived from surrendering oneself to new love. It’s a far cry from the album’s incendiary lead single, “Mythologize Me,” in which McLamb sings to a high school guy enamored with all of her most fucked up qualities. The massive pop chorus could’ve been written by Taylor Swift in her Red era, if it’s possible to imagine the idol describing her teenage self as “a boring anorexic.” Indeed, McLamb’s clear-eyed sense of humor and wit makes Going Through It unforgettable. Look no further than “Anything You Want,” where she describes herself in the most negative terms imaginable while propositioning someone. “I’m an outlet mall parking lot/ I’m an Everclear on the rocks/ I’m not anything you want,” she declares at the end, echoed by a scream. It’s the “If It Makes You Happy” of the 2020s, a song one can easily imagine leading a rendition of at karaoke.
It’s tempting to prescribe the word “triumphant” to Going Through It, knowing all that McLamb has endured, but triumphing over the past isn’t the point; learning from it and moving forward in spite of it is. When McLamb entered young adulthood, she fell into consistent distressing thought patterns, imprisoned, in a sense, by the anxiety that plagued her childhood. “I’ve become a kind of Jehovah’s Witness for a type of psychotherapy called ‘Internal Family Systems,’” she says. “The Cliffs Notes version is that there’s a system within you, a bunch of moving parts, and at the center is the self. All of those parts influence the center, and they overlap one another at times. When I’m brash on a song like ‘Mythologize Me,’ I’m masking another part that’s hurt, abandoned, in pain.” It’s a theory McLamb is obsessed with, not because it explains away her suffering, but because it allows simultaneous versions of the self to coexist in relationship to one another. On Going Through It, listeners get to know all angles of this mercurial and singular songwriter.
Rival Schools
Space Ballroom • 295 Treadwell Street, Hamden, CT 06514
October 20, 2024
Click here to purchase tickets
Rival Schools
Rival Schools can’t turn it down. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the legendary post-hardcore band’s formation, Run For Cover records is reissuing a deluxe edition of their 2011 sophomore release Pedals with unreleased b-sides and stripped down bonus tracks. Additionally, Run For Cover is releasing a vinyl reissue of the 2013 “lost” album entitled Found as well as a new variant with classic green cover of the band’s debut United By Fate, which was initially reissued by the label last year to an enthusiastic reception. “I love these records,” says guitarist/vocalist Walter Schreifels. “We made Pedals ten years after United By Fate, so it’s interesting to go back and revisit something—which I’ve done twice with Quicksand—and kind of pick up where you left off. I just really love the songs [on Pedals]. I hadn’t listened to them in a long time and I just like, ‘What was I thinking? These songs are great.’”
“For Pedals, we recorded with this really talented engineer Joel Hamilton (Paul McCartney, Rick Rubin) and I think we were a little tight on budget and we went in one day and recorded 17 songs,” drummer Sam Siegler explains. “Then we went to [guitarist] Ian Love’s studio and finished tracking them. We didn’t want to put all of the songs on the record and ‘You Should Have Hung Out’ was one of those songs for whatever reason we didn’t put on the album that we all really dig. To celebrate the reissue we’re making a video and giving this song a little extra love.” The band is also working on integrating many of the songs from these later eras of Rival Schools into their live sets alongside fan favorites such as “Used For Glue” and “Good Things.” “Some of these songs are just deeper, so we’re going to try to sprinkle them into the sets,” he continues.
Touring on Pedals brought on some highlights for the band’s career, such as performing at Radio City Music Hall and touring with Weezer and the Gaslight Anthem. These experiences introduced Rival Schools to a new audience who had no idea about the fact that the members have performed in some of hardcore’s most influential acts such as Youth Of Today, Judge and CIV. However despite their hardcore pedigree, it’s clear the band—which also includes bassist Cache Tolman and guitarist Ian Love—managed to create something commercially viable with the album that sounds as relevant today as it did when it was originally recorded. Ironically, Found was originally intended to be the demos for the band’s sophomore release and featured current Bush guitarist Chris Traynor on guitar, but the band’s vision for their second release changed between conception and the hiatus that followed. “When we came back to Pedals, we used a copy of the demos that eventually became Found like ‘Sofia Loren’ and ‘Big Waves,’ so even though those versions are different, I think those records are linked,” Schreifels explains.
“We didn’t use a lot of amazing songs from Found on Pedals because we wanted to do something contemporary to where we were at the moment,” Schreifels continues. “So there’s all these songs on Found that are awesome, but we never re-recorded them and I really have to credit Sam with holding on to those songs and really pushing to have them pressed onto a record,” he adds. “We really went for it on United By Fate: We toured quite a bit and did all of the things a band should do on that record, but I would say that Found and Pedals are very underserved and the quality is there on those two albums.” When listening to the fuzzed-out groove of “Choose Your Own Adventure” from Pedals, or post-pop of “Paranoid Detectives,” the hooks on these two albums are undeniable.
Instead of looking backwards, Rival Schools is staying in the present by touring with peers like Thursday and continuing to bring these songs to life on stage each night. “The [other band members] are awesome to play with and our chemistry as people has always been great,” Schreifels responds when asked what it’s like to be performing live these days. “When we were touring behind United By Fate we were doing it professionally, trying to make it in some way and there’s a lot of intensity in that,” he continues. “Now we are doing it because we really enjoy it and want to be with each other and get into it. So because of that chillness, we just have a lot of laughs,” he adds. “Our chemistry has been there for a long time.
Slow Pulp
Space Ballroom • 295 Treadwell Street, Hamden, CT 06514
November 11, 2024
Click here to purchase tickets
Slow Pulp
When the members of Slow Pulp discuss Yard, their second full-length record and first for ANTI-, their vocabulary often defaults to synesthetic imagery and sensation.
“We have so many visual cues for how we talk about music,” singer and guitarist Emily Massey says as she stops herself in the middle of explaining how the album’s second song, “Doubt,” sounds like wakeboarding. “Doubt is quite dark lyrically, but it is found in this upbeat and almost campy environment.”
On Yard, the Wisconsin-bred, Chicago-based four-piece nestles comfortably into pockets of nuance, impressions, contradictions — sonics and lyrics finessed together to bottle the specific tension of a feeling you’ve never quite been able to find the right words for. In that regard, listening to Slow Pulp can feel like being in a room with someone who’s known you so long that they can read your every micro-expression and pinpoint exactly how you’re feeling before you can. Perhaps this spawns from the band’s own shared history and chemistry; in various ways, the four of them grew up — are still growing up — together.
Guitarist Henry Stoehr and drummer Teddy Mathews attended elementary school together in Madison. Not long after, they met bassist Alex Leeds at the west side location of the now-closed local music program called Good’nLoud Music. And while Massey didn’t enter the fold until later on in college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Mathews and Stoehr, it turns out she was in the same program on the other side of town at Good’nLoud’s east side location. In fact, the chords to Yard‘s addictive track “Slugs” are from a song Stoehr wrote for his crush in the sixth grade. “Imagination,” Mathews immediately chimes in with the name of Stoehr’s original. The album’s iteration of the song is, fittingly, also about a crush: “You’re a summer hit, I’m singing it,” Massey swoons over a warm wave of guitar fuzz and syrupy background vocals.
With Leeds attending college in Minneapolis and the other members in Madison, the quartet started recording, playing shows around the Midwest, and eventually released their first EP as a four-piece, EP2, in 2017. It’s an intimate, restless, and decidedly lo-fi 17-minute debut by a band with an obvious knack for creating sticky hooks that tend to stay in the space behind your eyes long after the songs are finished playing. So obvious that, without much promotion on the band’s end, EP2 picked up traction across YouTube channels and blogs, and thanks to the power of the internet, Slow Pulp unexpectedly found themselves amid their first wave of buzz.
In September 2018, the band relocated to Chicago and moved in together, writing and recording most of their Big DayEP at a cabin in Michigan the following January. As they put in the hours on stage and in the studio, the buzz continued to grow, they kept refining their work, and by 2019, they were touring with Alex G and working on their debut full-length record, Moveys.
But the journey to Yard wasn’t linear: Massey was diagnosed with Lyme disease and chronic mono, leaving her to grapple with physical and mental health challenges amid a blossoming music career and the demands that come with it. Then, just days before the COVID-19 lockdown, her parents were involved in a serious car accident, and she moved away from Slow Pulp and back home to care for them. The band finished Moveys in isolation, with Emily recording her vocals with her dad, Michael, in his small home studio. It was their only option at the time, but the band opted to record the vocals with Michael again on Yard.
“This time, we decided to do it because it went so well the first time. My dad is a musician and a singer and has a lot of really insightful things to say, especially about delivery,” Massey explained. “Working together we can be very honest with each other in a way that I wouldn’t be able to do with a stranger or a producer that’s not my family. He already has so much context for what the songs are about, knowing my life so intimately. He is able to be very direct, saying things I often don’t want to hear but need to hear. I think it often leads to getting the best takes out of me.”
You can feel Massey reaching new vocal heights across Yard, particularly on the weepy americana ballad “Broadview,” which features pedal steel (Peter Briggs), harmonica, and banjo (Willie Christianson), and on “MUD,” a pop-punk track seemingly designed in a lab to belt along to in the car. On the raw-to-the-bone piano ballad title track, emotion trickles out of each of her careful words, cresting into waves of sustained wails.
Massey’s dad wasn’t the only lesson from Slow Pulp’s pandemic-era album creation that the band brought to their next record; Yard first started taking shape in February 2022 when Massey was staying alone at a friend’s family cabin in northern Wisconsin.
“I feel like there’s an interesting interplay between the albums, where the isolation during Moveys was forced, it was something we used intentionally with Yard,” Leeds explained. Isolation was an important part of their process on Yard, but they were able to employ it strategically. “Part of what we discovered — or what Emily discovered — is taking that time to be intentionally isolated is really important, as is being more collaborative at other times. We’ve learned a lot about balancing and being intentional about that through this process.”
Themes of isolation and the subsequent process of learning to be comfortable with yourself sprout up throughout Yard,right alongside the importance of learning to trust, love, and lean on others. Within Slow Pulp, this trust between members is evident in the playful collaboration that remains core to Slow Pulp’s creative process. Take album opener “Gone 2:” the “2” was added when they decided to scrap the first version and record a new iteration of the track just before turning the record in. They saw the video for “Scar Tissue” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers playing (on mute) and immediately knew the visuals were exactly what they wanted the song to sound like.
“It was a silver song and we turned it into a brown and purple song,” Stoehr says matter-of-factly, the other three nodding in agreement. The chilling desert desolation mixed with road-trip listlessness of the “Scar Tissue” visuals are evident in the song’s final mix and double down on its lyrics.
“‘Gone’ is about searching for love in other people or searching for things and feeling like you’re not doing a good enough job at it or feeling like you’re coming too late to it,” Massey says. It’s followed by the taunting and upbeat “Doubt,” a track about begging someone to validate your insecurities. “I like that by the end of the album, you’re finding the love within yourself, not searching for it within other people. It has that full circle moment, in that way.”
The lyrics to album closer “Fishes” were written while Massey was alone at the cabin, listening to Lucinda Williams (“Do you think Lucy understands?”) and watching the fish swim around in the lake. Yard leaves us with gentle strums, a stripped-back meditation on acceptance, and a reminder to show up for yourself: “Sink and swim and / Sink it all again / I’ve gotta catch myself this time / Like I know that I’m the prize / Like the fishes / And their winning size.”
Don’t Miss
Emo Night Brooklyn – June 28, 2024
Yellow Days – June 30, 2024
The Frights – July 1, 2024
Grails – July 2, 2024
Share your Space Ballroom experience with us by using #findingconnecticut on Instagram
Click here for more information on Space Ballroom
Click here for the upcoming concerts in Connecticut
Click here for the latest news at Space Ballroom
Click here for the upcoming events at Space Ballroom
Click here for the latest news in Hamden
Click here for the upcoming events in Hamden
Click here for the latest news in New Haven County
Click here for the upcoming events in New Haven County
••••• Message center •••••••
Connecticut business owners:
Connecticut with us! Are you a local business owner in Connecticut looking to boost your visibility and reach more customers? Look no further! Our platform provides a unique opportunity to showcase your business to an engaged audience of people who love and live in Connecticut. By partnering with us, you can reach potential customers who are actively seeking things to do, places to dine, and local merchants and service providers to support. Don’t miss out on this chance to grow your business and connect with the local community!
Connecticut with us!
Get our news straight into your inbox daily for free!
Stay connected with us on social media
Facebook • Instagram • Threads • Tiktok • X
Join our Reddit community
Share your Connecticut experiences with us by using #findingconnecticut on Instagram
Click here to return to Finding Connecticut’s home page
Looking for the latest news by region, topic and events
Latest news by region
Fairfield County • Hartford County • Litchfield County • Middlesex County • New Haven County • New London County• Tolland County • Windham County
Latest sports news by team
Hartford Wolf Pack • Hartford Yard Goats • Connecticut Sun • Norwich Sea Unicorns •
2024 schedules
Hartford Wolf Pack • Hartford Yard Goats • Connecticut Sun • Norwich Sea Unicorns
Events my region
Fairfield County • Hartford County • Litchfield County • New Haven County • New London County • Middlesex County • Tolland County • Windham County
Events by interest
Art • Sports • Family Friendly • History • Concerts • Farmers’ Markets
Events by the month
May 2024 • June 2024 • July 2024 • August 2024 • September 2024 • October 2024 • November 2024 • December 2024
Events by venue
College Street Music Hall • Space Ballroom • Westville Music Bowl • District Music Hall • Hartford Stage • The Bushnell • Goodspeed Opera House • Mohegan Sun