The lights fell and alone on stage stood Big Red, Trey Anastasio, looking as Dad-like as ever. His big goofy smile sent waves of love, comfort, and release to the sold-out crowd in Manhattan, at the Beacon Theater. As Trey opened the show with a solo "Theme from the Bottom", the audience was sent into a feeling of happiness and familiarity, returning to concerts indoors, a pre-covid relish. What a fun chorus to open with, to give the opportunity to forget all about those other 8.4 million New Yorkers on the other side of these four walls. Following "Theme From The Bottom", a quiet "Sample in a Jar" set the tone for the show and a positive mood for the audience.

After this beautiful welcome into the Beacon, the rescue squad strings and pianist, Jeff Tansky joined Trey on the stage for a magical rendition of "Divided Sky". This contained about a minute of cheers which left our systems after a buildup of what was basically a year and a half of musical exile. Trey was smiling from ear to ear as he egged on the crowd's cheers, fueling our relief and embracing it all in one.

The next song, "I Never Needed You Like This Before", brought back memories of watching Trey's appearance on Jimmy Fallon. It wasn't so long ago, yet, everyone feels just a little bit older hearing it now. Maybe that's because music is what keeps us frozen in time.

As Trey led into "Free" next, the crowd began to melt from the healing powers of that song. We began to piece ourselves back together when Trey's quiet acoustic licks bounced off the walls of the Beacon, appropriate for "Bouncing Around the Room". A steadying moment, like a reliable cup of tea after a long day.

The quiet was lovely, but at some point, all the phan chatter started to pick up. With the talking, of course, came the shushing. At some point during Trey's dirty looping of "46 Days", he started shushing and making other stupid noises in the microphone. In this hilarious moment, many shushy fans stopped talking, but some kept going. Then, Trey broke into "Steam", and exhibited prime dad skills by redirecting the negative energy as the crowd "shushes" became a part of the acoustic composition. After finishing "Steam", Trey said to the audience, “Hey you guys started that one!”

Seeing Trey interact with his fans in a much more intimate setting was so touching. When he played "Twist", the room reverberated with the echoed harmony, and his smile struck every heart in the room. Phans were unified in the aura good music creates.

Another shining highlight to end off this evening was "Slave to the Traffic Light" and "You Enjoy Myself" at the very end. Trey was able to showcase his recent singing lessons, and threw us some cool vocal improvisation in tune with Tansky and the Rescue Squad Strings.

Check out more photos from the show.

Set
Theme From the Bottom¹, Sample in a Jar¹, Divided Sky², I Never Needed You Like This Before³, Free¹, The Wedge³, Water in the Sky², The Inlaw Josie Wales², Twist¹, Bouncing Around the Room³, Drift While You’re Sleeping², 46 Days¹ > Steam¹, A Life Beyond The Dream², Split Open and Melt³, Joy², Farmhouse¹, Chalk Dust Torture¹ -> Back on the Train¹ > Chalk Dust Torture¹, Slave to the Traffic Light², You Enjoy Myself²

Encore
Waste¹, Bathtub Gin¹, Brief Time², Tweezer Reprise²

Notes
1 - Trey on acoustic guitar.
2 - Trey on acoustic guitar; with the Rescue Squad Strings and Jeff Tanski on piano.
3 - Trey on acoustic guitar; with Jeff Tanski on piano.

After the performances from supporting acts Vintage Pistol and DeeOhGee, Kendall Street Company took the stage at the Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn, NY just after 10:15pm on a cool night. On tour for their new album, The Year the Earth Stood Still: Ninurta, the Virginia-based band quickly warmed up the crowd with their signature banger, "Laura, I’m Sorry About the Cobbler." Guitarist Louis Smith sported a hollow body guitar instead of his usual acoustic. During this tune, the cobbler entered the boysenberry jam which was a wonderfully spacey start to the night.

Next, the band performed their new single, "Say Hey!" with bassist Brian Roy on lead vocals. Brian’s vocal effects, paired with his blue southeast Asian tunic, led the band into a grungy jam exemplifying their extreme versatility. After "Say Hey!" Louis dawned his acoustic guitar and softly brought the crowd into the Beatles cover, "Rocky Racoon." As exhibited by their 2020 album, Nautical Aquatical, Kendall Street Company is very acquainted with animal themed jammery. As the cover progressed the rest of the band joined in on a funky back beat and then into their signature jazz-grass tone with spacey toms and keys thanks to the very talented Ryan Wood and Jake Vanaman.

Proceeding this exceptional jam was their unreleased song, "I Can’t Wait to Step Inside Your Door", which consisted of fun upbeat jams, such as guitarist Ben Laderberg shredding through Latin scale solos. "Space For Days" followed, which kept the night’s energy going into the musical bowling alley. The deep jams progressed in this song as the tempo was driven up by Brian’s jazzy bass walks. On a dime, Kendall Street jumped into a newly practiced Sublime cover, "Garden Grove", which kept the crowd beeping and bopping with the tasty reggae groove. The band teased "Scarlet Begonias" before masterfully bringing it back to "Space for Days."

"Lady in Green," was next on the set list. This song was apropos for the newly welcomed cool fall weather with it’s cool breezy vibes. "Expiration Date" picked up the crowd’s energy with it’s audience participation in the “Brook-Lyn-Bowl” chant jam. This song segued into "Aged White Cheddar," whose melty jam consisted of impressive vocals by Louis and dense pocket of bass finger picking and jazzy bass drums.

To cool down from the intense jam, the band took the audience to the beach with their song "Board Shorts," which included surfing on jammy waves with Jake on sax.To keep things on this oceanic theme, the band showed off their excellent story telling skills with a rendition of their unreleased tune, "Crab Surprise." To close the set, Jake punched into the jazzy pop cover, "Jubel" by Klingande, which included a mashup of Modest Mouse’s "Float On", and Rusted Root’s "Send Me On My Way."

After cheers for an encore by the fired up crowd, Louis Smith stepped back on stage alone to tune his guitar with the help of hums from the audience. Utilizing a soft acoustic intro, Louis began the encore with "Cars," as each member of the band returned to the stage one at a time. The band picked up pace through the song, and ended this Thursday night party at the Brooklyn Bowl with the beloved "Tequila."

Kendall Street Company certainly brought the heat to Brooklyn, NY, and have more dates on their fall tour. Visit their website for more details.
 
Setlist
Laura, I’m Sorry About the Cobbler, Say Hey!, Rocky Racoon¹, I Can't Wait to Step Inside Your Door², Space For Days > Garden Grove³⁴ > Space For Days, Lady in Green, Expiration Date > Aged White Cheddar, Board Shorts > Crab Surprise² > Jubel⁵ > Float On⁶ > Send Me On My Way⁷

Encore
Cars > Tequila⁸

Notes
1. Beatles cover
2. unreleased
3. Sublime cover
4. Scarlet Begonias tease
5. Klingande cover
6. Modest Mouse cover
7. Rusted Root cover
8. The Champs cover

Coming in hot from the night before, Goose closed the opening run to their fall tour with a burning show at Terminal 5 in New York, NY that included a surprise third set. The band sold out the two-night run at the 3,000 person venue and did not disappoint their fans with tasty bust-outs and debuts.

A seventeen minute “Tumble” kicked off the festivities and invigorated the crowd with a deep type-two jam, making it clear that the band was ramping up for an electrifying show. After a seven minute “Bob Don” which left the crowd entranced by pristine harmonies and wailing solos by guitarist Rick Mitarotonda, keyboardist/guitarist Peter Anspach introduced a new song, “Life on the Shelf.” While this six-minute performance was Goose’s official debut, “Life on the Shelf” was first performed by Anspach at Fred the Festival 2021 during his solo acoustic set.

“White Lights,” whose opening notes and lyrics gave the appearance of a soft and quiet love song, proceeded. But as seasoned fans expected, Goose sent the crowd through a spiraling and spacey journey during this fourteen minute rendition. The band showed off their versatility with Anspach’s ability to quickly transition between a plethora of keyboards and his PRS guitar. His keyboard skills softly guided the crowd through a transition to “Jive I” as Mitarotonda punched into the song with opening licks that ignited a dance spree. As the band prepared to close this jazzy nine minute jam, on a dime, Mitarotonda pivoted into the chords for “Jive Lee,” sending madness throughout the honking fans. Charged from the previous “Jive” jam, Goose was ready to dive deep into “Jive Lee.” The fourteen minute heater transported everyone to places of intense funk and deep space.

The band could have ended the set with the “Jive” pairing, but instead they launched into the Clash’s “Rock the Casbah.” Percussionist Jeff Arevalo’s lead vocals for this five-minute tune brought the crowd together as the famous chorus shook the venue with every “ROCK.”

"Wysteria Lane” opened the second set, and the cool groove rocked into a deep jam that morphed into the bust out, “It Burns Within.” Aside from a lone appearance during the Orebolo set at Fred the Festival, which is the official name of the Mitarotonda, Anspach and Arevalo acoustic collaboration, the soothing song had not been played since November 6th, 2020 at South Farm in Morris, Connecticut. Up next was the spacey ballad of “Seekers on the Ridge pt. I & II.” As the jam waned, Mitarotonda wasted no time and tore into their hit, “Hot Tea.” While the crowd danced and cheered throughout the fifteen-minute tea party, the band segued into their first ever performance of “Dragonfly I & II,” from their album Ted Tapes 2021, to close the second set. The audience expected the band to walk off and return for the encore, but instead Anspach casually announced that they would be back for a surprise third set.

As excitement and anticipation filled the Manhattan venue, Goose returned at midnight and promptly kept the party going with a cover of The Brothers Johnson’s, “Get the Funk Out Ma Face.” This funky tune was last played during Goose’s Bingo Tour stream on June 26, 2020, and was apropos for the late night energy in New York City. The band then dove into a thirteen minute “Creatures,” whose dark jams transitioned seamlessly into the Foster the People cover, “Pumped Up Kicks.”

To close this special third set, Mitarotonda slowly began the opening notes of “Madhuvan,” sending screams throughout the crowd as the band brought on this intense mystical jam vehicle. The first fourteen minutes included bassist Trevor Weekz reading the Robert Frost’s poem, “Acquainted with the Night.” The band then slid into the timeless cover of Bobby Blue Bland’s “Turn On Your Lovelight,” once again, breaking the crowd out of a mystified trance and into a blues groove. During this eight minute breakdown, Anspach left his keyboard corner and walked over to Mitarotonda for a shred-filled guitar duel. The set wrapped up with seven more delicious minutes of “Madhuvan.” Goose came back to the stage for a four-minute reprise of “Hot Tea," also known as "Hot Teaprise" per stage/road manager Jon "Coach" Lombardi's notes. The spacey tension and release in this tune was reminiscent of the Ted jams earlier in the evening.

At 12:58 am, Goose the band closed their second show of the 2021 fall tour with vigor. Their next dates include two nights at the State Theater in Portland, ME on October 28-29th followed by a two-night Halloween run at the Palladium Theater in Worcester, MA on October 30-31st. Visit their website for more details on these shows and other dates on the ledger.

Check out more photos from the show!

Set One
Tumble, Bob Don, Life On The Shelf¹, White Lights > Jive I > Jive Lee > Rock The Casbah²

Set Two
Wysteria Lane > It Burns Within³ > Seekers on the Ridge pt I & pt II > Hot Tea > Dragon Fly⁴

Set Three
Get The Funk Out of My Face⁵, Creatures > Pumped Up Kicks⁶, Madhuvan > Tweekz Reads Poetry⁷ > Turn On Your Love Light⁸ > Madhuvan

Encore
Teaprise⁹

Coach's Notes
1. New Original song, FTP
2. The Clash cover
3. Played in a new feel
4. FTP, After the song, Peter Anspach told the crowd that they would be back for a third set
5. The Brothers Johnson cover
6. Foster The People cover
7. Trevor Weekz read a poem by Robert “Bobby” Frost entitled `Acquainted in the night’
8. Bobby Blue Band cover
9.  Finished the Hot Tea from set two
•These were the bands first indoor shows since March 11th, 2020
•Both shows were Sold Out
•The band played 3 sets as a surprise & as a gesture of gratitude to our fans. This was very special as the band has only played a handful of 3 set shows since inception on 9.27.14.
•Thank you to everyone who came to the shows and or got involved with the streams, we love y’all!

On a slow morning in the early days of quarantine in summer 2020, I received a text from a friend with a link to a performance of “Laura, I’m Sorry About the Cobbler,” by Kendall Street Company. My interest was piqued by the warm energy and the goofy nature of the band I was watching. I loved everything about their performance. It was funky and jazzy and folksy all at the same time! I was hooked and couldn’t wait to hear all the new music they were producing.

From the Charlottesville music circuit to festival sets and multi-record albums, Kendall Street Company is making a name for themselves with their unique sound and versatility as a band. Hailing from the University of Virginia, Kendall Street Company is a group whose exploration of sound goes beyond their brand of “Jazz-grass infused psychedelic bliss.” In recent months, Kendall Street Company has released a single, “Say Hey!”, and a two-part album, The Year the Earth Stood Still: Ninurta//Inertia, a project fully improvised in-studio. On Sunday, November 7th, I had the opportunity to speak with Saxophone/Keyboard player, Jake Vanaman. Jake told me about his first connection with the band, their upcoming winter tour with The Dirty Grass Players, his personal influences, and how he and the rest of the band members have grown in their exploration as musicians and songwriters.

GW: Hey, Jake, how are you doing?

Jake Vanaman: Hey I'm good. I’m in the band van as we speak on our way to Nashville.

GW: Hell yeah! That's awesome! I'm so glad I could join you for the ride!

JV: Yeah, thanks for reaching out about an interview. I’m excited to talk to you!

GW: So, you have a tour coming up with that with Dirty Grass Players, and I was wondering if you wanted to talk a little bit about that and the connection that you guys made with them.

JV: Yeah, we’ve known the Dirty Grass Players for three or four years now. They're just really good friends of ours. I think they’re monster players and I really enjoy seeing their sets at festivals when they come down to Charlottesville. We have been in and around the same circuit since they're from the Baltimore/Mid-Atlantic area. We were on the same booking agency for a while as well, so we got paired up to do some shows. We’re very genre-fluid so connecting us with a jam-grass, or even a more traditional bluegrass band makes sense. I think provides a unique experience to the audience that you might not be able to find at another venue in town. We thought about putting a tour together because we had been playing a bunch of one-off shows together every now and then. They had been going really well and we have a good time playing and hanging with each other, so we put together this tour! And we've got this super jam element to it at every show. At the end of every night, there will be a 30-minute jam, where we’ll try to get as many people as we can to fit on stage. I'm hoping that will be everybody but it is a lot of people. Haha

GW: Yeah, I guess it will also depend on the venue. I know Manhattan venues tend to be on the smaller side.

JV: Yeah, I've been to that venue, Cafe Wha? once. It was just a house band, kind of like a jazz-rock band playing, and it was a really cool experience. I’d recommend checking it out.

GW: Yeah and I think your sound, as you call it, Jazz-Grass, will fill the space in Café Wha? in a cool way. I like what you said about having a very fluid kind of playing. And in that very fluid space, I would like to know how you fit into the band. How you did you get started with Kendall Street? You joined the band in 2016, right?

JV: Yeah, I joined in 2016. I'm the youngest member/newest member of the band and that’s like five years ago now, so it’s been a while. I started out just playing saxophone and as I got older, my interest is just kind of expanded musically so I got into synthesis and keyboard and more singing just trying to find ways to make music. Over the COVID-19 pandemic, I expanded my live performance to include keyboards. So that's now where I am now, saxophone, keyboard, and more vocals. I’m working on the vocals; I need some more time. Haha. But that’s how I fit in. We’re all multi-instrumentalists, I would say, in different fields. That’s kind of the role that I fill. In the studio it could be any role. But that’s what it is at the live show.

GW: And how did you connect with the rest of Kendall Street? How did you find them? Or did they find you?

JV: I grew up in the northern Virginia area and I was going to University of Virginia College. I had been digging around in northern Virginia. I had a couple of bands and projects up there but stopped because I moved away. I posted on Craigslist in Charlottesville and said that I was a sax player looking to jam with a few people. It was a pretty sparse post; it wasn’t too much. Our front man, Louis’s mom found the post! Coincidentally, they were losing their saxophone player because he was moving away from Charlottesville. Louis emailed me, and he seemed nice enough, and he didn't include any viruses it or malware in his email so I knew he could be trusted! So, they invited me to come down for a jam or a rehearsal or whatever. I don't really remember what happened, but we jammed. I know that! And then I drove back to northern VA which is like two hours away. Then I got the lucky text, that said, “you can come back!” Then I played my first real gig with them two or three weeks later and here I am in the band van going to Nashville!

GW: Wow, that's a wacky story! I'm curious to hear about your influences and what you know as a saxophone player, as well as the other band member's influences, and how that kind of melted together when you joined the band.

JV: You know, it definitely has changed a lot. It’s always evolving [as I’m] experiencing new things. I would say that compared to then [when I first joined the band], we were a little bit more songwriter or folky back then. And now we are… there’s not even a way to describe it. Just a lot of branching out in different directions all at once and at the same time. I guess if I'd put some genres out there…I had like never really written the song when I joined of the band and have written many now! I think that my genre tends to be like a little bit more funk and, dare I say, indie rock. Like BADBADNOTGOOD-style maybe. I think that has certainly changed. As more of us have begun to write songs, more of our influences are being seen in the live show and recordings. In 2016, we only really had two releases and one of them was very fresh and new. Now, we've got like eight or nine albums or something like that?

GW: Yeah, those albums kept me going through quarantine!

JV: Yeah, they were getting us through quarantine too! So, I think [the record releases] might be the most effective way for me to talk about it. That’s because, I feel as we write more, and record more, and get more comfortable doing that whole system within the creative process, I think that the records tend to reflect the main writer’s identity more than other band members. And you can kind of see that in our work …Well the newest pair of albums is an exception to that because that was totally free-improvised in the studio over the pandemic. There, as truly as possible, we were like, “Let’s go in there and split it evenly and make some music and try to see what happens out of just being together.” So that was like a rejection of, I suppose the idea that I mentioned before.

GW: That’s The Year the Earth Stood Still albums?

JV: Yeah, that’s Ninurta and Inertia and they have that pair action going on. Which was another unique idea for that record that we hadn't explored yet. We had done the 3-album release thing with Remote Vision back in 2018 and that was an extremely stressful but rewarding project. I think it was like we had bitten off a little bit more than we could chew. Haha. But it turned out cool, in the nick of time, you know? That was a little bit tangential to what your question was, but I think maybe The Nautical Aquatical album is a very good example of our genre fluidity. That represents our very humorous side which comes out a lot in our live show, but when we do recordings the humorous aspects of the music tend to fall by the wayside and perhaps, we focus on the serious nature of music a bit more. The Nautical Aquatical is almost like a small two-act play. It’s just really funny! The idea of it is really represented by the album artwork as well. And when I think of that of that record I think of our guitar player, Ben, who had a large production and writing role in that.

GW: I was wondering if you could speak about the new albums and how they compare to your previous albums like The Nautical Aquatical and Remote Vision. It also definitely contrasts your 2020 album, The Stories We Write for Ourselves, which is one of the most beautiful things I had heard that year.

JV: Thank you so much! Yeah, [The Stories We Write for Ourselves] was definitely the most serious record we have made. I think it was a fun project to work on with that in mind and having everyone on that same page. We all know that The Nautical Aquatical was going to a be a ton of fun and there was a lot of comradery around it! And in terms of our sound, I feel like we get a ton of different genre influences. There’s some Dave Matthews band…You got the classics like Phish…I think there’s a lot of Grateful Dead influence. Some of the tracks will have some Widespread Panic stuff going on. People told me many times that our live show reminds them of widespread so for whatever that's worth…It really just depends on the setlist because we have so many songs. 

GW: What are you listening to right now?

JV: I'm listening to a lot of hip hop and rap like Changes by Tupac which has that sample from Bruce Hornsby in it. Some alt rock like Paramore which has been making a resurgence for me. Also, soul like Hot Chocolate and Dusty Springfield… just going through my recent listens here…Frank Ocean and some Sublime...

GW: You guys did that cover of Garden Grove by Sublime! That was awesome!

JV: Yeah, that’s the one on my recent listens. That’s a fun one! That was a recent addition to our repertoire it just kind of happened really naturally. I had never heard the song before which surprised the band, but I hadn’t heard of a lot of songs before. Once I heard it for the first time, I couldn’t stop listening to it! So that’s what I’ve been kind of into lately as well as listening to our new album.

GW: Were you a jam band guy before you joined a jam band?

JV: I was not really, no. Most of my performance stuff up in northern Virginia was like, jazz trios and I would play at coffee houses and the occasional, occasional venue but it wasn’t really my thing. I was also young and in high school, so it wasn’t living off the tips or anything. I didn't really have any exposure to playing in, or even really listening to jam bands. I didn’t know that Phish was a band until my senior year of high school.  My friend was playing guitar with me in this jazz trio, and he was like, “I love Phish, they're so technical!”, and that was all I knew of them because that’s what he told me. So, then I go to UVA and I meet them. And I don’t think they even described themselves as a jam band to me. That has kind of has come about since then. But I showed up, and I had heard of Lockn’ too. In 2017 we played Lockn’. So that was my first festival, and I remember googling all the names on there. I heard of TAUK for the first time, I heard of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong for the first time. I heard the names of the members of the Grateful Dead.

JV: So, I think that provides an interesting exposure element for different genres for the band and for me as an individual. I was thrown into a world I had never even heard of. I knew music festivals existed. I didn't go to them ever in high school, so I try to come in with this mindset. I’m learning all these taboos and things, like how you don’t play “Freebird”. So, they’re teaching me all these things, and I came in with this more jazz standard influence. They were playing with some standards at the time. And it helps just to flex the mind with new exposures to new sounds.

GW: That's really cool! When I saw you guys at the Brooklyn Bowl, I didn't realize that you were playing both sax and keys. That was really cool and I'm excited to keep an ear out for all those influences when you guys come back to New York City! 

JV: It has been really fun and rewarding to learn keyboard. I think it's a great writing tool and a great composition tool. It's really hard to write music on saxophone. Writing melodies is hard because you don't really have an ability to create harmony. You can create implied harmony with the melody obviously, but with the keyboard, you can play two notes at once and I just I wanted to be able to do that. And we already have two guitar players so I wasn’t going to play guitar. Haha. I have a fascination with the keyboard. I think it’s beautiful, and I love looking at it. It’s accessible, and it’s digital so I’m not really restricted to anything at all. I’m still learning the nuances of the keyboard. Especially with the Norde that I’m playing with right now. It’s got so many buttons and knobs so I’m still watching YouTube tutorials to figure it out.

GW: Right, it really adds a whole new depth to the music. It was interesting how you said that that it wasn't really pitched to you as a jam band and that you kind of just picked that up. I feel like that has do to with the way the jam scene has been evolving over the last few years. I was at a Pigeons Playing Ping Pong show a few weeks ago, and while answering questions for their viewers on Twitch, Greg Ormont mentioned how “we are currently in a Renaissance of jam bands.” I felt that was a really beautiful thought. I’ve been to a few jam band festivals, and I am amazed by how many bands there are out there on circuit today. That being said, how have you guys have found your own space and how you guys are able to make your own space as a band on what is such a of a big scene?

JV: I definitely agree and appreciate the “renaissance of jam bands” comment. I think that is an interesting way to put it. For us, I really do love the way that we write and compose music and I am very proud of it. I think that it is the defining aspect for our live shows, our recordings, and our general brand identity. I think that in our own rights, each of us are prolific writers and when we're able to come together it creates magic, moving art. It's really powerful and I don't feel that way about all bands. So, I think that our songwriting, our lyricism, our attention to detail in the song-writing craft, our ambition, and being able to recreate an experience for an audience. Whether it be in-person or recording. That was a little philosophical… On a less deep note, I think another defining aspect is our humor. We all have microphones on stage and we’re chit-chatty. It’s funny! We’re talking to the audience, we are obviously performing to the audience, but really, we’re performing for ourselves as well. It's supposed be to this joint experience. We're creating this moment together; us and the audience. I think that unless you have both aspects, you're not going to get full satisfaction, with the performance or the art itself. I think caring about that and thinking about things differently compared to the traditional music format. And as a nod to University Virginia, their music program is great for helping people think outside the box, which is a cliché statement, obviously, but it’s true. I think that the way we think of art – and I am speaking for the other band members – I think that we think of music differently than a lot of musicians that I come across. And I'm sorry that I don't have a better word other than “different,” but I think that's why we are a band. We latched onto each other and realized that we had, not alternative, but a curious nature about art and what you can do and create for yourself and others on-stage, and off-stage. I'm not throwing shade on anybody, it’s just that some people think of art differently than others and I think that our way of thinking shows in our music. And I don’t know if I can put a finger on it yet, but I also don’t feel like I need to because we are still a young band that’s evolving and learning a lot about ourselves musically and I trust that that will be a good and healthy process.

GW: Absolutely, and it looks like you guys are having the best time on stage! I can imagine how fun it would be traveling with you guys on the road. I think that New York City can be a very cold place sometime, but I think you guys did a wonderful job at bringing that warm Virginia vibe to Brooklyn!

JV: Yeah, thank you so much for that! We're definitely trying to create that environment. We try to be approachable, and seem like real human beings, because we are real human beings. Haha When we describe the name to people – we’re Kendal Street Company. The company are the people that you’re with and it’s the company that you keep. We try to reflect that in the live show. Like I said, it's supposed to be this joint experience, you know? We're hear together having fun and it’s a good experience. It could be fun, it could be funny, it could be a moment of sadness too. It depends on the set. And regarding the way we approach decision making and what not, we're very democratic in that regard. I find that a lot of bands have a decision maker or whatever; somebody who is in charge and it’s kind of like, what they say goes. That’s not the case with us and that allows and nurtures an environment of trust and support for each other's ideas. And I think that makes us different. You can kind of see that on-stage. Like I said, we all have a microphone. Nobody's being told they can’t talk. So, there’s a lot of trust for each other in that regard and that comes out in our song writing as well. When we’re writing our own parts [of a song], there’s this mixing pot for a lot of it. Like, which part is going to be where, or “I hear something here… I hear something there…let me try this,” etc. And somebody is usually the primary writer of the song. Not always, but usually, and what they say is important to the song, but there is still this democratic process of approaching it because we’re creating this product together.

GW: Absolutely, that’s awesome! You mentioned earlier that you were heading to the studio today. You guys already have so much that you’re throwing out there. Is there more music in the works?

JV: Yeah, we’ve got a full album recorded and we’ve got a full EP recorded and we’ll be putting the finishing touches on them at this studio session, then I’m mixing the album. We’re expecting to drop the full album in March. And then there’s the EP, which is about going to California and what California is like. We've never been to California so we're trying to wait until we actually go to California to release that, and I don’t know when that’s going to happen. Haha We've got we've got a bunch of other songs written that are not necessarily connected with any project yet, but we’re kind of waiting for one to appear. We have a big idea for a bluegrass record we've got like seven or eight songs or so. That would be probably out in 2022. We were supposed to be recording this month but there ended up being some scheduling difficulties. It’s like a prog-rock, very Zappa type of record. It was written mostly by our lead guitar player; Ben and I would say one of his biggest influences is Zappa.

GW: Well, that's awesome! I'm excited to hear that!

JV: Yeah, so there’s a lot going on. We’ve got a couple singles recorded, we might be popping out a cover or two here and there because those are always fun. And we just started a record label called, What is Yes Records. Until now, everything else has been released under “Kendall Street Company,” but we wanted to make it a bigger thing than just us, so we decided to go ahead and get the name, “What Is Yes Records which will be our publishing company.

GW: Yeah, I recognize the name from the Facebook fan group!

JV: Might I ask…do you get the joke?

GW: I've been trying to figure it out, but I couldn’t. What is the significance? Is it a song lyric?

JV: So, “What Is Yes”, translates from Spanish is Que Es Si, so it sounds like “K.S.C.” I don’t think anybody has ever gotten it. And I think it’s funny but it’s also kind of like a rockin’ phrase, you know? A lot of our songs are in Spanish. I guess that's another thing to mention. We write in other languages sometimes. Spanish probably the most frequently used other language so I think that’s kind of cool.

GW: Yeah, I don't know if there's really any genre that we didn’t talk about in this half hour conversation, which is pretty cool!

JV: Haha Yeah, we like to call ourselves eclectic.

GW: Yeah, I think that definitely shows is in your live music. It's kind of wacky that at the last Kendall Street show I went to, there was the jam-grass sound, and a Ska sound, there’s Sublime, but there’s also Grateful Dead, and there’s Modest Mouse, and Klingande all in a set together! And I’m stoked to see you guys again in December.

JV: Yeah, and it’s going to be fun and we’re doing the livestream with Relix the day after too!

GW: Cool man! Is there anything else that you have coming up that you want to plug?

JV: I guess this tour with Dirty Grass and the livestream are the biggest news we’ve got right now. We did release Inertia, so I guess I’ll just give that a plug again. It’s our most recent album and it was fully improvised in the studio which I’d say is a core aspect of that record’s identity. That's pretty much what's going on right now. And we’ll have new music out as soon as we can!

GW: That’s great! I think that there's a philosophy in jam scene that quantity is also quality, you know?

JV: Yeah, I mean that's what we say about it too. We're not afraid to release a lot because we are proud of what it is, you know? We're not settling or anything. We’re proud and happy and then it gets released!

GW: I appreciate you taking the time to give me the lowdown on the band. I have been following Kendall Street for a year or so, and it’s been nice to tap in and speak with you.

JV: Yeah, it’s been a great conversation I had a lot of fun! 

The grind never stops for Kendall Street Company. Since March 11th, this squad has been driving up and down the east coast on the first leg of their Spring 2022 tour, with stops in Washington DC, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Throughout the entire month of February, the band had their “Kendall Street is For Lovers” tour where they had a weekly residency at five different bars, five days of the week, and in five different cities, all within their home state of Virginia. They have also made multiple appearances on Relix's Twitch stream.

Formed in 2013 at the University of Virginia, the band consists of front man, Louis Smith on acoustic guitar, Brian Roy on Bass, Ryan Wood on drums/percussion, Ben Lederberg on electric guitar, and Jake Vanaman on Saxophone and Keys. Their sound is often hard to place, especially with the eclectic nature of the band’s cover list which includes songs by The Beatles, Sublime, and Modest Mouse. Within their own discography, Kendall Street Company covers a wide spectrum from acoustic melancholy to jazz and beach rock. Their versatility and talent make it somewhat difficult to place them in a specific genre, and are self-described as somewhere between alt rock and “jazz-grass infused psychedelic bliss.”

While their musical talent is extremely impressive, Kendall Street Company’s warm and friendly stage presence makes their shows special. Each member of the band is mic’ed up, which entices goofy banter on stage that makes the crowd feel part of the show. To quote the band, “Kendall Street is the company that you keep.” They do exactly that by making every performance feel like a welcoming family gathering.

This exciting artist is back in action for the second half of their Spring 2022 tour on April 6th at the Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn, NY, along with Bella’s Bartok and Pressing Strings. All three bands will continue the festivities together with dates in Bridgeport, CT, Pawtucket, RI, Newmarket, NH, and Portland ME. Kendall Street Company will subsequently return to Virginia for a show with Joel Worford in Farmville, and finish up in Charlottesville playing a String Cheese Incident after party. Visit their tour page for more details.