This festival-within-a-festival kisses 2022 goodbye with an explosion of sound that’s sure to echo through ECHO for years to come. A Bright Idea Project submitted by Noah Schneiderman, The Spirit of NYE combines sets of music by some of Vermont’s buzziest bands with serious national renown. Local champs Rockin’ Worms, Dari Bay, Greg Freeman, and Thus Love get the night going on the downstairs stage prior to NY acid-punk art-rockers Guerilla Toss throwing out tunes that Pitchfork praised recently for being “jam-packed with Day-Glo cheerleader chants dedicated to celebrating existence right now, today.” Next, behold Sub Pop artist and Brattleboro native King Tuff, reigning supreme with tunes from his forthcoming record, Smalltown Stardust. Beloved VT rockers and heirs to proto-punk royalty Rough Francis cap off the evening with a blistering set that will send us straight into ‘23. Be sure to run upstairs between sets for interludes from BTV DIYers Greaseface, songsmith Lily Seabird, the ubiquitous DJ Disco Phantom, and the Two Sev DJ Dance Party.
6:00 pm Rockin’ Worms (downstairs)
6:15 pm The Dead Shakers (upstairs)
6:45 pm Lily Seabird (downstairs)
7:15 pm GreaseFace (upstairs)
7:40 pm Greg Freeman (downstairs)
8:15 pm Dari Bay (upstairs)
8:35 pm Thus Love (downstairs)
9:00 pm Disco Phantom (upstairs)
9:35 pm Guerilla Toss (downstairs)
10:30 pm Your DJ Dance Party (upstairs)
10:35 pm King Tuff (downstairs)
11:30 pm Rough Francis (downstairs) )
King Tuff is the stage name of renowned singer-songwriter and Brattleboro native Kyle Thomas. Since 2008’s Was Dead, Thomas, as King Tuff, has released some of the most infectiously cool records into the garage/psych/pop vein, including Black Moon Spell and 2018’s indie masterpiece, The Other. Now on Sub Pop records, Thomas has penned a musical love letter to memories of inspiration and the small town that nourished his early creativity. Slated for release in 2023, Smalltown Stardust is a spiritual, tender, and ultimately joyous record.
Vermonters will identify with images of Thomas’ youth, from Route 91 to Vermont’s Rock River, which gave its name to a song of a torch still burning for past love. Smalltown Stardust is a paean to what that life means, a statement of belief and a hymnal to the magic still to behold all around us. Expect a first taste of some of the new cuts as well as already beloved fare. All hail King Tuff!
After a decade sprinkling glitter into grit, building a reputation as one of the most ferociously evolving art-rock groups, Guerilla Toss is easing fully their most luminescent period of creativity—awake, alive, and extending an open invitation to anyone who wants to soak it all up.?Their latest record, Famously Alive, finds Guerilla Toss coming into the fullness of their power, celebrating their prismatic idiosyncrasies from a place of optimism and abundance. Pitchfork praised the record for its psychedelic peons to self-acceptance, “jam-packed with Day-Glo cheerleader chants dedicated to celebrating existence right now, today.”
Rough Francis are a hard-edged, musically adventurous rock band from Burlington, VT. Core members Bobby, Julian, and Urian Hackney represent the second generation of unsung pioneers of midwest punk rock, Death. With Tyler Bolles on bass, the band embraces the same mixture of hard rock and proto-punk as Death as well as the melodic accents of classic British Invasion-era tunes. Their latest record, Urgent Care, came out in 2020.
Brian Nagle, aka DJ Disco Phantom, has been lighting up dance floors in Vermont and beyond for fourteen years. Setting his sights beyond the mere catchy and accessible, Phantom is the kind of DJ that’s going to play the next song that you can’t live without. His obsessive research, flawless mixing, and impeccable ability to read a room ensures that even the most committed of wallflowers will feel the need to dance. Phantom is deeply involved in the Burlington music scene, co-curating and producing some of the best events in the area, such as the popular Waking Windows festival.
–> This Bright Ideas Project event was crowdsourced from Vermonters and generously Powered by VSECU
Programming at the ECHO Center is presented by VSECU.