HVSS Music Night is proud to present Frenchy and the Punk and Yard Sale
$10 suggested donation. No one will be turned away for the inability to pay.
All proceeds benefit the Hudson Valley Sudbury School
Kitchen opens at 6:00, Music starts at 7:00.
Capacity is 85 so come early!
Angled street parking is available on the opposite side of the road/Old Route 28 – please park carefully as to conserve spots!
Carpool parking is available at The Hudson Valley Sudbury School 84 Zena Road, Kingston, NY 12401
For more info about HVSS Music Night visit http://www.hvssmusicnight.org
Frenchy and the Punk
Multi-cultural genre-bending NY Duo Frenchy and the Punk: Imagine Siouxsie Sioux and Dee Dee Ramone had a duo that was inspired by Django Reinhardt, Edith Piaf, Toulouse Lautrec and Deepak Chopra, this is what it might sound like. One part Dresden Dolls, Sonny and Cher and one part White Stripes. A pixie spirited flexitarian band of tree hugging, gothic, folky, Steam Punks by way of Paris and New York. Doused in red wine, kale and granola, raised on punk rock and ballet, eclectic and uplifting…fun with a capital F!
The genesis of the project was a 1998 office romance resulting in the two leaving their temp jobs, traveling as a solo musician (him) and artist (her) selling their wares until 2005 when, Stephenson, the sultry French-born singer jumped onstage and joined, Helland, the fiery punk rock guitarist from the golden days of the hardcore scene, and Frenchy and the Punk was born. Along the way they became the ‘jewel of the steampunk scene’ and were named one of the ”Top 25 duos in America’ by Yahoo music.
Frenchy, Samantha Stephenson, whose roller coaster journey went from artist to MBA graduate to full time performing artist, paints pictures of lust, love, intrigue and unbridled joy. Whether singing in French or English, her invitation to surrender yourself in the present moment is irresistible. As Frenchy and the Punk’s lyricist she draws inspiration from art, dance and travel. She has lived in France, England, Brazil and the US and spent time in West Africa. She studied art at The National Academy of Design and Art Students League in New York City. She began her dance training at the Royal School of Dance in England and performed in dance troupes in Boston and New York and studied piano and voice throughout her teens.
Scott Helland is the Punk, whose serpentine guitar lines and creative guitar looping technique perfectly complement the playfulness and spirit of Frenchy’s lyrics. Helland was co-founder and bassist of the legendary Massachusetts hardcore punk band Deep Wound, whose members included future Dinosaur Jr. members J Mascis and Lou Barlow. Deeply entrenched in that 80s hardcore scene, Scott’s follow up band, Outpatients, shared the stage with some of the biggest bands of that underground movement like Black Flag, Husker Du, GBH, Agnostic Front and CroMags. The scene is now documented in two films, in which both bands are a part, American Hardcore and All Ages. After 13 years of touring in the US, Argentina and Canada, the band split up and Scott heeded the call for musical experimentation and switched to acoustic guitar and began his journey into folk, medieval, ambient, soundscape and gypsy styles. From 1996 to 2005 he put out 7 solo CDs. In a complete about face, in 2002 his Earthbound CD was in the New Age charts and in 2004 his music was licensed to the Opera Winfrey show.
Fast forward a few years and the music that Helland and Stephenson started writing together in 2005 was to take on a more cabaret bent and bring back the intensity of those early days. In their nine year collaboration as band mates they have poured their vast collective musical and life experiences to create a theatrical and compelling sound and style. They are now one of the top featured and sought after acts worldwide of the burgeoning cabaret and steampunk movements.
The duo’s music, magnetic stage presence, charm and exhilarating
performances have attracted a consistently growing and loyal fan base around the world. The most recent CD, Bonjour Batfrog, was released in August 2014 for which they toured both in the US and Europe. Helland also released his Feast Art Book in 2015 loaded with over 50 pen and ink drawings.
Yard Sale
YARD SALE BIO
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
Tom Morretti of Woodstock Records recently described “Yard Sale” as “a talented Hudson Valley trio that has deep roots in the music genre that bred and was echoed by Jerry Garcia, Dylan, and The Band.” He went on to call “Yard Sale” a rare find in the midst of today’s new talent, and a “fresh breath of classic Americana.”
MUSICAL DEPTH
Yard Sale consists of seasoned and talented professional musicians Taylor Davis (banjo/ vocals), Charlie Schikowitz (multi-instruments/vocals), and Theo Schikowitz (bass/vocals). The all-acoustic group is characterized by soulful early 20th century style
Appalachian vocal harmonies creatively supported by banjo, mandolin, fiddle, washboard, upright bass, guitar, piano, accordion, and other old-timey instruments.
INFLUENCE & INSPIRATION
The outfit, formed in 2010, woke up in the midst of the Great Recession and decided that American audiences longed to hear authentic tales of classic crisis. Yard Sale tunes are sung from the heart in 3-part harmony with a sense of pride, purpose, and dark humor. They deal with topics of country-fried angst like drinkin’ and cheatin’ and going for broke while going broke. But they also invoke the soulful beauty of R&B, the uplifting anthems of gospel, the lonesome melancholy of bluegrass, and the steamrolling
syncopation of early 20th century riverboat minstrels and hobo jug bands.
STAGE PERFORMANCE
Yard Sale’s stage presence invokes genuine high-energy Vaudevillian carnival barker theatrics. Shows typically include amateur auctioneering, for example, and the hawking of actual garage sale items like used auto parts, secondhand VHS tapes, and dog-eared romance novels. The cumulative impact is that the band generates the contagiously explosive spontaneity of a moonshine-fueled barroom brawl. So everyone in the audience
gets swept up in a boot-stomping hoedown of hip-shaking proportions.
YARD SALE ATTITUDE
Yard Sale is a colorfully multi-talented group of men who know how to hunt, fish, tan leather, build houses, and even distill their own liquor. As banjo player Davis explains, “When times are hard and life gets lean every American needs to know how to live off the fat of the land. The songs on this new record are guaranteed to sustain listeners with more energy than grits, biscuits, redeye gravy, and possum flanks fried in fatback.”
Official Yard Sale website: http://www.iloveyardsale.com
Yard Sale Social Pages: http://www.facebook.com/mini.yardsale
http://www.reverbnation.com/yardsale01
http://www.iloveyardsale.bandcamp.com
