The Metro Detroit vocalist-guitarist is ditching the winter blues after being indoors all season.
“I find, for whatever reason, it feels like it gets worse every year,” said Jones, who performs in The 3148s. “When I was younger, I’d look at snowbirds and think, “That seems like a lot of travel and a lot of hassle.”
While he’s not headed south this time, Jones channels that pent-up frustration, misery, and restlessness on “Cabin Fever,” the energetic, hardcore-inspired single from The 3148s.
Along with bandmates Ian Coote (guitar, keys, mandocello, vocals), Jason Seifert (bass), and brother Tom Jones (drums), he sings: “Sunlight deprived and locked inside / All alone in a crowded house / Grinding my teeth, grinning in agony / Self-loathing in sheep’s clothing / As all the walls keep closing / In on me and my sweet sanity.”
“And now I say, ‘Let’s get these kids to graduate so that I can buy a house in Florida and live there for six months out of the year,’” Jones said. “You feel trapped, and it’s like the walls are closing in by the time you get to this time of year. I just wanna be outside, and I wanna be warm and comfortable. I haven’t seen the sun, and yeah, it drags.”
The adrenalized alt-rock-meets-punk instrumentation on “Cabin Fever” does anything but drag. The band’s fearless electric guitar, thumping bass, and charging drums pulsate alongside Jones’ angry vocals.
To learn more, I spoke with The 3148s about its latest releases and background ahead of an April 5 show at New Dodge Lounge in Hamtramck, Michigan.
Allye Gaietto revisits her past self on “Hoping for More.” Photo – Rolando Ybarra
Allye Gaietto candidly shares an internal monologue with her younger self.
The Detroit indie folk-pop singer-songwriter and pianist reconciles past expectations, relationships and interactions on her perceptive new album, Hoping for More, which drops Aug. 26.
“It’s so much discovering of who you are, what your beliefs are and where you stand on all sorts of different things. I think, for a lot of us, our identity is about who’s around us and how we interact with people and how they see us,” said Gaietto about previous life experiences in her early 20s.
“I think for this record there are a lot of things … like I had my first serious relationship and then got dumped for the first time, and that’s one of the songs on the album. That was huge for me.”
With Hoping for More, Gaietto provides a huge release of deeply buried emotions that still feel tender and raw. Whether encountering relief, heartache or courage, she beautifully documents those experiences through contemplative lyrics, haunting melodies and lush instrumentation.
“It’s this funny contrast of me trying to reconcile like, ‘What do you think about me? What do I think about you? How do we feel about each other?’ with friendships, romantic relationships and parent relationships,” said Gaietto, who also released the single, “I Guess I Don’t,” earlier this year.
“After the album was finished, the new stuff I’ve been writing … sometimes I have to put myself back in that early 20s, new relationship mindset because it’s a goldmine for feelings and content.”
Jupiter House Band yearns for lost love on their latest single, “Chicago.” Photo courtesy of Issac Burgess
For Jupiter House Band, the Windy City represents a nostalgic connection.
The Detroit indie-pop collective instantly travels through space and time to revisit past heartbreak on their latest breezy single, “Chicago.”
“I went on a trip to Chicago with a very important person in my life a few years ago. It’s not about that trip; it’s about that relationship,” said Issac Burgess, Jupiter House Band’s vocalist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer.
“It’s an honest song about a lot of internal struggles and just trying to cope with a lack of somebody you’re used to having in your life.”
Throughout “Chicago,” a ripple of soft drums, glistening cymbals, scintillating electric guitar, subterranean bass and tweeting synths blow across the mind’s universe and yearn for lost love.
Burgess dreamily sings, “Can’t keep feeling down/Ya turned my heart around/And now I feel like a fool.”
“I’m such a sucker for love songs, but I’ve always been self-conscious about writing them. This is my take at a bit of a love song … kind of a breakup song,” he said. “I wrote it when I was 23, and I’m almost 25 now. I think it will mean a lot to other people.”
After visiting “Chicago,” Jupiter House Band shifts their musical orbit to “Feel Like (Wow),” an upbeat, funky ode to maximizing time and setting boundaries.
Infectious waves of pulsating synth, eager drums, jittery bass and curious electric guitar immerse Burgess in long-awaited relief.
Alongside those “Feel Like (Wow)” sighs of relief, Burgess sings, “Can’t keep what’s goin’ on/Or keep from knowin’ how/Your scent on my Oxford shirt/Makes impression how/Makes me feel like wow/I can’t help but think of her.”
“I’m reaching a point in my adulthood where I just can’t give my time and my energy to everyone all the time. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing either,” he said.
“In the past, people have gotten upset, and even I have gotten upset, when you couldn’t reach someone all the time, or you couldn’t be with someone all the time. You could chalk that song up to having a general consensus of not wanting to waste time with drama, gossip or talk.”
The Indigo Curve seeks inspiration from Arctic Monkeys on their latest single, “But I Wanna Write Love Songs.”
Ish Chowdhury couldn’t get a hypnotic guitar riff out of his head.
The Indigo Curve vocalist repeatedly heard the punchy, terse chord progression of Arctic Monkeys’ 2007 track, “Teddy Picker,” and felt a rush of inspiration.
“I was just listening and thinking, ‘Damn, what a simple thing that is … it hits so fucking hard,’” said Chowdhury, who fronts the Detroit indie-rock quintet.
“I wanna write something like that, so I called our guitarist, Adam Liles, and showed him the riff I came up with. He replied, ‘That’s cool. Now figure it out in bar chords. That’s a good way to kill 45 minutes.’”
Those crucial 45 minutes produced a crunchy electric guitar riff, which Chowdhury also shared with bandmates Niko Kannapell (bass), Mike Liles (organ, keys) and Markus Kennedy (drums).
“I told Markus to go full-out, early Arctic Monkeys mode on it,” said Chowdhury about the band’s first new release since 2021’s “Lucidiscene.” “And Markus fucking did it. That dude is just the best drummer, man. Dude is an artist to the max.”
That maximum overdrive produced The Indigo Curve’s latest propulsive single, “But I Wanna Write Love Songs,” which fuses fiery electric guitar, thunderous drums, smashing cymbals, pulsating bass and smooth organ.
In tandem, Chowdhury sings, “Jekyll & Hyde in the back of the bag/The fact of the matter is a matter of fact/I don’t wanna fall in love/But I wanna write love songs.”
“I’m always in the middle of writing a song as Dr. Jekyll until the Hyde in me takes over … It’s funny because this song has absolutely nothing to do with love, but all the lyrics ended up leading to that,” he said.
“Mike named the song, and that’s how it really came together in the end. He just randomly said, ‘But I wanna write love songs,’ and that’s what we rolled with.”
The band rolled with the track at Royal Oak’s Rustbelt Studios and invited engineer Jake Halkey to help shape it. Also a drummer, Halkey added a larger-than-life drum sound to “But I Wanna Write Love Songs.”
“I think that was the most important part … the song is just meant to feel like driving 120 miles per hour against a marmalade sunset, head-first into a herd of goats crossing the road,” Chowdhury said. “I love goats. No goats were harmed in the making of this song.”
Goats aside, The Indigo Curve also dropped a frantic new video for their latest single. Directed by Andrew Brumfield of Love Streams Films, the kaleidoscopic video accelerates through retro pop-culture images, vintage TV screen shots and recent band studio footage.
“Andrew’s work lined up so well with the track, it was ridiculous. I couldn’t imagine any other music vid for that song,” Chowdhury said.
“Homie styled so hard on that thing. He was in the studio with us. ‘Brummy’ asked if we had any preferences or requests. I just remember saying, ‘Involve as little of us and more zombies,’ and I think he nailed that.”
With a new single and video out now, The Indigo Curve plans to drop additional releases, including singles or an EP, later this year.
“A full-length album is obviously what we want, but we’ll never do that until we know every single song belongs on there,” Chowdhury said. “But our new shit, man, that stuff is miles ahead of anything we’ve just released. You find yourself a little more each day, and we’re chillin’ in that sphere these days.”
The Stratton Setlist 