Soulful Concord band plays in Bow
FieldHouse Sports, a Bow facility better known for year-round indoor soccer, is the latest entry into the live music scene. Fiddler Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki led off the drive-in lot series on July 3, performing with his trio. A week later Trade, a rhythmic, horn-seasoned combo featuring some of New Hampshire’s finest players, will host the parking lot party.
Trade began with singing drummer George Laliotis and guitarist Scott Solsky, and a batch of Solsky’s songs that departed from his then band The Hats.
“I was at the point where I wanted to start a project and write the kind of music that has always spoken to me,” Solsky said in a recent phone interview. “The one thing I always came back to is that soul Motown thing … and no one sings that like George does.”
Early on, Trade played as a trio with keyboard player Matt Hogan, later adding horns.
“Over the years there were people coming in and out,” Solsky said, “But it’s always been George and I.”
In mid-2018, Trade released a CD, Puzzle. The album’s nine tracks were cowrites.
“I’ll come up with the idea, and George writes a lot of the lyrics — being a singer, it’s more in his wheelhouse — but the band does the arrangements,” Solsky said. “We’ve worked really well together as a group; everyone has ideas, and everyone contributes.”
The current lineup is Laliotis, Solsky, bassist Chris Noyes, a horn section of tenor sax player Zack Jones and Jamie Boccia on trumpet, and newest member Chris Sink on keys. The band recently released a new single on their SoundCloud page. “Real Deal” was an outtake from Puzzle.
“We were on the fence about whether or not we were going to do that one, then we were like, nah,’ Solsky said. “We kind of regretted not recording it, so it’s like we’ll just do it now.”
Working in isolation during quarantine was a daunting exercise.
“It was interesting; everyone having their own part, one person recording and sending it to the next and so on down the line,” Solsky said. “There was a learning curve for all of us, and I feel especially me, because I’m not super digitally inclined. To be able to get ourselves set up so that we can each individually record was the biggest challenge.”
Another track, called “Attachments,” is in progress, with hopes to complete it in the coming weeks. Solsky is also at work on a solo record at The Noise Floor in Dover. The backing band for half of the instrumental effort was Trade, and most of its songs are now part of their stage repertoire. Solsky calls his music “Jazztronica,” noting that “it came about because for my solo stuff I do the looping thing … it kind of has a flow to it.”
Both Solsky and bandmate Sink contributed tracks to Pass the Hat, a benefit LP organized by Chris Chase at Noise Floor. Fifty musicians offered songs, raising over $10,000, which was donated to 25 of the record’s contributors. Solsky played several Facebook Live shows during lockdown and was encouraged by fans’ willingness to drop money into his virtual tip jar.
He and the rest of Trade are anxious to be back in front of an audience, however.
“It’s exciting,” Solsky said. “As much as I’ve appreciated the support while livestreaming, whether it’s by myself or with the band, I always find that there’s a certain energy that you never really can reclaim when you’re just playing in front of the camera. That feeling of having a live crowd in front of you makes the energy of the music very different.”
Trade
When: Friday, July 10, 7 p.m.
Where: FieldHouse Sports, 12 Tallwood Drive, Bow
Tickets: $25 in advance, $30 at the gate per vehicle (up to 2 people), $10 each additional person at fieldhousesports.com
