Samantha Sullivan / Special to The Recorder
Lights are dim, the stage is empty. Club music booms from the house speakers. The boozers booze; the crooners croon; the bartenders, with their end-of-the-night eyes, stare blankly at a thinning crowd.
It’s nearly last call, but the boys from Addison Station are ready for the night after a successful and surprisingly amusing show at Up or On the Rocks in downtown Hartford, Conn.
They mingle, exchanging momentary glances with the ladies of the crowd, down a bottle each and smile in each other’s direction: good set.
“Addison Station: A Linguistic Acoustic Mix of Altruistic Narcissistic Makers-of-Music. We do some bee-boppin’, some hip-hoppin’ and some jam rockin’. Also, if we pine to, we’ll give you something to dine to and play our ballads instead.” A catchy business card, for sure, and it explains this local two-man band to perfection.
With a mix in musical influences like Jason Mraz, The Lonely Island, Counting Crows and Flight of the Conchords, you can imagine the type of attitudes these guys must carry.
Jeff Kenniston and Trent Gerbers, the 23-year-old men of Addison Station, provide a smooth instrumental blend for their audiences’ auditory pleasures. Kenniston, a CCSU senior, is on keyboard, guitar and back-up vocals while Gerbers is on lead vocals, harmonica and the occasional beatbox.
“We play whatever we feel comes across to most effectively bring about a positive reaction from listeners,” Kenniston explained.
Semi-regulars to pubs and clubs, Addison Station find themselves playing in the same types of venues, frequenting the downtown Hartford scene and New London and Torrington hotspots.
“We’re always looking to expand to other markets,” Kenniston said. “We’ve only been playing together as ‘Addison Station’ since January, so we’re just putting our toes in the water and seeing which places work for us.”
Audiences are catching on, no matter where they play, and the tone is set in the first few songs.
“We always encourage [audience participation] – although it is more prevalent at smaller venues, where we are more physically connected to the audience and can get right in their faces. Just the other night in Niantic, we had an audience member sing a song to his girlfriend while I played, and also had a girl play [Jason Mraz’s hit] ‘I’m Yours’ on the piano with us,” Kenniston said. “We love it when everyone gets involved.”
Though it’s difficult not to get involved in the music when Kenniston and Gerbers set up songs like “Lost and Found” with a story about one of the member’s most memorable one-night stand, joking that “We all have them at least once.”
The song describes the awkward search for underwear and other belongings strewn across the floor and around the apartment, and the smirks on the faces of numerous audience members prove that the storytellers are right – most of us know exactly how that search goes down.
So they tell stories and try to relate their music to audience members. What else describes a typical show for Addison Station?
“We try to take requests, and are consciously making an effort to highlight our original music and avoid the typical bar-band scene,” Kenniston joked while poking fun at the typical Bon Jovi, “Livin’ on a Prayer” cover bands. “Our set is currently very cover-laden, but we’re trying to network with prominent local original artists.”
Catch their next sets in Hartford on April 23 at The Tavern Downtown and April 25 at Up Or On The Rocks. Be sure to stop in for their soothing ballads or perhaps their musical antics.
