In this installment of our Hot Sauce Singles Series, The Refectory comes through with a track fresh out of the studio called Tongues. The band sat down with us to talk music and food:
Tell me a little about how you guys started. You were The Ghost Sonata and Fugue before?
So this gets a little complicated. Four of us (Robbie Vozza, Jonathan DeCarlo, and brothers Mike and Brian DiCrescenzo) started playing together in 2005 as The Ghost Sonata. After that project came to an end we went our separate ways musically for a few years, starting or joining other projects (see below). During that time Mike joined Fugue and played with the keys magician Annis, who jumped on board this past summer. As we started playing shows we recruited Ben Stokes to fill out our bass duties, with Robbie singing and playing guitar, Mike on guitar and Bass, Brian on drums, Jono playing guitar, and when not exploring the UK Annis Saniee is on keys.
We've all been in other projects during the spaces between and overlapping The Ghost Sonata, Fugue and The Refectory:
- DawnMother, a mathy/experimental project from members of The Ghost Sonata
- Brian filled in on drums for Wess Meets West and The Attending
- Robbie Vozza also pursues his solo material under his own name, played drums in Eastwood, and played bass for Quiet Giant
- Jono continues to play in Oculesics, an instrumental project started in 2008.
- Ben currently plays drums in Mother Tongue
- Annis recently released the debut album of his two piece Earth Invisible
- Dave Alcan fills in on bass every once in a while and is continuing his solo project The Rival Cycle
- Jay Hessler, the original bassist from The Ghost Sonata, is the world's greatest dad and husband and regularly contributes to everything The Refectory does.
- Matt Vitti, who recorded the keys on our first release, currently runs Mother Brother Studios
What's the plan with this single 'Tongues'? Will it be on an upcoming record?
Tongues is a standalone single while we continue writing a larger release for 2017. It was a song that came together pretty quickly and we just wanted to record it and get it out there, rather than waiting a long time to include with everything we're working on now.
You've played in a bunch of different cities...which had the best pizza?
The best pizza is always the one you have.
We're from Connecticut too, and it might not be the first place on the list of places known for great hot sauce. Is it kinda the same way with Connecticut's music scene?
It might not be the first place people think of, a lot of times it can be overshadowed by Boston and New York, but there's a lot of great music happening here. We have two great music cities in New Haven and Hartford, but more importantly there are really innovative musicians making things truly original that live here or have their roots in Connecticut. We also work closely with Mother Brother Studios in Bethel where we recorded Tongues, it's a great place, everyone should check out.
Follow us on twitter and retweet the tweet below for a chance to win a limited edition Tongues bottle of sauce. We went with Roasted Garlic for this run; figured we should pack a little punch on your tongue but also not completely destroy it. A ton of garlic and the paper lantern habañeros felt right. Anyway, we'll pick the winner on Tuesday September 6th at 10:00pm eastern time.
RT & follow for a chance 2 win a bottle of sauce! Also listen to 'Tongues' by The Refectory: https://t.co/PHfvipuZlh pic.twitter.com/C4ggQSCruk
— Dragons Blood Elixir (@Dragons_Blood) September 2, 2016