Congregation X | Matt Connarton Unleashed

Speaker 1: Uh, one of the members couldn't make it, but we've got congregation exis here. Welcome everybody.

Speaker 2: Hey, thanks for having user excited to be here.

Speaker 1: Good good, Yeah, so we've got let's see parish Jake, Alexandria, and Josh. I get it, Okay, nailed it. Bad with names. I've been doing this so long, I met so many people. I'm terrible with names.

Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean that was the first try. You killed it.

Speaker 1: So and Nevian is not here. Nevin's name is easy to remember because that's a name you don't hear all the time, you know what I mean. So, is he the only Nevin all of you have ever met?

Speaker 2: Oh?

Speaker 3: Yeah, actually no, no, high school.

Speaker 1: You knew a Evan in high school? All right, all right, very good. Well, so you've got some new music, some studio tracks. I think the last time we had you on the show, if I remember correctly, you didn't have any studio tracks yet, right you You played live because you didn't have any.

Speaker 3: Yeah, and it was great.

Speaker 2: But so we uh, we came in and we did like our whole five piece in here live and it was it was a really big fun thing. But Resa, we played a show that we actually live recorded and got some great tracks out of that.

Speaker 4: That.

Speaker 2: Yeah, we'd love to share.

Speaker 1: Oh, excellent, excellent. So that's what these are the ones that we're hearing today. That's what yews are from. And what did we say we want to start with was that have you ever?

Speaker 2: Have you ever?

Speaker 1: Have you ever?

Speaker 3: And this and these?

Speaker 1: I think I remember that one right, you played that one live when you were here before we did at Okay, okay, so this is now where were these recorded?

Speaker 2: So? These were recorded at a house show at the Amp in Barrington. Okay, yep. It was a part of the Harmonium Circuit, which is a really cool little house show circuit that we did over the summer.

Speaker 1: Oh interesting, Okay, after the song, I want to hear more about that. That sounds really interesting.

Speaker 2: You got it.

Speaker 1: But let's give this a spin. The band is Congregation X and this is have you ever?

Speaker 5: Have you ever? What could this be?

Speaker 6: Standing over there?

Speaker 7: But I can feel your eyes some me.

Speaker 5: I can't do it.

Speaker 7: Some things about you. You carry yourself in a way that I'm so drunk, I assume you my brains.

Speaker 5: That's too much, you said, I am my God to think that.

Speaker 7: I believe me the right kind of said.

Speaker 8: Have you ever thought can you see what I said?

Speaker 5: It's your fishing?

Speaker 9: Can't you feel that you're like dressing.

Speaker 5: By w.

Speaker 7: So you get cause I'm just ball your mind you.

Speaker 3: Every time I see your face.

Speaker 5: That myself on in my friend that you're going to me?

Speaker 5: So delicas, come away, baby is. Let know that you see the.

Speaker 7: Way I now I'll go next to you.

Speaker 5: All that I have got children.

Speaker 7: Let you up with trueing that to tend How would like to spend some time with.

Speaker 5: Eno birth stories? Teach that to you to your time yours as I've been listen to love.

Speaker 7: O.

Speaker 5: Let you go on your food to be mad, I could teach your soul.

Speaker 7: May show your other d words slily.

Speaker 5: You wanted you and not but one? And I got the fl go hook through my mind, wadering if you're the one? Are you believe enough to find out?

Speaker 2: Do you think me like this?

Speaker 5: To me? You just don't your you're picking up other I'm picking up when.

Speaker 7: When if you're home, you'll clear my mind?

Speaker 5: Well what you're doing? Have you wonder that?

Speaker 6: My thank you?

Speaker 4: Have you?

Speaker 10: Have you ever?

Speaker 5: I love it?

Speaker 1: That is so good? Have you ever? That was recorded live the band is Congregation X and we've got four of the members here with us live in studio, and yeah, that is so good. Parents. You started to talk before about the what is it called the Harmonium Circuit.

Speaker 2: So the Harmonium Circuit. This was the first year of it running, and it's just it's a collection of house shows, a bunch of you know, over the summer people have the outdoor amphitheaters behind their house or something like that. We it's all about supporting local music.

Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, that's really cool when you say for people who don't know, like what is a house show?

Speaker 2: So a house show in this sense, like we went to U We have a friend who is a very big friend of the arts in Barrington who invited us and many other musicians over to his house to play a show he's built out. I mean this almost doesn't even to meet classify as the house show because he's built this big, beautiful amphitheater in his backyard that could probably support like, wow, two hundred, yeah, one or two hundred people, So oh wow, yeah, it was all very cool.

Speaker 3: Wow beautiful sound too.

Speaker 11: Really is just the second year that happened, actually, isn't it.

Speaker 2: So this would be the first year that the harmonium circuit itself has happened. But yeah, we did like a couple house shows, or we did a house show or something last year as well. But okay, yeah, yeah, all about kind of just organizing people together and giving local original artists a chance to you know, take the stage and play.

Speaker 1: Okay, okay, excellent, And you all were talking off air too about so Josh, this was your not because when you were here before, you had the upright bass.

Speaker 3: I had the big the big dog, yeah, upright bas the stand up, the big wooden instrument. But on that track right there in that show, that was actually the first time we had all played together where I was on electric bass, okay and playing in front of people. So it was a great change of feel, a change of vibe, and I think we all just we all had a great time.

Speaker 10: As you can hear you kill it with all the bases.

Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, Well I remember when you were here before, like because I'm a bass player, but I've never played an upright bass, so I just remember just kind of watching like I was watching you the whole time because I'm just fascinated by by watching you play. So I'm super curious, like, why why move away from that for at least for this? I mean, is this like a permanent transition, do you think?

Speaker 4: Or no?

Speaker 3: It was just for ease of travel sometimes I'm lazy.

Speaker 5: That makes well.

Speaker 3: Now, if you show up to the press rooms coming Wednesday, both the big dog and the little tiny electric bass, I'll have both.

Speaker 11: Thanks, got an acoustic electric bass for you to try to.

Speaker 3: Oh yeah, oh wow, all right, I can't wait to try that. Yeah, okay, those things are fun.

Speaker 1: Okay, okay, so you're gonna be you're gonna be traveling heavy. Then you're gonna bring uh my, might just have the full trio, right, bring all the basses. Was it strange though, not playing the upright when when you're used to playing it with congregation X.

Speaker 3: It's a bit of an adjustment, and you know, we have to maybe be on our toes a little bit more. Yeah, but that's not a bad thing. It was a good change.

Speaker 1: Yeah, one, Yeah, excellent, excellent.

Speaker 2: Yeah. You feel the difference in like the energy, because I feel like on upright you tend to lay back and hang out, but then like when you were on the electric base, you were right out there. It was super fun. I mean that that day, I remember we were talking about this in the practice after we all just felt really loose and just really chilled, like we were just we were just vibing and it was so fun. I mean, that was the kind of fun part about those shows that just we were all so relaxed through it.

Speaker 10: Yeah, except that it was really cold and.

Speaker 11: Like I had to fight through that with my vocals because I was like shivering.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker 10: So I'm actually really proud of how that came out.

Speaker 2: Yeah we oh really yeah?

Speaker 1: Oh yeah, how cold was it that day?

Speaker 2: Like it was one of the first days where I think it got down into like the what mid to low fifties. Yeah, yeah, cold in the sixties, right right, Yeah, it got it got down there really uh yeah.

Speaker 1: Oh really yeah, yeah, that's that's cold. And then so did you, like, how long of a set did you play because I assumed did you record everything or.

Speaker 2: Yeah, we recorded the whole thing, whole kit and kaboodle. I believe we played what an hour or so it was roughly forty five to it roughly forty five to an hour, yeah, okay, okay.

Speaker 1: And then so the these songs that you recorded are these on an album that you're you've released or is coming out.

Speaker 2: Or it's so we're actually this next show we're playing, we're raising funds to go into the studio, and okay, we have we've talked about, especially like with this show, putting out live tracks, and this is uh, these are these are some of the really really strong contenders for that because yeah, we we were so locked in that night. We just want to you know, have fun with these tracks and like people enjoy them, relive that moment.

Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, when you when you decided to record the set that night, was that I mean, what were your expectations did did you expect did you expect it all? Because as a risk when you're recording live, did you expect it all to come out as well as it did or were you surprised at all?

Speaker 11: We're hoping, I mean, we always hope to have like a little something we can put on the internet, yeah, you know, as an advertisement or just.

Speaker 10: To share with people that we care about.

Speaker 11: And fans that we have, like yeah, you know, and and sometimes sometimes we get recordings that are not so great. This time it happened to work out really well, like it was planned ahead of time. We had multiple angles, although I don't know I had it from a different angle. I don't know if I actually sent it to you guys.

Speaker 2: Oh oh yeah, we're getting all kinds of video of it too, Like it was. There's definitely I would say that fear of like, I don't know, it's it's definitely. It feels like a commitment, like everything you know is being committed to recording. But you're playing live, so the second you start, that's out of your mind because you're engaging with the crowd and you're having fun. And yeah, I had the I had fun where like, I was also the sound engineer that night, so I was kind of placing the mics on everybody and making sure that like, oh, okay, you know it's gonna sound It's gonna sound fine.

Speaker 2: And then during our show, my good friend John Eric was actually mixing us, and yeah, I mean the recording came out. It came out phenomenal.

Speaker 1: It did.

Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, very easy to mix, very easy to just sit down and work with.

Speaker 1: So outstanding, outstanding. Well, we should play another track? What should what should we play next?

Speaker 10: Show you were twenty four, let's just show.

Speaker 2: You show you. Yeah, okay, dive into some relaxation.

Speaker 1: Excellent, excellent if you're just joining us congregation excess here with us live in studio. And this next track this was recorded live. Where was this again?

Speaker 2: Barrington in Barrington?

Speaker 9: Uh?

Speaker 1: This is this is another great one. This is called show you check this out?

Speaker 10: Okay, this is a love song.

Speaker 3: No see.

Speaker 4: You won't you he.

Speaker 5: A you?

Speaker 10: Will you need.

Speaker 5: Love it when you hold me?

Speaker 7: I really wanna show you. I'm gonna show you whatta thye.

Speaker 5: To be with that a thie. I won't treat you as you feel so different from the wrast has.

Speaker 12: Nobody told you? I want to set you free? Take you there, Come on, lay for dawn.

Speaker 10: I want to give you.

Speaker 7: See this day you have been listening.

Speaker 5: You've been spending your whole life.

Speaker 7: Helping everybody fly.

Speaker 5: Come over here with us ratched noise.

Speaker 9: I guess somebody chase.

Speaker 5: Love to give you a bag?

Speaker 12: How won can you seek?

Speaker 5: See this? Make you smile? Give him the chase I want to show I want you. I won't thank you.

Speaker 1: Sixty sixty.

Speaker 7: Mister, you've been spending your whole life helping everybody fly.

Speaker 4: Come over here with those fractionalis. I've guests some visit chers I love to give you, fir, hope you understand messy.

Speaker 6: The bl you.

Speaker 8: You want to shure you wise life to be right over,

Speaker 8: I'll give you sweet be than you us.

Speaker 5: Show you won't thank you? Oh want you love it when you hold me a really one show.

Speaker 7: Thank you?

Speaker 3: Oh that's nice.

Speaker 1: That is show you. The band is Congregation X and we have four of the members here with us in studio and yeah that sounds really good.

Speaker 4: Now.

Speaker 1: When you were talking off air, did I hear the term ukulele base or base ukulele?

Speaker 2: Yes?

Speaker 7: So, uh.

Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go, all the bases.

Speaker 2: So when I first joined this group, when it was just Alexandria and Nevin, I was seeing them at an open mic all the time and I thought they were amazing. And at one point they invited me to sit in with them and I was like, oh, yeah, let's do it. And I had again, it's a little ukulele base where it's like it's the whole thing is maybe two feet long, and it's but it has when you plug it in, it has a really full base tone. It's a bait. It's a ukulele strung as a base. Okay, And I sit in with them and there.

Speaker 2: I guess that was apparently my audition, because next thing, you know, they're like, hey, yeah, you should come over to the Danger room, which is where we and do all of the things and video. Yeah, the studio we practice in. And I was kind of suddenly thinking, oh, I'm gonna be thrown in on like bass or something like that, which okay, but I'm kind of a keys guy. And then I get to the Danger room and there's a piano. I'm like, all right, cool, we're in. Let's go, let's have fun.

Speaker 10: Think a little bit of an everything guy.

Speaker 11: Honestly, I need I actually went and saw you as an individual artist and like scoped you out and was like, we need him.

Speaker 1: Yeah, so Alexandria. So I started with a congregation, IX started with you and Nevin and then and then Perish.

Speaker 11: Okay, well it's kind of It's kind of funny because I started playing at open mics because of Jake, because he was in my house all the time and it was twenty twenty yeah, and he was like, you should do this, and then Nevin and I met through that, and then him and I started working together. Jake was doing his own thing. I we worked with a different basis. First, it just didn't work out, you know, not for anything bad, bad reasons, but that's good.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker 3: It just texted me up off all the street. They found me on the street corner I had my base. They just called me on No, I'm back back maybe six years ago.

Speaker 10: Yeah, I met you through theater.

Speaker 3: Yeah, so we were both kind of like involved with the Northern Essex Community College theater program, which I'm so thankful for. Shout out to Brian Beatrice. She's an excellent professor. Anyway, through that program, I learned so much about you know, just like and I met so many, so many great people in Alexandria was one of them. And so Action, a mutual friend from both of you know, from that past of hours, reached out and asked me if i'd be interested and uh and in checking out what they have going Nevin and and Alexandria and uh and so I walked in and sat in in the danger room and kind of checked out see what they had going.

Speaker 3: And you know Nevin, you know his he just always plays the right thing. And Alexandria has the golden pipe. So I was just I was sold right from the beginning.

Speaker 1: There I am, and then and then so Jake, how did you become a part of congregation X?

Speaker 2: I just actually showed up one day.

Speaker 1: Yeah, he actually he was always okay, okay.

Speaker 13: They had been wanting or asking me to potentially play uh for a while, and and I was being lame and holding off and like I got too much going on.

Speaker 10: Sorry, Yeah, everything in divine timing.

Speaker 2: Well, you know, when you're also a frontman of a like a hardcore band at the same time as somebody else asking you to come play drums on something. He kind of got a stick to be in a front man at first.

Speaker 13: Yeah, I had my priorities with as the frontman initially, and then we we had we had a moment in time in my band where I front that we were kind of taken a bit of a break.

Speaker 5: Is that is is that the name?

Speaker 1: Okay?

Speaker 3: Yeah?

Speaker 13: Prom so good. Yeah you'll check it out, shameless plug check out my band.

Speaker 10: It's very different from this music. Yeah, yeah, you love metal.

Speaker 2: It nice. Nice.

Speaker 13: And then I just one day I was I was asked if I wanted to sit in, and I showed up and we played a couple of songs.

Speaker 3: And I just it's been coming back. He's been sitting ever since.

Speaker 2: Yeah, it was so cool because like its flat we were when when Jake first came in, I was it was like our stuff was really chill and kind of like down down in wavy, you know, we were we had a really cool flow state. And then Jake comes in and he's got this really cool high energy where it's like, oh, you can tell he comes from a really high energy background. Yeah, and he a lot of the time, like he'll keep us from getting very like a little almost too quiet because then like his energy just picks everybody up and it gives It's a huge part of what makes Congregation x is sound really unique from other bands, Yeah, because it has this very like how Yeah.

Speaker 13: Yeah, I find that I I had I I learned how to drum based off of like early two thousands butt rock and like pop rock music. Yeah, but my metal influence still comes out these days with like changing to cut time and some spots and going a little bit quicker, hitting a little bit harder and whatnot. But but the the overall I guess consensus from the audience is that my supposedly my drumming adds a pop aspect to the more the more jazzy classical style of the band. Yeah, yeah, it yeah, spices it up a little bit.

Speaker 1: Yeah excellent.

Speaker 3: I I think something that's been so fun about, just like since the start of this band has been the fact that our sound has been something that we've been you know, having to work towards, having to meet in the middle between all of these different styles to be able to you know, create something that's cohesive hopefully that something that people want to listen to, right right exactly.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 2: I mean Josh has made me so much of a better pianist just by you know, me being able to listen to him as a bassis playing and like when he whenever he does sit down at the piano, he always blows me away and there's always something I'm like, I should learn that.

Speaker 3: Yeah, it works both ways, and it works. We're all we're all kind of like we all have interests in a lot of these different styles instruments, and yeah, so it's it's a really great exchange of our interests.

Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, excellent, excellent. Yeah, well we should, Uh what did you want to play next? Do you want to play Evergreen?

Speaker 3: Oh?

Speaker 2: Yeah, let's hit Evergreen? Get to get into the trenches a little bit.

Speaker 1: If you're just joining us Congregation acts. Oh by the way, so before I play this, and I know I asked you this last time you're here, But where does a name come from? Congregation X?

Speaker 11: Because it's so Actually it's really funny that, like our name story is kind of funny because it was really just that Nevin kept putting us in the Google Google calendar as Congregation X because we didn't have a name, okay, And eventually we decided that that was actually the perfect name because originally him and I wanted to start a band that was like, you know, had more like rotating artists, like whoever was in on the project was in the on the project.

Speaker 10: And then we just so.

Speaker 11: Happened to organically, you know, find the everybody here that is actually now like a fixture. But it happened very naturally, you know, Like so we wanted it to be a name that kind of suited whatever vibe we were going for whenever we wanted to you know, like and who like because sometimes we would have one artist working with us and then we'd have another one, and like there was a it was never the same in the beginning. But now we have all five of us, and if we have somebody sit in with us, they're just our guests.

Speaker 11: So yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, that's where it came from. It literally was just a silly like fill in name because we didn't have a name, and now.

Speaker 10: That's our name, man.

Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember.

Speaker 2: There was one practice it was I think right before we played the Stone Church where we all sit down and we're like, so do we want to change the name, And it felt like the one time that we had to be like, all right, let's try and throw other things out, and we all just sit there silently like is there something Nah, No, we're Congregation acts.

Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, very cool. All right, so let's give this a spin. This was recorded live, of course. This is Congregation X and the track is Evergreen.

Speaker 14: Street Signs every Green Now it turning good, sis other night, split a sirey, hands.

Speaker 5: On the way here to find you.

Speaker 2: Be blinds glassy. I stand out in the street.

Speaker 5: Room, I mean gritty ways. It's nothing that I could have seen.

Speaker 3: We got down into.

Speaker 15: The river to wash ourselves clean and thee I swear to tea get all in me ohever in mind.

Speaker 5: Hold you by the trouble that you've seen?

Speaker 2: Won't you be green?

Speaker 5: Won't you be over?

Speaker 6: They do?

Speaker 2: But always see he's the cracks you may.

Speaker 15: Find the glass in the alan when I fast through

Speaker 15: deciding where you fire the one around you? Funny laying on the ground last week.

Speaker 5: And we didn't tell the trees.

Speaker 15: We go downtil the river to wash yourselves clean?

Speaker 5: And has worn't you to get old? And meet me away? My old you? But the trouble you see, won't you be heather cream? Won't you be.

Speaker 6: There?

Speaker 5: There? Day? Go down into the river to wash yourselves clean? The ice weren't too deep to get all.

Speaker 2: We need hope, Heaven and I hold you for the trouble that you've seen.

Speaker 6: Won't you be.

Speaker 5: Over, queen? Won't you be over? We got down to the river to wash yourselves clean. Andy ice weren't too deep to get hold.

Speaker 15: We need honk, Heaven and mind hold you for the trouble that you've seen.

Speaker 1: Won't you be ever green?

Speaker 5: Won't you be ever.

Speaker 2: Thank you?

Speaker 3: Oh?

Speaker 1: That is nice? That is evergreen? Recorded live? Of course. The band is Congregation X, and we've got four of the five members here in studio with us, and yeah, another another gray track. You kind of you kind of pull off. Uh it's kind of a live fade out like you would hear on a studio track, but you pulled it off live really well. It's really good.

Speaker 2: That was a random idea that just kind of came to us in the studio. We didn't know how to how to end it, and then you, Josh just started playing these awesome harmonics on the upright, and I was like, oh, yeah, that's it.

Speaker 13: Yeah, like, yeah, they rang through so beautifully with the with the electric bass in that cut right there.

Speaker 2: Yeah, I hadn't heard that cup before.

Speaker 1: Oh really it's so good though, Oh yeah, really good, really good. So what is what does the future hold for Congregation X? What are your next You kind of told me a little bit off there, but yes, Wolpe.

Speaker 2: So Josh had alluded to this a little bit at the start of this. This coming Wednesday, we have our last show for probably the next couple months in southern New Hampshire and we'll be playing opening for Soul Color and Friends at the press Room. And that's this Wednesday, November twelfth, and yeah, doors at six, show at seven. If you find us on Instagram at Congregation X all the ticket links and things like that are going to be there. We'll be debuting some new music there. We're going to be selling merch and I mean, anybody who's been to the press room knows that, like that's it's hallowed ground for an up and comer.

Speaker 3: Yeah, there's awesome drinks, awesome food, great service, the vibees. Right, oh yeah, it's a great place.

Speaker 2: But absolutely, But after that, I think I'd said this before we started, we're kind of just going into a bit of a hibernation. We're going to be working on some new music and really hitting the songwriting hard hitting hitting the studio too as well, really going in and we're making new music exactly. We're getting ready to hit twenty twenty six like a bus.

Speaker 1: Excellent, so excellent, very good, very good. Are so are you going to be doing a studio album with the with these songs?

Speaker 2: Are yep? Oh definitely, Oh yeah so the lie We love the live versions because our energy is very live. But yeah, we are going to be sitting down in the studio very soon and uh, well congregating, I guess.

Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go, there you go outstanding. Where's the best place too for people to go? Online to keep up with everything that you're doing.

Speaker 2: So you can find us on Facebook or on Instagram at Congregation X. Ok those are our two most easily accessible and most active places that we're hanging out.

Speaker 1: Okay, okay, outstanding. Uh So, in a moment, we're going to play this track twenty four hours. That's the that's why we haven't played yet, right, So we'll do that and the segment. By the way, if you are listening live on Saturday, stick around. We've got Gnarley Darling. They're going to play live in the second hour and then the third hour, Volley is returning to the show. So looking forward to seeing those guys. But we're gonna close out this segment with this track twenty four hours. Anything we should know about this one before we play it.

Speaker 10: The first song that was ever written by Congregation X.

Speaker 1: Oh no kidding.

Speaker 11: It's actually the first song I've ever written in my life. I wrote it on my thirtieth birthday.

Speaker 3: Oh okay.

Speaker 10: Nevin stayed up super late and just like got it out.

Speaker 1: Yeah oh wow.

Speaker 10: And then these guys enhance the out of it.

Speaker 1: Oh that's okay, we got we got the delay, I got it, don't worry.

Speaker 10: Sorry, these guys enhanced it quite a lot.

Speaker 1: Yeah, quite a lot, quite a lot, quite a lot.

Speaker 2: Oh my god, Andrew Y that's okay out of all of us too, my birthday.

Speaker 3: It's the song that we've worked on the longest, and like we had said, we're kind of figuring out our sound as time goes by. So I think maybe of all the songs that we play, this might be the most representative of our sound as Congregation X.

Speaker 1: Okay, Okay, very cool. I like that, Joshua, Yeah, absolutely, okay. So we will end, Uh, we'll end the segment with this, but again, thank you all all four of you, Parish, Jake, Alexandria, josh really appreciate you coming in. Yeah, have you and hello to Nevan if you're listening, and uh, we're gonna hit this track. Okay, here it is. This is twenty four hours Congregation X.

Speaker 7: Guys, fool of Motion, taking Honor in.

Speaker 5: Heaven.

Speaker 7: Everything's so sweet, I falling down.

Speaker 9: Again and again and also wat to finally complete.

Speaker 12: Seems about best.

Speaker 5: Hi, twenty four hours just ain't.

Speaker 12: It's like time.

Speaker 5: I'm just against me.

Speaker 6: Close.

Speaker 5: You'll see.

Speaker 8: I would these and moments passed by I can in motivationally dry.

Speaker 5: All to the pas too. I don't thank you for sure and me away a beautiful lesson.