East Rock Porch Fest Blooms Into Year Two

Ziad, Srinath, and Briggs. Zahara Gazzola Photos.

The bass line thrummed so deep you could feel the vibrations in your feet. The crooning of the drummer drifted through the speaker on the street, and the shredding of two guitars sent a squeal through the chorus. Around the neighborhood, people gravitated towards the sound as if by an invisible force, with an audience that was nearly 100 people by the end of the hour.

Last Saturday, the band Trouble Girl brought that vibe to 103 Canner St. during the second annual East Rock Porch Fest, a day-long celebration of music and community that brought together dozens of bands across the city’s East Rock neighborhood.

Organized by Sam Winfield and Vincent Amendola, both members of the New Haven-based band Modern Refuge, the event welcomed over 70 bands to the porches, front yards, parking lots and plazas for a full day of building community through music.  Trouble Girl, a queer, activist, punk rock band, played their midday set from Canner Street, capturing the ethos of the day.

With their amps covered in bright stickers, Trouble Girl’s enigmatic band members (Lee Briggs, Nell Srinath, and Lydia Ziad ) thrived in the audience’s attention. One of the band’s songs, "BDSM," was about how many people use BDSM (Bondage, Discipline, Sadism and Masochism) as a way to abuse their partner. The song was slower, almost crooning at the verses, and crescendoed into a loud, belty chorus. The bass thrummed over everything, and the vocals were so emotional a person felt like they were inside the song.

Briggs said the band takes pride in songwriting and performance as a way to spread important messages, from trans rights to Palestinian liberation to being gay and dealing with homophobia.

Saturday, the serious messages never ruined a danceable vibe. “We want the music to be fun, but to not overpower the lyrics,” Briggs said.

“We didn’t want to keep listening to songs about cis/het white men having broken up with a woman,” added Sridath. “We wanted something for us,”

The audience. 

The set was a mix of originals and covers. One of the band favorites was "Sedative," an original song that deals with the feeling of being love-sick, and the anxieties that go with it. The song was fast paced and well worded. Vocals sailed clearly over the instruments, and the solos were show-stopping.

The audience went wild the moment the first chord floated into the air, and it was clear this one was a fan favorite. People were shout-singing the lyrics back to the band, dancing in place, and even a little kid (whose parents wished to not be named) wiggled along.

All songs, in fact, were a hit. Audience members flooded the street, so that passing cars had to honk and slow down to be able to pass. One audience member, who wished not to be named, said that this was one of their favorite bands they had seen that day.

The band is only three people, but Briggs, Sridath, and Ziad still shine. Briggs said that one day, he had the idea to make a band that focused on representation of trans people. He actually met Sridath on Tinder, and Sridath in turn brought Ziad in. However, while writing songs, they felt that if they were going to make art about one issue, they had to shed light on all issues.

“We felt like we had to make art about everything,” Ziad said.

This article comes from the ninth cohort of the Arts Council's Youth Arts Journalism Initiative (YAJI). Zahara (Zazie) Gazzola is a sophomore at Wilbur Cross High School and the ACES Educational Center for the Arts. Read more articles by our wonderful youth arts journalists here!