Syracuse, N.Y. — The six members of Syracuse-based band “NONEWFRIENDS.” were all crammed into a four-seater booth at Funk ‘n Waffles on Saturday night, trying fruitlessly to define what genre of music they’re making.
Lead singer Elizabeth Stuart leaned in to take the lead while keyboardist Scott Greenblatt and guitarist Jackson August compared artistic influences across the table.
“No, no, no,” she said, waving away her deliberating bandmates. “We’ve been leaning more towards vintage ‘80s indie-pop-type music.” Final answer.
Almost. “There’s definitely some soul influences in there,” she said. “And some of us are jazz majors.”
Luckily the band doesn’t need to label a genre on Spotify, where they pull 22,000 monthly listeners and just released their first EP, “Do You Still Think About Me?”
The group is (almost) all Syracuse University students who started playing together over three years ago as freshman. They cut their teeth on SU house shows and have since built up a strong following on and off campus. The band has played at Funk ‘n Waffles in downtown Syracuse, Pianos in New York City and another show in Brooklyn. They’ve got a joint concert booked next month at the Mercury Lounge in New York City.
Lead singer Elizabeth Stuart sings onstage at Funk 'n Waffles in Syracuse, Feb. 5, 2022. When the original band members all met more than three years ago at Syracuse University, "it felt kind of cosmic," said Stuart. "It felt like the universe was placing us all together." (Jules Struck | jstruck@syracuse.com)
With graduation on the horizon, the band is getting ready to move down to the city and to make NONEWFRIENDS. a full-time gig. For most of the members, this was the plan since Day One.
Groppe shrugged a little at the prospect of shipping out to New York City after school. “It’s always been, personally, a dream to be in a band that does cool shit,” he said, smiling. The city is the natural next step.
For Stuart, “It feels like a blind faith,” she said. With this band, “I’ve kind of always felt that.”
Almost all of the original members have stuck together since the start — Stuart; Greenblatt on keyboard, piano and synth; August on guitar and saxophone; Peter Groppe on bass, guitar and vocals; and Jack Harrington on bass, synth and vocals.
They have gone through eight drummers — “You know that movie ‘Spinal Tap,’ where the drummer spontaneously combusts? That’s us,” said August — but Chris Cummings, a Berklee College of Music grad, finally stepped up to the plate. (“Chris has shown no signs of combustion,” amends August.)
The band’s name was a nod to the members’ lack of success in making friends as freshman, but has since become a sort of testament to the bonds they forged with each other. Almost four years in and “I literally made no new friends other than them and my one roommate,” said Stuart.
Still, it seems like the Funk ‘n Waffles crowd knows the musicians pretty well. People called out from across the room and sidled by to schmooze with the band after getting their wristbands at the door. And while the pandemic slowed the university’s house show scene way down, the band kept up with their small army of fans on social media and through a text message listserv on which they periodically sent out friendly notes and unreleased recordings.
Guitarist Jackson August performs onstage with band NONEWFRIENDS. at Funk 'n Waffles on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022. (Jules Struck | jstruck@syracuse.com)
The Saturday night Funk ‘n Waffles show was the first the band had played for a while since the pandemic dampened Syracuse’s nightlife. It was also their first since the EP dropped.
As the pink and blue stage lights warmed up and coats piled up on the booth where the band sat a few hours before, students and locals crowded near the small, raised stage in the back of the room. SU sophomore Lauren Juzang opened for the band, then with a swell of cheers, NONEWFRIENDS. took the stage.
However green they said they were as freshman playing their first basement show, as near-graduates they courted the crowd through a lively set without breaking much of a sweat.
Most of the audience, red-cheeked and happy from easy access to the bar, sang lyrics back to the musicians while they played their hits. A space opened up to the right of the stage where people danced. Harrington’s parents looked on from the corner of the bar.
After a smooth, hourlong show, the well-seasoned band exited the stage and came right back on with two more songs for an encore. Satisfied, the crowds hollered and cheered when the band left the stage again, this time for good.
With the show over and murmurs of an afterparty sweeping through the room, the musicians filed out to meet pals and parents. It’s exciting to play at this kind of venue, they said. But they’re all in agreement about the venue for their last concert before heading down to the city.
The last hurrah — it’s got to be an SU basement show.
Jules Struck writes about life and culture in and around Syracuse. Contact her anytime at jstruck@syracuse.com or on Instagram at julesstruck.journo.