Punk and Peace
Young Bands Reinvigorate Plattsburgh’s Downtown Music Scene
Start-up bands La Grogg, The Gallery and Reverse The Grin are bringing a new, bustling energy to Plattsburgh’s band scene, as they hone their sounds and build their reputations.
LA GROGG
La Grogg’s current members include lead guitarist Blake Liberi, guitarist and lead vocalist Casey Halloran, drummer Greg Dimoulas and bassist Edward Morris. The band’s roots grew when Halloran and Dimoulas discovered each other’s musical ability working at the now closed Freaky Tiki Bar and Grill in Mooney Bay.
Self-described as a psychedelic punk band but hesitant to throw labels onto their sound, the band started out playing open mic nights at Monopole every Wednesday in the summer of 2021. At this point, the two were playing just for fun; it would be some time before the other two members of the band joined the ranks.
Prior to joining La Grogg, Liberi was struggling to find shelter, bouncing from place to place with nowhere to stay.
“Meanwhile Blake’s out here homeless getting kicked out of girls’ houses,” Halloran said. Before long he ended up staying in an empty storage room that belonged to Dimoulas’ landlord.
“It was a vacant apartment that the landlord was using to keep all their extra furniture,” Dimoulas said.
While Liberi was on the verge of getting caught squatting and Dimoulas was putting his neck on the line, Halloran and Dimoulas continued to play at local venues for fun. Eventually the two pseudo bandmates realized they needed another guitarist. Luckily for them, Liberi was that guitarist.
“Turns out Blake is an absolute shredder,” Halloran said. Yet the band was still illegitimate, they didn’t have a name and eventually they split up and went their separate ways. Dimoulas moved back to Maine, Halloran wound up traveling to Uganda, Europe and Egypt, while Liberi took a trip to Colorado.
“I landed in Denver; I had no plan,” Liberi said.
After that summer away, they decided to come back to Plattsburgh and be “the college band.” Halloran wanted to return to Plattsburgh and contribute to the music scene. They got back together and began playing at Peabody’s, Monopole and other downtown bars.
However, they still did not have a name for their band. After one of The Gallery’s shows, where they saw that people in Plattsburgh truly loved live music, Halloran drove the band to an empty parking lot where they sat for two hours to come up with a band name.
“He said, ‘We’re in the car. You’re in the car now. You’re in the car now. We’re not getting out of the car until we have a band name,’” Dimoulas said.
After a couple hours passed, everyone in the band besides Dimoulas settled on the name La Grogg. And it stuck. After which they realized that they still needed a bassist.
Luckily, Halloran was working at Chapter One: Tea & Coffee where he met Edward Morris who, it turns out, could play a mean bass. After finding their bassist, they were approached by some of their friends who were throwing a Halloween party and asked if La Grogg would play.
“As soon as that happened, switches flipped,” Halloran said.
They had about 150 people show up and realized that they could do it again. People wanted to listen to their music.
Now, the band still performs live shows playing their music for anyone who will listen. Despite their live gigging, La Grogg is looking to reach beyond Plattsburgh’s bar scene, hoping to soon create their own album, a goal that is shared by The Gallery.
THE GALLERY
Playing in Plattsburgh’s downtown bars and live gigs, The Gallery is another young band hoping to make a name for themselves. The band consists of two, guitarists Logan Valerio and Erick Steckler, bassist Billy Gagnon and drummer Stevie Geiling.
The band describes their sound as a sort of psychedelic jam but, like La Grogg, they are hesitant to give their sound conventional labels. However, they play disparate music, taking inspiration from bands like the Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers. Although the band played mainly live gigs in the past, they are primarily focusing on trying to release their own album in the fall of 2023. The band is most comparable to a jam band with blues and jazz influences but the players are more focused on having their own unique sound rather than strictly covering other bands.
Although the band is serious about creating an album, the primary reason they create music is for enjoyment.
As they spoke about their band, Valerio and Steckler strummed on their guitars, unable to contain their desire to create even during an interview.
“We’ve never really had a goal, it’s kind of just wanting to have fun the whole time,” Steckler said.
This fun-loving chemistry means that they don’t explicitly plan out the jam songs they play live. To explain this, Valerio thought it would be better to just show what they do, demonstrating that the music they play transcends conventional descriptions and must be felt.
In The Gallery’s eyes, Plattsburgh’s music scene is dominated by metal and punk, setting their jam-band sound apart and adding variety to the bar-band scene. While The Gallery plays flowy melodic music, Reverse The Grin plays the punk music that The Gallery is speaking about.
REVERSE THE GRIN
Reverse The Grin’s name was originally supposed to be Reverse the Grim, but after changing the M to an N the band fell in love with it. Logan Toleman, lead singer, described the band as, “Hardcore punk oriented but more on the melodic side, mix of clean vocals and scream vocals.”
The band is relatively new too, with only having been formed in the spring of 2023, but Toleman pointed out that they have already had “some incredible shows.” They played at Monopole bar at the beginning of fall 2023 and they had a “wicked turnout.”
“It was packed all the way from the stage all the way back to the pool,” Toleman said.
Reverse The Grin started out playing live gigs, mostly at bars, but they hope to further their reputation.
“I think the biggest thing is putting actual tracks on the internet, on streaming platforms,” Toleman said. A goal further shared by The Gallery.
The Plattsburgh music scene is beginning to bloom with bands like La Grogg, The Gallery and Reverse The Grin. Whether these bands make it to the world’s center stage or remain as downtown Plattsburgh favorites remains to be seen. However, each has their own hopes, goals and dreams that motivate them to continue creating unique music for the people of Plattsburgh.
