Rocket Shop 5/14/2014: The John Daly Trio

Words by Kiera Magnetti. Photo by Lily Chau.

The John Daly Trio visited Big Heavy World last week and played for nearly an hour on our Rocket Shop Radio Hour. After the crowded chaos of “pardon-me’s,” and “can-I-just-sneak-by-you’s” and “where-can-I-put-this-so-nobody-will-trip-over-it’s” that sometimes occurs at the BHW office, things calmed down and I was able to chat with the friendly and humble group.

The Trio have been a unit since their first live appearance in January 2013. Though the three are individually seasoned musicians, they only rehearsed together for about three months before their first show. Since that time, the Trio have been playing gigs all across Vermont. According to bassist Adam Tarmy, the band is asked to return to nearly every venue they play. “We played our first show at Nectar's about a month ago,” he says, “and they called us right back.”

The Trio are scheduled to appear again at Nectar’s for the first night of Burlington’s Discover Jazz Festival on May 30th. The band is itching to play more festivals in an effort to expand their audience. “We want to get in as many ears as possible and stay there,” says John Daly, “we want to wake ‘em up in the middle of the night!”

For now, the band is working on raising their profile on social media, and is rumored to be entering the studio in November. The Trio recently released a six-track EP on iTunes of clean, one-take songs. Now with two to three hours of original material written, they are ready to add more layers and production to their recordings.

In particular, the Trio has big dreams for one particular track, Graduation Song. “We’re trying to break into the underrepresented market of graduation songs,” says Daly. They wish to one day play the song for graduates of Virgin Galactic’s training program, or soon-to-be astronauts, because of the space-theme of the song. But “any Earth-oriented graduates are fine too,” says guitarist Dennis Derryberry.

For now, check out the Trio at Nectar’s at the end of May, and hear some of their music at http://www.johndalytrio.com/ .