Sputoola — 14 October 2020 on Rocket Shop Radio Hour
Sputoola joined host Tom Proctor on ‘Rocket Shop,’ Big Heavy World’s weekly local Vermont music radio hour on 105.9 FM The Radiator. Catch up with them at facebook.com/Sputoola.
On Wednesday, October 14, 2020, Sputoola hunkered down with us at the Big Heavy World office for the Rocket Shop radio hour at the start of a stormy autumn night. A full band featuring a keyboard, drum set, bass, guitar and a funky jazz set seemed to light up the studio on the dark evening in Burlington, Vermont. To kick off the radio hour, host Tom Proctor asked the band to offer a brief history of Sputoola.
“I think our history goes back before I was born,” says Seth Cronin, lead guitarist and vocalist of the band. Ian Hunt, Sputoola bassist, and Cronin were friends since birth, and their lifelong friendship created the solid foundation for a band. In 2016, Sputoola welcomed percussionist Matt Barry to the band and they performed their very first gig at none other than Burlington’s Nectar’s. However, the three agreed something was missing.
“We played a couple of gigs without JJ,” Cronin said, referencing their keyboardist JJ Vanacore. “It wasn’t working.” When Sputoola released their first single “Pale Blue Dot” in 2018, they realized they were in dire need of someone who could elevate their music to the next level - so they set out looking for him. “Definitely a bit of a puzzle piece missing,” Cronin said when reflecting on the miracle of finding a keyboardist of JJ’s caliber. By 2018, the band was ready to jam.
As a complete group, Sputoola found their niche as what Vanacore calls “a hodgepodge of psychedelic, jazzy jam band.” The band rejects the conformity of fitting into just one genre in order to find a unique sound and texture. Ironic, isn’t it? It is the conundrum of the band that somehow makes it work just right.
Photo by Ryan Boyd
Cronin elaborated on the logic behind Sputoola’s nonconforming music when he said that rock alone was just “not quite enough for some of the stories I wanted to tell through music.” If you decide to give the band’s music a listen, you will find there is an ideal balance between free-flowing jam and orchestrated, thoughtful composition.
“There might be a very jammy sound to a lot of the things we play, but a lot of it is heavily curated,” Cronin explained in regards to Sputoola’s newest self-titled album, “Sputoola,” which was released on October 14, 2020. On this album you can hear the harmony of organic jam and precision that the band masters so well.
When asked about the thread of ideas that inspired the new album, Cronin laughed and said, “I was worried about this question.” Sputoola’s self-titled album reflects an inward journey through Cronin’s adolescent psychology. The retrospective experience of writing the album was somewhat of a spiritual awakening for the lyricists.
“It goes through some stages of spiritual disillusionment,” Cronin said, guiding the radio hour audience through the album. The album is a collection of interwoven stories that lead to a final discovery of truth. The final stage of Cronin’s psyche can be felt in the final track of the album and of the radio hour, which is titled “Smoke and Stream.” This track was inspired by the death of one of Cronin’s close friends.
We’ll leave you with a word of advice from Cronin: the magic happens when you leave room for improvisation. You can check out their new album on Bandcamp or read more on their website.
Text by Izzy Mousseau
Top photo by James Lockridge
