Gary Aronsen was pissed. Instead of doomscrolling, he picked up his guitar.
Six songs and six weeks later, he put out an EP on Bandcamp called Shout Fight Sing Cry Dance Love. He’s charging people $6. He’s giving the money to IRIS, the refugee resettlement agency whose federal budget cuts pissed him off in the first place.
One of the songs is called “Who’s Next.”
They took the Teachers
They took the Priests
They took the Doctors
They cleared the streets
Now they’re standing by the cattle cars
Wondering who’s next
Aronsen brought his Dean Exotica acoustic guitar and toaster-sized Roland Cube amp into the WNHH FM studio to play some of the songs from the new EP on the “Acoustic Thursday @ Studio 51” program. The songs range from Motorhead-inspired bangers to salsa, folkie and rocker numbers. Some deal overtly with immgration themes. Others, like “Transcendence” — emphasis on the “trans” — mine universal themes linked to the Trump administration bonfires. (You can order the EP here.)
In all cases, the goal was not to rant, but to celebrate values.
Aronsen, 56, a biological anthropologist by trade, picked up the guitar during the pandemic, and didn’t look back. He has recorded albums under the name 77 Apes and has been performing with a band called The 77 Apes. (You can see them this Friday from 9 p.m. to midnight at Bleachers in Bristol and on May 17 from 5 – 6 p.m. at the Taste of Connecticut fest in Hartford.)
Reading about the IRIS funding cuts, he resolved to channel his “extreme unhappiness with how things are going” into positive action — signing up to volunteer, and creating this musical project to raise money.
While having fun.
“It can’t all be anger and hate, because in my opinion, that’s what’s driving much of this current administration’s policies and programs,” Aronsen said in between songs on WNHH.
“People just got to shake their butt. Let’s relax and have a little bit of fun” while remaining focused on the challenges of the moment.
Drones in the sky will identify who’s next
Kangaroo courts they’re gonna report
Who’s next
RUN!
Click on the video below to watch Gary Aronsen/77 Apes perform and discuss his music on WNHH FM’s “Acoustic Thursday @ Studio 51.”
Previous “Acoustic Thursday @ Studio 51” performances:
• Psycho Brat
• Ceschi
• Joshua Roman
• Wally
• Israel Corona-Galan, Brendan Castro & Matthew Munzner
• Brandt Taylor & Chris DePino
• New Haven Kapelye
• Shellye Valauskas and Dean Falcone
• Brian Ember
• Sketch Tha Cataclysm
• MJ Bones
• Johnathan Moore
• Johnathan Moore II
• Charlie Widmer
• Sam Carlson
• Steve Mednick
• Frank Critelli