Local rapper Ceschi, to be featured in State House compilation.
The State House may be closed — but its music lives on, in recordings made of a wealth of live performances that happened during the much-loved former venue’s five-year run.
Former co-owner Carlos Wells has a plan to release some of those recordings via a digital compilation featuring four Connecticut artists — in what he hopes will be the first in a series that documents the vast array of local, national, and international acts that left their mark on the Elm City at the now-shuttered State Street spot.
Wells had a record label, Safety Meeting Records, before opening the venue and “got really into live recordings.”
“When you get a good multitrack live recording, you get a lot of energy in the room,” he said. “It’s something that you never get in a studio recording.”
Wells wanted to keep capturing that energy, so when The State House was being set up, he hooked up the sound board to a computer. Once the venue opened, they started recording every show in which the acts gave their permission to do so.
“It was my wish just to have a music catalogue of everything that ever touched the stage,” said Wells.
While they did not get every single act recorded due to mishaps or not getting permission, as the venue was winding down last year, Wells saw that they did get close to two terabytes worth of live recordings, “which is a lot,” he said.
Once the venue closed and he and co-owner Slate Ballard settled up most of their debts, Wells said he knew there would be a couple of lingering costs in the year ahead, so he had an idea: rather than do a straight-ahead fundraiser — which he said many people recommended — he felt it would be “a lot more fun and better for everybody” if they put together a Kickstarter to not only get those funds to pay off the remaining debts, but also have the ability “to mix down this compilation and have that out in the world.” Half of the funds raised could go toward covering the recording, while the other half could help pay down some of the remaining debt.
“The idea then is if it’s out, people can then still buy it after the Kickstarter and, you know, we can just keep on doing that,” said Wells. He also personally hopes it becomes “something people really like, and we get to maybe make another one, maybe press it to vinyl, maybe just work with a band that will let us put out their entire set, because there are some in there that are just gold.”
Karen Ponzio Photo
Carlos Wells: “Next thing you know I got a beer in my hand and we’re 45 minutes into a set and I’m like, 'who else played that night?'”
There have already been a couple of recordings mixed down and pitched to artists. One local band, Bone Church, put two of the tracks from when they opened for Pentagram on one of their records. Wells said that made him “super happy because I love hearing things on vinyl, especially something from our room.”
Currently, four bands have given permission for Wells to use one of the live recordings on the first compilation: Ceschi Ramos, The Tines, Qween Kong, and Phat A$tronaut. Wells will be curating the music and overseeing the production, and Ballard has been involved in the marketing. Former State House sound engineers Patrick Dalton and Mike Voyce will mix the recordings, and Sam Carlson will master them. Wells said he has his work cut out for him, but he’s enjoying it all, even though it involves a lot of “digging.”
“Running that type of business was like a constant race,” he said with a laugh. “Now that it’s all over, we’re looking at everything.… It needs some organizing. And also, every time I start going through those files, I’ll lose like three hours just by putting something on.”
He smiled and added “next thing you know I got a beer in my hand and we’re 45 minutes into a set and I’m like, ‘who else played that night?’”
The venue’s run was stacked with a dizzying array of acts from near and far as well as a community of people in addition to Wells and Ballard who were dedicated to its mission. Recently Ellektra Day Walker of Falconeer Productions released a film called “No Need for Goodbyes: A State House Story,” which documented the venue’s penultimate show as well as commentary from many who worked, played, and attended shows there (including, full disclosure, this reporter). The film captures the spirit of what was and how that spirit will remain with those who experienced it firsthand.
Wells hopes many others will be interested in experiencing that same spirit through this compilation.
“It will be a great document of our snapshot of what happened there, which I’m really looking forward to spending time with,” he said.
“When you’re in it, all you’re doing is sweating out how you’re going to survive to the next day, and then afterward you get the opportunity to look back and go, ‘hey, that was a great run. I’m feeling really good about the majority of what we did.’”
Wells’s perspective on his experience at The State House has changed since it first closed.
“I’m just a lot more relaxed about the whole situation now,” he said. “There’s no impending doom around the corner, as is common with any kind of live music venue situation. But yeah, now I’m able to look back and kind of enjoy it.”
If the compilation is successful, Wells said he would be open to a series of them, but they would not do anything without permission from the artists who were recorded. And for everyone that keeps asking, Wells is not looking to open another venue right now, though he is always thinking about the music and is incredibly grateful for the experiences he had at The State House.
“It’s a weird addiction that I have a hard time shaking,” he said with a smile. “I don’t have the time and the funds to try to do this again the way that we did do it, but I still think about booking shows every so often.”
“I loved what we did,” he said, and regarding the compilation, “I’d love for this to showcase that.”
See the State House compilation Kickstarter page for more information or to donate.