On April 10, UR students performed one of the first live concerts advertised to UR students since the onset of the pandemic this time last year.
The Recall — comprised of senior Alexa Silverman (keyboard/synth), senior Jeff Pinsker-Smith (trumpet), senior Beau Hanson (guitar), senior Grace Conheady (vocals), recent alum and current graduate student Sam Schacter ’20 (saxophone), senior Aaron Hamilton (drums), and junior Zack Uchima (bass) — had senior Zophia Dadlez as their opening act.
The concert was attended in person by over 150 people and was simultaneously livestreamed on YouTube with the help of student-run radio station WRUR.
The Recall was founded in 2017 by Silverman, Pinsker-Smith, Hanson, and Hamilton, and while the band has gone through multiple iterations of lineups and musical focuses, their current sound can be characterized as “a blend of jazz-pop and indie rock, with some instrumental fusion thrown in.” Their newest release, “can you hear me,” which can be found on streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp, fits the jazzy bill, and the heart and soul that is put into every track, live and recorded alike, is palpable.
Silverman, who is both a band member and the manager for The Recall’s Instagram account, agreed to an interview with the Campus Times to outline how the performance functioned and what UR listeners should be expecting next from The Recall.
How did the live concert function?
We chose April 10 as our concert date because we were also releasing our single “‘can you hear me”’ that day, and we thought it would be really cool to celebrate the release with a live show for our friends and fans. The concert was located at Jurassic Farms, a small oasis in the middle of the 19th Ward. It’s owned by a friend of a friend of the band’s, and we were lucky enough to play a show there last October as well.
The owner, Aaron Rubin, had actually built a stage and had a banner created in anticipation for the event, so the show felt a lot less DIY this time around. When people arrived they had to check in at our table, which was graciously run by UR alumna Siena Facciolo ‘19. After people checked in, they could go grab a spot with their group and settle in for the show!
Courtesy of Aaron Rubin
By the time Zophia started her set it was dark, and it made the lights hanging on the trees look super magical. When we went on to play our set we were all so excited to finally play. We had been working so hard to get our set list together and to organize the show, so it was extremely rewarding to look at the crowd and see all of our hard work finally come together.
I can honestly say that we played the best we have ever played at that show. Every hit, every pre-planned song structure —- we played everything better than we had ever rehearsed it! This was our first show in over 1.5 years that everyone in the band was able to play at. We actually had our producer Tom Mariano ’19 play some organ with us for a few songs, and that was our first time playing with him ever. It was all amazing.
The only unexpected thing about the show was how many people came, and we were worried that we weren’t going to have enough space for everyone, but it ended up being perfect.
What was practicing for performances like while having to take into account COVID-19 safety protocol?
We had been focusing on getting our latest single “can you hear me” together from November to mid-March, and after the recording was done it was honestly hard to stay motivated to keep rehearsals going. That’s when I decided we needed to have a gig to play for, and I got things set up with Jurassic Farms to play a show there for April 10. Once we had a date set we had weekly rehearsals in my attic and had a lot of fun learning new music and getting a set list together for the show! All of our rehearsals were masked and as distanced as they could be in my attic, so none of us felt unsafe when we were practicing.
What was the planning process for the concert like, and how long did it take to arrange COVID-19-safe seating?
I started planning this show over a month in advance. The biggest “if” for the show was the weather. We had no idea what the weather was going to be like on April 10, but we sent some good vibes to the powers that be and they delivered. The other biggest factor was figuring out how to address COVID[-19] safety for a potentially big crowd at the show. I ended up coming up with a pretty basic but effective check-in process.
We limited groups to four people (the only exception was people living together could come as a bigger group if they wanted to). This was to discourage people who weren’t in each other’s bubbles from being too close to each other. We also required that masks be worn at the event and that groups stay 3-6 feet apart from one another at the venue.
When groups arrived, they filled out a Google Form with their names and contact information in case we needed to contact trace for any reason. We ended up having north of 150 people at the event, and every single person who showed up was extraordinarily respectful of these guidelines!
Some of the smaller details included organizing merchandise and getting the gig poster together, as well as coordinating with WRUR for lights and the livestream. We ran our own sound; most people in The Recall are affiliated with AME in one way or another and our bassist has a ridiculous live sound rig, so we were lucky to have that taken care of internally for the show.
Why did you choose Zophia Dadlez to open for your show?
We actually didn’t choose Zophia to open for us; we weren’t even going to have an opener for the show! She reached out to me and asked if she could play at any upcoming gigs we were having, so I offered for her to open for us. I had heard her music before and knew she was a really talented musician, so it was really a no-brainer! We love sharing the stage with friends and we thought her music complemented ours really well at the show.
A poster for the performance
Any upcoming events that The Recall fans should be looking forward to?
We would love to promote our last show; it’ll be back at Jurassic Farms on May 18 at 8 p.m. We’d also like to promote our latest single “can you hear me,” which is available on all streaming platforms!
