SPIKE HILL – UNCLE MONSTER, FACE CHAMBER BAND (RESIDENCY), FORTRESS OF ATTITUDE, & MORE!

Uncle Monsterface is fun, high energy nerd rock that stares you down from across the bar and dares you not to have a good time with them. They make songs about ninjas, Nintendo, D&D, lobsters, and life. Their live shows often include giant dancing monsters, notably one that shares the name with the band, and is also a sock puppet. As a matter of fact, many of their songs are about real sock puppets. Listen up and get down.“[Uncle Monsterface] lifts you up and makes you feel powerful.”
-James Kochalka, american elf, on uncle monsterface’s ‘this is an adventure’“Is the music catchy? Yes! Are the lyrics odd and quirky? Of Course! But are the songs themselves somehow devalued by these two elements? Hell no! While Uncle Monsterface like to paint themselves as goodtime guys making music that requires naught but a modicum of conscious thought on the part of their listeners, they are, in fact, **dum–dum–daaaaah** emotionally resonant.” -Geekdad Z, HipsterPlease

Sounding equal parts The Decemberists and the White Stripes (by way of Danny Elfman), Chamber Band – a name taken ironically, we’re told – endlessly strives to strike the right balance between playing no-frills indie rock and telling a good goddamn story. The Brooklyn five-hander has a propensity towards keeping it brief, burning through their jams with hooky, minimalist musicality, stopping only to guzzle their drinks or poll the audience about “where the Catan at.” They’re currently playing and promoting their debut album, Deities – eleven sticky tracks about love and heartbreak in the world of Dungeons & Dragons.

Fortress of Attitude is a New York based comedy rock band and sketch video crew.With several national tours under their belt, YouTube hits climbing into the hundreds of thousands, and performances opening for and alongside some of the biggest comedians and musicians out there, FoA has established itself as a mainstay of the national comedy/music scene since their first tour in 2005.Scott Barkan: Hailing from the small town of Miller Place, NY, Scott Barkan picked up his first electric guitar on his 11th birthday and knew right away that he had rock in his heart. (Though doctors later confirmed it was an actual rock thanks to lax parenting.) Scott is the lead singer and guitarist of comedy rock supergroup Fortress of Attitude, and also performs with various singers and songwriters throughout the country, perhaps most notably with nerdy songstress Marian Call. Along with Gregg Zehentner he wrote the original screenplay Young Santa. He also co-created and stars in the Fortress of Attitude web-series.Gregg Zehentner graduated from NYU where he was editor-in-chief of the university’s humor magazine The Plague. His original screenplay Young Santa was optioned by The Dark Knight’s executive producer, Michael Uslan. He has nationally toured for several years with his comedy/rock band Fortress of Attitude, and was a writer/performer for sketch comedy group Don’t Touch Me There, and has recently signed on as drummer for another kick-ass comedy band, H2Awesome. Gregg co-created and stars in the Fortress of Attitude web-series.

Pat Stango: Born into a family of ridiculous Italian stereotypes in Brooklyn, New York, Pat Stango early on decided to forgo a very lucrative loan-sharking career and instead pursue his comedic dreams. Pat served as editor-in-chief of New York University’s humor magazine The Plague. Pat co-created the monthly comedy variety show Don’t Touch Me There, which played to packed houses from 2006-2011 in downtown Manhattan. DTMT short films have been front-page featured on College Humor, Funny or Die, Cracked, Just For Laughs TV, and other popular sites. He is a co-creator of the Fortress of Attitude web-series, and director of FOA’s music videos.

Clayton Gumbert is a writer, actor and improv performer. He almost gave Martin Scorsese a heart attack once. Ask him about it the next time you’re on a date with him. Or just save your breath, because he WILL bring it up. In addition to holding instruments he can’t play for various video/photo shoots, Clayton also co-created the Fortress of Attitude web-series, and co-stars in the role of “Clayton.”

Being the adventures of a young band, whose principle interests are rock, ultra-silence & Beethoven.

Hillary Barleaux sprung from the roots of Upstate New York in 1989. She was born in Oneonta, NY at 7:21 am on 7/21, July 21st. The nurses were a bit weirded out.Hillary enjoyed singing and screaming and anything that involved making noise from a young age. It wasn’t until she found her great-grandfathers upright when she was four, that things started getting serious.She often wrote ditties about nature and her cat, since she had few friends in the country and not a lot of drama to write about (yet.)Then the great day came when she waltzed into an open mic at twelve years old with her Dad and a guitar. He strummed as she sang out her new songs with pride. The crowd went wild. She was hooked.

One time, when she went to see Rocky Horror Picture show with her dad on Broadway, one of the cast members hand picked Hillary to go up onstage and do the time warp. She was 12. She loved it

Hillary went on to attend an all girl’s boarding school in CT, where she spent most of her time often locked up in the practice rooms, composing dramatic pop songs on the piano linked to classical influences as well as top 40 hits.

Playing CBGB’s Downstairs Lounge (when it was still open) at sixteen, was definitely a a highlight for Hillary at the time, also opening up for Teddy Geiger in Hartford. Hillary loved playing live, as she had been onstage in some way or another since she was a toddler in her day care play, “The Princess and the Pea”.

Going onto attend Berklee College of Music, Hillary began to take on writing more seriously, often cranking one out once a day during Freshman year. She gigged around Boston and began crafting her sound into a dramatic, dreamy, pop piano enchanted land.

The year after she graduated, a weird sketchy dude came up to her at a bar, exclaiming that he had saw her kickstarter campaign online in which she had raised over 3k, and said that he wanted to make a record.

Conveniently enough, the studio was only a block from the bar, and thus began the recording process of Hillary’s Self-Titled Debut Album, out December 3rd on iTunes and Spotify.

Now in Brooklyn, NY, Hillary has played over 50 shows in New York including The Bitter End, The Living Room, Piano’s, Cake Shop, Spike Hill, Rockwood Music Hall, Cafe Vivaldi, Shrine Bar, Brooklyn Stable, and more.

She is constantly honing her sound and very enthused for future endeavors.

She once had a great discussion at an airport bar over sushi with Annie Clark. Also, she handed her CD to LA Reid at a club, and was flown out to LA to play a TED Conference afterparty to a select successful group of individuals. Angela McCluskey has said she is “amazing”.

She can make you a hear a pin drop in a room in the most intimate of acoustic playing settings. It has happened.

She really likes steak and some good conversation. And lobster.

She has been published in AM NY, TimeOut NY, Diffuser FM, American Songwriter. and many others.