Sunday December 15 * 7pm * $10-25 * TICKETS
Skullcap, the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore based combo, has been performing as a project for the last year and recently completed a full length recording that is scheduled for release on Cuneiform Records in 2025 . Mixing composition and improvisation and drawing from an eclectic range of inspirations has led this ensemble into exciting and energetic places in sound.
Janel Leppin is a picture of versatility. Not only has she been a pillar of Washington, D.C.’s creative music community for the last 20 years, but the cellist, composer, arranger, and singer has made significant marks in other scenes as well. Leppin leans into a jazz-centric vision on the majestic and occasionally abrasive Ensemble Volcanic Ash, which affirms her place as a boundless musician who constantly leaves the listener intrigued. It’s a puzzle in which jazz, chamber music, contemporary classical, and punk seamlessly coalesce with bracing results.
Drummer, recording artist, educator, Mike Kuhl hails from the musical diverse city of Baltimore MD. Kuhl had studied and performed in numerous genres allowing him to be a first call drummer for any situation. A graduate from Towson University, Kuhl has performed locally and throughout the globe alongside jazz greats Dave Liebman, Tony Malaby, Michael Formaneck, Dave Ballou, Ellery Eskelin and Claudio Roditi. Outside of jazz, Kuhl has shared the stage with many international acts such as Beach House, Arboretum, Cigarettes After Sex, Tom Tom Club, and The Ravonnettes. As a leader, Kuhl performs with his trio every Tuesday night at Bertha’s in Fells Point, Baltimore.
Anthony Pirog, the guitarist, composer and loops magician, is a quiet but ubiquitous force on stages around his hometown. With fearsome chops and a keen ear for odd beauty, Pirog has helped expand the possibilities of jazz, rock and experimentalism in a town long known for its straight-ahead tradition. He somehow takes these styles, all of which he has mastered and makes them all work together and also makes them all his own.
Thunderpaw is a psychedelic music project steeped in the ethos of chameleon-like reinvention, raw experimentation, and rebellion. The DC-based band is led by Rob Tifford and includes sonic insurgents Andrew Labens, Kenny Pirog, and Danny Bentley, as well as a revolving door of DC’s finest. Together, they’ve consistently cranked out a catalog of singles and EPs that defy categorization while echoing against the corners of psychedelic rock, noise pop, garage punk, and nu-gaze styles.
Their debut album, The Land of Forbidden Knowledge, dropped in 2019 and transcribed current affairs into dark melodies, bending guitar wails, and under-spoken vocals for post-punk dystopia simmering with reserved fury. Following guitarist and Wanted Man lead Kenny Pirog’s arrival to the band, Thunderpaw plunged deeper into introspection with the release of Aeon Long Death of This Untrodden Astral World, a punk-infused manifesto of heartbreak, disillusionment, and societal dissonance.
When the music industry ground to a halt at the start of the pandemic, Thunderpaw adapted and challenged themselves to create a new track every week for a year. Enlisting the talents of DC’s underground including vocalist Emily Rainey, Joe Herrera on Trumpet, drummer Rick Irby of Jau Ocean, and Jerry Busher of Fidelity Jones and Fugazi, and the band released 12 monthly EPs of raw, unfiltered creativity, drawing inspiration from the Japanese philosophy of finding beauty in impermanence and imperfection. The resulting collection of demos is aptly titled The Wabi Sabi Series.
In 2022, the band once again teamed up with vocalist Emily Rainey to release, Seven, a left-field exploration info sonic frequencies, music keys, and mantras of each of the seven chakras. After 4 years of reinvention, it’s only fitting that they return to their roots, finally releasing a collection of tracks recorded but never released. The band’s 2023 Sunwolf Sessions release paid homage to their original name and first iteration of the band, “ Sunwolf,” and unveiled collaborations with vocalists LouLou Ghelickhani and Natalia Clavier of Thievery Corporation, produced and mixed by Federico Aubele.
With a catalog of more than 20 releases, a team of co-conspirators, and a healthy dose of righteous rebellion, they’re carving out a new path for indie rock experimentation. Breaking away from formulaic productions and overly-produced hype content, the band produces hypnotic motion graphics for every release, relying on the feedback of friends and friends to guide their direction. Direct connection is embraced instead of chasing cheap social media stats and algorithmic stumbles between band and fan. As AI fills the art space with overly rich, technicolored pixel- and pitch-perfect mutation, Thunderpaw embraces imperfection as the signature style that best captures what it means to be human.
In 2024, Thunderpaw launched their first community-driven portal with plans to take the best of their Wabi Sabi series into full production. What better way to start building this new universe than with 50 raw track sketches, a family of creators, and a teaspoon of angst railing against old establishments? It all starts with counter set at 0 and every contributor having a role in developing the future. Follow along with progress and get involved at https://thunderpaw.rocks.