Frenchy & the Punk + Dust Bowl Faeries | Colony

“An inspiriting slice of post-punk hued, new wave nurtured rock ‘n roll” Ringmaster Review

An unorthodox, evocative Electro-Acoustic Dark Cabaret Post-Punk duo based in the Hudson Valley. Their exotic melodies and European-inflected percussive textures invoke a dark carnival of two that they take on the road both across the US, UK and in Europe. French-born singer Samantha Stephenson sings with a gothy heft and authority that may remind one generation of Siouxsie Sioux and another of Grace Slick. Guitarist, live looper, and former punk bass player, Scott Helland weaves dark riffs and layers of spidery melody in an acoustic/electric tone that is entirely his own. Their new album, ‘Zen Ghost’, released 2022 was written, engineered and produced in the Hudson Valley. The duo is Listed in Yahoo Music Blog’s ‘Top 25 Dynamic Duos in the U.S.’

“…percolates with stripped-down DIY energy, tribal rhythms, and earthy drama…a melding of ancient archetypes with scrappy street-level attitude makes [it] a lively must-have for punks, hippies, and everyone in between” Robert Burke Warren – Chronogram Arts and Culture Magazine

“It is easy to see where some of Frenchy and the Punk’s influences lie – somewhere in a swirl of gothic and post-punk pioneers of the early eighties and perhaps Siouxsie and the Banshees in particular. There are also the echoes of one of my favorite bands hanging over the music, Concrete Blonde; the same shamanic sound, the same blend of the sultry and the sensational, of rock moves and voodoo grooves.” The Bigtakeover Magazine

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Dust Bowl Faeries, dark carnival dream music

“Americana by way of pagan cabaret”

A faerie-tale fusion of dark cabaret, delirious polka and gothic spaghetti western music, Dust Bowl Faeries is a dark-carnival band from the New York Hudson Valley. The band’s eclectic repertoire of songs draw inspiration from circus songs, murder ballads and Eastern European folk tunes. Accordion, singing saw and acoustic guitar combine to create the Dust Bowl Faeries otherworldly sound. The band was founded by Ryder Cooley (faerie queen) and her taxidermy spirit animal, Hazel the Ram. Ryder and Hazel are joined by Jon B. Woodin (rocket faerie), Liz LoGiudice (river faerie), Andrew Stein (time faerie) & Rubie LaRue (feisty faerie).

Dust Bowl Faeries’ 2023 EP, Carnival Dust, features harpist Mikaela Davis. Previously, the band released The Plague Garden (2020), Beloved Monster (2019), The Dark Ride Mixes (produced by Floyd Fisher) and a self titled debut album produced by music critic Seth Rogovoy, featuring Tommy Stinson (Replacements) & Melora Creager (Rasputina).

“You can almost smell the gas lamps in the street & the absinthe being poured” – Americana Highways

“There are no waters of the sea, as deep and marvelous as Ryder Cooley.” – Instinct Magazine