Organ grinders: Pocket Bandits set to drop debut album
Ithaca instrumental trio will unveil 'Nine by Pocket Bandits' at Liquid State Brewing on Saturday night.
Pocket Bandits: (from left) Simon Bjarning (drums), Joe Massa (guitar), Samuel B. Lupowitz (keyboards)
Blending fiery originals with quirky covers, Pocket Bandits has become one of the most creative bands on the Ithaca music scene since emerging in 2023.
Putting an energetic modern spin on the traditional organ trio format, the group – guitarist Joe Massa, keyboardist Samuel B. Lupowitz, and drummer Simon Bjarning – fuses a variety of influences ranging from rock and funk to pop and jazz.
Massa and Lupowitz have been longtime collaborators in a variety of local bands, including Thru Spectrums, Julia Felice and the Whiskey Crisis, and Nine Fifteen. They also each released a solo album in 2021: Massa’s “Conundrum” and Lupowitz’s “No Man Is An Island.”
Bjarning, a native of Denmark who moved to the U.S. in 2014, graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Music and has played with symphony orchestras in Europe and the U.S. He also has backed some major pop music names, including Hanson, Sarah Brightman, Celtic Thunder, and Evanescence.
They joined forces in the fall of 2023 after working together with local composer Josh Oxford on his album, “OXiFied.”
The band will host a release show for its debut album, “Nine by Pocket Bandits,” on Saturday night at Liquid State Brewing Company. The trio will be joined by a variety of guests from the Ithaca music scene, including Alejandra Diemecke (La Llorona, Ilium Works), Joe Gibson (The Shuffle Bros, Spacetrain), Mandy Goldman (Noon Fifteen), Amanda Massa (Thru Spectrums), Bob McMahon (Fall Creek Brass Band, Thru Spectrums), Harry Nichols (Fusebox, Noon Fifteen), Josh Oxford (The OXtet), Alec Staples (Fall Creek Brass Band, Thru Spectrums), Michael Wu (Gunpoets, Front & Main) and more.
This week, Lupowitz, Bjarning, and Massa sat down for a joint email interview to discuss the band’s origins, songwriting and recording process, and the upcoming release show.
Q: Did you guys ever think you'd be playing in an organ trio? Are you surprised at the way this project came together?
JOE: It’s something Sam and I had casually discussed for a few years. Once the pandemic turned everything upside down, it seemed like a good opportunity to start something more stripped down and a bit easier to manage than the other larger projects we were doing at the time.
SAM: I love three-piece bands, and I love doubling bass and keyboards, so when Joe made the suggestion it felt like a natural idea to explore. I think the technical demands of the music were daunting for me at first, but once I put in the time to practice, I was thrilled by how well things gelled.
SIMON: I’ve always loved the trio setting, almost regardless of the instruments. However, the organ trio with guitar and drums really opens doors to some serious possibilities and experimentations, especially when we come from different backgrounds. Personally, I was spoon-fed with ELP, Moody Blues, and Mike Oldfield from an early age.
In regards to how this project came together, well, we have Josh Oxford to thank for that. There’s more to it, of course. We came across each other when Ox released his Oxified project and I decided that I in one way or another wanted to play with these guys.
Pocket Bandits perform at the Apple Harvest Festival on Sept. 29, 2024, in downtown Ithaca. (Photo by Michael Smith)
Q: What do you like best about playing with these guys?
JOE: Everything.
SAM: Joe and Simon make me play better! Having Simon behind the drums makes me feel so secure and solid when covering bass and keyboard parts together; we lock together effortlessly. Joe and I have been playing together for so long in so many different projects, we can just read each other. And I have so much admiration for both of them as musicians, it makes me want to push myself to be as good as possible.
SIMON: Fantastic humans and equal musical abilities. What’s not to love?
Q: How do you guys write and arrange your songs?
JOE: Usually someone records a demo to varying degrees of completion. Then it generally grows or develops from there.
SIMON: Sometimes we bring rough demos, sometimes sheet music, and sometimes pretty complete tunes. We mess around and give each other a massive amount of space to be creative.
SAM: Bringing the tunes into the group always leads to more refined parts, new ideas, and a sense of cohesion from three people interacting live, rather than one of us layering instruments on our own.
Samuel B. Lupowitz performs with Pocket Bandits at the Apple Harvest Festival on Sept. 29, 2024, in downtown Ithaca. (Photo by Michael Smith)
Q: How do you title/name your songs?
SIMON: It depends. I named “The Pocket Bandit” because that was the extent of my imagination.
JOE: It was a little tough at first but this has become a really fun part of writing instrumental music for me. With no lyrics, you really have a blank slate for titles. I have a long list of obscure TV/movie quotes and random phrases/sayings, etc., that I pull from and try to pick what best fits the vibe of that particular song.
SAM: Sometimes it’s about a feeling or idea the music brings out in us… but just as often it’s inspired by our shared love for Seinfeld and The Office.
Simon Bjarning performs with Pocket Bandits at the Apple Harvest Festival on Sept. 29, 2024, in downtown Ithaca. (Photo by Michael Smith)
Q: Who came up with the band name?
SAM: We originally called the band “Save Bandit” (another Office reference); it became Pocket Bandits after we found a few other bands with the original name floating around online. At this point. I don’t remember whose idea it was but it seems to fit!
JOE: Pretty sure it was Simon?
SIMON: Was that me? I really can’t remember...
Q: What was the recording process like?
SIMON: Old school! We recorded the basic tracks as a trio (no click tracks, except for “The Bridesmaid’s Heart”) and then overdubbed as needed.
JOE: We did two live sessions at Sam’s plus another one for Simon to do a few percussion overdubs. The majority was recorded live but I did a few guitar overdubs at my home studio and Sam did the same at his place with some keys/synth overdubs.
SAM: We made the majority of the record in my home studio, where we also rehearse, so it was a very natural process. While we made some adjustments to the arrangements for the recording, we were able to play the tunes in a comfortable, familiar space, without having to keep our eyes on the clock (or our wallets). It made this first batch of recorded tunes sound very natural, very close to how we sound in a room – because the majority of what you hear on the record is us in a room! I’d made my whole pandemic-era solo album in my home studio as well, but this is the first time using it for a band playing together in the space for an entire album. Very proud of the result!
Oh, it’s also worth mentioning that a bunch of post-production and marketing costs for the album were covered by an SOS grant from the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County.
The cover for the band’s debut album “Nine by Pocket Bandits” was designed by JP Feenstra.
Q: Can you talk about the album’s cover art?
Sam: So the cover art (as well as the band logo) was designed by my old friend JP Feenstra, who played drums in my band in high school and has done design work for almost every project I've been involved in for nearly 20 years now.
At this point, I can count on him to deliver something striking, unique, and unlike anything I could envision myself, and he certainly came through with that here. We've sort of fallen in love with the "Construct" – the steampunky mechanical beast on the front cover – as a metaphor for the band: a blend of organic and technological, both intricate and grandiose.
Q: Has it been challenging for you to cover the bass parts at the same time as the right-hand parts? Had you done that much before? What’s the main difference between left-hand bass and foot-pedal bass?
SAM: The coordination, dexterity, and overall responsibility has definitely forced me to practice a little harder and be very thoughtful about my parts. It’s something I’ve dabbled in in the past – I’m a big fan of dual bassist/keyboardists like John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin, Ray Manzarek from the Doors, Neal Evans from Soulive – but usually it’s something I’ve done for one-off gigs or select songs, enough to say “It’s really satisfying to pull that off, but it also makes me appreciate a good bass player!” The higher demand on me – especially with no vocals to fill space – has definitely taken my playing to new places.
Left hand bass is probably what I’m doing 70% of the time. I have really specific taste in bass players, and using five fingers allows me a lot more dexterity than anything I can do with my foot. But the pedals are a lifesaver when I want both hands on the organ, or to adjust knobs or drawbars, or if just want to lay down a really simple, fat bass part that feels good to STOMP.
The biggest trick I’ve learned is to think holistically. Sometimes it’s just about practicing enough to be able to independently play the bass part I want and the organ part I want, but there are ways to work smarter, not harder, if I craft my parts in a way where they fit together rhythmically. It becomes a little bit of sleight-of-hand – I can play simply in both hands, but the way the parts interact makes it sound like two independent players rather than one!
Q: How do you choose your covers?
SIMON: We bring songs we like, regardless of style and make it our own.
SAM: Yeah, our choices are really all over the place – from Led Zeppelin to Chappell Roan to the Super Mario Brothers soundtrack. If it’s got a strong enough melody to work without lyrics, we’ll give anything a shot. I think our versatility is something we really enjoy showing off.
Joe Massa performs with Pocket Bandits at the Apple Harvest Festival on Sept. 29, 2024, in downtown Ithaca. (Photo by Michael Smith)
Q: Have you written more songs since finishing the album?
JOE: Yes. We all already have a bit of a backlog of tunes for the band, including a couple we’ll be busting out for the release show. (One for the first time!)
SAM: There’s one song we recorded for this album that didn’t make the final product, and we’ve churned out quite a few new ones since then. We’re looking forward to the next round of recording!
Q: Has playing with this trio rubbed off on your playing with other projects?
JOE: Not really for me. Obviously you’re going to bring your spin to everything you play on but taking the Pocket Bandits approach to say, Kitestring probably wouldn’t be very appropriate for that style in most cases.
SAM: I think my chops are sharper, but also I’m honing a more thoughtful approach to my parts in other projects – I’m trying to play what counts rather than everything I can possibly throw at a song. Either way, my left hand is in the best shape ever!
Q: When this trio backs other singers, do you shift to their style or vice versa, or meet somewhere in the middle?
JOE: It kind of depends on the artist but I’d say somewhere in the middle. All the collabs we’ve done so far have seemed to work out pretty seamlessly.
Q: Talk about the album release show…
SAM: It’s going to be a big party! In addition to playing our material from the album and other tunes as a three-piece, we’ll be joined by a bunch of local artists over the course of the night – members of Fall Creek Brass Band, Gunpoets, La Llorona, the OxTet. Josh Oxford will play synth on a couple of tunes, since, as Simon mentioned earlier, he had a big part in bringing the three of us together. There also will be plenty of familiar faces/voices like Mandy Goldman, Harry Nichols, Amanda Massa, Joe Gibson – so, there are many surprises in store!
JOE: There will be lots of special guests, fun covers, and more. Can’t wait!
Q: Are you going to have CDs and/or vinyl at some point?
SAM: We do have good old-fashioned CDs that will be available for sale at the show! No vinyl plans yet, but we’ll see how the record does.
Q: What are the band's plans for the rest of 2025?
JOE: Writing, gigging, recording.
SAM: Booking more shows, especially outside of the region – we’re hoping to play some other cities in the Northeast and maybe the Midwest this year. We’ve loosely discussed doing more recording, and we’ll certainly be working on new material. We’re all feeling very excited and optimistic for the future of Pocket Bandits!
If You Go
When: 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25
Where: Liquid State Brewing Company, 620 W. Green St., Ithaca
Cost: $15 at the door