Hometown: San Diego, Calif.
Members: Andy Breihan (guitar, bass, vocals), John Fredericks (guitar, bass, vocals, keys) and Chris Trombley (drums)
Album: SACCO (April 22)
For Fans Of: The Growlers, Guards, Grizzly Bear
I went to go see SACCO in a blizzard. The weather had already canceled my flight home and disrupted headliner act Fort Lean’s travel plans to get to South Williamsburg. But that didn’t stop SACCO from starting promptly at 10 p.m. or from brazenly blasting their first song to a nearly empty venue until a few dozen hip, beanied and booted Brooklynites filed onto the floor with their boozy hot ciders and beers.
A colorful array of lights—a bit reminiscent of old car headlights—hangs as the backdrop to the stage at Baby’s All Right, splashing the couple-hundred-person room with hues of purples and blues. The banister surrounding the dance floor serves as a free coat check for the small crowd, run by an inebriated version of the honor system.
On stage, though, SACCO plays with musical precision and situational obliviousness. For just 30 minutes, co-founders and co-frontmen Andy Breihan—longhaired with a mishmash floral shirt and red Converse hightops—and John Fredericks—the most clean-cut of the trio— trade instruments and harmonies over their melody-driven, psyched-out surf rock. Meanwhile, drummer Chris Trombley, with his hunched over physique shadowing his handlebar mustache, hops up from his stool with each seemingly simple snare hit. They interact with the crowd sparingly, except for brief introductions and moments of gratitude when Breihan says, “Thank you for coming out in the blizzard.”
Post-show, Fredericks tells me that as relatively recent transplants to New York, SACCO hasn’t gigged the tri-state area very much. In fact, SACCO hasn’t even been an official entity for that long. Breihan and Fredericks grew up together outside San Diego, Calif., and have played in multiple touring bands over the years—most notably, New York indie band Guards.
“We did a lot of great tours with them and they’re some of our closest friends,” Fredericks says on a call the day before their show. “Andy and I started recording some of our stuff on the side while we were in Guards and once it got finished and we heard it and began to be excited about it, we had to make the decision.”
Breihan continues: “We’ve always written songs together regardless of whether it’s for a band or just for fun. It reached a point where we were like, ‘Let’s just have our own thing.’ So we did.”