Blog - 08/28/2026 | KOYO live at Howards Bookstore Torrington, CT 08/27/2026

I have expressed an interest in documenting the local Connecticut music scene in my last blog post. And after seeing what I could see last night, I figured out how I would do it. Like how I do everything else on this site, first thought is the best thought. Now that I live in an area with an active music scene I can finally explore and engage with music around me, I figured the way I'd document it is with some perspective, it's my website, how did I experience the show. Well, the end of the show. The headliners, KOYO from New York. Work kept me from seeing the other 5 bands and I only got to see the last 20 minutes. But for someone who has little experience in a music scene I got a bit to write about. But before I do, I would like to apologize to the other bands Montclair, AutoIgnition, Blandest, FFO Chillin, and Recollection. I am sure your sets were great and I would have loved to see them, but personal circumstances required me to stay at work. I can't write about what I didn't see, hopefully in the near future I will get to see yall play.

The Last 20 or so Minutes

I got out of work that night and by sheer luck caught a ride home, I then turned a 15 minute walk into 7 minute sprint to Howard's Bookstore. I could hear the music from across the street and there was some people at merch stands standing outside. At the time, I was quite nervous hoping I didn't miss at least something. But my nerves calmed when I reached the door to see the singer of KOYO commanding energy from the crowd. But I had a problem, the place was packed. I struggle with quite a bit of social anxiety, but in the bag I used to walk to work I had my Polaroid Camera with me. I was dead set on taking some photos.

I started ignoring my own social limits and began pushing through to the front, and when I think I got far enough up and away from the mosh, I snapped a photo. But I questioned whether I even got a clear photo, so I pushed up further to take another realizing the camera was gonna die. I didn't fully charge it the night before, and that was on me. As I started pushing up I was getting shoved into some poor dude who was shoving me back into the mosh. I moved beside him and took the final photo I could take that night.

Like the first photo I quickly shoved it in my bag and when I went to take another photo, the camera was dead. But it worked out, and hoping the photos turned out ok, I started watching the band. I had a lot of trouble seeing the drummer, but he seemed to be pushing a lot of energy. I tried to see exactly how he was playing but it was hard at my angle. I then started watching the two guitarist and the bassist, I really appreciate simplicity in guitar playing. The wall of noise they commanded with just a few chords and some feedback is one of my favorite forms of rock noise. Rhythm played simple riffs and I couldn't quite see what the lead was doing, but from what i saw when he wasn't turning to coax feedback. The playing seemed to outline the overall melodic structure, though I am not technically proficient enough myself to know exactly how. The bassist added a push and pull that both supported and energized the low end, the vocals were completely raw and energetic sitting just on top of the bands music. A cherry on top belting his heart out at the audience.

My only regret when watching the band was that I just got out of work and was pretty overstimulated. I had trouble hearing the lyrics, but I really didn't need to. The energy the band projected was enough to nod your head and get your blood pumping. I witnessed two crowd surfs, one guy posed with a book during it, and another, some girl who thrashed around a little before being put down.

When the final bits of music rang out, people cleared out quickly and politely. I was nervous, but at the time I actually didn't know who the band was so I walked up to the guitarist putting away his equipment and asked. He pointed to the amp heads displaying the name, and some chic also approached to give some help with that. She flagged me and directed my attention to the name of the band printed on the back of her shorts. At the time I didn't know how to react to being shown a band name on someone's ass, so I just laughed a little. Everyone there treated it like it was a normal thing, so I moved on. I lingered around a bit, wanting to compliment the KOYO's set. But I couldn't bring myself to do it, I instead walked to John at his desk. He is the one who runs the bookstore and asked to borrow a sharpie and went to a nearby bench to date and time the photos. Only one photo came out clear, in my rush to take photos in the energetic crowd the first one was of poor quality. I then lingered outside looking at the merch and people around me, when I saw the singer of KOYO I tried to catch him to compliment the band again. But ultimately, he was busy at the table so I started walking home.

Last note on the photo you see above, the singer is somewhat visible and the rhythm guitarist got completely cut off. My positioning and angle was tight so, this high contrast golden mess was the best i could get.

My Final thoughts

Yeah... still a bit bummed I missed more than half the show. But the experience I got that night is one I am probably not gonna forget. Though I am starting to see that the greater New England music scene is fairly interconnected and I am sure I will be seeing these folks again soon in one way or another. All of this is still pretty foreign and navigating the scene is a bit complicated at the moment. Hopefully I get myself another car soon so I can experience and document some more. Though I should also take a moment and notice that I pushed well outside my comfort zone that night to even get this story and photo. I think I should take all this as a personal win in addition to another closed chapter, for now anyway.