Just because the summer seems to be coming to a slow, that doesn’t mean the Concord music scene won’t keep rockin’. And if you’ve been keeping up with local bands for some time, you’ll be happy to hear Pat & the Hats will return to town to once again take the stage at True Brew Barista on Friday.
The five-piece indie rock band relocated to Boston last year, looking for a location that offered opportunity for more gigs. They faced a minor setback when their apartment building caught fire, but decided to take the bad situation and turn it into a new track for their fans to enjoy.
At the end of June last summer, frontman Pat Gochez got a call from a neighbor while working at a bar that he manages. After his neighbor informed him his building had caught fire, Gochez ran over to check out the scene.
“You know, standing across the street, I’m not the type to break down, all I could think was, ‘Aw man,’ ” Gochez said.
So with his talented songwriting skills and sense of humor, Gochez took the unfortunate fire and turned it positive. The product is a song titled “Aw Man.” Pat & the Hats have been performing it for the last month or two, so you can probably count on jamming to it come Friday at the show.
Luckily, it wasn’t tough for the crew to look on the bright side after the blaze, for their beloved instruments were unburned.
“We had practice in New Hampshire two days prior and a show there later on in the week, so thankfully we decided to leave all the gear there, and as fate would have it, the instruments were fine,” Gochez said.
Coming back into the swing of things after taking a break in July, spending a good portion of the month writing and rehearsing, Pat & the Hats are geared up to get back to the stage.
In the upcoming weeks, the band has gigs booked all around New England and New York, some of them at next-step venues compared to the smaller ones they typically play. Just last week, Pat & the Hats rocked the stage at the well-known Knickerbocker Cafe in Westerly, R.I., as well as at Nectar’s, a long-standing landmark on Burlington, Vt.’s Main Street.
Thankfully for us here in Concord, the band’s growing success hasn’t made them forget about their roots.
“We haven’t been doing as many as what we call ‘hometown shows,’ you want to stay relevant but you don’t want to over saturate,” Gochez said.
Not that we would mind. The indie music-minded fans of the Concord music scene can get ready to once again feel the vibrant energy given off during the Pat & the Hats’ performance and sing along to their original tracks.
And the band is just as jazzed up to rock out Bicentennial Square with new and loyal fans yet again. “We always look forward to homecoming shows because it’s nice to reconnect with our friends and fans back home,” Gochez said.
The lineup for Friday’s show will be Pat Gochez on guitar, keys, vox; Brittany Laine on synth, vox; Joey Pierog on guitar, vox; Brenden Harisiades on bass; and Bobby Rice on drums.
Pat & the Hats will take the stage about 7 p.m. at True Brew, 3 Bicentennial Square, with beer specials going on from 6 to 8 p.m.
There will be no cover charge for this show.
So grab some friends and get downtown for the show on Friday to hear some good music and support some of Concord’s favorite local talents.
