Bella's Bartok "Babylon in Brattleboro" New Year's Eve Ball

Bella's Bartok takes the stage at the Stone Church for the third annual New Year's Eve "Strange Ones Ball – Babylon in Brattleboro" on Tuesday, Dec. 31. "We're excited to host Bella's Bartok's 7th Annual Strange Ones Ball for the third consecutive year! This will be their 8th show at the Church and every one is always a highlight of the year," says Robin Johnson, owner and manager of the Stone Church. Johnson continues, "Their wild and exuberant genre-fluid carnival of sounds is a perfect match for our rock 'n' roll church of misfits. The New Year's show always takes the church to another level and this year will be no exception — with the addition of the incredible Hayley Jane Band." Bella's Bartok's current lineup includes: Julia Posin on lead vocals/washboard; Chris Whearty on lead guitar; Kade Parkin on drums; Zach Effman on bass; Vida Cripps as the puppeteer and Asher Haidak-Putnam on lead vocals and rhythm guitar. The Sentinel caught up with musician and founding member Asher Haidak-Putnam by phone recently at his home in Northampton, Mass. to talk about all things band and New Year's Eve Ball at the Church. Here's an excerpt of the conversation. V.C.: Hey Asher, good talking to you! Usually Bartok does two nights at the Church for New Year's Eve, why only one show this year? A.P.: NYE fell on a Tuesday, so we weren't sure we could get people out on a Monday night. V.C.: What's the theme of the Strange One's Ball this year? A.P.: It's Babylon in Brattleboro — an all-night cacophony of cabaret that puts the roar back into the roaring '20s. Given the political dimensions of the country and the world at large, it feels a bit like 1925. There is a lot of progressive movement going forward and outright fascism — one step forward two steps back. Moving us back — like to the 20s — and I think people are picking up on that. We're getting loud about it. V.C.: You started Bartok in 2008 and met as UMASS students, now you're in your third lineup. What's the band's origin story? A.P.: We all met playing music in the Northampton area and on the scene in Albany, N.Y. and Brattleboro, Vt. I'm promoted to singer now! Back then I was just a guitarist. Given our lineup change which has settled since Covid, we found a group of folks that we have known or met through music. We're jamming in different ways. We meet every Monday and work on new tunes. All of us are within a block of each other in Northampton which is really convenient. V.C.: So what's the real story of how you started in 2008? A.P.: The myth or the truth? I think I'll tell you the myth. I was back from school on break, playing with my brother and some other family members and started playing on the street in Great Barrington, Mass. to get some beer and gas money. It went from there. It was magnetic — people coming out and dancing around — we were playing our old Balkan, eastern European folk songs or punk rock songs acoustically. That was our gateway into folk punk. That's what we were then. Now we are more dance punk. V.C.: Your band is named for Hungarian ethnomusicologist and composer Béla Bartók? A.P.: Yeah. My grandfather is from Romania and we grew up listening to that stuff. My grandmother was very interested in folk music of the mountains. Are you familiar with the music by Alan Lomax from the 1920s? He brought to the fore ethnomusicology and that is what Bela did with Roma, Jewish and mountain people, it was folk music. V.C.: This is your 8th time playing at the iconic Stone Church in Brattleboro. What should the audience expect at the NYE Strange One's Ball at the Church this year? A.P.: Before Covid our themes would be "The Muppets" or post-apocalyptic and people were dressed to the nines! The Muppet show was amazing. We had so many pigs in space characters, I was blown away. "Very well done, Kermit!" Post Covid, no one is dressing up; the audience is not getting into costuming. No one dressed up for our heaven and hell theme last year. We are going for the roaring '20s, cabaret style. If you have something to dress up with, do it and come and dance! We are finally playing with our comrade in arms Hayley Jane and her crew. We've been playing festivals with her since 2015 but we've never shared a bill together. She's opening the show with her band. I've known her since my early 20s. She is great. She has the same vibe and same sound and same message as we do. V.C.: You are really a band of street performers at heart who are passionate about social justice and other current events. Say more. A.P.: Absolutely! We are very passionate about lots of issues of the day. We are kids or grandkids of immigrants, a lot of us are queer or gay. A lot of us have partners or family members who are black, brown, Muslim or Jewish. The mainstream of this country doesn't tend to like us. It's a passionate thing when you love someone and you see that there are government policies or social norms that are enacted to ensure their discomfort or death and "that just ain't right." V.C.: What was your first instrument and how did you start playing music? A.P.: Piano at age 8 or 9. My dad is a musician, and his siblings are all musicians. I grew up in it. He was in a touring band for a long time. V.C.: Who were some of your early musical influences? A.P.: System of a Down, TV on the Radio, definitely Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails and Weird Al. V.C.: What is the most important aspect of a live performance? A.P.: No one has ever asked me that. That's cool. Wow. It's the people. That's it. The back and forth; it's the symbiosis. V.C.: Where are you touring next year? A.P.: We tour extensively from January to November. We have every weekend booked out. We never made it past the Rockies before. We go from Detroit to New Orleans, from Boston to Colorado, Southeastern Canada into Ontario. We haven't hit Texas or California yet. V.C.: What is your favorite part of being in this band? A.P.: I can hold the boss accountable! We lean on the collective end of things. We are each other's bosses, so we hold each other accountable and get things done. It's the healthiest relationship that is celibate. Imagine being a nun except a little wilder and perhaps later nights. I look at us like an emotion processor machine for the masses. We are so tuned into creative aspects of our lives and other people have a more difficult time engaging with that, so we can help them do that. They say, "Hey, this performance really got me through a hard time in my life!" That is the ultimate high, really. SHOW DETAILS Join Bella's Bartok for an evening of joy, revelry and defiance for the 7th Annual Strange One's Ball, with special guest Hayley Jane Band and LJ as Emcee, on Tuesday, Dec. 31 at the Stone Church, 210 Main St., in Brattleboro, Vt. Doors open at 8 p.m. and the show is at 9 p.m. Open to all ages. For more information, visit www.stonechurchvt.com/#/events/109807. For more information on Bella's Bartok, visit www.bellasbartok.com/home, their Facebook page www.facebook.com/bellasbartok or on Instagram @BellasBartok. Steve Rice piece