November 21, 2025

Freak Scene #93: Trash Panda Kill Kill Find Catharsis on Debut LP

Plus, Hartford band the Professors of Sweet Sweet Music are back with new music

A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)

This week in Freak Scene, Western Mass. rockers Trash Panda Kill Kill get the adrenaline flowing on their first album, while Hartford’s Professors of Sweet Sweet Music remember the good times on their latest single.

Imagine a muscle car — a vintage Camaro, say — with a hole in the muffler and a teenage delinquent behind the wheel, revving the engine before dropping the clutch and smashing through a closed garage door, and that’s basically the effect that Trash Panda Kill Kill achieve on their amped-up self-titled debut.

It’s collection of songs that are lean, loud and sweaty: ’70s-style greaser-rock with a punk edge, and all the attitude. Singer Jenna Lloyd presides with charismatic swagger on the microphone, backed by a four-man crew that goes hard on guitars, bass, drums (and a keyboard here and there). Razor-blade guitars twist and slice through “Glorified,” while Michael Wyzik anchors “Knock Down Drag Out” with a rumbling drum beat that exerts a gravitational pull strong enough to keep wild guitar parts from Zac Brennen and Christopher Croteau firmly in orbit (Alec Theilman plays bass). Later, waves of guitar surge through “Pop Song Weirdos,” a song marked with feedback and chugging power chords as Lloyd snarls out an appreciative ode to the restorative, feel-good power of — believe it or not — Britney Spears’ breakthrough single “… Baby One More Time.”

That’s not the only reference to an earlier tune on Trash Panda Kill Kill. Opener “Psycho Serenade” quotes Toni Basil’s 1982 hit “Mickey,” while “All My Favorite Singers Can’t Sing” reads like a catalog of influences, from the MC5 and the Stooges to the Dream Syndicate and maybe Don Henley. That latter track eases off the accelerator, though not the intensity, for more of a vintage R&B feel punctuated by crackling guitar leads. It’s one of a handful of slower songs on the album, including “Loneliest Christmas Tree,” a three-quarter time tune about pushing through emotional hurt that features an ferocious middle section with a whirlwind guitar break.

Fighting off sadness is a theme throughout Trash Panda Kill Kill. Though that would seem to contrast with a bare-knuckle musical approach here that often feels celebratory, maybe the full-bore songs instead represent catharsis, like flare stacks at oil refineries that burn off the flammable gases before they explode. Finding a way to vent heavy emotions without blowing up is something worth celebrating, and rowdy rock ’n’ roll is as good a way as any.

Professors of Sweet Sweet Music Return With ‘Only Forever’

Their academic credentials are up for debate, but there’s no question that the Professors of Sweet Sweet Music excel at group projects. The Hartford collective is back with “Only Forever,” their first new music since the single “Her” in 2023.

The new track is a rootsy rocker that is at once buoyant and wistful as singer Alisa Velasquez sings about trying to square fond memories with present reality, while guitar parts from Earl Henrichon and Craig Huntington bubble up around her soulful voice.

Though the band regularly plays shows and has been involved with the Hartbeat Music Festival in Hartford, the six-piece — also including Bryon Verdone on bass, Dave Counterman on keys and Ben Paden on drums — hasn’t found as much time to record. That’s understandable: everybody has day jobs and families that make POSSM (as they’re often known) a creative outlet on the side. Good news, then, for fans: Henrichon tells us that “Only Forever” is the first of several upcoming singles leading up to the release of the band’s next album, which will be the follow-up to 2018’s Take Your Time.

Upcoming Concerts

The Green River Festival returns to the Franklin County Fairgrounds in Greenfield June 19-21 with a wonderfully eclectic lineup that includes Charley Crockett, Spoon, Geese, the Beths, Kurt Vile & the Violators, Lucius, Big Freedia, Wednesday, the War and the Treaty, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Folk Bitch Trio, Ratboys, Frente Cumbiero and more. The lineup so far and tickets are here.

The Iron Horse in Northampton hosts a pair of intimate shows with folk singer Josh Ritter Feb. 10-11 (tickets for the first and the second), plus Langhorne Slim Feb. 21 (tickets) and roots quartet Della Mae March 7 (tickets).

The Shea in Turners Falls presents a trio of Freak Scene favorites Nov. 29 with Bella's Bartok, Cloudbelly and Rocking Puppies (tickets).

After selling out the College Street Music Hall earlier this year, comic Pete Davidson returns to the Connecticut shoreline with an underplay at the much smaller District Music Hall Dec. 5 (tickets). The Early November and Hellogoodbye are there Feb. 24 (tickets), and the New York singer-songwriter known as Two Feet performs April 14 (tickets).

Josh Ritter also plays Infinity Music Hall in Norfolk Jan. 24 (tickets). Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel are there May 3 (tickets), while the Hartford outpost hosts the North Mississippi Allstars Feb. 19 (tickets).

Dean Falcone's 29th-annual Vomitorium returns to Cafe Nine in New Haven next Wednesday, Nov. 26, so you can purge with hits from the '80s the night before the big feast. Performers this year include a who's-who of luminaries on the Connecticut scene, including Shellye Valauskas, Ed Valauskas, Christina Harris, Brendan Toller, Bruce & Loralee Crowder, Elaine DiMasi, Rick Mealey, Scott McDonald, Lys Guillorn, Ponybird, Frank Critelli, Hank Hoffman, Greg DiCrosta and more (tickets). Cafe Nine also hosts the Supersuckers, Scott H. Biram and King Sickabilly Dec. 11 (tickets), Wild Pink Jan. 29 (tickets).

That’s it for this week — thank you for reading! If you like what you’ve seen, please share. Also, I’m always open to submissions. You can send music for coverage consideration to erdanton at gmail or reply to this email. Check out these guidelines first.

Freak Scene is free, but donations help make this happen, and are gratefully accepted. Previous issues are available in the online archive.