Be There When Banshee Tree Headlines the Fox Theatre

Banshee Tree is an amalgamation of music that to some might not make sense. However, when the sum of its parts is realized, its vision becomes crystal clear. Now, the band is going from busking to headlining the Fox Theatre for the second time on Friday, April 1.

Formed in 2014 as a swing band by guitarist and vocalist Thom LaFond, it eventually evolved into its current form, which blends the influences of all of its members, including psychedelic rock, jazz, swing, electronica, hip-hop, punk and more.

“We are a really tight-knit group of good friends, traveling around the country in a couple of Priuses,” says  LaFond. The outfit consists of LaFond, Nick Carter on violin, Jason Bertone on upright bass, and Michelle Pietrafitta on drums.

The band originally started as a rotating cast of musicians who played jazz, blues and Django Reinhardt-influenced swing music. Eventually, LaFond and Carter started pushing the improvisational sections away from their original form toward more modern interpretations.

“I never felt like the group was corralled into the jazz or swing-dance circuit,” says Bertone. “There was always a really varied group of interests and influences in the band, from punk to electronic music, which was always finding ways to push through a songbook that was largely made up of tunes written before 1950.”

This ability to stay modern while pulling from antiquity is what sets Banshee Tree apart from the jazz and swing scenes.

In the ensemble, each member plays traditional instruments, such as guitar, upright bass, fiddle and drums. However, at the members' feet are an array of effects pedals for each instrument (save the drums), which allows them to add contemporary timbres on top of their instruments, such as delay, reverb and distortion. These elements push their songs into the realm of psychedelic rock or even house music, depending on the rhythm.

COVID and the shuttering of the Lazy Dog, which used to host free live music nearly every night of the week, put a damper on the Boulder music scene. “It has been difficult watching so many of the smaller bar venues in town shut down or whittle away their live-music offerings over the past few years,“ says Carter. “It makes it extremely difficult for groups to start up and build any momentum without spaces in which to do so, and it’s tough for a local scene to thrive without a popular hang or three.” However, he points out that there are a few cool spots around town that host live music, such as the Rayback Collective, Supermoon and VisionQuest.

Despite the lack of venues in Boulder, the ability to unplug and busk on the street, as well as Banshee Tree's residency at License No. 1, allowed the band to find an audience. “We learned a great deal from getting to play in such a supportive space. The feeling of a fledgling community is profoundly inspiring,” Carter says. “The live-music lovers in Boulder that I know are still very dedicated to supporting local music, and I think right now the main challenge is connecting those people with the spaces and times where it can happen.”

The residency, plus Banshee Tree's ability to busk, allowed the members to hone their art and audience enough to establish themselves as a touring band. Currently, they are in the middle of their most ambitious tour to date, making a stop in Boulder to headline the Fox Theatre on Friday, April 1.

“It has been one of the best experiences of my life,” reports Pietrafitta. “From being unexpectedly added to the Yonder Mountain String Band show in Key West, to performing in front of 30,000 people on a Mardi Gras parade in Dunedin, to rogue performances on sailboats, late-night jams and incredible new friendships, it has been such an adventure.”

The next leg of the tour includes stops at Lucidity near Santa Barbara, Some Kind of Jam in Pennsylvania, Colorado’s Sonic Bloom, Four Corners Jam Fest in New Mexico and the final Northwest String Summit at Horning’s Hideout outside of Portland, Oregon.

The band says it's excited for what lies ahead, and is equally excited to start recording a new album.

Banshee Tree, 9 p.m. Friday, April 1, Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St, Boulder. Tickets are $15-$18.