“It’s funny, I still think of Johnny Brenda’s as like the new spot,” says Kid Millions, aka John Colpitts, drummer of New York-based experimental rockers Oneida, who are preparing to play the venue for just about the umpteenth time on August 10th when I let him know that Fishtown’s “mini rock n’ roll ballroom” actually turns 20 next month. The date comes amidst a run that has Oneida double-headlining with longtime Seattle-based buddies Kinski, who Colpitts tells me during a recent phone chat he first met many moons ago at The Knitting Factory while making an effort to connect with bands outside of the New York City scene.
This June Oneida dropped 7″ “I Can’t Stand You (single)” b/w “Steel,” the band’s first official release for Ernest Jenning Record Co., home of our phriends Pigeon Pit, who have also put out records by a number of Colpitts’ other projects: “I love Pete [D’Angelo]. We’ve known him for years. He did the Jäh Division reissue and he did the Million Lands album, something I did with Ben Lanz.” And while John tells me fans will definitely be able to pick up the 7” at Johnny Brenda’s, he says they can also expect to hear even newer music from an album that Oneida is currently finishing up: “We’ll be premiering new material, we’ll have the single for sale, and Kinski will be supporting their new album [2025’s Stumbledown Terrace] for the first time on the East Coast.”
While Oneida have played Johnny Brenda’s quite a few times, including as recently as last March when they opened for English indie rock legends The Bevis Frond, in their earliest years of the late ‘90s and early aughts they gained a reputation for playing nontraditional spaces (in addition to museums), which Colpitts tells me is great when everything lines up, but admits can be a lot of effort these days: “We have less time to do that nowadays. We’re deeply middle-aged, or whatever you want to say [laughs], and we don’t have infinite time… but if you’re really dedicated and really wanting us and really making an effort, we know that it’s gonna be fun and cool.”
In fact, Colpitts tells me that the relatively local — and very historic, at over 100 years old — Arden Concert Gild left a great impression on Oneida when they played there this March with Carlton Melton and Terry Gross: “It was really cool to play Delaware. It’s a great room and there’s a great history. When you’re going to a spot that’s a little less travelled, you never know how it’s going to be, but it’s such a great space and the people who run it are great.”
Although Oneida may find themselves playing in nightclubs and barrooms more often these days, Colpitts still regularly books live performances in the kinds of spaces that don’t tend to attract as much attention, most notably Seuffert Bandshell in his neighborhood of Forest Park, Queens: “The way I’ve done it, I made a point to try to engage more with the community… I apply for grants and I put on community-related free concerts, not like Oneida indie rock concerts… except once a year.” The picture above and video below feature one of the annual Oneida shows at Seuffert Bandshell, and during our chat John realizes he needs to get on finalizing the details of this September’s edition.
During the day, John Colpitts makes his living giving drum lessons (which he admits has given him a deeper respect for certain musicians: “A lot of younger kids are really interested in Nirvana and Dave Grohl. And through doing this, I’ve gained a greater appreciation of him… He makes it sound so easy and he’s a brilliant drummer.”), and he says he always emphasizes the importance of immersing yourself in a larger musical community: “I’m always encouraging my students to play with other people and be in bands… The way you get better at an instrument is you play with people at lot… It’s hard to map that out for people.”
Recently, Colpitts has started working on a local music publication as a way to connect with people somewhere between the ages of himself and his students: “I volunteer at GUNK, which is a listing zine with some articles. I fold the zine… And there’s a Discord, and I ask who they like, what bands they like to listen to. They’re all the same kind of people as me, just 10, 20, 30 years younger than me [laughs].” He mentions his elation upon a trip to TV Eye (where Oneida kick off their jaunt with Kinski tomorrow) and finding one of his GUNK Discord buddies managing the venue for the night, explaining that that’s the kind of thing we need to keep music scenes alive: “There’s no other way to connect, except in person. That’s how shit happens, and that’s how I do that.”
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