By Mia Zajac
Today I’m hopefully going to be introducing you to your new favorite indie rock band, Arcy Drive. The band is composed of Nick Mateyunas on lead vocals and guitar, Brooke Tuozzo on drums, Pat Helrigel on bass, and Austin Jones on lead guitar. They just released their first album called Attic Sessions in 2022 and have recently been traveling around the states in their broken-down green bus for their highly anticipated Stattic Tour. I was lucky enough to finally attend one of their shows on March 8th in NYC at the Bowery Ballroom. I’ve been a fan of these guys since late 2021 so I’ve been waiting to see them basically forever. Just so you guys get the hype for them they’re actually playing Lollapalooza this year, yeah. It’s a big deal.
For their show I drove down from the University I’m attending to take a train down to NYC. Altogether it’s a four-hour trip but is always worth it for shows. The thing I was most worried about was the line, since they don’t have a Twitter fan base there was no way I would be able to get any info or online updates on what was happening. Because of this, I arrived an hour before the doors, and to my surprise, there were only about 10 people in line. This was awesome and extremely new considering everyone basically camps for any artist nowadays. But, it wasn’t awesome because it was basically 24 degrees Fahrenheit outside and windy. As you can expect I was miserable (because I’m dramatic). It went by fast enough as I met some people in line (shout out to Amanda for becoming my barricade buddy) and we got to bond or whatever.
Amanda and I slaying after the show
I wasn’t sure what to expect as it was my first show of theirs and they’re relatively smaller than other bands that I go see. The show started with their opener Izzy Potter and let me tell you she is AWESOME. Usually, I don’t become too attached to the openers but it does happen, I promise, sometimes. Right away she reminded me of a mix of Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, and Pheobe Bridgers. Don’t ask me why because I don’t know. The song that stood out to me of hers was ‘Juniper’ and it has been on repeat so everyone go listen to it right now, please.
Izzy Potter
I’m going to start by saying the vibe at the show was actual perfection. There were a lot of their family members there so grown adults, like GROWN, were going wild in the pit. I was really happy with the band's stage presence as that always makes or breaks a show no matter how good the artist is or how big of a fan I am. They were really excited to be there and you could tell by the energy of the crowd that it was reciprocated, my barricade spot was between the lead singer (Nick) and bassist (Pat) (the best barricade spot ever no one fight me on this because I am right) so I had a view of Brooke and she was loving life. For me she stole the show, she was singing along and going wild the entire time it was awesome. It’s refreshing having a girl drummer in a band because you don’t really see that a lot since the music industry is extremely male-dominated so that was also awesome.
Nick and Brooke captured on my digital camera
Venue-wise, the Bowery Ballroom was nice and I liked how there was a balcony area with tables and a bar but be warned, the pit has no barricade so you’re basically performing as well because you’re on the stage at that point.
After the show, Amanda and I waited outside because she was adamant about meeting the band and I wasn’t going to complain. Considering it was freezing I was actually surprised that Nick, the lead singer, had agreed to take pictures (to preface he’s better than me because he had no jacket and didn’t complain). He was so nice and grateful that we came out which is always a plus when the artists outwardly show that.
Nick and I dying of frostbite
Overall the show was great and I definitely want to see them again. I would travel to Lolla for them this August (because the lineup is awesome) but, I’m going to Iowa for Wallows that same weekend (the things I do for that band). My top three Arcy Drive songs are ‘Colorado’, ‘Roll My Stone’, and ‘River’. I can’t stress this enough; go see them before they get big because it’s so worth it.
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