Music Makers

the Burlington, VT music scene, according to Neato

Sometimes I wonder if my relatively well-adjusted personality only came about because I was born in the town where Ben & Jerry's was invented, at the tail end of Bernie Sanders's mayoral run. That's right, I am from Burlington Vermont! Or "Burnlington....or Beerlington," as a Church Street busker once memorably sang to me as I walked by holding a melting cup of Phish Food.

I have immense hometown pride for Burlington. Though I suffered from the usual indignities of adolescence, Burlington was a wonderful place to grow up as a softly alternateen. Tossing back caffeinated bevs at Muddy Waters, going to see my favorite bands roll through town at Higher Ground, listening to college students spin obscure shit on WRUV 90.1 FM...it was nice!

So when my inbox was blessed with a new EP by the Burlington, VT-based band Neato, I knew I wanted to get their take on what life is like there these days for active musicians. By the way, that EP, Future Stunts, keeps the eternal flame lit at the Tomb of the Unknown Slacker—there are slouchy '90s riffs aplenty. But don't mistake the slackerdom for laziness: a propulsive rhythm section keeps things lively, from the fizzy jam that closes out "Ginger Lemon" to the I'm-trying-to-dance-but-the-floor-is-kinda-sticky swing of "Quiet Thing." Neato can definitely cook, hand them the apron and spatula.

Neato vocalist/guitarist Ayden Flanigan from the band (which is rounded out by Mason Kosman on guitar, Adam Morenberg on bass, and Lily Kulp on drums), kindly answered my local scene questions...read on...

[Molly] How did Neato get together?

[Ayden] Neato got started in the spring of 2023. Before we got together, I put out music under my name—playing all the instruments and such and such. After the release of my album "Friends" I got asked to play a few local gigs and decided it would be more fun with a full band rather than just me on acoustic guitar or something. All of us are students at University of Vermont so I knew Adam, Lily and Mason from classes and the music scene out here and asked them if they wanted to join me for a few shows. We ended up playing as "Ayden Flanigan and the New Ruling Class" for a couple gigs before realizing that it felt like more of a band than a solo project anyway. We settled on the name Neato and have been performing and recording stuff ever since!

How would you describe the Burlington music scene these days?

When I started at UVM, Burlington was just coming out of COVID lockdown/mask mandates and jitters were still very much in play. The small clubs were in a pretty treacherous spot and were struggling to host any shows, not to mention all-ages shows with underage college bands. The only option for younger bands in Burlington at that point was to play house shows but, luckily for us, there were a ton of DIY venues around town that stepped up. The students and younger population here were super into it too. It wasn't all too abnormal for a DIY spot to have a line down the block or to be turning people away because they just couldn't cram anymore people into the basement.

Now, in 2024, it's sort of switched back to normal but the excitement is more or less still there. The cops started to really crack down on house shows and that along with the sheer amount of people who would come out and get rowdy seems to have led to less basements that are willing to take the risk and host. Our club venues are amazing though. Places like Radiobean, The Monkey House, and most recently Artsriot really put in an effort to book great touring bands and provide a professional spot for local groups to play too pretty much regardless of genre/age/demographic/etc. Even our largest venue, Higher Ground, is pretty tuned in and will host occasional college nights or tap local groups for openers when they can. These spots are central to the music scene in Burlington at the moment and their freewheeling style seems reflective of a great community of artistically-minded homies who just want to come out and see live music and have a good time. Its pretty awesome! We're super lucky.

photo credit: still from video by maddie reece

Favorite local show you've played in recent memory?

We've played some really fun local shows in the past year and have a bunch more on the books we're looking forward to. Around the corner from Adam and I's apartment where we practice and record is the Slade Eco Co-op which is run by UVM students who regularly host open mics, poetry readings, community dinners and, every now and then, will invite us and other bands or DJs to play in their basement.

The best shows are the ones that just feel like a party where everyone is invited, and the last time we played at Slade with our friends in Clive was just like that. The Clive guys also live down the block from the co-op so it really just felt like one big neighborhood get together and like we were all jamming together into one of our living rooms or something—except it was some musky living room with a dusty concrete floor and supports sticking up to the ceiling. Still cozy nonetheless!

This show was all the more special for being at the end of the school year, with good friends turned family moving away and onward to the next thing and the next place. The whole night I remember feeling like that was exactly how I want to this time of my life to be in my memories—just surrounded with all this music and passion and fun. It was so simple and special and easy and I'm not sure it'll ever be that way again. Shoutout to Slade! Thanks so much for having us.

Any other local bands you want to shout out?

So many! I mentioned Clive earlier but they deserve to get brought up again. Adam also plays bass with them and they are some of the best musicians I know—also pretty good guys to boot! Mason and I also play together as the rhythm section in Brunch which is sort of a post-punk blues rock outfit writing and recording in Burlington. I gotta shout out Zoie Party. I love their music and hope they record something soon so I can put it in my ears. Rabbitfoot are one of the best shoegaze bands I've ever seen and they're local to Burlington which is pretty nuts. Scram is also mindblowing jazz stuff, they have a live album recorded at Nectar's. Fawn is also a killer band with a great single out. Really we could shoutout any of the Burlington bands we've been able to play with so far! Everyone's trying to do something special and unique in our scene. It almost feels like a kind of challenge or a dare to make cool stuff and to be yourself while doing it.