tori danger on the western mass music scene

Music scenes! Taking place at a location and often at a specific time! Is there anything better?

I kicked off 'local scene coverage' with an interview with Burlington, VT's Neato but I want more. And I'm trying something experimental where I interview someone about their scene, then ask them for someone else to talk to, creating a sort of scenic chain, a game o' telephone, celebrating the connections that make a scene what it is. Dig??

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

i enjoy musicMolly Mary O’Brien

Today we have Tori Danger! Tori co-runs a house venue in Holyoke, Massachusetts called tori town; they've hosted shows for bands like Perennial (whose album Art History, which came out this summer, is a must listen if you like to be very awake and having fun) and Cinema Stare. Here at I Enjoy Music we love and support house venues, which are a crucial part of any scene worth its salt, so I was excited to ask Tori some Qs about tori town and western Mass in general. Let's get after it...

[Molly Mary O'Brien] First, will you introduce yourself and share a bit about what you do with Tori Town?

[Tori Danger] Hi! I'm Tori Danger and tori town is a venue my roommate and I got started in summer of 2023 that is run out of my house. Mainly I do booking for shows and keep things running the night of shows. We try to focus on highlighting queer bands and musicians when we book shows. We strive for tori town to be a place where queer people of all ages can go and be themselves unapologetically. We joke that's shows here aren't house shows, they're home shows.

Me personally I have been living in western Mass all my life, sans for a year out in Phoenix, and have been going to shows on n off for almost 10 years now. I always wanted to host a house show but never imagined I'd be running a house venue for over a year now. It's cool that what started out as a lofty idea has become a reality.

Any particular tori town shows you want to shout out as particularly special?

There are 2 shows that particularly come to mind with that question. First one is the 2nd show we ever had, August 12 2023; we lost power in the half of the basement where the bands play just before the last band was about to go on. We could not get it back on so rather than call it quits we lit the room protecting an iPhone light though a water bottle and ran extension cords into the other half of the basement. Perennial put on one of the most memorable shows in tori town history that night.

Then there's the time Jobber played October 19 2023. Jobber is one of my favorite bands and one of the main reasons I wanted to start a venue like this was so that Jobber could play. Having them play was pretty unreal and that night will always live in my head as iconic.

Any bands or artists that have played at the venue (or just local bands in general) that you love?

We've had some sick western Mass bands come through over the last year or so. radical joy, Map of the Stars, bugslam, Sgraffito Kill, Noddery and Sapien Joyride are all doing really cool things right now and we're really lucky that these bands have played tori town.

What would you say is the "musical vibe" of western Mass, or at least your personal western Mass?

The musical vibe of western Mass is all over the place if I'm being real and I mean that in the best way possible. There's just so much raw energy everywhere you look whether it's indie music, hardcore, emo, hip hop, electronic you name it and I'm sure western Mass will have something for you.

Besides your own, what are your other favorite venues to see music at?

The Hoff which is also in Holyoke is a cool spot to go see shows at. Since Iron Horse in Northampton reopened shows there have been fun to see. Marsh House up in Amherst has put on some really cool shows too.

What, in your opinion, is something western Mass has that other places do not have?

It's the energy for sure. The people out here go absolutely crazy at almost every show and they all show up when it's time. I've been to shows in Connecticut and the energy out there doesn't hold a candle to what Western Mass has. A Connecticut band can play an empty bar down in their hometown and then the same band will play a packed house in western Mass. It's just that everyone out here who wants to participate in the scene is more than eager to show up for their community.

Thank you Tori! Follow the tori town IG and go to a show if you're in the western Mass zone.

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