TOMORROW: 3rd Thursdays at The Monkey House

On Thursday, November 15th, the esteemed Anthill Collective will be convening once again at The Monkey House in Winooski for the latest installment of their 3rd Thursdays series. The goal has always been to build a platform for new artists, and — big picture — to help unify the 802 scene.

So it’s a milestone that the So.802 Studios crew will be headlining this time around. Symbolic, sure, but still a milestone. The lineup here is, to abuse a rasslin’ metaphor, basically the Four Horsemen of Southern Vermont rap — a super-team of seasoned vets.

Gringo Montega (f/k/a Vazy) has been running studios, hosting parties, and booking concerts for like a decade now. Yung Breeze has been repping Street Religion in style through a crushing mixtape run, and he’s putting the final touches on his debut LP. Raw Deff has been a monster for far longer than this website has existed. Selfish Presley, who got interviewed here last month, is another spooky talented student of the studio with a lot of solo work on the way.

(Side Note: that interview is now the #3 most popular post this website has ever seen, and is probably getting read by someone right now. That’s juice.)

So there’s a lot of hits between these four, a lot of bangers. There’s also a lot of other young talent on the bill, and that commitment to excellence is probably the key to the longevity of 3rd Thursdays.

Growing & cultivating a music scene is active-ass work. The many artist interviews collected here are a testament to the fact that indie artists connect with other indie artists at shows. This is a guiding principle, not a law of physics, but damn, it happens a lot.

Many of the younger artists playing tomorrow have been paying their dues already — it would be unfair to say, for instance, that Corty Booth or Stormyweather were making their “debut” in Winooski. Both of them have been hard-working soldiers in recent years, honing their sets and jumping on every opportunity they get.

On the same note, props to Rivan C and Real Ova Deceit, both of whom are taking the best approach a new artist can take: carving out their own lanes and distributing good, finished product. They may still be refining their own sound, but they sure don’t sound like anyone else, either. Expect dope sets.

As ever, the show kicks off at 9 pm with an open cypher, which should be especially popping this time. Somehow, all of this awesome music remains free.