Danbury News-Times December 29, 2000 'Jargon Society at Ale House in Danbury' by David Friedman What do you get when you cross a cellist who’s well versed in classical music with three singer-songwriters whose collective backgrounds include solo work and stints in bands called Freak Baby, Sanity Assassins and Piewackit? The answer is Jargon Society, a band based in the greater Danbury area that’s so independent it doesn’t have a label. The four-piece act has a show set for Thursday at the Hat City Ale House in Danbury." "We call it chamber punk because the overwhelming sounds are guitars and the cello along with the accompanying harmonizing vocals," guitarist-singer-songwriter Lys Guillorn of Danbury said in a Dec. 22 interview. "It’s definitely punk. It’s not screeching punk, but it’s more melodic." Guillorn moved to Danbury two years ago from her native Trumbull. She splits vocals and songwriting duties with guitarist Elisa Flynn of Bethel and drummer Peter Riccio of Southington. Cellist Megan Luke lives in Brooklyn. Flynn and Guillorn have played together over one and a half years. Jargon Society formed over the summer and has a three-track demo CD available at shows. The group expects to have another demo out this winter. "We’re really focusing on the sum total of all our backgrounds coming together," said Guillorn, 27. "It’s worked very well. We’ve all got really different backgrounds. Some of us are ear-trained musicians and some of us have a more classical background. We never know what other members will breing to a song, but it’s always good." Guillorn, who began playing piano at age 3, is an ear-trained musician. Her influences include the Beatles, Galaxie 500, Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth and Cole Porter. Prior to forming Jargon Society, Flynn opened for Stereolab, while Guillorn opened for Moe Tucker. Jargon Society already has a following in Danbury. The band has played at the Ale House, Colorado Brewery, and Coffee Please. "We’ve had a great time and people always turned out to see us," Guillorn said. "Last time there were people there who I didn’t know were there until a couple weeks later because there were so many people there. We love to share what we do." Jargon Society has more than 20 songs in its repertoire. The band also draws from its members’ older solo material. It has also covered the Troggs’ "Love is All Around," Velvet Underground’s "Sunday Morning" and Hank Williams’s "Oh Lonesome Me." Guillorn wrote "Bahia Honda," one of the songs on the band’s demo album. It’s about a trip to Key West that she took in 1991. The trip "went very badly," she recalled, declining to explain further. "I think that’s classified information," Guillorn said, offering only that the track is about failure of memory. She said she confused elements of the Key West trip with those of a trip to Oregon. OK. As the band shops for an independent label, Guillorn and company will continue playing live shows. They’ve got one scheduled Jan. 19 at New York’s Acme Underground. Guillorn, who works at Connecticut Photographics in Danbury, said MTV dreams are not what drives Jargon Society. "Our goal is to make the music and it’s an end in itself—to be able to tour and to be able to make records," Guillorn said. "We enjoy doing it so much. And if somebody else is interested in putting it out , then that’s great. We all make music for the love of it. We’re not in it to be greedy, although we all do have our own rock star dreams." The show begins at 9:30 p.m. The venue is at 253 Main St. Admission is free. For more information, all (203) 790-4289.