Fear of Strangers / The Units Reunion Show (w/ Lost Radio Rounders)

In 1978, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, a band arose from the primordial ooze of Lark Street, Albany, New York. The Units was a band that played anything from Steely Dan to Parliament/Funkadelic to Talking Heads. After about a year, they began writing and performing their own material. Before long half of the repertoire was original while the band was still working every weekend in local bars and colleges. The band continued into the 1980’s, performing twice at LarkFest and opening shows in the Northeast for many English bands including The Police, Squeeze, XTC, The Specials, as well as new American acts like The B-52s and REM. A dispute over the The Units name led to the band calling itself Fear of Strangers, and they went on to release their first and only album.

After breaking up in 1983, Al returned to Australia, and later back to the Hudson Valley. He’s played with innumerable local bands (e.g. Playing With Fire, Lou’s Blues, Axe Iron Suns) and gone on the road playing with artists like Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, Rick Derringer, and Savoy Brown. Todd has remained in Albany, with forays to Woodstock and Boston to record and perform with Terry Adams of NRBQ, Aimee Mann, Jules Shear and also plays lead guitar for Woodstock based Marc Delgado. His current band NEQ has released a collection of terrific records and videos. Val and Steve moved to NYC and continued working together as Lonesome Val. In addition to his work with Val, Steve toured with people like Richard Lloyd of Television and Chris Stamey of the dBs with producer Mitch Easter. His day gig has been as a manager to all sorts of well-known musicians. Before going on to receive her MFA from Bennington College, Lonesome Val was named Best Unsigned Band by the late, great Musician Magazine, garnering praise from judges Elvis Costello and Mark Knopfler and being featured in People Magazine.

Now Fear or Strangers returns to Lark Street, where sentient life first emerged.

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Upstate New York’s premiere acoustic Americana trio, Lost Radio Rounders—Tom Lindsay, Michael Eck and Paul Jossman—play a broad mix of folk, country, blues and gospel favorites. The combo, which boasts former members of Blotto, Stomplistics and Chefs of the Future, has appeared at prestigious venues including Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, SPAC, Caffe Lena and The Linda.