East Brunswick's Hot Dress to make third appearance at The Stone Pony

EAST BRUNSWICK - The members of Hot Dress are making strides in the indie alternative rock world − a genre older than they are.

Between 17 and 20 years old, Hot Dress is Andrew Petrocelli, 19, on vocals, Max Fallon, 20, on guitar, Jason High, 19, on guitar, Cecil Sagad, 19, on bass, and Caleb Sullivan, 17, on drums.

The five Hot Dress members met two years ago at East Brunswick High School during the pandemic.

Three were in one band − Nosedive − and two in another − Outros. For various reasons, those bands broke up, leaving all five free to create Hot Dress.

Sullivan, Sagad and High also belonged to the school's marching band.

Petrocelli said he and High had mutual friends and knew of each other's musical ambitions.

"I just asked him if he would want to like jam and maybe do some covers, Stroke songs or others just for fun," Petrocelli said. "And we met up and recorded a cover of 'The Adults Are Talking' by The Strokes. Afterwards, we were like, 'This is kind of cool. You know, we work well with each other. We sound good.' "

They began practicing in Fallon's basement and soon had a show booked.

But they were a band with no name. And the meaning of Hot Dress − there is none.

"We were kind of just throwing names around in a group chat for a couple days and we landed on Hot Dress as a kind of a temporary name," Petrocelli said. "But it just kind of stuck. I don't really think there's such a thing as a good band name. Any of them can really work."

The band has already gained a reputation in East Brunswick.

"We love our town," Petrocelli said. "Our community and town has been very supportive of us, whether that be our parents or teachers in school. Even the mayor has posted stuff about us on Facebook. I think everyone here has been really sweet and supportive of us. We appreciate that very much."

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East Brunswick High School Marching Band director Brian Toth is also a fan.

"Since I'm still in the high school, I actually see the marching band director every day, because I have him for Wind Ensemble and I'm currently in Jazz Ensemble right now," Sullivan said. "Every now and again, he asks how the band's going. And I recently told him about our new single that just dropped and he asked me how it was doing. It's nice to have that kind of support from someone that can understand what it's like as a musician."

The band has settled on an indie rock sound − a little bit 90's, a little bit early 00's with some inspiration from the UK, newer alternative rock and post-punk scene.

But Sagad said there are other closer-to-home influences.

"We're trying to kind of incorporate some of that music theory − like the more complicated nuances − into some of our pieces where we can," Sagad said.

Now that they have two years writing, playing, recording and performing, the set list is filled with mostly originals, members said.

"We like to do a majority of our own music," Petrocelli said. "We have enough to be doing that kind of stuff. And we try to integrate a couple covers just for crowd pleaser purposes. Whether it be songs that we enjoy playing from random UK bands or pop songs like 'As It Was' by Harry Styles − we put our own twist, a modern rock twist on it."

From basement shows in New Brunswick to bars and venues around the Garden State, Hot Dress will be making a third appearance at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park at 8 p.m. on Feb. 4.

"Playing The Stone Pony was very fun - very exciting," Petrocelli said. "It's always a good time. This time we will be doing a 45-minute set."

They also hope to start performing in New York, but with most busy with college and Sullivan finishing his senior year, finding time to play is tricky.

Petrocelli, Sagad and High are college sophomores, while Fallon is a junior. Sullivan has already been accepted into three colleges.

At Rutgers Petrocelli is majoring in art and design. He is using his graphic design skills to create the band's cover art.

Also at Rutgers, Fallon is a majoring in economics with a minor in music technology at the School of Arts and Sciences, as is Sagad, who is majoring in information technology with a minor in technical writing.

High, who completed one year at Rutgers' Mason Gross School of the Arts for musical education on trombone, is taking some time off. He intends to transfer to another New Jersey university's music program.

The youngest band member, Sullivan is leaning toward a natural science major.

"I should be hearing from every other school either late March or early April," Sullivan said. "So I'm kind of in purgatory right now."

With four singles − "At Its Best," "Egypt," "Supermodel" and "Thank You For Crashing My Car" − on streaming platforms, Hot Dress is working on its first EP. But recording is hard with school in session, Petrocelli said.

For the future, Fallon said he hopes they just keep having fun.

"Personally I would like to do something with it if possible," Fallon said. "It's not an easy thing, but we'd like to go on tour, and play different cities. That would be a really fun experience. I can't speak for everyone, but I think we're all pretty interested in trying to play more and keep it going as long as possible."

"Yeah, even if it can't be something that's like a job, it'll always be something fun on the side that I personally would love to pursue and continue pushing forward with," Petrocelli added.

email: cmakin@gannettnj.com

Cheryl Makin is an award-winning features and education reporter for MyCentralJersey.com, part of the USA Today Network. Contact: Cmakin@gannettnj.com or @CherylMakin. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: East Brunswick's Hot Dress to make third appearance at The Stone Pony