This Friday night, mics and monitors will replace a few bar tables at Otro Cinco, and live music will replace the usual ambiance.

Otro Cinco, a casual bar and restaurant on South Warren Street, is kicking off their new Late Night Music series this weekend. The series will feature new artists each week to play live music. This Friday, Full Body and Elton DeJohneres will perform. The show starts at 11 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

“If folks wanted to sit in the back and eat a big plate of nachos, hang out or they want to be up in the front with the band, there’s space to do both,” said Jonathan Graham, who became the Late Night Music organizer about a month ago. He started out in the kitchen of Otro Cinco before moving on to bartend in the front.

While Otro Cinco has welcomed touring bands and local musicians in the past, this series will host shows on a consistent basis, Graham said. He also works with SPIT FAM Tapes, a local music label and booking collective — he books shows for houses around Syracuse and occasionally coordinates gigs at the restaurant.

“The cool thing about that restaurant is the folks who work there are pretty diverse,” Graham said. The owner of Otro Cinco Johanna Yorke has been supportive of the staff, Graham said, whether it’s giving them time off to play shows or to do an opening.

Full Body, who described their music as “loud romantic rock,” is a Rochester-based four-person band. The group started in 2014 as two vocalists, Dylan Vaisey on guitar and Zach Hallenbeck on bass, before the duo was later joined by drummist Jack Chaffer and guitarist Jacob Kotler.

The name “full body” implies owning your body and having a loud attitude, Vaisey said. As a loud band, the group said that they bring earbuds to most shows and hand them out to the audience.

The band will play songs from its new album — expected to be released early next year — but Friday night’s audience can also look forward to hearing three songs from their 2017 album “What’s Good?” released by Sad Cactus Records.

Elton DeJohneres is a grunge, Syracuse-based indie rock band featuring vocalist Chris Flack on guitar, vocalist Tanner Pechin on bass and drummer Javan Levey. Flack said that the band has experienced several lineup changes and restarted this past summer as a “reincarnation of an old band.”

The name “Elton DeJohneres” is a play on the names of celebrities Elton John and Ellen DeGeneres, inspired by a random subway sign Flack saw in New York. The band likes to play with various dynamics in its music, switching between louder sounds and quieter rhythms. Flack even joked about the band’s music being “Nirvana rip off,” a reflection of their genre and source of inspiration.

“It’s a really cathartic experience,” Flack said, describing live music as a form of therapy for the members.

Elton DeJohneres will perform “Burst Out,” “Bad Stuff” and “Olde Me,” three staples from the band’s 2017 album “It Sounded Good in My Head.” Similar to Full Body, the band will play more unreleased, unrecorded pieces from its future LP, as well as a few covers.

Both bands have performed in pockets of Syracuse’s music scene and knew Graham prior to Otro Cinco’s live music series. Graham said that now with the support of the restaurant, he can provide more stability for bands performing in the venue while still creating a comfortable atmosphere for customers.

“It’s a cool juxtaposition to be able to go and see a band in a space that’s that beautiful and with a staff that wants people to feel safe and feel comfortable in,” Graham said.

Published on November 1, 2018 at 12:17 am

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