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Brooklyn's Bodega tear it up in The Current studio

Nikki Belfiglio of Bodega performs in The Current studio
Nikki Belfiglio of Bodega performs in The Current studioNate Ryan | MPR
  Play Now [21:49]

by Mary Lucia

June 25, 2018

Bodega - How Did This Happen!? (Live on The Current)
by MPR
Bodega - Jack in Titanic / Truth Is Not Punishment (Live on The Current)
by MPR

Bodega's debut album, Endless Scroll, releases July 6, 2018, but some of the songs have been in the band's set list for two years now. That doesn't bother vocalist Nikki Belfiglio at all. "Honestly, I feel so strongly about this record, and I think there's so much truth in it, that every time we play on stage feels like the first time," she says. "That sounds really corny, but there's so much energy and so much conviction behind what we do. It doesn't grow old."

The Brooklyn five-piece brought that same energy and conviction into The Current's studio, where Mary Lucia welcomed them ahead of their show at the Turf Club in St. Paul.

Belfiglio, along with bandmates Ben Hozie (guitar and vocals), Heather Elle (bass), Madison Velding-VanDam (lead guitar) and Montana Simone (drums), came together through mutual frienships and various cross-pollinations in the Brooklyn music scene. Belfiglio and Hozie have known one another the longest, and although they form the nucleus of Bodega, every player in the lineup is vital. "We always want to be like a classic band band," Hozie explains, "where every person brings their personality and their thing to it, and if you cut off any appendage, you would lose something special about it."

Although Bodega invite (and happily welcome) comparisons to The Fall, their sound is also reminiscent of LCD Soundsystem and of The B-52s, but the path they're cutting is truly their own. "You must go see them tonight at the Turf Club," Mary Lucia says at the conclusion, before encouraging the band, "Please come back any time."

Use the audio player above to listen to the complete in-studio session.

More Video

Songs Performed


"How Did This Happen?!"
"Jack in Titanic"
segue into:
"Truth Is Not Punishment"
All songs from Bodega's 2018 album, Endless Scroll, releasing via What's Your Rupture?

Hosted by Mary Lucia
Produced by Derrick Stevens
Engineered by Michael DeMark and Brandon Smith
Visuals by Nate Ryan and Evan Frost
Web feature by Luke Taylor

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