The Second Hands

If someone grew us on a grove
God would intertwine our souls
And in our mortal lives we’d marry
But it already feels like forever
It already feels like forever

From “On a Grove” by The Second Hands


The Second Hands are Long Island’s answer to The Swell Season (folk duo Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová) with a storyline similar to the Irish musical film Once (two lovers making music together). Singer-songwriters Geoff Schroeder and Laura Hoch met at an open mic at Martha Clara Vineyards in 2009. A Mattituck native, Schroeder had recently returned from a two-year stint in Nashville, and was doing his “one-man band thing,” playing drums and guitar at the same time. Apparently Hoch was impressed and when the native Floridian sang a Hank Williams tune the following week, Schroeder “fell in love with her.” They began writing music together almost immediately. “We play mostly folk and roots-based music but we both love soul music, roots reggae, rock and roll and country,” notes Schroeder, who sings and plays guitar, mandolin and banjo. “We both really discovered a lot of music together. She turned me on to Gram Parsons.”

imageSchroeder grew up listening to his parents’ music: Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and The Band. It wasn’t until he was in his late teens and early 20s that he got into soul and old-time country like Roger Miller. Hoch, whose father lived in Westhampton, grew up in Southern Florida with her country music fan mother. In the small rodeo town of Davie, Hoch was exposed to Gram Parsons, Lucinda Williams, Lyle Lovett and the Cowboy Junkies. “I think I absorbed that type of songwriting and it always felt like a natural part of me,” recalls Hoch. “Country music certainly wasn’t considered to be cool by my young peers, so it was sort of a closet fetish until college when I felt like I could dive into it without shame.”

While studying studio composition in the music program at SUNY Purchase, Hoch played guitar and sang as a solo act. She moved to Manhattan for a couple of years, became part of the “anti-folk” movement and toured Europe with the band Herman Dune before returning to Long Island. She and Schroeder now live in Greenport with her two elementary school-aged kids.

The duo started out playing covers to get gigs, calling themselves The Second Hands because they were playing “second hand songs.” The name stuck. Their self-titled debut was recorded at Caroline Doctorow’s studio in Bridgehampton and engineered by Pete Kennedy of folk-rock duo The Kennedys. It consists of ten quirky yet heartfelt originals featuring vocal harmonies and a stripped-down sound accompanied by mandolin and electric guitar throughout. “In a lot of bands, the instrumentation is the big thing and the vocals and the lyrics come secondary,” says Schroeder who was influenced by Marc Bolan’s guitar playing. “But I think, especially on our first record, the songs are all very lyrical because the words are very important to the songs that we write. And the instrumentation wasn’t secondary but it was just simple.”

A number of their songs are written about one another (Schroeder’s favorite song to perform live is “On a Grove,” which he wrote about Hoch and her upbringing), but imagery-filled songs like Schroeder’s “My Indian’s Engine” (about living life to the fullest) and Hoch’s “Love is a Brute” involve the element of fiction. “I’ve recently had a lot of fun writing songs as stories,” notes Hoch, who also plays the ukulele and harmonica. “‘Love is a Brute’ is a sad story of a woman who is madly in love with a bad man. I picture her as the other woman who knows she’s being terrible but can’t break the addiction.”

Opening for the Dirt Farmer Band (featuring Larry Campbell and Amy Helm) last August at Peconic Bay Winery, where Hoch and Schroeder also work full-time, was exciting for them as fans of Levon Helm, and they intend to tour the northeast and release a new album by the end of the year. “I’d like to bring in some more musicians on the next record to add a little more production value,” Schroeder says. “Maybe some drums, but no John Bonhams, none of the crazy guys… It’ll still be lyrically-based, rustic folk with some soft, quiet tunes but will also get loud and gritty with more electric guitar and compelling beats.”

The Second Hands Live
April 13: Home Grown Music Café, Port Jefferson
May 7: The Suffolk Theater, Riverhead - Long Island Pulse

So tell us more about yourself, who’s Second Hands?
Second Hands is just the two of us, Geoff Schroeder and Laura Hoch. We live on the eastern end of long island in a rural farm and beach community.



How did you guys came together and created this band?
We met playing music in the beginning of 2009. We met at an open mic and I (Geoff) was playing drums and guitar at the same time and Laura thought that was cool I guess and we went and got a drink afterwards. I had seen her the week before and she had played a Hank Williams song so I went back hoping she’d be there, and she was.



What’s the meaning behind the band’s name?
We had pretty much began writing together when we met but were learning cover tunes so we could get gigs at bars. We called ourselves The Second Hands because we were playing second hand songs. After our original songs started getting more recognition and people were asking us to play them we just kept the name.



Did you guys wanted to start a Folk group or it just happened?
We both really loved old time country, folk and traditional music, so we started writing around that genre, but our sound was much more modern. So I guess it just happened. We felt it was good enough to continue doing. I think we really love one another’s style and it really turned into “our” sound.



How was it to share the stage with Herman Dune and The Dirt Farmer?
Well, The Second Hands have never actually performed with Herman Dune. Laura toured with them in the US and Europe and is still good friends with the band. We love their music.

We opened for The Dirt Farmer Band this past summer and it was awesome! We played in front of a huge crowd on a beautiful day. We met Larry Campbell and Amy Helm. Larry even came over and said he really liked the way we sang together. It was great, it was one of those performances that really makes you want keep on going and work harder.



What are your music influences?
Well, I (Geoff) was obsessed with The Band and especially Levon Helm, so opening for The Dirt Farmer Band was huge for me. I also was really into T-Rex and I think Marc Bolan had a huge influence on me.

I (Laura) was really into old country tunes from Gram Parsons and indie singer songwriter stuff and a lot music of people I was surrounded by when I was touring.

We both love soul music and roots reggae and even played a bunch of Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Toots and the Maytals and even The Clash as folk/country tunes. We love a lot of the same music.



What are your method at the time of writing a new song?
It changes, most of the time one of us will start writing a song and we’ll finish it together. We really pick apart songs and try a lot of things before we settle on something. Other times we’ll finish songs separate from one another and work on them from there. A few times we were sitting and just decided we wanted to write a new song and started playing chords and coming up with melodies. That’s how we wrote “Love is a Brute”.



There are new albums rumours going on, can you give us more details/insights about it? Any official title, release date in mind?
We’ve been writing a lot and we are very proud of the stuff we’ve been coming up with. We’ve been playing a lot more electric guitar and arranging the songs differently than we have in the past. It’s more of a gritty, raw sound. We want to start recording soon and hopefully have something out at the end of 2013, were still pushing our debut which was a 2012 release.



So you guys are planning to hit the road?
Eventually, we take it as it comes. We’re gonna be playing more festivals and hopefully doing more radio stuff, but we will be touring in the future.
Speaking of which, what has been one of the funniest moments you guys have been or took part while touring?
One time we were playing at a bar and this drunk guy got on the stage and started singing with us like that was a normal thing to do. He caught us off guard and we ended the song early, we just looked at each other and were like, “What the hell just happened?” Who does that? We should have just kicked him off the front of the stage, but cutting the song short seemed like the peaceful thing to do.



What are the PROs and CONs of being a duo?
Being a duo you have limits instrumentally, but that never affects the depth of the songs. We work very close together; the songs are very intimate and personal. The songs we write are honest.



Are there any plans for the future we should be aware of?
Everything! The new album, the old album, festivals, shows, radio… I think we’re making a name for ourselves. It’s an exciting time for us because we’re discovering a lot of stuff about us as a duo that we didn’t know was there before.



Where can we find more about your music?
Go to our website www.thesecondhands.com Join our mailing list, try to contact us. This is what we do.



Do you guys feel you’re moving on the right direction?
Absolutely, we’re confident in the music we’re writing. There is a surge of good, new music that is so reflective of great music of the past whether it be soul, folk, country, jazz, whatever. I think we’re a part of that. - VENTS MAGAZINE

Matittuck native Geoffrey Schroeder and southern transplant Laura Hoch are more than partners in love, they’re partners in music.

They’re called The Second Hands, but to many they’re first rate, and both Mr. Schroeder and Ms. Hoch are ready to entertain audiences with the release of their self-titled debut album.

They’ve lived together for about three years in Greenport and also work together at Peconic Bay Winery, where their CD release party will be held between 6 and 9 p.m. Friday.

“We’ve been playing together since the day we met four years ago at an open mic night at Martha Clara Vineyards,” Ms. Hoch said.

The two started out playing cover songs at Greenport Market, “for sandwiches and tips,” Mr. Schroeder said with a laugh, but that was before they learned they could write their own stuff, Ms. Hoch added.

The band’s name comes from their cover-song origins, a name fans suggested they keep after they began writing their own music.

“We write love songs, but I don’t think they’re clichéd love songs,” Mr. Schroeder said of their music. “I think we have a really original lyrical attack.”

An example of such, he said, can be seen in a song he wrote about Ms. Hoch growing up in Florida with the line, “There’s a woman whose blood is thinner than water and she won’t shed a drop, not even for her daughter.”

Ms. Hoch said she enjoyed writing songs about growing up in the south, which she said made her truly appreciate it for the first time.

“We spent a lot of time exploring the differences between southern and northern upbringing,” she said. “I grew up in a rodeo town and embracing that whole aspect of my upbringing was really cool.”

Ms. Hoch, who used to tour Europe with bands after graduating from SUNY Purchase, said everything changed when she had her children, Annica, 7, and Noah, 4.

“It’s hard because I have two kids and a job,” she said. “I used to be a touring musician, but with kids its hard to get far from home.”

The two recently recorded their debut album at Caroline Doctorow’s studio in Bridgehampton.

Pete Kennedy, American folk-rocker of, “The Kennedys,” engineered the recordings.

“He actually works with [popular singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith, so we were honored," Ms. Hoch said.

The two are country and folk music lovers with influences like Graham Parsons, Gillian Welch, The Band and The Byrds.

The Second Hands were scheduled to appear on Bonnie Gryce's show on 88.3 WPPB Wednesday. - The Suffolk Times/News Review

Billed as The East End's (Long Island) hottest folk duo, The Second Hands led things off with a rousing, acoustic and family-friendly set that brought smiles to the faces of the crowd. Their joyous set, featuring tracks from its 2012 eponymous, self produced debut CD was highlighted by a stunning version of Bruce Springsteen's "Atlantic City." - All About Jazz