Sunday Scaries Series
Featuring VVEBS, Piss Poor, Typhoid Mary, Lamb Bombs
Three Sheets
New Haven
Oct. 26, 2025
Halloween began a few days early at Three Sheets when yesterday’s monthly punk matinee made the venue’s “Sunday Scaries” something way more fun and free spirited. October’s edition of the long-running series featured four bands, three local and one from Providence, each with a distinct sound and, on this day, with some distinct costumes in celebration of the holiday.
The flyer and social media posts encouraged attendees to wear costumes as well, and many did just that. A variety of looks from Lemmy of Motorhead to a creature from the film They Live (complete with a tag stating OBEY) were seen at the event. There were even a couple of famous SNL characters in attendance: Molly Shannon’s Sally O’Malley of “I’m 50!” fame and Chris Farley’s Matt Foley, a loud and clumsy motivational speaker. Everyone was having a blast checking out each other’s costumes even before the music started, including those of the band’s. Musician Jeffrey Thunders, guitarist for Piss Poor who has been booking this series for the past two years, had one of the most popular costumes: He was dressed as Wednesday Addams. Multiple times he got asked if he was going to dance, but he respectfully declined.
Thunders described the first act, Lamb Bombs, as a “legendary Connecticut rock duo.” Their powerful one-two punch went hard and got melodic, bringing people in from the bar area as well as making people walking by outside stop, listen, and smile. Punk, prog, garage: it was all there and it was the perfect start to the afternoon. Matt Foley even got down dancing in front of the stage with Gizmo (who, in case you didn’t know, was the star of the film Gremlins; the costume worn on this day by Piss Poor’s own Freddy Automatic). Those who didn’t know Lamb Bombs before this set would surely remember them long after; those of us who did were thrilled to have them there again.
Next to the stage was the band Typhoid Mary, from Providence. The trio consisted of Izzy on vocals and guitar, Jim on bass and vocals, and Tim on drums. They were dressed as Chuckie from Child’s Play, a surfer dude, and Quint from the movie Jaws respectively. Jim thanked everyone for coming out on a Sunday afternoon.
“I guess you’re not football fans then,” said Izzy.
There was also talk of pizza, of course, with Izzy saying New Haven style “exceeded his expectations,” but it was mostly about the music. Thunders had said on Instagram that if you liked the New York Dolls, you would like this band. Well, this reporter loves the Dolls, and she also loved this band. The ’70s glam and punk influences were present in their sound as were the riff heavy rock and roll gods. The song “Narcissistic Mind” brought to mind a little bit of ’80s L.A. rock too. Many in the crowd joined Gizmo in the dance; it was pretty obvious a whole new New Haven fan base would soon be following this band.
When Piss Poor came to the stage, vocalist Freddy Automatic traded his fuzzy Gizmo costume for a hairy Cousin Itt one. (Yes, that’s another character from The Addams Family.) That costume lasted only one song. Automatic cast it off to enable himself to jump on and off the stage and move about the floor along with Thunders while bassist Jeff Maleri and drummer Chad Blanchard held down the rhythm behind.
Thunders described their music as “old school hardcore/punk/garage” adding that “just when you think it’s all gonna fall apart it all comes back together.” Thunders, who is not only a veteran of a multitude of local punk bands but a super fan of punk music in general, is adept at channeling his influences in a fresh and fun way. Add in the furious rhythm section as well as Automatic’s boundless energy and you had yet another perfect punk set as the sun itself was setting.
As evening arrived so did the band VVEBS all decked out in skulls and bones and sonic fizzy fortitude. As the red, blue, and green lights flickered and moved like waves over the band, so did their sound move over the crowd. Thunders described them as “fuzzed out punk garage.” That was all there, and more. They rocked out, got psychedelic, brought everyone to the edge, and then guided them back again. Connor Rog on guitar and vocals, Owen Bigler on bass and vocals, and Reena Yu on drums seemed to make the music of twice as many musicians, yet kept the songs tight. There was plenty of room for them to jam, too. They mentioned their new video for their song “Belly” – which I am here to say is an all-out banger – and asked the crowd to check it out.
They tried to end the set with song “Sunshine” but the crowd asked for one more and received it. People were dancing down in front and head banging in back. They probably could have kept going well into the night and the crowd would have asked for even more. Luckily, they will be back at Sheets on Nov. 1. I suggest you be there, too.
