By Emily Bontatibus
Joel Pasqeurillo (left), Tommy Hite (middle) and Alexa Boutin (right).
Punk rock thrives on rough melodies and raw emotions. Gagger, a band heading into their Sophomore year, embodies the core of punk rock.
Gagger was born in December of 2022 with guitarist Timmy Hite and bassist/vocalist Alexa Boutin. Hite, who has been playing guitar since he was young, bought a drum kit on a whim fueled by the urge to restart his music career.
“We just recorded a 12 song record and we’re pressing it right now as we speak,” stated Hite. Gagger’s drummer, Joel Pasquerillo, is the uncle to Boutin and stepped in to play over the pair's recorded tracks after a family function. Eventually he was deemed the band's sole drummer.
Boutin, who just picked up the bass less than a year ago, expressed the struggles of being a new band. “We haven’t had a car,” she stated, “we’ve been using our Chevro-legs to get to shows.”
The punk group has played all around the East Coast in places such as; Montpelier, Berlin, Manhattan, Portland and Lebanon.
“Punk rock here is basically a small knit community cause there’s not a lot of us, so we have to stick together dude,” said Hite. Due to the size of the community, many artists in the scene are influenced by the same bands. Antiseen, The Templars and Blood for Blood are a few of the many that make up punk rock.
However, some artists have other ways of finding their groove. “I didn’t really listen to punk music,” said Boutin, “I was an emo kid.” Playing the flute in elementary school all the way through high school awarded Boutin with the courage to continue her music career through a completely different instrument.
Alexa Boutin (left) and Tommy Hite (right) at Punktoberfest. Photo by Emily Bontatibus
Gagger’s new single “Swingin’” is set to release on Halloween and their full length self titled album will be available on December 30th on all music streaming platforms. But, the band has something else up their sleeve for fans.
“A mystery surprise is coming up out of nowhere, just to surprise everyone,” stated Boutin excitedly.
As Hite said, “We hail from the north country, we crash cars, we destroy bars and we’re ready to fuck your faces with some raunchy music.” This punk rock band is set to play an electric set this weekend at Charleez Hill in Lebanon, Maine.
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