Photo by Huy Dinh
January Noon
The duo January Noon makes it their business to bring contagious jams to Valley venues great and small. With soulful singing and toe-tapping percussion, their acoustic folk/pop sounds radio-ready and a little too catchy to be content as background noise.
In the fall of 2016, Thomas Mikhail was taking his cajón (a box drum that doubles as a seat) to local open mics and adding percussion to any act that wanted it. One performer he came across at Bethlehem’s Hookah Turka surprised him with incredible vocals, and Mikhail and Anthony Pasciuti have been playing together ever since.
Both Pasciuti and Mikhail trained themselves with the fervor that turns talent into expertise, and they plunged into the Valley’s music scene with the same momentum. Choir and long years noodling on the guitar gave Pasciuti his second-nature facility with the instrument, while Mikhail took a mastery of Guitar Hero and Rock Band to high school band and the real world, practicing with other musicians at open mics until his genre versatility and ear were on point. In the six months after teaming up, January Noon played five to seven nights a week, over 200 open mics and 33 unique venues. They quickly tackled the area’s festivals, from the Blueberry and the Garlic to Musikfest and the Great Allentown Fair, appeared on local radio and TV and started fueling the dance floors at weddings.
Covering crowd-pleasing hits from artists like Goo Goo Dolls, Vance Joy, Jack Johnson and The Killers, January Noon also turns out original tunes and music videos, proving to be as able as they are ambitious. You can catch them often at Bethlehem’s Wooden Match and at their open mic every Monday at the Riegelsville Inn. Check online for upcoming gigs.
