The Subliminals Bring “Party Jazz” Underground at Tox Brewing

The Subliminals Bring “Party Jazz” Underground at Tox Brewing Friday night, when the New London instrumental collective takes over The Apothecary for an evening built around jazz, funk, and groove rather than the usual brewery soundtrack.

The show begins at 8 p.m. Sept. 25 in Tox Brewing Company’s downstairs performance space at 123 Bank Street.

The Subliminals have been part of New London’s music ecosystem for years, but they’re difficult to squeeze into a conventional jazz-band description. Their own shorthand gets closer: music influenced by Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Roy Hargrove and John Scofield, played with an emphasis on rhythm and groove.

Elsewhere, the sound has earned an even simpler description: “party jazz.”

A Jazz Band Built to Change Shape

At the center of The Subliminals are drummer Mike Winslow and guitarist Tom Perrone, who conceived the project as something closer to a musical collective than a band with an unchanging lineup.

That’s important to understanding what happens onstage.

Depending on the night, The Subliminals can operate as a compact trio or expand into an ensemble of as many as nine musicians. The lineup shifts, but the idea remains the same: use jazz as a starting point and build something atmospheric, rhythmic and accessible around it.

Rather than treating the music like a recital, the group leans into the parts of modern jazz that make people move.

Hancock is an obvious reference point. His 1970s work helped push jazz decisively toward funk, electric keyboards and deep rhythmic grooves. Miles Davis was simultaneously tearing apart traditional boundaries between jazz, rock and electric music, while later musicians such as Roy Hargrove and John Scofield continued finding ways to move between jazz improvisation, funk, soul and groove.

That’s the musical neighborhood The Subliminals inhabit.

It also means listeners don’t need to be serious jazz aficionados to understand what the band is doing.

A Band Rooted in New London’s Music Scene

Winslow’s history helps explain why.

He’s moved through several very different corners of southeastern Connecticut’s music community, performing with groups including Fatal Film, The Hempsteadys, Surgery Sessions and 20th Century Kids, along with earlier work in the funk and groove-rock band Incognito Sofa Love.

The Subliminals gave him and Perrone another outlet: a band that could bring together musicians from that broader community and change according to the room, the players and the night.

That makes Friday’s performance particularly well matched to its setting.

Downstairs at The Apothecary

Tox Brewing itself has undergone a transformation.

The brewer moved from its original Broad Street home into a much larger downtown location at 123 Bank Street, building a brewery, taproom, coffee operation and event space around the company’s distinctive science-inspired identity.

The name isn’t simply branding.

Tox traces its identity to an interest in toxicology and describes its brewing philosophy as combining the curiosity of scientists with the creativity of artists. Beer becomes an experiment, customers become collaborators and even the visual language surrounding the brewery draws from poisons, antidotes, plants and chemistry.

Then there’s The Apothecary.

Located downstairs from the main taproom, the space gives Tox a separate room for music and special events, creating something closer to an intimate underground club than a band performing alongside the regular brewery crowd.

That’s where The Subliminals will set up Friday night.

There is one accessibility consideration worth knowing beforehand: The Apothecary is downstairs and is accessible only by stairs; there is no elevator to the lower level.

One Band, Two Nights

Friday won’t be The Subliminals’ only southeastern Connecticut appearance this weekend.

The band is also scheduled to play Daniel Packer Inne in Mystic Saturday night, giving listeners two opportunities to catch the group’s groove-heavy approach to jazz in two very different rooms.

But there’s something particularly fitting about Friday’s combination.

A musical collective built around experimentation playing underneath a brewery that describes every beer as an experiment feels less like a random booking and more like two New London ideas meeting in the same basement.

More information is available at the Event Website link below.

Details

Event: The Subliminals at The Apothecary
Date: Friday, Sept. 25, 2026
Time: 8 p.m.
Venue: The Apothecary at Tox Brewing Company
Address: 123 Bank Street, New London, CT 06320
Music: Instrumental jazz, funk and groove
Accessibility: The Apothecary is located downstairs and does not have elevator access
Phone: 860-440-8127

Featured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people, location, or activities shown.