From left, Debby Schwartz, Judy Ann Nock and Karyn Kuhl perform at 503 Social Club in Hoboken, Feb. 15.
Singer-songwriters Karyn Kuhl, Judy Ann Nock and Debby Schwartz rattled the walls of Hoboken’s 503 Social Club with their well-crafted, high-energy songs, on Feb. 15. Their display reaffirmed, for me, that Hoboken’s rock scene is alive and well.
The show was titled “Ladies of Psycho.” Nock and Schwartz are members of the band Psych-o-Positive, and Kuhl is an ex-member.
Hearing three powerful artists sing fiercely about deeply personal topics felt like just the right balm for the horrors disclosed by the Epstein files. What a relief to find myself watching a show where women could dominate the stage — not just be backup singers to amplify men, but command their own space as solo artists.
After this show, I felt moved by the songs’ evocative lyrics, but also by the importance of gathering to hear women’s voices. Kuhl felt that it was a significant moment, too. “It was Debby’s excellent idea to do this show,” she said. “We got into some deep stuff about lost love, toxic love, pure love, death, ancestral trauma and political resistance while also getting some good laughs.
“There’s so much heaviness and horror being revealed in the world right now. I think most of the time people just want to look away. But we’ve gotten to a point where it’s no longer possible.
CINDY STAGOFF
From left, Debby Schwartz, Judy Ann Nock and Karyn Kuhl at 503 Social Club.
“I was thinking about the evening the next day and wondered, ‘What just happened?’ That was intense. The show felt important in that it was three women being vulnerable and strong and revealing a lot.”
They created a strong sense of connection, singing in round-robin style in a room surrounded by Ted Lyons’ eccentric, imaginative drawings, with audience members seated inches from the stage. Geri Fallo, Hoboken’s former director of cultural affairs, played a shaker when asked to do so by Kuhl on her anthem “It’s Over” (from her 2019 EP Hey Kid).
All three artists said the intention of the evening was to support each other and to share stories of heartbreak, longing and searching. Nock mentioned that the evening served as a “Valentine’s Day post-mortem.”
Kuhl kicked off her songs with 2019’s holiday-appropriate “Be Your Friend,” a favorite of mine with its subtle seduction and infectious melody. She then played a hypnotic unrecorded song, “5:27” (see video below); the 2025 single “Cat Swamp Road”; and another unrecorded tune, “This Song Loves You.”
She tailored the words of “It’s Over” to fit the times by referencing Bad Bunny’s performance at this year’s Super Bowl. Rather than singing “the end is near and it’s what you fear/the future is female, black and queer,” she sang: “the end is near/and it’s time for you to vanish/the Super Bowl is punk, queer and Spanish.”
CINDY STAGOFF
From left, Judy Ann Nock, Karyn Kuhl and Debby Schwartz at 503 Social Club.
Schwartz performed “Leave My Home,” “The Old Serpent Mound,” “You and Me” and “Innocent,” which are being recorded by producer Ivan Julian at Super Giraffe Studios in Brooklyn for her upcoming EP; and “Arise,” from her 2014 album A Garden of My Own. (Schwartz and Nock both sing backing vocals for Julian; Schwartz also performs regularly with The Loser’s Lounge).
Listen below to Schwartz singing the soulful, meditative “You and Me.” She paints a beautiful, folksy picture of the journey of love. Her song lyrics impressed me throughout the evening as intelligent and curious.
Schwartz started playing guitar at age 13, when she taught herself the chords to America’s “Lonely People.” She then learned Joan Baez songs, some acoustic Led Zeppelin songs, moved on to punk rock “and eventually ended up more or less back where I started,” she said.
Nock started off with a new song, “Diamond in the Rough,” from her band St. Divine; the song will appear on St. Divine’s The Devil That You Know album, which will be released on March 20. She also performed unreleased songs “Bodega Roses,” “I Don’t Care About You,” “Beautiful in Your Eyes,” “Stop” and “Devil in the Details” (see video below). Her revelations are visceral, refreshing and resonant, and her physical performance — her dancing and expressive hand gestures — is captivating.
CINDY STAGOFF
Judy Ann Nock at 503 Social Club.
“Performing for noted writers and accomplished musicians in such an intimate space was a privilege,” said Nock, who has written several books about witchcraft, runes and magickal herbs. “It gave me a chance to perform a new unreleased song as well as many originals that can’t be heard anywhere else except for these very rare, live, round-robin shows.”
With International Women’s Day (March 8) fast approaching, I reflect on the many challenges women face in the music industry and most professions. This showcase of original songwriters seems very valuable, indeed. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to sit in a room where women could share without judgement or the need to smile, flirt or defer.
“I’m grateful to have a small but solid arts community in Hoboken and thankful to Jim Mastro (503 Social Club’s owner) for creating such an intimate space,” Kuhl said. “It’s more important than ever for people to gather like this in a screen-obsessed, detached world. The audience is always as important as the performer and you really feel that at 503.”
For more about Kuhl, visit karynkuhl.com. She will perform at 503 Social Club on April 12; the show will also feature Renee Maskin and Charlie Nieland.
For more about Schwartz, visit debbyschwartz.net. She will perform at “A Tribute to The Kinks” at La Palapa in New York on March 18; and at Sid Gold’s Request Room in New York on April 22.
For more about Nock, visit psych-o-positive.com, simonandschuster.com or stdivineband. She will perform with St. Divine at The Shrine in New York on March 5; and at “A Tribute to The Kinks” at La Palapa in New York, on March 18.
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