(May 18, 2017) Brother and sister-fronted rock group Jocelyn & Chris Arndt will headline the annual May Day Play Day festival in downtown Berlin Friday night, before embarking on a national tour in support of their latest release. 

Formed about three years ago, the band already has two EPs and a live album under its belt. Their newest album, “Go,” was released on May 5.

The siblings grew up in Fort Plain, New York, about an hour west of Albany. Their musical partnership started, literally, in grade school. 

“I think Jocelyn was in fourth grade when she started playing piano and I was in third grade when I started playing guitar about a month later,” Chris said. “There was a year when all of our musical instruments were in one room and we had to wait for the other to finish practicing. Eventually we said, ‘Why don’t we just do this together?’”

They played a few talent shows and were booked to perform during town events, then formed a band in high school. By Jocelyn’s senior year, they were already signed to a professional management company. 

Jocelyn, the lead singer, is 22 and Chris, lead guitar, will be 21 in June. 

Both credited their parents with turning them onto music at an early age, although their influences vary slightly. 

“Our parents had this amazing CD collection and we grew up listening to classic rock and ’80s pop and everything from jazz to modern stuff,” Jocelyn said. “I really like big, giant-voiced singers like Freddie Mercury from Queen, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin and Pat Benatar. And Chris is really into guitar-heavy music.”

Chris said he gravitated towards acts like Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Stevie Ray Vaughan. 

Their first studio record came out in March 2016, followed by a second EP around Christmas and a live album in January. 

The latest record, “Go,” was recorded at White Lake Music & Post in Albany and produced by David Bourgeois. Guest stars include Danny Louis from Gov’t Mule and Beau Sasser from Kung Fu, both on Hammond organ. 

“We love the new record,” Jocelyn said. “It’s 12 tracks of mayhem – about as Jocelyn & Chris of a record as you can get. I think you get a lot of different facets of our songwriting personalities. There’s a ballad on there that’s one of my personal favorites, there’s a couple of real rock tunes and then we mellow it down a little bit for some of the other songs. 

“It’s a rollercoaster,” she added. “There’s lots of great instrumental work – Chris killed it on the guitar. It’s very far from our self-produced high school records that we recorded in our garage!” 

Chris said the band would embark on a national tour starting in June, playing venues as far west as California, as well as several dates in Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga in Tennessee, and others in Denver, Kansas City and New York. 

The band will also play promotional shows for radio stations across the country. Chris said one of the goals for “Go” was to break into the top 100 on the FM AAA charts. 

“We just found out last week the lead single is number 84 and the album is number 89,” he said. “We did that in week-four, so now we’re kind of goggling our eyes and seeing how far we can take it.”

While they’re in Berlin, Jocelyn said they would play at least four or five songs from the new record, as well as some older material and a few covers. 

“It’s going to be really upbeat,” she said. “We’re going to make it kind of like a festival rock set. I’m really excited for people to hear the new music and I’m excited to play it live.”

“Go” is available for digital download and on CD through sites like Amazon.com and iTunes, or through the band’s website, www.jocelynandchrismusic.com.