PREVIEW: Super 400’s 30th Anniversary Plans
2/28 @ Cohoes Music Hall
**This article originally appeared in our February 2026 issue**
Photos by Kiki Vassilakis
“I don’t feel like we’ve been together for 30 years, I just feel like we’ve been together forever and that it won’t ever end, so maybe that comes true somehow.”
The question of ‘Is rock music dead?’ has come up all over the place for the past 20 years or more. While the genre isn’t as popular in the mainstream as it once was, it is certainly alive and well if you know where to look.
Now getting ready to celebrate a storied 30-year career — including signing to the internationally acclaimed Island Records, winning a host of local awards, and even having days named after them in their hometown of Troy — Super 400 is the epitome of rock ‘n’ roll in style, sound, and vibe. They will be celebrating both the release of their newest album, Spirit in the Sound, and their anniversary with a show at Cohoes Music Hall on February 28, presented by Guthrie Bell Productions and featuring friends and openers, Saratoga Springs-based, Drank The Gold. In anticipation of it all, I had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with Kenny Hohman and Lori Friday to chat about it.
When Super 400 releases their newest studio album this month, it will mark their first studio release in 16 years. In that time, a lot happened in their personal lives that hindered them getting to this point, with the loss of some friends and family, Friday’s breast cancer diagnosis and treatment during the darkest days of COVID, becoming parents to their daughter, and co-founding the Troy Music Academy (with other musician, Graham Tichy). As expected, a lot went into making the album. They had to purposefully carve time out of their lives and also record it themselves.
“In a way, this is like releasing our demos,” Hohman chuckles. “We didn’t go to a real studio with an acoustically-tuned room, and a producer like we have in the past, so everything was on us to figure out. There was a lot of learning involved there — what mics to use, where to put them, and how to get a sound. There’s so much that goes into it.”
“It felt fun, because the three of us always have fun together and having Joe [Daley, drummer] here a lot over the past four months was a ball. A lot of laughs, a lot of tomfoolery, and a lot of good music,” Friday adds.
The album itself features some new songs, alongside some they’ve been playing live for years but never had the chance to record. One song in the latter category became the title track of the album. It is a tribute to Daley’s older brother Frank who passed away. He was also like a big brother to Hohman and Friday. While Hohman and Daley were still coming up as young musicians, they would spend time in New York City, visiting clubs with Frank to see music, as well as watching him play guitar. He even became a mentor to Hohman. Frank’s passing fueled the overarching theme of all musicians who have passed on.
“Thank god we have this music to listen to, that these artists made these records before they moved on from this realm,” Hohman says. “You want to go back and listen to Donny Hathaway, Jimi Hendrix, they’re preserved there. Their spirit is in the sound.”
For Super 400, they’ve left their own mark on this area and beyond throughout their 30-year career. That legacy continues to grow, winning another Thomas Edison Award for Best Rock Act in 2025 (they also won in 2023 and 2024), as well as being inducted in the Thomas Edison Hall of Fame in 2022. Now, they look forward to once again playing the hallowed halls of Cohoes Music Hall, a venue they consider a second home.
“It’s the best venue of its size anywhere around here,” Hohman lauds.
“It’s the perfect size space,” Friday adds. “The stage is at the perfect height and perfect size, and it sounds amazing. It’s really vibey in there.”
Hohman chimes in, “...and it's haunted. It has all the elements.”
As far as their own legacies and reflecting on 30 years, Friday gets a little sentimental. “I don’t feel like we’ve been together for 30 years, I just feel like we’ve been together forever and that it won’t ever end, so maybe that comes true somehow.”
“It’s your legacy, but it's what you have to give,” Hohman adds.“You try to give everything you have because you only have so much time to do it.”
For tickets to their anniversary show and more information, visit thecohoesmusichall.org