Ruff House

🚨For any local bands looking for a drummer, Rob is eager to get back out there! Please direct message our page for his contact info. 🥁

Ruff house fans, friends, and family,

This is a post we didn’t expect to make for a very long time, but here goes….

The Ruff House band started several decades ago with one of the original members, Paul Kazior, at the helm. Paul has been the glue that’s held the group together for all these years and has kept it going despite changes in band members, genres, venues, a pandemic, etc. He embraced every Ruff House change with excitement and an openness that you don’t often see in band members (no big ego or insistence on playing certain songs, solos, genres, and the like). Paul is a true lover of music of all styles, and his dedication to his craft and ability to play several different instruments, very well might I add, is evidence of that.

Paul welcomed his daughter, Lacey, into the band when she was just 13 years old. Our first show was a private party, and she stood at the mic, shaking in her boots with stage fright. We were, at that time a blues band, playing songs from Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Cocoa Taylor, the Allman Brothers, ZZ Top, Janis Joplin, and many others.

We went from private parties to local bars in the Pittsburgh area, playing about once a month, give or take. As time went on some members left, some stayed, all adding their own flare and inspiration that helped test our abilities and continually push our band to new heights (Russ Graves, Wayne Prior, JT Triscila).

A few years in, we were joined by Dave Balzama. Dave actually started out playing the rhythm guitar with us, but with some band changes, that quickly evolved into him playing bass (keepin’ the groove rolling), singing, and being a pure entertainer on the stage. His charisma was unmatched! He was a true light to our band.

We slowly started to add in some new music, still having a strong blues tilt, but the influence of having a band member in her teens at the time (Lacey), one in his early 30s (Dave), one in his 50s (Paul), and other band members during that time in the 40-50 range, it was inevitable that our cover genres would start to expand.

We slowly started adding in some pop songs (with a rock twist), some alternative, 90s, and more and more classic rock.

As time went on, we saw some band members go, but we added some great ones as well. Jim Triscila (JT) joined the group for a few years rockin out on the rhythm guitar and keys.

Soon after, Matthew Thurner (Lacey’s husband) joined in on the guitar and quickly became an integral part of the crew with intricate guitar riffs that allowed us to expand our music repertoire even further. He also was a bit of a “sound geek” and helped us immensely in evolving our equipment, sound quality, and light show to give us a quality image that matched the quality efforts we put into our music.

Then we added the infamous Rob Capozzolo to the gang. We had a drummer leave the band and had shows on the books, so we were eager to fill the slot. We held a try out and after just one practice with Rob, we all agreed to bring him on board. Beyond exciting percussion, Rob brought something to the group that we unknowingly lacked… a new wave of confidence that we could play any venue we set our sights on, any songs we really loved, and that we’d do it well. He cast away any self doubt, and we soon started to get into bigger and better venues, fine tuned our set list, and started to finally see some true success. His belief in our ability to grow, was the fire we all needed under our asses to do just that.

JT ended up retiring from Ruff House a few years later, and thereafter, it was just the 5 of us - Paul (the OG, true spirit of Ruff House, and one hell of a guitar, harmonica, AND saxophone player), Lacey (the lead singer and child prodigy turned 30 year old lol with abs of steel and the lung capacity of an Olympic swimmer), Dave (the absolute s***k and bringer of FUNK of the group, slapping the bass and always bringing that rockstar energy), Matt (the “Diva” 😂 a perfectionist of sound, lights, and electric guitar solos!), and Rob (the biggest, baddest drummer in the tri-state area with more heart, confidence, and resilience than anyone we’ve come to know).

We played shows from Jergel’s to Crafthouse, Seven springs to Nemacolin, breweries and bars in PA, OH, and WV, festivals and fairs, local bars and restaurants, wineries, charity events, we even had the chance to play at Stage AE for an NFL draft event… you name it, we’ve been there! We played Vibes Under the Bridge at the Waterfront for several years and a local artist even painted a mural of us! Still in awe over that one. 🤩

We’ve been beyond humbled by the successes we’ve shared over the many years as a group and are so thankful for the many fans, friends, and family who have supported us at our shows.

We’ve, sadly, reached a fork in the road in which some life changes have led us to the end of an incredible Ruff House era. Lacey and Matt are currently expecting their first baby (they already bought her noise-cancelling headphones, so you all know it won’t be long), and Dave took a job in Washington state and is currently living his best life in the beautiful mountains!

This is goodbye for now, but maybe not goodbye forever. I’m sure you’ll hear more from us at some point, but in the meantime, thank you x a million for all the love! We are forever grateful for the opportunity to share our love of music with you and hope to do it again in the future!

Keep rockin’! 🤘🎸🎶

We can’t wait for the Castle Shannon Borough Community Day Saturday, May 31st!🤘🎶🎸

We’ll be playing from 7-9pm. See you there!

Ruff House boys events

While Lacey and Matt are taking a break this year to ROCK parenthood, the Ruff House boys are working on our 2025 schedule! 🤘🎸🎶

Stay tuned! We’ll be posting our upcoming shows soon! 🥁🎤🎵

Getting some practice in! 🎶🤘Our biggest fur fan, Cash, was enjoying the show! He never misses a practice. 🐾

And Dave hit up The Waterfront today to take some selfies with his twin on the wall! 📸

Happy New Year everyone!!! We had so many amazing shows in 2024 and can’t thank you all enough for showing up and supporting our band! 🤘🥳🎶

After playing nearly 50 shows/year for the past 5 years, we’re going to take some time off in 2025 to enjoy weekends with our families and friends and learn some new material!

Wishing you the best 2025! We have a few bangers this year still, so watch for the event posts! 😁

🤩Thank you to everyone who came to Crafthouse Stage & Grill last night for our last show of the year! 🎶🕺🎸The place was packed and we definitely ended 2024 with a BANG! 🤘

Big shout out to Ed Thompson with Hyxposure Photos who got some amazing shots of us!! 📸 Posted a few here, but click the link for more!
https://www.hyxposure.photography/12-14-2024-Ruff-House-Live-at-The-Crafthouse