3 Feet High & Rising: Connecticut’s Own Cove Park Spearhead Country/Alt. Rock Sound On Self-titled Debut EP
Cove Park, L-R: Bitu Patel, Matt ?Fitzsimons, Mat Callahan, and Tim Lynch (CREDIT: Dan Les Photography, @danlesphotographct)
Cove Park is a Alt. Rock/Country Rock band hailing from Portland, Connecticut that I discovered on Instagram prior to the holidays with a little bit of help from “the algorithm.” Since then, I’ve bene steadily listening to their 7-track self-titled EP and chatting with band spokesperson/member Bitu Patel. When describing Cove Park’s music to friends and family members, I’ve been half-jokingly describing their style as falling somewhere stylistically in-between Nickelback and Zach Bryan (together, known as “Nickel-Zach”) with a dash of Kings of Leon. Cove Park collectively consists of Mathew “Mat” Callahan providing lead vocals, acoustic/rhythm guitar, piano, and harmonica (FUN FACT #1: Mat is colorblind and only has one “T” in his name, drummer Matthew “Matt” Fitzsimons (FUN FACT #2: Matt learned to play drums from the video game Rock Band and has two “T”’s in his name,) bassist, acoustic guitarist, and piano player Bitu Patel (FUN FACT #3: Bitu used to look like Dora The Explorer in middle school,) and lead/acoustic guitarist Timothy “Tim” James Lynch (FUN FACT #4: Tim walks at an average pace of 4.8 miles per hour, but, now, has bunions.) Cove Park says their inspirations come from a wide array of genres and artists that the four members are all individually influenced by, ranging from Folk to Country and Indie Rock to Pop-punk. The assorted parts and pieces each member brings to the table, then, come together, sonically, to create the “Cove Park sound.” Their debut self-titled album comes from a collection of stories that stem from specific life events, internal dialogues with oneself, and feelings experienced first-hand by the band. Their song-writing process is as eclectic as their musical sound—it can come from a life experience, a shower thought, or a random 2:00am melody and riff that enters the mind… but, at the end of the day, the music and lyrics of Cove Park directly spawn from exactly what the members feel at that moment!
Mat, Bitu, Matt & Tim all met at different points of their journeys, but, ultimately, came together as artists in late 2022 with another good friend to form a cover band. From there, they quickly realized how much fun they had playing music together. After playing some shows for family and friends, Tim, Matt & Bitu went on to form The Hog Doctors releasing their debut album, Simp, which largely consists of songs named after The Simpsons characters, in August of 2024. The Hog Doctors had been touring around Connecticut, New York City, and Philadelphia ever since. All while this was happening, Mat was simultaneously writing his own music. Then, in 2025, the four decided to get together and turn Mat's ideas into reality—leading to their debut as Cove Park in October of 2025. Both bands are active and are currently working on creating and finishing up their sophomore albums for unleashment and bemusement unto the world. And, for good measure, here are some additional Cove Park FUN FACTS: Matt & Tim met while playing in their own original band during their high school days playing many gigs throughout Connecticut and honing in on their craft. Mat & Bitu grew up in the same town together. Matt & Bitu met while working at a summer day camp where they first were able to play together musically starting with cover songs. All four members were born and raised in Central Connecticut. Cove Park's self-titled debut EP was released on October 3, 2025 to wide-spread acclaim. It was something modern day historians are calling Cove Park-mania, not entirely unlike Beatle-mania. The album was beautifully engineered, mixed, and mastered by Trevor Okonuk (Warren Haynes, Mark Egan, Roomful of Blues.) The album consists of six originals and one cover song, “Tear Us Apart,” originally written and recorded by Sam Barber. The six originals were all performed and written by Cove Park. Both Cove Park and The Hog Doctors and currently earnestly working on their sophomore albums with hopes and aspirations of shocking, appalling, and amusing the general public at large. Cove Park’s self-titled EP is now available on Please Stop Embarrassing Me Records.
