A founder of the rising Jersey Shore cover band explains how five lead vocalists drive its success
By Alex Biese
OCEANPORT – Halloween brings an electric charge to the Shore, and few traditions capture that spirit like The Cliffs at Baseline Social. The Monmouth County cover band powerhouse has made its annual Halloween gig in Oceanport a signature event.
Behind the crowd-pleasing show lies a story of partnership, resilience and local roots. Co-founded by spouses Kristin and Matt Cochran, The Cliffs have become a top New Jersey live act, playing 140 shows yearly.
The band’s origins trace to 2003 at Kutztown University, where Matt, a trumpet major, met Kristin, a voice major. Students frequented a townhome complex nicknamed “The Cliffs.” “That’s where the name comes from… that little townhome community in Kutztown, Pennsylvania,” Kristin said.
After college, the couple, who has performed over 3,000 shows, joined up with Shore favorites Brian Kirk & the Jirks. “We worked in the wedding business for seven to 10 years or so before starting The Cliffs,” Kristin said. “We learned what we liked, learned what to do, learned what not to do, and then decided at the end of 2019 that it was time for us to start our own business.”
Driven by an entrepreneurial spirit, Matt and Kristin launched their own band. “We thought, ‘We can do this really well.’ So, we took a risk and started The Cliffs,” Kristin said.
However, destiny soon tested their resolve. “We did two shows, one in February of 2020 and then one in March of 2020, and then the world shut down,” Kristin said.
“I was like, ‘I can’t believe that I just took this giant risk to start my own thing and now we can’t play.’ But we took the majority of the year to polish things.”
That forced hiatus proved transformative. “If we had launched when we wanted to, we may not have been ready,” Kristin said. “We may not have been where we are today.”
When live music returned, The Cliffs built fast momentum. “We think of us as a Monmouth County hometown band, where the band was really born in Red Bank,” Kristin said. They sold out The Vogel at the Count Basie Center for the Arts three straight years and opened Freehold’s ParkStage series before nearly 3,000 fans this summer.
What sets The Cliffs apart in a crowded market is custom visual production and a multivocalist setup. “My husband designed all of our lighting,” Kristin said. “He’s interactive with it – he runs it all night so it’s not just running on its own. He actually triggers things, and it looks like a concert experience.”
Equally central is having five lead singers. “I could have designed this where the show is about me, and I would never do something like that because I want the crowd to experience everybody’s voice, because everybody has something to bring to the show,” she said.
In this format, bassist Dylan Langschwager handles rock; guitarist Bryan Rojas covers Springsteen and raps; Matt performs Blink-182; and Connor Closs sings pop hits. Backed by drummer Chris Paprota, keyboardist Aidan Burke, and saxophonist Antonio Santiago, the band pivots genres. “One of my favorite additions that we’ve just added to the show is we do a live band EDM set, which I don’t see a lot of bands in this area doing,” Kristin said. “As the night goes on… we start to throw in our EDM stuff. We have like a big rap medley now that gets all the kids going. It’s super fun.”
Frontman Closs of Middletown recently earned a spot on Adam Levine’s team on NBC’s “The Voice” Season 30. “This is my favorite version of the band with the addition of Connor,” Kristin said. “When Connor joined the band, he really opened up our repertoire a lot because he had a voice that nobody else in the band had.”
The Cliffs play at 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, at Baseline Social, 675 Oceanport Way, Oceanport. For the band’s full calendar, visit thecliffsband.com.
The article originally appeared in the October 22 – 28, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
