All posts tagged bryan lee brown

Bryan Lee Brown / Photo Courtesy: Michelle Pullman

Interview with a Drummer: Bryan Lee Brown

November 4, 2012

Bryan Lee Brown has been playing drums in bands with his brother, Jim, since he was 7 years old. They went on to play together in bands such as Bluebird, and currently Holloys based out of Echo Park, Los Angeles.

Aside from drumming, Brown is a composer and arranger, creating hypnotizing aural trance through is Dark Brown imprint, and fronts the two-person party band, Sid Brown, with Brazilian guitarist, Patricia Klein. Though the drum kit isn’t his primary instrument, it is what he’s best known for, so much so he was Dave Grohl’s drummer of choice when he formed The Foo Fighters, and a backing musician for the legendary Dick Dale.

Here we ask him 20 questions about his origins as a drummer, his thoughts on the “god-given talents vs. practice makes perfect” debate, how to survive tour related injuries and more.

Podcast #10: Jim Brown, Holloys

July 15, 2010

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The formation of the LA based quintet, holloys, has a storied past that began as a dream now come to fruition. They’ve recently released their second disc, No Where Now Here, on Memory Bulldozer records and have returned to their Echo Park home from a springtime trek through Europe.

Though they’ve had many incarnations over the years, they’ve had a diverse line up of members – a veritable “Who’s Who” of the LA music scene, their sound has maintained a continuity reminiscent of new wave synth pop melded with afro-beat rhythms and, dare I say, a touch of electric period Miles Davis. I think an accurate descriptive term for holloys’ sound would be expansive; taking their influences at face value then expanding upon them to create something former member (and who knows, maybe one day he’ll return) guitarist, Jon Gonelli, dubbed “Dance Power.” Yet they also have their roots in rock, punk and jazz. It’s everywhere and nowhere; difficult to pin down, which is how singer, Jim Brown, likes it.

I’ve had lots and lots of conversations with Jim. If you let him he will spiral into philosophical tangents that circle back to practical applications and the starting point of whatever it was you were first discussing. It’s quite a feat to keep up with him. Yet he isn’t a mental masturbator – like you’d take most philosophers to be, nor does he jabber gibberish. If you listen closely you’ll hear some pretty awesome gems of truth or obviousness. Either is good.

In this conversation he tells of the impetus of holloys, their evolution and current state, a creation story if you will, and lots of other fun and sundry topics to do with music, hipsterism, doing stuff for yourself – the stuff of life.

They’re about to play some SoCal gigs with Zach de la Rocha and Jon Theodore’s (another former holloys member) new project One Day As A Lion and then they will make their east coast debut in the fall. So if you get the chance go see them live. If you can’t just yet, check out this video of them playing at Amoeba Records in LA.

The holloys on the Web:

Official Site | Facebook | Myspace

Photo Courtesy: Jim Brown

Comments: Comments Off Posted by: Maria Colon Categories: Podcasts Tags: afropunk, alvin de guzman, bryan lee brown, dance power, derek wood, DIY, holloys, jim brown, jon gonelli, jon theodore, jose medeles, los angeles, memory bulldozer, mike elliot 0

Podcast #2: Sid Brown

March 1, 2010

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

When I was about nine years old Rapture by Blondie was a top hit. You could count on it being played at least twenty times during a day’s rotation. I loved Blondie. She was so cool with her white dress, red lips and black and white hair. So cool.

Around that time my then best friend had an older cousin visiting from Puerto Rico. He was the talk of the neighborhood. Nobody was as cool as he was. And no one was as fine – like ridiculously fine – either. He had a perfectly curly fro and café-con-leche skin. He wore really tight jeans, black Pumas, and a sleeveless T-shirt with the tagline, “Blondie is a Band”. I was in love. Trying to act all cool, like I knew some shit about the current music scene, I was like, “What?! Blondie ain’t a band! That’s stupid!” The cousin, he was like 16 years old or something, looked down at me real cool and said, “No nena, you’re the one who’s stupid ‘cause Blondie is a band.”

For years I didn’t realize Debbie Harry’s name was Debbie Harry and not Blondie, and it was, in fact, a band. So to spare you the embarrassment let me set you straight right now – Sid Brown is a band, or rather a duo. But before they were a duo/band Sid Brown was but a yearning in drummer Bryan Lee Brown’s soul. He had a need to create finely crafted treatises to primo pussy and all night benders. Seriously, the man likes to have a good time. He’s a musician in Southern California. He started the Sid Brown project a few years back with the intention that it would be a five piece band, but one thing lead to another with various band members coming and going in the fashion that band members do and then it was a solo project with just an iPod and go-go dancers for back-up. That seemed to work for a piece but then one fateful evening he met Patricia ‘PK’ Klein, a guitarist from Rio de Janeiro, and like some things do, it just worked out between them (background commonalities and love of good times helped) and now they’re a duo. They still rock the iPod and back-up dancers when the occasion calls for it.

After a couple o gigs in the Florida Keys, and some stints around Los Angeles, they’re working some fresh tunes with a Carioca vibe and have their eyes trained on touring even sultrier and sweaty cities –evidently they both dig extreme humidity – in the near future. For now, both musicians work side projects in other bands and record when they can. I had a chance to speak with BLB when he came off a tour of Northern California with his other band, Holloys.

Sid Brown on the Interwebs:

Facebook | Myspace