The Brummy Brothers
23 July 2015 - Cervantes’ Other Side - Denver, CO
for The Lot Scene by Parker
Setlist: Cruisin’, No Good, Quiet Life, Jersey Devil, Hub City Hoedown, Time on My Hands, War Pigs, Light, Cell Phone Blues
Rounding out their three night Colorado run, the Brummys found themselves back in Denver, this time at Cervantes’ Other Side. A perfect venue for a hat trick show. Talking with the band members beforehand, I was able to tell just how excited they were to be playing at Cervantes’ so I knew to expect a really great one from them. A what a set it was, too!! Dave Brumberg was up to the mic first for the light and lovely “Cruisin’” — well, light and lovely up until the nasty good breakdown at the end of the song featuring a super long mandolin solo from Eric Brumberg even including a little Beethoven tease with some “Ode to Joy”. Quite a way to kick things off! Things continued with Andrew Morris on vocals for “No Good” and what better way to get a sense of this song and its central jam than to take a watch, right?
The tale of two juxtaposed individuals followed with “Quiet Life” — “you reach for the Bible and I reach for the knife.” Yeah, sounds pretty juxtaposed to me. Fun song, though, especially given Russell Gottlieb’s incredible banjo solo and Andrew’s amazing solo on guitar. Then it was time for more grit and attitude with “Jersey Devil”, a song I was beginning to know rather well. This one was probably the most energetic of the three nights, and the crowd certainly dug it. And I certainly dug Russell’s super jazzy, funky banjo work during “Devil” — that dude has some serious chops, no doubt! Instrumental time? You bet your boots! “Hub City Hoedown” was a throw down-and-a-half addition to the setlist that evening. And the people were dancing, everyone seemed to be responding to the music. A lot of smiles and a lot of cheering. Just what you want as a band, I’d imagine. Then Dave was back up to the microphone to sing us a really nice “Time on My Hands” which contained a fantastic guitar solo from Andrew and superb one on mando from Eric. Oh and that sizzling solo from Russell on banjo. Just more fine examples of the excellent musicianship of this group. Who thought they’d get some Black Sabbath, grassed-up style? I certainly hadn’t until the first strains of “War Pigs” rang out on mandolin. Yet another really well-imagined and well-executed cover from this band, something I was coming to rely upon from them. And they knocked “War Pigs” right out of the park throwing in a supremely long and dirty jam towards the end. Next up was “Light” (which has those amazing harmonic progressions that I really liked from their first CO show) followed by their last song of the evening, “Cell Phone Blues”. A bouncing, boisterous, and pretty funny song, it made for a great closer, hard drivin’ fast pickin’ right up until the end. What a bow to tie around a great run here in Colorado, fellas!! It was great getting to know both you and your music…definitely looking forward to my next Brummys show. Until then, SHAKE YOUR BRUM!!
