We first stumbled upon Brother O’Brother a little over a year ago at Mile of Music after reading this description of the band in the festival program: “Brother O’ Brother, an Indianapolis-based duo, formed in the Summer of 2013 and began making music with the message of love in mind and combining their message with their garage, blues and gospel sound. They participate in this conversation of life by drenching guitars in fuzz, booming drums, and mountains of smoke and lights.” I’ve since seen them at least eight more times and can say without hesitation that Chris Banta and Warner Swopes are two of the most dynamic performers out there and put every ounce of energy and sweat into their shows. They are also super-sweet guys with enough patience to hang out with our kid, Vault-boy.

I wrote about the save-your-soul-by-rock-n-roll bluesy garage tornado of fuzzed-fury that is Neon Native in March ‘17 (before its official release in May) and before any links were available. I’m pasting my comments again here, though now updated for full visual and auditory enjoyment.

Leading off the album is “R.O.S.E.,” a track I’ve written about before (it was released on a split single in 2016), and it’s a slow burning heavy blues rocker that builds into an explosion of fury. “16 Flowers” is scorching blues, with a decidedly punk attitude. “Sunshine” is full of T.Rex swagger, churning fuzzed out angry guitars (and one of my favorites). “Grab the Rope” has a grungy-headbanging tempo with a scathing political message. “I Got It” is another favorite on Neon Native; I’m totally partial to ass-shakers and this one does not disappoint with its locomotive rhythm guitar that breaks into an infectious hook at the chorus. “I Confess” showcases Banta’s gospel preacher-intense delivery to the music of deep humid Southern blues inspiration. “Cardinal” is bluesy via Zeppelin guitars. “Fever” is the longest track on the album and it burns slowly like a, well, fever, eventually building into a bonfire so hot you can feel Banta’s sweat seeping through the speakers. “White Noise” takes the listener on a completely different journey, heading down to mountain country with a stomping acoustic beat, a little bluegrass infused into Brother O’Brother’s blues rock. “Take Me” starts with a traditional blues guitar lament while Banta admonishes, cajoles and pleads “If you love me, you gotta take me as I am.” OK! “Life on Mars” is sparse, lots of space for the lyrics to shine, and then gravity takes shape into a fiery explosion at the chorus; this track is another great example of Brother O’Brother’s ability to build beautiful tension into their songs. The album concludes with “Widow Maker” which has a lilting 50′s/60′s pop rhythm and 3-chord punk melodic sensibility while Banta contemplates the nature of life.

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I’m expecting a bit of an adventure for this brief road trip. It’s Memorial Day weekend and we have to drive through Chicago (always a bit of a nightmare, even on a non-holiday). While trying to find a hotel around Indianapolis – and being completely unsuccessful – I figured out that it’s also the Indy 500 this weekend (me=not a race fan, obviously). While having driven through Indianapolis hundreds of times on my way to wherever, I’ve never actually stopped so I have little knowledge of the city or what to expect. But the show itself should be AMAZING. BoB puts on an incredible show wherever they play, but this one will be in their hometown with lots of friends and family (I’m guessing) in the audience. The guys will have some sweet swag available: some tasty crazy vinyl treats, shirts and posters. And to top it off, S-E-R-V-I-C-E is one of the opening bands and Russell Simins from Jon Spencer Blues Explosion plays drums so that’s the happy cherry on top of my rock-n-roll-blue-garage-punk-gospel sundae.

The sweet swag (Photos via Brother O’Brother’s Instagram).

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I’m already on my third listen to Neon Native and it’s blistering awesome, in a save-your-soul-by-rock-n-roll bluesy garage tornado of fuzzed-fury. The first thing I noticed is that Chris Banta’s vocals are beefed up, a definite asset to showcase his intense fervor, and his guitar solos have a virtuosic edge that are always the perfect length (see “I Confess”). Warner Swopes’ drumming is always hard-hitting and probably even stronger. In yesterday’s review of Neon Native in The Huffington Post, Randy Radic wrote “Swopes takes care of business like a gaudy old whore at a teamsters convention” (this without, I’m guessing, having seen Swopes perform in his amazing fur vest and stellar WWE moves).

Leading off the album is “R.O.S.E.,” a track I’ve written about before (it was released on a split single in 2016), and it’s a slow burning heavy blues rocker that builds into an explosion of fury. “16 Flowers” is scorching blues, with a decidedly punk attitude. “Sunshine” is full of T.Rex swagger, churning fuzzed out angry guitars (and one of my favorites). “Grab the Rope” has a grungy-headbanging tempo with a scathing political message. “I Got It” is another favorite on Neon Native; I’m totally partial to ass-shakers and this one does not disappoint with its locomotive rhythm guitar that breaks into an infectious hook at the chorus. “I Confess” showcases Banta’s gospel preacher-intense delivery to the music of deep humid Southern blues inspiration. “Cardinal” is bluesy via Zeppelin guitars. “Fever” is the longest track on the album and it burns slowly like a, well, fever, eventually building into a bonfire so hot you can feel Banta’s sweat seeping through the speakers. “White Noise” takes the listener on a completely different journey, heading down to mountain country with a stomping acoustic beat, a little bluegrass infused into Brother O’Brother’s blues rock. “Take Me” starts with a traditional blues guitar lament while Banta admonishes, cajoles and pleads “If you love me, you gotta take me as I am.” OK! “Life on Mars” is sparse, lots of space for the lyrics to shine, and then gravity takes shape into a fiery explosion at the chorus; this track is another great example of Brother O’Brother’s ability to build beautiful tension into their songs. The album concludes with “Widow Maker” which has a lilting 50′s/60′s pop rhythm and 3-chord punk melodic sensibility while Banta contemplates the nature of life.

Do yourself a favor and listen to Neon Native, buy it when it is released in a couple of months, and for goodness sake, GO SEE THEM LIVE!

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We picked up this single at their show in Milwaukee this past December. “R.O.S.E.” (when played at the correct speed) is a slow-burning heavy bluesy rocker, complete with Brother O’Brother’s signature musical tension provided by Swopes’ tight rhythm that builds and builds and builds before exploding into pounding fury. Add to that Banta’s gospel-tinged lo-fi vocals and power chords and it’s a blistering track that also appears on Live at Radio Radio (Shed House Records, 2016).

Side B has two tracks by Veseria, a band I am not familiar with, but they are also from Indianapolis and according to their bandcamp page are “a 4-piece rock group…their fusion of the raw power of classic rock, early punk beats and the lyrical and melodic tones of American folk music has captured their audiences at home and across the Midwest.” They are on Banta’s Romanus Records label and after listening to “And Also” and “Hunting Accidents,” I can picture watching Veseria at an outdoor summer festival, dancing barefoot in the grass while the sun sets: harmonic, sweet sweeping music.

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Brother O’ Brother “Brother O’ Brother” 2014. Fonoflo Records. There I am with guitarist-singer-frontman extraordinaire Chris Banta and champion heavy-hitter drummer Warner Swopes!

We cleared our calendar and scraped the ice off the car to catch the Indianapolis-based power duo at Brenner Brewing Co. in Milwaukee on Saturday night in the midst of the first big snowstorm of the season; after seeing them for the first time in August at Appleton’s Mile of Music and having our minds blown, a little weather wasn’t going to deter us.

Banta and Snopes brought the blizzard mixture of garagey punk-blues stompers and gospel-infused howls indoors with their wild performance of songs from the debut LP Brother O’ Brother, including the slow-burn bluesy “Means To Be a Woman.” (I honestly don’t remember if they played another favorite “Coke Bottle Lens” but I’m including it here because it’s so damn good.) They also ripped through several stand-out tracks from their 2015 release Show Pony: “The Itch,” “You Would” and “Wolf In Sheeps Clothing.”

Because of the weather, attendance was pretty small for the show. The upside was that we got to chat with the guys for awhile both before and after the show, including a conversation about Banta’s white loafers (see picture above): Joe has the exact same pair and I may have given him some shit about them in the past. Well, he’s vindicated.

Brother O’ Brother will be swinging back through Wisconsin in January, playing at Mill Creek in Appleton on January 6th, and we will be heading up there to see them again in all their frenzied garage-blues-punk energy.

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Anyway! We read the description of Brother O’ Brother in the MoM program, “Brother O’ Brother, an Indianapolis-based duo [Chris Banta: guitar and vocals and Warner Swopes: drums], formed in the Summer of 2013 and began making music with the message of love in mind and combining their message with their garage, blues and gospel sound. They participate in this conversation of life by drenching guitars in fuzz, booming drums, and mountains of smoke and lights.” SOLD! They were playing on Saturday afternoon, the totally non-sexy hour of 3:00 p.m., at the small College Avenue bar Chadwick’s. They started early (!!!) and ripped into a raucous set filled with raging guitar, crashing drums and the highest performance energy I’ve seen in a loooonggg time (probably not since Murder City Devils’ and Nashville Pussy’s shows in the late 90′s). Banta was everywhere – jumping off the walls, rolling on the floor and a stroll down the bar, dumping ice water over his sweat-soaked head.

Swopes was not idle. Oh no! Frequently leaping out of his drum stool with the excellent posturing of a WWE fighter, he at one point began swinging from the temporary stage scaffolding (he did mindfully check its integrity first though).

Show Pony is Brother O’ Brother’s second full-length release. The best band comparisons are White Stripes, Soledad Brothers and Flat Duo Jets: blues garage rock with lots and lots of soul. “The Itch” starts off the album with an ass-shaking blues beat and dirty garage guitar. “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” is a blues head-banger and check out the power on “You Would” which starts off almost demure but then intensifies into mass stomping fury. And here is their performance of “White Dove” from the show we saw at Chadwick’s.

As soon as the show finished we headed to the merch table, waited a few minutes and the guys, dripping with sweat and all smiles, came over to sell records, cd’s and t-shirts so we got to do a brief chat and bought as much as we could afford (2 records – this one and their self-titled 2014 release, a 45 split with The Ghost Wolves – I’ll be posting about that soon – and a t-shirt). These guys work their asses off and we will definitely see them again.

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