Brokaw
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Brokaw

Seattle, Washington, United States | INDIE

Seattle, Washington, United States | INDIE
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"12 Bands I'm most excited about in 2012: Brokaw"

Brokaw
This is the second band on Seattle's own Good to Die Records to make this list. I really don't mean to play favorites, but what can I say? The new label, run by Nik Christofferson (A.K.A. Seattle Rock Guy) has built up a small but killer roster—Sandrider, Monogamy Party, Absolute Monarchs, and today's featured band, Brokaw, a Seattle foursome featuring G. Stuart Dahlquist (who has worked Goatsnake and Sunn O)))). Brokaw will release their debut full-length, Interiors, on January 24th, and it's balls to the wall rock and roll—booming bass lines, fuzzy and righteous guitar riffs. "Boots Randolph" recalls early Soundgarden while "No Morphine Doctor" has a Melvis meets Future of the Left vibe. Their sound has a little something for fans of all kinds of heavy rock, so long as you like it loud. You can preview a few tracks off Interiors here.

Brokaw's record release show is February 3 at the Sunset Tavern with Akimbo, Deadkill, and Crawler. The band also just filmed an installment of Live @ Jooniors and it's pretty great (they used a fog machine!). - The Stranger


"Interview: Brokaw"

There is a renaissance of heavy music taking place in the city of Seattle these days. People are becoming tired of coy, acoustic indie rock, and have decided to break out the huge amps, crank them up to 11, and rock the fuck out.

There are a growing number of bands contributing to Seattle’s hard rock resurgence, and Brokaw, featuring G. Stuart Dahlquist (bass), Rick Troy (guitar), Rich Medic (drums), and Mike Henderson (vocals), are near the top of this new wave of bands bringing the loud back to the Pacific Northwest.

All members are scene vets of various bands such Magnaaflux, Hitshed, and Hungry Crocodiles, while Dahlquist has done time in such avant-metal giants such as Burning Witch, Sunn 0))), and Asva. But the band is more than just the sum of its parts — each member brings his own experience and knowledge to the fold to form something unique and whole.

“We’ve all been drawn to a great variety of music over the years, and Brokaw certainly wears some of those influences on our sleeves, if you will,” says Dahlquist. “We lean towards playing heavy but distinctively angular music, with bass, guitar, and drums almost always playing in counterpoint and odd time — [it] seems to come naturally. The vocals are personal at turns, politically timely at others, ranting, crooning. So yeah — heavy, fucked up, chaotic loveliness.”

“We have all been playing in various projects together for many years, and decided to join forces to create something new that is distinctly different from anything we have done before,” adds Rich Medic. “We have been friends for a very long time and played in a variety of different musical roles, [which] has really helped make the music of Brokaw unique.”

This “fucked up, chaotic loveliness” can be heard on the band’s debut record, Interiors, which will be released in January by Seattle-based record label Good To Die, which already has a roster that includes other Seattle heavy hitters Monogamy Party, Sandrider, and Absolute Monarchs. It was recorded at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio in Chicago.

“We set up a short tour from Seattle to Chicago and back, and reserved three days at Electrical Audio to track and mix the whole of Interiors,” explains Dahlquist. “It was quite a whirlwind of driving, playing a bunch of shows, recording, and the doing the same thing on the way home. Electrical is set up to accommodate bands like ours; you can actually live at the studio, so there is a certain level of intensity while working that you don’t normally have when breaking for things like going home and sleeping. Everybody is on time and ready to go 24 hours a day. It was pretty rewarding to head out for the return trip with a finished two-track ready for mastering.”

Also, the idea to go with a local label seemed to be a very good choice for the band. Good To Die is run by Nik Christofferson, author of the Seattle Rock Guy blog, as well as an active organizer of shows and a metal and punk rock-spinning DJ. For the band and label, Brokaw seemed like a perfect fit.

“Nik was a friend of a friend, and Brokaw had played on a few bills that Nik had showed up at and written about in his blog, sometimes favorably mentioning Brokaw,” says Dahlquist. “We had recorded in Chicago and sent a few demos out to various labels — overseas mostly — and had some interest there, but Nik also requested a listen. The idea of putting some music out with a friend — and close to home — seemed like a good move at the time, and still does.

“Brokaw now has stature on a local level that feels mighty good, and without Nik and Good To Die, it’s unlikely that we would have much — if any — sway around here at all. There is always a huge chance of the label failing; bands break up or simply get lazy and fail to write, money is spent on things that don’t do much to move the label or the catalogue forward… Nik seems to be pretty much immune to screwing up, and the bands on the GTD roster are all producing great music. It’s a good fit.”

The band’s formation could not have happened at a better time for them, as Seattle is rediscovering its love of loud rock. Heavy bands are starting to pop up, and people like Christofferson are there to document the scene through his record label. Don’t think the timing isn’t lost on the band.

Dahlquist comments that “there seems to be a resurgence in loud music being played by people who can really get around on their instruments and tend to come up with interesting music — not definable by any genre specific title. It’s hard to tell if things are simply evolving as the years go by, when finally starvation and experience sets in and bands simply get better or quit, or if people are just saying, ‘Fuck it, I don’t want to sound like anybody’ right from the get go and start pursuing music with an alternative path in mind. Both? It’s refreshing to go out and know you’re going to hear some good music. At this point the bar has been set awfully high, because there really are so - Verbicide Magazine


Discography

Jan. 24th, 2012 - "Interiors" LP / CD

KEXP has played Ambulance Red, Terms of War, and Berlin Heart

Their first full-length Interiors was recorded by Greg Norman (Pelican, Russian Circles) at Electrical Audio, the Chicago-based studio built and run by Steve Albini. A vital blast of fierce, literate rock, it's a record that manages to bridge the sometimes cavernous divide between lovers of experimental, post-punk sounds and the fist pumping, devil horn flashing fans of metal.

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Bio

The word “Brokaw” stirs up all kinds of connotations. There’s the stern voice of reason held by news anchor Tom Brokaw, the expressive and colorful guitar playing of former Come/Codeine member Chris Brokaw…and now, the sound of one of the meatiest and meanest rock groups to emerge from Seattle, Washington.

“We chose the name because it’s simple yet has some very complex associations,” says Brokaw’s bass player Stuart Dahlquist. “And masculine which might reflect our music/composition process accurately.”

No one who has ever seen the band live would deny that they are a masculine group. The four members of Brokaw – Dahlquist, vocalist Mike Henderson, guitarist Rick Troy, and drummer Rich Medic – sweat and strain through every minute of their sets. Henderson often challenges the safety of his audience by wielding the mic stand over his and their heads, while the rest of the band churn out buzzing, brutal rock behind him. They burn so hot, you expect them to burst into flames at any moment.

And, yes, there is complexity to it as well. But we would expect nothing less from a group with the pedigree that Brokaw has. Dahlquist has worked with such iconic groups as Asva, Goatsnake, and Sunn 0))). The rest of the band are rock lifers in their own right, working in a variety of Seattle outfits like Hungry Crocodlies, Magnaaflux, and Hitshed.

But what makes the band so vital and so compelling how obviously they gel both on record and on stage. The members of Brokaw have been playing together “on and off for a very long time,” says Dahlquist. “I have been playing music with Rick for around 35 years, the two of us have worked with Mike since meeting at music school in 1984, Rich has been in and out of the picture for at least 10 years. We’ve been friends for a long time and have a great chemistry together, we all love playing music and it comes easily for us.”

You’ll hear right from the start of the band’s debut LP Interiors, to be released this fall on the new Seattle label Good To Die Records. Recorded with Greg Norman at Electrical Audio in Chicago, Illinois, Brokaw fed off the live current that runs through the band and the studio. Their hyperdriven barrage of sound pulls from the influences of the Amphetamine Reptile family (Melvins, Halo of Flies, Hammerhead, the Jesus Lizard), while acknowledging a wide variety of interests like the freeform ’70s work of Miles Davis and the swing of cheeky, literate Britpop band The Fall.

Live, on record, and in person, Brokaw put their backs, their hearts, and their balls into everything they do. They don’t ask you to do the same, just to pay your respects and enjoy every sweat-drenched minute of it. [RH]