The Millburns

For all intents and purposes, Baton Rouge band The Millburns emerged fully formed at the moment of its creation.

“The first time all five of us were all together was on stage,” said singer and guitarist Ben Nelson.

Nelson, who repatriated to Baton Rouge from New Orleans in 2012, returned to his hometown eager to expand the song list he was building in his mind.

“I had a batch of songs,” he said. “And I called our guitar player, Jason Bossier, and we got together and just started playing on them. We got in a drummer, Michael Lane, and the three of us were playing them for a while, not knowing what was going to happen.”

In addition to practicing with the unfinished trio, Nelson was also checking the temperature of the waters of the local music scene, “testing out the songs at open-mic nights around town,” he said. It was then that Millburns’ bassist John Mark Lowry entered the picture.

“That was the open-mic I was running at Schlittz & Giggles,” Lowry said. “Ben started coming really regularly, and it turned out that he was using that open-mic night to preview his personal songs to an audience, but in a very low-key kind of way.”

Then, in February, Nelson was contacted about opening for the Evangelistas and David Wax Museum at Mud and Water.

“I just got a text asking ‘Would you be interested in playing bass in this show I have lined up?’,”Lowry said. “But I don’t normally play bass; I majored in guitar.”

Ultimately, however, Lowry was convinced. “I just went to his house, and we ran through a couple songs, and it was a pretty immediate connection on a musical level,” Lowry said, “the same way personalities can click, but with music.”

With the addition of Ashley Cowart, who sings harmony, the quintet was filled in, and The Millburns came together for the first time under the gel-tinted lights of the Mud and Water stage.

Since then, stickers and other merchandise emblazoned with the band’s enigmatic emblem – the silhouette of a bearded man – have been making appearances all over the Baton Rouge area in a kind of guerilla branding initiative.

“They are all over the place,” Nelson said. “Be aware.”

Nelson would not name the inscrutable man whose image has been adopted by the fledgling band, instead mysteriously referring to him only as “The Face of The Millburns” or the abbreviated “The Face,” calling him the band’s “mascot, or figurehead.”

“Our branding in all aspects incorporates that face,” Nelson said, “almost exclusively, with very little else. If you watch the videos on The Millburns website, they’re not us. They’re him.”

But while the band’s videos are humorous, Nelson is quick to note that the band is serious about their sound.

“I would describe it as this sixties pop meets nineties rock - if Tom Petty had a hand in it,” Nelson said.

The Millburns are currently working on a full-length album with Building Studios, here in the capital city. The band has released a three-track demo that can be found on CDs scattered around the city at various businesses and hang-outs, consisting of the songs “Dizzy,” “Don’t You Wait,” and “Forget My Way” – just look for The Face’s silhouette.

Those same tracks can also be heard at www.TheMillburns.com, or you can see the band live when they perform with Captain Green at the Spanish Moon on Saturday, Sept. 14. - Dig Baton Rouge

For all intents and purposes, Baton Rouge band The Millburns emerged fully formed at the moment of its creation.

“The first time all five of us were all together was on stage,” said singer and guitarist Ben Nelson.

Nelson, who repatriated to Baton Rouge from New Orleans in 2012, returned to his hometown eager to expand the song list he was building in his mind.

“I had a batch of songs,” he said. “And I called our guitar player, Jason Bossier, and we got together and just started playing on them. We got in a drummer, Michael Lane, and the three of us were playing them for a while, not knowing what was going to happen.”

In addition to practicing with the unfinished trio, Nelson was also checking the temperature of the waters of the local music scene, “testing out the songs at open-mic nights around town,” he said. It was then that Millburns’ bassist John Mark Lowry entered the picture.

“That was the open-mic I was running at Schlittz & Giggles,” Lowry said. “Ben started coming really regularly, and it turned out that he was using that open-mic night to preview his personal songs to an audience, but in a very low-key kind of way.”

Then, in February, Nelson was contacted about opening for the Evangelistas and David Wax Museum at Mud and Water.

“I just got a text asking ‘Would you be interested in playing bass in this show I have lined up?’,”Lowry said. “But I don’t normally play bass; I majored in guitar.”

Ultimately, however, Lowry was convinced. “I just went to his house, and we ran through a couple songs, and it was a pretty immediate connection on a musical level,” Lowry said, “the same way personalities can click, but with music.”

With the addition of Ashley Cowart, who sings harmony, the quintet was filled in, and The Millburns came together for the first time under the gel-tinted lights of the Mud and Water stage.

Since then, stickers and other merchandise emblazoned with the band’s enigmatic emblem – the silhouette of a bearded man – have been making appearances all over the Baton Rouge area in a kind of guerilla branding initiative.

“They are all over the place,” Nelson said. “Be aware.”

Nelson would not name the inscrutable man whose image has been adopted by the fledgling band, instead mysteriously referring to him only as “The Face of The Millburns” or the abbreviated “The Face,” calling him the band’s “mascot, or figurehead.”

“Our branding in all aspects incorporates that face,” Nelson said, “almost exclusively, with very little else. If you watch the videos on The Millburns website, they’re not us. They’re him.”

But while the band’s videos are humorous, Nelson is quick to note that the band is serious about their sound.

“I would describe it as this sixties pop meets nineties rock - if Tom Petty had a hand in it,” Nelson said.

The Millburns are currently working on a full-length album with Building Studios, here in the capital city. The band has released a three-track demo that can be found on CDs scattered around the city at various businesses and hang-outs, consisting of the songs “Dizzy,” “Don’t You Wait,” and “Forget My Way” – just look for The Face’s silhouette.

Those same tracks can also be heard at www.TheMillburns.com, or you can see the band live when they perform with Captain Green at the Spanish Moon on Saturday, Sept. 14. - Dig Baton Rouge