A Grand Concert
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Brody & The Busch
Rd Trio
Invades Fischer Hall
Mach Schau
Eric ‘Brody’ Braeutigan
vocals, rhythm guitar
Derek Burk, lead guitar
Josh Rodhammer, bass
guitar
Cody Little, drums
Brody is the
alter ego of Eric Braeutigan, the erstwhile leader of the band. Though the
Busch Rd Trio are relative newcomers to the mid-Michigan scene, they gained a
sizeable following in a very short time. The band formed in the summer of 2009
and released We Are Just Visiting in 2012. It was their first full length LP
and it signaled a remarkable period of growth in musicianship and overall craft.
It was an inspired and triumphant body of music that marked their ascendance as
one of the best bands in Great Lakes Bay Region. As their reputation grew, the
band continued to hone their skills and experiment with sound to create new musical
territories. Not content to rest on their laurels, the band upgraded their
equipment, buying different amps, effects pedals and Bare Knuckle Pickups.
Brody purchased a Fender American Telecaster. They are experimenting with bass
tones, acoustic and electric and using flatwound bass strings to get better
tones. The drums anchor the rhythm section with a tight and consistent groove.
Cody is the band’s secret weapon. As the music evolved, their confidence grew
and they began to fashion more complicated music that took them outside their
comfort zone to a whole new vista of experimentation.
The band’s
influences sneak into their compositions from crazy shit Radiohead musings to
Dylan word play and Nirvana nineties alternative rock. They listen to great new
artists like the Black Keys and Gary Clark Jr. as well as the ancient blues and
soul of Wilson Pickett and Ray Charles. It’s an impressive melting pot of
influences, an intoxicating brew of rhythm, sound and fury.
The band
continues to record new songs with Andy Reed at Reed Recording Company. Braeutigan
says that sessions are different this time around as they experiment in the
studio instead of bringing in complete road tested songs. It allows creativity
to exert itself in the studio and allow songs to emerge like taking a hammer to
the anvil and fashioning something entirely different from the original spark
of an idea. There are several songs in the can at various stages of completion
and I was able to get my trembling mitts on several of the songs. It was like
the first time I bought a Beatles bootleg and waited with bated breath until I
heard those excavated treasures buried within the grooves. The songs are as
diverse as they are familiar. The band has come up with a formula ripped it
apart and reconfigured it to allow a whole new sound to emerge. Listen to the
Band…
Coming To
Fruition has a Nirvana-like vibe, quiet and loud with synth splashes, tempo
changes and a great backbeat. Braeutigan sounds like a cross between Caleb
Followill singing Use Somebody and Rob Thomas doing Unwell. Great stuff! God’s
Country Revisited is a stream of consciousness expose of the American
zeitgeist. It’s a song from the road, a highway blues that is accompanied with
some fierce acoustic patterns and pounding drums with some cool fat tones from
Burks’ lead guitar. Needs is a funky little number about carnal desires, hot
loins and sweaty athleticism between lovers that own the night. The guitar playing is sweet and tight. Burk
is capable of great harmonics and Braeutigan is squeezing the lemon with all
he’s got. Sing For My Supper is a slowed down minor chord exploration of the
chasm between craft and popular acclaim. The singer may have to sing with a
smile in his voice even if he’s doing Midnight Hour for the umpteenth time.
The show at
the historic Fischer Theatre marks the occasion of Eric Braeutigan’s 30th
birthday. It is the perfect venue for these Frankenmuth born and bred musicians. Theodore Fischer built Fischer Hall in 1894
with a vision of a wholesome place where “guests and entertainers could perform
in Frankenmuth and where residents of the city could meet.” Fischer was a
Freemason of Lodge#258 and painted a slogan in the arch over the Fischer Hall
stage, It read “Einegkeit macht Stark” (togetherness makes strength). The hall
was immediately popular and became the place to go for weddings, meetings,
funerals and graduation parties. It became the meeting place for the Gray Fox
Club, a popular men’s club that sponsored dances, raffles, kinos, raffles and
parties from 1889 until 1956. In 1950 the Zehnder family purchased the Fischer
Hotel and Hall. The hall was reduced to a homely warehouse for the Bavarian Inn
Restaurant. But in 1973, the Bavarian Inn began renovating the theatre and
opened a summer theater show called the Gaslight Revue. It was wildly popular.
In October 1986 the Frankenmuth Historical association moved Fischer Hall from
its location behind the Bavarian Inn to its present location on Main Street. In
June 1987 the renovations were completed and the Gaslight Revue entertained
visitors from all over America during the summer months. The Fischer Hall has
returned to its historical importance as a gathering place for Frankenmuth
residents, thousands of satisfied tourists as well as members of the
surrounding communities in the Great Lakes Bay Region of Michigan. It is a
lustrous reminder of a bygone era that was bawdy and boisterous as well as
respectful and good natured.
Brody & the Busch Rd Trio is part of the
young musical tribes that are helping to resurrect interest in original music
and to restore the Fischer Hall to its former glory as the #1 place in
mid-Michigan where entertainers welcome the public and celebrate life through
music, poetry and dance.
The show is
on Friday April 5th @ Fischer Hall at 613 S. Main Street in
Frankenmuth. Doors open at 7pm. Tickets are $20. The ticket price includes all
you can drink, a menu of a variety of beer from Sullivan’s Black Forest. The
lineup also includes Hell Toupee and American Underdog featuring Andy Reed.
“Drink to
me, drink to my health, you know I can’t drink anymore”
- Pablo
Picasso
Peace…Bo
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