Burden Brothers are a
hard rock band formed in
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, by
Toadies
Toadies are an American rock band formed in 1989 in Fort Worth, Texas, best known for the song " Possum Kingdom". The band's classic lineup consisted of Vaden Todd Lewis (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Lisa Umbarger (bass guitar), Darrel Herbert ...
lead singer/songwriter
Vaden Todd Lewis and
Reverend Horton Heat/
Izzy Stradlin
Jeffrey Dean Isbell (born April 8, 1962), best known as Izzy Stradlin, is an American guitarist. He was a co-founder and rhythm guitarist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, which he left at the height of their fame in 1991, and with whom he ...
drummer
Taz Bentley.
[Paoletta, Michael (2004)]
Singles: New & Noteworthy: Burden Brothers Beautiful Night
, ''Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'', July 24, 2004, retrieved July 19, 2010 The band currently consists of Lewis (Vocals/Guitar), Bentley (Drums/Vocals), and Casey Hess (Guitar/Vocals). The band went on indefinite hiatus since 2006, due to the Toadies reunion and other interests, but reunited to perform at the
Dia De Los Toadies
Dia De Los Toadies is an annual music festival organized by perennial headlining act Toadies. First held in August 2008 at Possum Kingdom Lake, the festival has subsequently been held in Glen Rose, New Braunfels, and at Panther Island Pavilion ...
music festival in September 2015.
History
Early years
Lead singer/songwriter for the band, Vaden Todd Lewis was recently coming off of a short-lived reunion of his platinum-selling 90s band Toadies, and after an unsuccessful album release and tour, the band once again broke up. Main members Taz Bentley and Vaden Todd Lewis were both residents of Dallas, and had met on tours, in which the Toadies and Reverend Horton Heat often played together. The two began jamming together, and eventually decided to start a band in 2002. They took their name from a sign on the side of a building in Dallas, with Lewis explaining "I Just like the connection of family and guilt associated together. It also kind of makes me think of brothers - like me and Taz doing it as a team".
After bad experiences with record labels, they decided to keep the band low-key, making tracks available via the internet, but soon received interest from local record labels.
The band released three
EPs which were recorded by Lewis and Bentley as well as a revolving door of other musicians. The EPs, titled ''
8 Ball
Eight-ball (also spelled 8-ball or eightball, and sometimes called solids and stripes, spots and stripes or rarely highs and lows) is a discipline of pool played on a billiard table with six pockets, cue sticks, and sixteen billiard balls ( ...
'', ''
Queen O' Spades'', and "
Beautiful Night", were released on Last Beat Records.
["New beats from Burden", '']Fort Worth Star-Telegram
The ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'' is an American daily newspaper serving Fort Worth and Tarrant County, the western half of the North Texas area known as the Metroplex. It is owned by The McClatchy Company.
History
In May 1905, Amon G. Carter ...
'', February 22, 2002 After warm reception to these EPs, and radio play of their promotional single "Beautiful Night" in Tulsa, Dallas, and Houston areas in heavy rotation, the band decided to release a full-length album. Thus, the band ended up keeping
Corey Rozzoni
Corey Rozzoni, also known as Rizzo, is an American musician and songwriter.Niki D'Andrea (29 July 2004)"Burden Brothers" ''Phoenix New Times''. He currently plays guitar for Nashville, TN based, Lights of Marfa.
Biography
Born in Kenosha, WI an ...
who worked with Clumsy, and Casey Orr who was famous for his work with
GWAR
Gwar, often stylized as GWAR, is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1984, composed of and operated by a frequently rotating line-up of musicians, artists and filmmakers collectively known as Slave Pit Inc. After the ...
.
After winning on-air "smash or trash" radio competitions in
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
for several weeks with a demo of "Beautiful Night", the single became added into heavy rotation in the area. The single spread fast into Dallas, Houston, and Tulsa radio markets, before the band signed with
Kirtland Records, an independent label run by studio engineer and former
Deep Blue Something drummer John Kirtland.
"Beautiful Night" won 'Best Singles' at the 2004 ''Dallas Observer'' Music Awards.
Their new album was to be produced by David Castell (Space Cadet, The Buck Pets), and was said to be a throwback to classic arena rock mixed with grunge, and a bit of modern rock. Lewis described the band's approach in 2002: "We pretty much decided that when we go into a club, it doesn't matter how many people are there, we're gonna make it 1977 arena-style. Not with the hair, hopefully, but we'll make it when rock was fun and big and cool."
The band released ''
Buried in Your Black Heart
''Buried in Your Black Heart'' is the first full-length album by Burden Brothers, after the release of multiple EPs. This was Burden Brothers' first recording with a solidified band lineup. The album was considered Burden Brothers' most successf ...
'' in 2003,
[MacNeil, Jason (2004)]
The Burden Brothers ''Buried in Your Black Heart''
, PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, f ...
, July 26, 2004, retrieved July 19, 2010 a hard rock throwback that many critics stated as "fresh, driving, and fun". The ''
Dallas Observer
''Dallas Observer'' is a free digital and print publication based in Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan ...
'' noticed the album was "early Soundgarden. Think 70's arena rock".
MTV said the album was "Tough, driving metal & head-bobbing arena rock". The album received fairly positive reviews, as they sighted it was fairly fresh, catchy, and fun, with a mix of sounds from "garage rock" to "murky grunge...that has a lot in common with Soundgarden or early
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, ...
."
Lewis described the album as "good old fashioned rock n' roll", and later stated that they "didn't take much risks recording the album". Led by lead single "Beautiful Night" (which charted at #24 on Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts) and follow-up single "Shadow", the band received national recognition, touring with bands like
Velvet Revolver
Velvet Revolver was an American hard rock supergroup consisting of Guns N' Roses members Slash (lead guitar), Duff McKagan (bass, backing vocals) and Matt Sorum (drums, backing vocals), alongside Dave Kushner (rhythm guitar) formerly of punk b ...
,
Papa Roach
Papa Roach is an American rock band from Vacaville, California, formed in 1993. The original lineup consisted of lead vocalist Jacoby Shaddix, guitarist Jerry Horton, drummer Dave Buckner, bassist Will James, and trombonist Ben Luther.
Aft ...
and
Finger Eleven
Finger Eleven is a Canadian rock band from Burlington, Ontario, formed in 1990. They have released seven studio albums (six as Finger Eleven and one as Rainbow Butt Monkeys), with their album ''The Greyest of Blue Skies'' bringing them into the ...
.
After the successful release of their debut album, the band recruited yet another guitarist in Casey Hess for their remaining tour dates and later, for the recording and tour for their second album,
Mercy
Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French ''merci'', from Medieval Latin ''merced-'', ''merces'', from Latin, "price paid, wages", from ''merc-'', ''merxi'' "merchandise") is benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a variety of ethical, relig ...
. During their extensive touring, the band recorded a live DVD, entitled RYFOLAMF.
Buried in Your Black Heart
''Buried in Your Black Heart'' is the first full-length album by Burden Brothers, after the release of multiple EPs. This was Burden Brothers' first recording with a solidified band lineup. The album was considered Burden Brothers' most successf ...
went on to sell over 100,000 records in the United States, and have become one of
Kirtland Records highest selling artists. The single "Beautiful Night" is used during
Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and were founde ...
games often to this day, due to the line "It's a beautiful night/to watch the Stars." The band won eight awards in the 2005 ''Dallas Observer'' Music Awards.
Mercy Years
In 2005, the band went back to the drawing board for their next release. They wanted to keep that fairly catchy, edgy sound, but this time, they wanted to take risks by experimenting more with their music. The recording sessions finished in early 2006, and in 2006, they released their newest album, ''Mercy''. The album was produced by Grammy award winning producer Joe Chiccarelli (The Shins, Beck, Hole, U2) and David Castell. Vaden Todd described the album as "moody". The album's lyrics approached the downfall of society and finding out "who you are at the core." The album includes unorthodox instruments for a rock group, such as strings, bells, etc. Mercy once again had a relatively positive critical and fan reception, which track "Everybody is Easy (We Sink/We Swim)" receiving moderate airplay across the country. "Shine" was also released as a single, but did not chart as well as "Everybody is Easy". The album "rocks your backside about 75 percent of the time" according to the ''
Fort Worth Weekly
''Fort Worth Weekly'' is an alternative weekly newspaper that serves the Greater Fort Worth area (all of Tarrant County and some of Denton County).
The newspaper has an approximate circulation of 35,000. It is published every Wednesday and featur ...
''.
However, the album did not sell as well as ''Buried in Your Black Heart'' and did not receive near as much promotion by their record label as their debut. The band did not have much of a successful tour for the album as well, and the commercial failure of the album was one of the many reasons for the departure of much of the band. The album has gone on to sell around 50,000-70,000 records in the United States, well below ''Buried in Your Black Hearts total.
Hiatus and Reunion
The band went on hiatus in 2006, with Lewis rejoining the Toadies and other band members moving on to other projects.
The band remained on indefinite hiatus until April 2015, when it was announced that the Burden Brothers would be playing at the annual
Dia De Los Toadies
Dia De Los Toadies is an annual music festival organized by perennial headlining act Toadies. First held in August 2008 at Possum Kingdom Lake, the festival has subsequently been held in Glen Rose, New Braunfels, and at Panther Island Pavilion ...
music festival to be held September 11–12, 2015 at
Panther Island Pavilion in Fort Worth.
The band performed at Panther Island Pavilion on September 12, 2015, in their first live performance since 2006.
Band members
Current members
*
Vaden Todd Lewis –
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...
,
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...
(2002–present)
*
Taz Bentley –
drums (2002–present)
*
Casey Hess
Casey Hess (formerly of Doosu and Jump Rope Girls) is currently one of the guitarists for the American rock band Burden Brothers based out of Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the ...
(formerly of Doosu and Jump Rope Girls) – guitar
(2003–present)
Former members
*
Corey Rozzoni
Corey Rozzoni, also known as Rizzo, is an American musician and songwriter.Niki D'Andrea (29 July 2004)"Burden Brothers" ''Phoenix New Times''. He currently plays guitar for Nashville, TN based, Lights of Marfa.
Biography
Born in Kenosha, WI an ...
(formerly of Clumsy) – guitar
(2003–07)
* Zack Busby (formerly of Slow Roosevelt, Halls of the Machine and
Only Crime) –
bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass gui ...
(2006–07)
*
Casey Orr
Casey may refer to:
Places Antarctica
*Casey Station
*Casey Range
Australia
* Casey, Australian Capital Territory
* City of Casey, Melbourne
* Division of Casey, electoral district for the House of Representatives
Canada
* Casey, Ontario
* Ca ...
(Currently with
Rigor Mortis
Rigor mortis (Latin: ''rigor'' "stiffness", and ''mortis'' "of death"), or postmortem rigidity, is the third stage of death. It is one of the recognizable signs of death, characterized by stiffening of the limbs of the corpse caused by chem ...
, formerly of Ministry,
GWAR
Gwar, often stylized as GWAR, is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1984, composed of and operated by a frequently rotating line-up of musicians, artists and filmmakers collectively known as Slave Pit Inc. After the ...
, Speedealer, Blohole, The Hellions, and X–Cops) – bass
(2002–05)
* Mark Hughes (
Baboon
Baboons are primates comprising the genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow baboon, the Kinda baboon and the chac ...
) – bass
* Mike Rudnicki (Baboon) – guitar
* Zach Blair (
Rise Against
Rise Against is an American punk rock band from Chicago, formed in 1999. The group's current line-up comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist Tim McIlrath, lead guitarist Zach Blair, bassist Joe Principe and drummer Brandon Barnes. Rooted in ha ...
, GWAR,
Hagfish
Hagfish, of the class Myxini (also known as Hyperotreti) and order Myxiniformes , are eel-shaped, slime-producing marine fish (occasionally called slime eels). They are the only known living animals that have a skull but no vertebral column, ...
) – guitar
* Josh Daugherty (Dovehunter, Pinkston, Earl) – guitar
Discography
Albums
*''
Buried in Your Black Heart
''Buried in Your Black Heart'' is the first full-length album by Burden Brothers, after the release of multiple EPs. This was Burden Brothers' first recording with a solidified band lineup. The album was considered Burden Brothers' most successf ...
'' (2003)
*''
Mercy
Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French ''merci'', from Medieval Latin ''merced-'', ''merces'', from Latin, "price paid, wages", from ''merc-'', ''merxi'' "merchandise") is benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a variety of ethical, relig ...
'' (2006)
EPs
*''
Burden Brothers'' (2002)
*''
8 Ball
Eight-ball (also spelled 8-ball or eightball, and sometimes called solids and stripes, spots and stripes or rarely highs and lows) is a discipline of pool played on a billiard table with six pockets, cue sticks, and sixteen billiard balls ( ...
'' (2002)
*"
Queen O' Spades" (2002)
*
"Walk Away" / "Jailbreak" Split 7" with
Supersuckers (2005)
Singles
Live DVDs
*''RYFOLAMF (Rock Your Face Off Like A Mother Fucker)'' (2005)
References
{{Authority control
Rock music supergroups
Musical groups from Dallas
Musical groups established in 2002
Musical groups disestablished in 2007
Musical groups reestablished in 2015
2002 establishments in Texas