18 year old blues whiz kid Oli Brown came to Ardent Studios with his band (The Oli Brown Band) this week to record and perform live as part of our Ardent Sessions series. The band came to Memphis all the way from The UK to take part in The International Blues Challenge, taking place on historic Beale Street throughout this week and into the weekend.
Check out breakthruradio.com on Monday for the full Ardent Sessions podcast, and in the meantime, check out the band's Web site at www.olibrownband.com.
The cool thing about watching Television on DVD is that you can skip all the annoying parts, especially the recap of the previous episode that is attached to the beginning of each show. The beginning of this article is akin to one of those annoying recaps – tailor-made for those of you just now tuning in. Anyone who is a longtime fan can fast-forward through the first few paragraphs.
What Made Milwaukee Famous was formed in Austin, TX in 2003. Named for the song originally made famous by Jerry Lee Lewis about Schlitz Beer, the original line-up included Michael Kincaid (vocals, guitar), John Farmer (bass), Drew Patrizi (keys and guitar), and Josh Vernier (drummer) who would later be replaced by Jeremy Burch. The foursome spent two years playing locally and experimenting with their sound – a contemporary blend of alt-rock and synth-pop. Their varied style dabbles in radio friendly choruses, but also explored the classic loud-quiet-loud song structures that have earned Kincaid many Jeff Buckley comparisons.
As the story goes, their lucky break came when Josh Rosenfeld of Seattle's Barsuk Records saw them at South by Southwest. This led to a slew of opportunities that led to many more. Their connection with Rosenfeld led to their opening for Arcade Fire during a warn-up show for ACL which led to them being in the right place at the right time when a spot opened up during the Austin City Limits Music Festival. After they signed to a management deal, they became the first band without a record label to play the Austin City Limits television show. Barsuk later signed them and re-released their self-released 2004 album Never Trying to Catch Up in 2006. When the album was released they became the darlings of the blogosphere and played Lollapalooza. It’s a scenario that every band dreams of, but one that rarely actually happens.
The band added guitarist Jason Davis last year as they began working on their follow-up disc, What Doesn’t Kill Us, which was released in March, again on Barsuk. Produced by the band and Sparklehorse guitarist Chris Michaels, the new album delves into a more contemplative and less happy-go-lucky side of the band, which makes sense considering the title. However, WMMF is certainly not afraid to hop, skip and jump across the indie-rock tapestry. The music is still varied in style and tone and Kinciad’s voice feels just as authentic enveloped in sing-along choruses as it does when wrapped in epic, heart-wrenching pain. The music can be earnest and thoughtful, but overall WMMF manages to not fall into the sad sap category of music that label mates Death Cab for Cutie have opted for on their latest endeavor. Instead WMMF have sprinkled the new disc with enough lighthearted fair for the listener to understand that just because you’ve have a bad day, it doesn’t mean it’s time to give up. Let’s not forget the second half of the well-known cliché is the “makes us stronger” part.
WMMF have already been on tour for most of the year, landing not only across the nation in mid-sized indie rock halls, but also at Washington’s Sasquatch and Tennessee’s Bonnaroo. They’ll continue touring through the end of the summer which will include a stop at Lollapalooza and they’ll end their tour with where it all started at Austin City Limits Music Festival. . If there was any band on the scene today that deserves the title “almost famous,” it would be hard to argue that band is not WMMF.
