Brothers Past are an indie-electronic band from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

that has been called "one of the most talked about independent acts in the nation." Since forming in 2000, the band has released three records and one EP, including the critically acclaimed

This Feeling's Called Goodbye This may refer to: * ''This'', the singular proximal demonstrative pronoun Places * This, or ''Thinis'', an ancient city in Upper Egypt * This, Ardennes, a commune in France People with the surname * Hervé This, French culinary chemist Arts ...

(SCI Fidelity Records) in 2005. The band has performed across the United States and Canada including appearances at

Bonnaroo The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is an American annual four-day music festival developed and founded by Superfly Presents and AC Entertainment. Since its first year in 2002, it has been held at what is now Great Stage Park on a farm in M ...

, SxSW, Wakarusa and Langerado. Brothers Past has been featured in ''

Relix ''Relix'', originally and occasionally later ''Dead Relix'', is a magazine that focuses on live and improvisational music. The magazine was launched in 1974 as a handmade newsletter devoted to connecting people who recorded Grateful Dead concert ...

'' and their self-released albums have been reviewed in Urb Magazine, ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'', ''

Philadelphia Daily News ''Philadelphia Daily News'' is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper is owned by The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC, which also owns Philadelphia's other major newspaper ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''. The ''Dail ...

'' and ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

''.

History

The band was formed in 1998 by Tom Hamilton (

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 without ...

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 stri ...

), Tom McKee (

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

s, vocals), Clay Parnell (aka "Parnstar,"

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 ...

, vocals), and Rick Lowenberg (

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s). Hamilton and McKee have worked together since May 1998. After moving into a house together outside of West Chester, PA, the four musicians began writing material influenced by various elements of electronica (drum and bass, jungle, dub and house music.) The band began a Thursday night residency at Rex's in West Chester, PA, where it performed weekly for almost two years, manned by Sean Ford on the sound, building a small but dedicated following of fans. Not long after, the band began touring the East Coast and performing at regional festivals. Since then, Brothers Past toured nationally across the United States, playing more than 800 shows since their 2000 formation, including appearances at

Wakarusa Wakarusa can refer to several things in the United States: * Wakarusa, Indiana * Wakarusa, Kansas * The Wakarusa River, a tributary of the Kansas River * The Wakarusa War, part of the Bleeding Kansas violence before the American Civil War * Wakarus ...

and

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

. In the middle of 2006, it was announced that Lowenberg would be leaving the band to pursue

environmental law Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the manage ...

and that Ilya Stemkovsky, formerly of OM Trio would take over for him. Stemkovsky performed with the band until Dec. 31, 2007, when the band announced a hiatus to focus on other interests. Hamilton and Parnell both turned their focus to side projects—Hamilton embraced his love of songwriting with the Americana-tinged stylings of

American Babies American Babies are an indie rock / Americana (music), Americana band from Philadelphia that is led by guitarist and producer Tom Hamilton Jr., Tom Hamilton. Since forming in 2007, the band has released three full-length records and two EPs. The ba ...

and Parnell began working with world-renowned drummer

Johnny Rabb Johnny Rabb (born February 29, 1972) is an American drummer, author, inventor, and teacher. Life and career As a product specialist for Roland V-DRUMS, Rabb has performed around 70 international clinic dates per year. He endorses several compan ...

as part of the drum and bass duo Biodiesel. McKee began teaching piano at the School of Rock in Downingtown, PA where he currently works as the school's Music Director. After a one-year hiatus, the band returned to the stage (with original drummer Rick Lowenberg) at a New Year's Eve performance on December 31, 2008 at The Note in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The show sold out in less than 30 minutes. In October 2010, Brothers Past celebrated its 10-year anniversary and marked the occasion with the announcement of a digital box set release entitled Everything Must Go. On the 10th of every month, a new studio track and a previously unreleased

soundboard recording A soundboard recording is a sound recording of a concert taken from a direct connection to the soundboard at the venue. Soundboard recordings are considered to be among the highest quality bootleg recordings of live performances though some soundb ...

of a special show from the band's ten-year history is released via the band's website. In 2012 Brothers Past self-released their 3rd studio album entitled "Everything Must Go 0111." Brothers Past has since taken another hiatus after playing their last show on 08/23/2014 at Camp Barefoot. There was no mention of the hiatus or official address from the band, but their website has since gone out of service. All members are currently working on their own projects.

Discography

*2001 ''Elements'' self-released *2003 ''A Wonderful Day'' self-released *2004 ''statEPolice'' self-release EP *2005 ''

SCI Fidelity SCI may refer to: Companies * Service Corporation International, an American funeral service provider *Shipping Corporation of India *SCI Systems, merged into Sanmina Corporation, electronics manufacturing *SCi Games, a video game developer Org ...

*2012 "Everything Must Go 0111" self-released

References

External links

Brothers Past
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

*
Interview with Brothers Past on TheWaster.com
{{Authority control Jam bands Livetronica music groups Musicians from Philadelphia Musical groups established in 2000 Progressive rock musical groups from Pennsylvania