The Brew At Halverson’s September 8, 2012

Words by Tim Lewis.

Still happily glazed from Vedora’s show Friday, I worked a 9-5:30 shift on Saturday. At one point late in the afternoon a pretty intense storm blew through. The heavy wind and rain did not last long and the weather cleared right before it was time to walk home. Cool.

I walked in the door at 5:45 and Mike said that Chris and Rich stopped by and were going to see the Brew. I had heard of them, but did not know a lot about them, and did not know they were in town that Saturday. The show was supposed to be on the top block of Church st, but the storm had moved it inside.

Instead of rushing out the door, like I did Friday, I ate a bit, then checked the weather. There was some light rain, but the heavy stuff had passed. I donned the black and headed downtown On Elmwood at the edge of the cemetery, a large tree had partly come down. It looked like it was split in four pieces, with a serious chunk hanging over the sidewalk. I thought maybe lightning had hit it, but there was so charring. It must have been the wind that took it down.

I quickly finished the walk and ducked into Halverson’s. I went out to the back and found that they have a nice enclosure there. There were a couple of steps up to a smaller “room” where the band were set up and playing. I hung back behind the railing, and my friends, so I could stand without blocking anyone’s view. I listened.

The Brew are a four-piece, guitar, bass, drums, and keys. They sounded pretty nice, but it took me a couple of songs to shake off the work day and get into the music. Their mellow rock sound had elements of funk and pop, and the playing was pretty sweet. At times the guitar showed a bit of muscle, but for the most part, it was four guys playing some well crafted songs. I only caught a half a dozen, and seemed to like them more with each passing song. They did not have the sonic firepower that Vedora unleashed the night before, but their elegance charmed me. I’d like to catch them again and see a full show. I don’t think they converted me to the cause, but they did catch my interest. We will see where it goes in the future.

After the show we hung out a bit and chatted with the keyboard player. He seemed like a nice guy. But, after they packed up, we headed out. There is something so wonderful about randomly catching new music. Burlington is great for that sort of thing, and that’s what I love most about living here. Yea, Burlington music scene!

This post was originally published by Tim Lewis at his personal blog, https://timstriangletribune.wordpress.com.