Along the way since starting spreading their special brand of masked mayhem and punk rock in 1998, they have gone through about 20 band members, have traveled all over the world, got in a couple fights challenged Jebb Fink to a wrestling match on live television, and got a man fired from the A-Channel after receiving complaints for being too “loud and scary.”
But the Browns have been laying low since releasing their last CD in 2004.
They’ve relocated to Medicine Hat, had songs placed in not only a horror movie “It Came From Trafalgar” and another song, “American Werewolf in Calgary,” in Tony Hawk’s new skateboarding video.“They actually contacted us and said they wanted to use the song, so they gave us a bunch of money and that was all right,” said Browns singer Charlie Brown adding they also had songs placed in a reality TV show about hairdressing.
“The Trafalgar movie is the only one that we actually pursued,” he said.
The band has also been busy been breaking in two new Browns — drummer Big Beautiful Baby Brucie Brown and bassist Kimbo Brown.
“Calgary’s too expensive. The only one wealthy enough to live in Calgary is Downtown Freddie Brown and he lives downtown, ” said Brown on the band’s relocation. Plus three of the Browns are from southern Alberta. Charlie Brown and Brucie Brown are from Medicine Hat while Kimbo Brown is from Lethbridge, which is why their first shows in two years with the new members were in Medicine Hat, Nov. 14 and in Lethbridge at Henotic with the Spastic Panthers , Nov. 21.
“We were going to record in 2008, but we had a change of plans . So 2010 is going to be a big year,” he said adding the band will have a new CD out and are working on a new tour. He said there was no need for the band to be on tour without something new to sell.
Freddie and Charlie have known Kimbo and Brucie for years, but had never played together, but they are fitting in very well.
“Any time you get a new drummer, it will affect the sound. He’s been awesome. He’s put a new twist on all of the old songs and is excited about new songs. And the bass player is writing a lot of songs, while I wrote most of the songs before so it’s been great to have a collaborator.”
The Browns like to joke around, which is apparent by a cursory look at their myspace page and blog.
“No, Freddie never played in Avril Lavigne’s band. That’s a joke, but she’s a big fan of us. When she was being interviewed on MuchMusic someone asked her what her favourite bands were and she referenced us. One of her guitar players was a big fan of ours so he must have put her onto us. I don’t know, but that was nice of her to say something like that on national television,” he said adding the rumour about getting someone fired from the A-Channel’s Big Breakfast show is true.
“We performed on the Big Breakfast twice. The first time our bass player challenged Jebb Fink to a wrestling match and he didn’t like that. But they brought us back, but they received a bunch of complaints
“ No. we haven’t mellowed out. If anything we’re more belligerent and a little bit more vulgar. And we’re not opposed to fighting people if they feel the need to. We’re all pretty tough. And we refuse to do encores. But we have really cheap merch.” he laughed adding they are looking forward to returning to Lethbridge as the band’s first gigs were here.
“We have a good time. We talk silly but it’s all in good fun. That‘s what keeps the band fresh after 10 years. We can still see the joke. When we started the band as a joke and now people like Tony Hawk are calling us. We’re a joke that never gets old,” he said.
— by Richard Amery L.A. Beat Editor
