Brook Pridemore transports you back to a time when folk music was starting out, back when it was just raw intensity on a guitar. His songs contain plenty of grit and struggle mixed in with well-honed chops and a solid confidence gained from years of playing throughout both NYC and basements and clubs around the world.
CS: What emotion do you intend for your music to provoke?
BP: It’s two emotions, really. I try to provoke joy and rage simultaneously. Although, when I try to provoke rage, it’s usually pretty funny, so I provoke laughter. And dancing, if dancing is an emotion.
When did you reach the turning point between mostly doing open mics and mostly doing shows? What caused that to happen?
I still play open mics every week, but more as a way to remain social, and keep myself in performing form than to get the word out about my shit. I play over two hundred shows a year (not including open mics), and gradually over time, have come to be invited to perform at enough “show” shows that I don’t use the open mic as my sole means of expression. I guess I went from mostly having a life to mostly doing shows, but I realized about two and a half years ago that, the busier I got, the better I felt about myself, my singing and my songs.
Where are your favorite spots to tour? Do you travel alone or with other musicians?
Recently, I have found myself saying pretty frequently that, if I could live anywhere in the US (I have toured the US extensively, but haven’t been to Europe yet) and money were no object, I would settle somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. I think the area west of Bozeman, MT and north of Eugene, OR (but specifically PDX, Olympia, WA, Bremerton, WA, Missoula, MT and Moscow, ID) is the most goddamn awe-inspiring landscape I’ve ever seen. Very lush, and the produce is fantastic. Unbelievable quality (and cheap) marijuana to be found in Oregon and Washington. I haven’t quite figured out how to leave New York yet, but when I do, I’ve got crosshairs aimed at somewhere out there.
If I had to pick a single favorite venue to travel to, as well as the fervor with which I look forward to the show, I would say it’s a toss-up between the 511 House in Florence, SC and the Tinderbox in Brattleboro, VT (R.I.P.). I hold the record for number of shows played at the 511 House by touring acts (currently five), and the friends there have put me up and made me feel like family since I met them in ‘07. The Tinderbox is the first place anyone ever crowd surfed during one of my sets. I played there nine times between August of 2006 and December of 2008. The Wonderroot in Atlanta, GA is creeping up on my preference list, if only for how well they treated me on my first visit, last fall. When I pull into a town I never been to, and the kids are already down with what I do and psyched to see me, I feel like I’ve been doing something right.
I typically travel solo, with another solo act on board. The length of the upcoming tour (ten weeks) is prohibitive to anyone going on the whole trek with me, so the first month will be Isaac Gillespie (current Sidewalk Cafe regular), followed by a month with Vikesh Kapoor (rad folkie from Boston), and finally, two weeks with Mutiny Amongst Friends (folk/punk darlings from Naugatuck, CT). I did two tours with my band, The Valley Cubs, last year, but, again, two and a half months is a long time for three dudes who live in the same apartment/performance space to be on the road.
What’s the latest news with your record label? Any new albums on the horizon?
I have just released my fourth album of original material, A Brighter Light, on Crafty Records. It dropped on 3/19/09, at the Brooklyn Lyceum. Serving also as the 10 year anniversary celebration of the label (founded in 1999 by Dan Treiber with Chris Martin as the flagship artist), all of the active bands on the label performed, and friends/family/fans from, I think, ten states were there to party.
Coming up later in 2009 on Crafty will be new releases by Guitar Bomb, Ivan Sandomire, The Sweet Ones, and our third annual comp, called, The State I Am In. Fitting in with Dan’s fixation with cool packaging (it is Crafty Records, after all), the comp will be packaged in die cut pieces of discarded license plates.
Tell us what the Brooklyn Tea Party is and how it all came about.
I had been living in Astoria for two and a half years, and was both bored to tears and broke from taking cabs all the time. I had, since moving here in 2002, bucked the idea of living in Williamsburg/East Williamsburg/Bushwick, thinking I was better than what I called the herd mentality that put all of the artists that I knew living out in “dangerous” Brooklyn neighborhoods. I took apartments in Jersey City, Harlem, Kensington, the Upper East and finally Astoria, sticking out like a sore thumb in all of those neighborhoods. Then, in 2007, I realized I’d rather be closer to my art center than to my job, and if I wanted to live in the suburbs, I could go back to Michigan. My roommates Dan, Rachel and Michael all had similar epiphanies at around the same time, so we went looking for cheap places to live. We ended up in this building (email brooklynteaparty@gmail.com for directions/calendar of events), the loft intact, minus the stage. In an effort to soundproof the room for the sake of the neighbors, we had the stage built for band practices. The logical conclusion that we should have shows extended from there. We have an average of two shows per month, for touring bands and our local friends.
Playing as many house shows in a year as I do, the most important aspect of the Brooklyn Tea Party to me is to take care of touring bands, and show everyone how a good house show is thrown. People who do good shows for me in their towns get invited to play here, anytime they pass through (if the schedule allows). Hopefully, good karma grows on good karma, and next time I go back to someone’s town who’s played here, they roll out the carpet. I’m a firm believer in the ideology that carpet-rolling should be based on talent, charity and goodwill, and not stepping on other people’s heads.
Catch Brook Pridemore this Tuesday, April 14 at 8pm at The Sidewalk Cafe on 94 Avenue A & 6th St. No cover, 2 drink minimum. After that, he heads out on a national tour for the next few months. Full schedule available on his myspace page.
Andrew Singer performs all over the NYC as comedic rapper “soce, the elemental wizard.” He has toured Europe and the U.S., and been featured on numerous media outlets, including MTV, VH1, Here TV, Logo, The Source, Out, Howard Stern and Sirius Shade 45.
Last 5 posts by Andrew Singer
- Vodka Shoes - March 4th, 2010
- Yisrael Campbell: Circumsize Him (Part One) - February 12th, 2010
- A Weekend of Arts and Leisure - January 4th, 2010
- Evan Morgenstern: A Really Nice Guy - August 27th, 2009
- Tonedeff: QN5's Mastermind - August 5th, 2009
