Alan Evans Playonbrother

Thu. Jan 15, 2015 at 9:00pm EST
21 and Over
Price: $12.00
21 and Over
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Event Stats
Price: $12.00
21 and Over
Event Description

21+ / Doors at 8pm / $12 in advance / $12 day-of-show


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Alan Evans– the co-founder, co-writer and drummer of Soulive– has established himself as one of the better known and most influential drummers and musicians of his day. His storied 25+ year touring and recording career has been marked by highlights such as touring with The Rolling Stones and Dave Matthews Band, being on the front cover of Japan’s edition of GQ magazine and literally receiving the key to the city of his hometown of Buffalo, NY. From his early work with seminal jam-funk band Moon Boot Lover into his acid-jazz / boogaloo phase with Greyboy All-Stars and as an ambassador for soul/jazz through Soulive, Alan Evans has been a stalwart purveyor and steward of the groove. Thus, some express a bit of surprise when they learn that Alan has returned to his rock roots with his new band Playonbrother. For Alan, however, it is no mystery. Rock music, from Cream to AC/DC to Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin has been a part of his musical DNA from the beginning, and his new “electrified soul rock & blues” band reflects his passion for rock’s pioneers. With Danny Mayer on guitar and Kris Yunker on B-3 and keys, the trio’s sound proves hard-driving and elemental, but for the music lovers gathering to listen and dance, the sound is in no way foreign— just maybe a little unexpected. Based on the blues that all of the classic rock depended on for inspiration, Playonbrother’s originals reflect some of the funky, rhythmic counter-play that many associate with Alan Evans’s other projects, but there is a deeper, darker power behind the melodies, a stark simplicity to the arrangements, and— on top of it all— Alan’s soulful singing voice that had been buried behind the groove for far too long. With Nothing To Say, the first full-length studio effort from Playonbrother, Alan Evans shows that he certainly has something more to say, and he says it in a new and somewhat unexpected way…


The new Playonbrother album, Nothing To Say (April, 2015), was recording in between 2009 and the Spring of 2014. That’s a little longer than it takes to record most records, but Nothing To Say is as much about the process of writing it and Alan Evans’ own artistic journey as it is about anything else. The original intention of the earlier sessions was to record some ideas for the Alan Evans Trio— the pre-cursor to Playonbrother— that could be developed over time. These initial instrumental tracks took shape as Alan worked on them in between tour dates with Soulive, recording sessions he was producing for other artists and his new trio’s expanding schedule. Says Alan of the rough, instrumental tracks that became fully clothed songs for Playonbrother, “none of the tunes were ever meant to be instrumental— it just took me a while to find the right lyrics.” This is a key point aboutNothing To Say: Alan’s process includes taking fragments and rough tracks and working them out for awhile. This approach lead to him playing bass on much of the record and a lot of guitar tracks, as well, as ideas would take shape as they came to him, which wasn’t always during scheduled recording sessions or practices. Through those years between 2009 and early 2014, these rough sketches were worked out on the road, and new riffs and melodies emerged, all documented in Alan’s studio during late night solo recording missions or with Playonbrother guitarist Danny Mayer and the band’s former Hammond B-3 / keyboardist Beau Sasser. Alan puts it pretty simply. “When I get in the groove of writing, I never think about where there tunes will end up. That just gets in the way of the process. The amazing thing is, the older, incomplete songs meshed beautifully with the new songs. It all came full circle I guess.” As the record concept began to take shape, Alan decided to shake it up a bit and record some of the more fully-formed songs in a friend’s empty house in Belchertown, MA that they dubbed “Samgrala”. The finishing touches on these tracks and the balance of the record was recorded with the new keys player, Kris Yunker. Through the passage of time, a lot of tour dates and a significant line-up change, Alan’s vision for Playonbrother crystalized into the unapologetic rock band that he leads today. Nothing To Say is the result of a veteran musicians’s return to his roots, and it may just be coming at the cusp of a rock revival.

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Thunderbird Cafe 4023 Butler St
Pittsburgh, PA 15201