4 • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MUSIC
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2002
No temptation of fame for Burden Brothers
By Amy Kelly
akelly@kansan.com
Jayplay writer
When a musician has "made it" by Billboard's Top 40 standards, leaving easy street behind and starting fresh might be a frightening thought.
But for Todd Lewis, vocalist for the now-defunct Toadies, the idea of cleaning the proverbial slate is working like a charm.
After the Toadies' bassist Lisa Umbarger left the band, Lewis was not quite sure if the music gig was worth the trouble anymore.
Luckily, Lewis found a new partner in Taz Bentley. The former drummer for the Reverend Horton Heat and fellow Texan seemed to share the same philosophy: Forget the corporate hassle and focus on the music. That's when the Burden Brothers emerged.
"I've known Taz for quite a long time," Lewis said. "We're both from Dallas and had done gigs together. We started to play together and it just seemed to work."
"We're really lucky in Dallas," Lewis said. "We have a great panel of musicians. We've even had Izzy Stradlin of Guns N' Roses come into the studio with us."
An ever-rotating array of musicians compose the rest of the Burden Brothers, with the latest tour including guitarists Josh Daugherty and Zach Blair and bassist Casey Orr.
Lewis said the abundance of quality musicians in his hometown of Dallas never ceased to amaze him.
The Toadies enjoyed success with the platinum album Rubberneck, but the Burden Brothers don't want the temptation of fame and wealth to get in the way of their songs.
Rather than waiting to get Interscope's approval to record a song, like Lewis had to do in the Toadies, the Burden Brothers can jump in the studio whenever the musical muse beckons.
"Our label, Last Beat Records, has a compound with two sides one for the studio and the other side has recording space," Lewis said. "We try to get into the studio and record one or two tunes at a time.
"We're really happy with the vibe and leaving it all open."
Contributed photo
After successful careers in the Toadies and the Reverend Horton Heat respectively, Burden Brothers Taz Bentley, left, and Todd Lewis are now simply enjoying the idea of making music for music's sake.
The initial singles have elements of the Toadies' sound, but Bentley's bluesy rhythms give the songs a groove all their own.
So far, the band's two fully completed songs are "Hang Your Head" and "Your Fault," which have been featured on a recent Buzz-Oven sampler CD. Future singles will be collected after the recording is completed and will be offered in packages that include T-shirts and stickers.
The Burden Brothers' sound is a departure from the Texans' former bands, but don't ask Lewis what that new style is yet—he's still trying to figure it out.
Other acoustic versions of the songs are available on the Web site, www.burdenbrothersmusic.com.
"We kind of change our playing every day," Lewis said. "This whole thing is a big experiment, really."
The Burden Brothers will perform at the Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St., on Saturday.
A meet-and-greet and acoustic performance will take place at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at 7th Heaven,1000 Massachusetts St. For show information, contact the Bottleneck at 842-LIVE.
- Edited by Sarah Hill