Old Sea Brigade perform with special guests Wyldernesse and Muleskinner MacQueen at this week's RLC Bluegrass Thursday. Don't miss our weekly open bluegrass jam at 6pm before the show begins at 8pm.
$7 Adv – $10 Door
Doors @ 6 PM (pre-show open jam)
Go with your gut. Old Sea Brigade’s Ben Cramer grew up playing in bands since the 5th grade. “When I reached high school, I knew I wanted to make a career out of music,” he mentions. Much easier said than done, at the age of 24, Ben’s musical path has had time to mature, develop and reinvent itself a number of times. A pivotal moment came when he was introduced to producer Jeremy Griffith in the spring of 2009. “It was my junior year of high school and I was working an internship at a local recording studio. Jeremy was renting out one of the smaller rooms in the front and we immediately hit it off. He became like a mentor/role-model to me.”
After a series of events, in the spring of 2015, Ben found himself moving back home to Atlanta. In the last five years he had lived in five different cities while chasing different musical endeavors. “I decided to move home and ended up just locking myself in my parents’ basement trying to finish a bunch of half written songs I’d piled up.” Through the years, Ben would send Jeremy demos he’d finished. “I had always been playing in bands and never wanted to take the attention away from that with my solo career. I think I also struggled with the vulnerability of putting music out there that’s 100% something I created. Jeremy was pretty much the only person I trusted with sharing my music.”
In June of 2015, Ben ended up going down to Florida for five days to record five songs with Jeremy. This collection of songs turned into what is now Old Sea Brigade. Each song on the EP was first recorded bare bones with an acoustic guitar or piano and vocals. Everything else on the recordings was added later for texture. Ben states, “We wanted to make sure the core of each song shines through the most. The most important aspect of Old Sea Brigade is songwriting.”
“Over the years I always had a gut feeling that I needed to share my own music with a larger audience. I got tired of playing in bands that fizzled out or went in a direction I didn’t want to go,” Ben mentions. Though a new name, Old Sea Brigade is familiar with the musical landscape. With that familiarity brings a timeless element to Old Sea Brigade’s music. The vulnerability of the songs is meant to ignite emotion. The same gut feeling that was embraced in starting the band is the same gut feeling that attracts listeners. Old Sea Brigade brings classic songwriting to a modern era.
Old Sea Brigade Official Site
Old Sea Brigade on Facebook
Old Sea Brigade on iTunes
Seattle-based duo Wyldernesse combine a wide range of blues, folk, and international influences to create an exuberant musical experience built around a startlingly danceable beat. Their sound is characterized by the interplay of Emma Gies' nimble violin work with the rhythmic pulse of Micah Huang's guitar and foot percussion. They will be performing an immersive, continuous set for which they draw on original, cover and traditional material.
Born in the Foothills of North Carolina and raised up on these old songs. It's in my blood. Had I been born a hundred and fifty years ago, I'd be doing the same old thing as now...singing these old songs on some front porch in the hills.