Roger Zee: How did the unBrothers band form?
John Freund: I've known John Alden for years. We have a lot of history in cover bands, original bands, and recording
projects. Then we took a holiday. Other than my contributions to his solo album "Dreams Don't Lie" and his to my records by
"Bigger than a Breadbox," we didn't play much together during the 2000's. At the end of the decade, we
tossed the ball around about a "Zeppelin" tribute band because the dude can sing "Led Zeppelin!" Well, that didn't happen. So instead,
we formed a trio with drummer Paul Finbow. John sang and played guitar. Paul also sang backup and some lead. And I played Hammond
and kicked the stix (pedals) for bass and sang -- just like I did in "Bigger than a Breadbox." We wanted to do old-school R&B,
Classic and Modern Rock and avoid the tunes that've been beaten to death. We also figured we'd throw in a few originals since
both he and I write songs.
Continuing to put the pieces together, Paul knew Dave Gellis who wanted to do something fun when off the road with "Blood, Sweat and Tears." John deferred main guitar duties to him. When I felt ready to experience the liberation of working with a bass player again, Dave said, "I know a guy." And so we brought in his brother Jeff Gellis, thereby ironicizing the name of the band. Dave Hirschberg came in after Paul and made it three lead singers. He also made us five guys with three names -- two Johns, two Daves, and two Gellis'. We use initials a lot and point at each other to avoid confusion.
Roger Zee: How did you pick the name "unBrothers?"
John Freund: I joke when I say that picking a band name almost killed us in utero. Well it certainly almost killed me! You're a musician, Roger. You know picking a band name is like shearing a sheep with hot wax -- with me as the sheep! Frankly, I got frustrated with my fine-friend John for shooting down every idea I came up with or telling me that some band in Peoria already used that name. OK, that last part wasn't his fault (laughs). I finally got fed up and sent him a stream-of-consciousness list that included the last sentence, "Seriously, let’s just call ourselves 'The Beetles' or 'Elvis Parsely'. I give up." Then I remembered a Blues band of white guys called "The Almost Brothers Band." I found that self-effacing and hilarious -- my favorite combination! And so I sent John "unBrothers." I think John responded by calling me a "Genius." Or maybe "Well, that one doesn't suck." I can't remember because my PTSD has blocked out this part of my life. Ha ha.
Roger Zee: Where did the mashup concept come from?
John Freund: It actually hatched with the instrumental group "Xmembers" that I co-founded in NYC in
the Nineties. We started off doing a lot of Booker T. and Meters, and then decided to take the initial concept and put our own
spin on it. We all enjoyed a sense of humor and a perverse respect for the source material. So we spawned Reggae versions
of Metal tunes, Metal versions of Abba tunes, and a SoCa version of a Nirvana tune. Then we took on the musical equivalent of
a meth habit and started mashing songs together like "Walk On By the Whipping Post" and "Jesus Christ Superfly" until one of our
musical meth-head friends asked us to play their wedding -- on the condition that we concoct "Sunshine of Your Love Boat."
Somewhere I have a recording of "Xmembers" playing it at the Bitter End and you can hear someone in the audience call out, "You guys
need counseling." That was John Alden. Dreams don't lie and neither do I. So the unBrothers also embraced the mashup concept
but with vocals, lots of vocals.
Roger Zee: Speaking of vocals, it seems virtually everyone in the band sings lead. How does that work out?
John Freund: Be careful about using that word, "virtually." It may seem that way because I sing lead, drummer
Dave Hirschberg sings lead, and John Alden has like eight different ways he can sing lead. But the Gellis brothers sing backup.
While we had already hatched the "Love/Stairway" mashup as a trio with vocal intensive songs when Dave Gellis joined, I
must give Dave credit for pushing us into more adventurous singing stuff. Dave Hirschberg coming onboard provided another front-end
asset. A couple of years ago I pushed him to come out from behind the kit so he could enjoy singing and I could get behind the kit
and dig that! I only let him back behind the drums because he's a righty and I'm not! How does it work out? Great! The cool thing's
that we're not in our twenties anymore. We know when to step up and when to step back. It's just the greatest thing to share the
lead vocals with these two guys. Everybody gets a break and it always sounds good -- a real ego-less luxury.
Roger Zee: Where does the band usually perform?
John Freund: Earth, always on earth! We do get offers from elsewhere, but travel's a disaster because we all suffer from
horrible motion sickness at 3G. Plus it's really hard to play drums in low gravity. We're based in Bergen County, NJ,
which sometimes feels like living in space, a very crowded space. And thanks to the support of Peter Riekstins,
love that guy at Pete's Saloon, love that place, we've found a second home in Westchester. Our circuit now consists of
Debonair Hall (Teaneck NJ), Just Jakes (Montclair NJ), Twin Door Tavern (Maywood NJ), Mason Jar (Mahwah NJ),
The Place (New City NY), Pete’s Saloon (Elmsford NY), Saxon Grill (Mamaroneck NY), and The Hudson Room (Peeksill NY).
We also play corporate gigs and private parties when they want our kind of quirk!
Roger Zee: Describe your most enjoyable and/or unusual gig.
John Freund: Because I play Hammond organ, I really enjoy gigs without stairs! As far as the type of event
(pauses to scratch chin), well, there's magic in any situation. We play private parties for a couple dozen and at Debonair Music
Hall for a couple hundred. Performing rock music energizes us. It's like musical karma. Push that energy out
and it flies back tenfold! So, I guess the most fun's to play to a dense crowd, regardless of size, because the energy's
just ready for something, anything. What a great position to find ourselves in! For a musician, connecting means everything. We're
putting together a concert show for community theaters. You will still get to hear your favorite unBrothers' abominations, but
we'll mix in elements we can't really do in a club setting. Sadly, there will be no magic tricks or explosions.
Roger Zee: Tell me about band members' musical side projects.
John Freund: Dave Hirschberg does a couple of acoustic side things. One's with Dave Gellis and our friend Dave dePinto.
Hirschberg posted on Facebook looking for a name and I asked, "Is there a reason why you're not calling this, "Daves Not Here?"
Apparently not. As much as I hate naming groups, apparently I do it well. Dave's got another acoustic project, "Plenty
of Excuses", a tribute to Alice In Chains, which features our sound guy on bass, Phil Sosinsky. I had nothing to do with naming
that one. I play solo gigs on guitar and piano including spoken word stuff (snap your fingers!) Living room concerts work
best for this. No PA and I get to hang with the audience. Intimate. Jeff, Dave H. and I also put together a trio that plays covers
and some of my original material. Most of us do a variety of sideman and pick-up gigs in various configurations. Monogamous we're
not!
Roger Zee: What advice do you give up and coming musicians?
John Freund: Don't take advice from older musicians. Their music business isn't yours. I teach a few students and just
encourage them to be themselves. For some people, writing Pop comes naturally. For other people, it's Prog Rock.
Regardless of genre, we need to develop ourselves, even if it takes decades. Even if we achieve success early. And especially if
we achieve success early. Quite honestly, seeing these super-talented
young teens on network talent shows getting development deals at fourteen drives me crazy! What's left of the music business still
and will always remain very self-interested and predatory. That kind of influence and pressure can derail a budding artist from
finding their creative voice. Life's spiritually hard when you peak in your twenties! Don't make it a goal.
Roger Zee: How do you see the future of the music business?
John Freund: With everyone standing over it and throwing flowers! Having said that, I'll repeat what I said before. The
older generation's music business continues to morph and is no longer the older generation's. "The times,
they are a-changing." We've talked about this among the unBrothers. Our process requires keeping a realistic view of our
musicianship and continuing to try and contribute to the musical dialogue of the community, while simultaneously allowing
ourselves to morph and react to what's happening. Narrowly targeted corporate marketing makes it harder to discover things we
didn't know we would like. On the other hand, in the real world, it becomes more about what differentiates you, and how well you
grab someone's short attention span and keep it. There remains support for small gigs by niche artists that you can see live for
small money. And online, there's a lot of very creative, multi-media Internet artists ("YouTubers").
A couple of my young students don't listen to the radio, don't buy CDs or even MP3's. Youtube and streaming services appear the
new thing. It's scary for some of us, read older people, yet for young people, it's Wednesday. As long as fans of any age
come to see unBrothers, everybody else can have their thing. And if not, everybody else can still do their thing!
©2018 Roger Zee