The Brow

The Brow (formerly Brow Horn Orchestra) is a band from Fremantle, Western Australia. The recently reshaped band has transformed over the last two years in anticipation of new releases. Current members are Nicholas Owen (NDORSE), Ben Fear (Rogue Scholar), Karri Harper Meredith, Josh Ellis, Sam Timmerman, Josh Terlick, Talia Hart.

Biography

Nicholas Owen and Karri Harper Meredith started playing together in 2007 as a busking duo performing on the streets of Fremantle in the business district. Their initial and primary aim was to raise money for expensive musical equipment to add to their live show and over the year slowly built up an impressive array of instruments, lights and PA gear excessive to the band's member ratio. The pair's first big show was in a band competition AmpFest, a great networking tool for The Brow to pick up some other gigs with local bands.^[1] During this period the duo played largely jam based material and some early renditions of songs which evolved onto The Brow's touring repertoire. In 2008, the pair introduced two new members with Alex Vaughan aka Quills (or later to be known as Emcee Rezide) and guitarist / bassist Rhian Todhunter joining the band with an immediate goal to compete in a university band competition, (National Campus Band Competition). The four piece were moderately successful making their way through to the state finals, however made a bigger comeback the following year winning and went on to win the state final of the competition and were flown to the Gold Coast, Queensland to perform in the national finals at Sea World.^[2] During this time, the band expanded their lineup with members Sky Eaton (trumpet, vocals, synths) Angelique Ross (clarinet, tenor saxophone) and Lyndon Blue (violin, bass, guitar, vocals) also joining the band before winning the competition. Shortly after their return in late November 2009, live drummer Ben Lanzon joined the band and The Brow changed their name to The Brow Horn Orchestra.

Their first notable gig with the new lineup and name (and debut show for drummer Ben Lanzon) was performing at prominent community radio station RTRFM's 'Seriously Sound System' summer dance festival in December 2009^[3] where the band also debuted a track Goliath which went on to be their first leading single and remains a crowd favourite today. The band started to build popularity making other small local festival appearances including in January, The 2010 Western Australian Circus Festival ^[4] and a month-long residency at Leederville Hotel's infamous Funk Club in March 2010.^[5] During this period, members Lauren Todhunter (alto saxophone, percussion) and Jake Chaloner (electric guitar) also joined the band and Tuba player Wafi Zainal performed as a regular guest.

In May 2010 the band were nominated for an award at West Australian Music Industry Awards and were asked to play at the awards night. In line with this they received their first national recognition with a demo recording of their track Dreams Do Come & Go receiving airtime on Triple J ^[6] ahead of their performance at the 2010 WAMi Awards Night.^[7] On the awards night, the band won the industry nominated category Best Funk Act at the 2010 West Australian Music Industry Awards. In July 2010, Rhian Todhunter left the band with Jake and Lyndon taking on more bass and guitar duties. Later in the year in August 2010, the band won the prestigious Next Big Thing Competition which has seen acts such as John Butler, Tame Impala and Snowman rise to stardom through the competition.^[8] and to the critical acclaim from the local street press publications voicing that the band were Perth's next big thing whether they took out the title or not.^[9] During this period the band were taken on by JumpClimb Music and Management, an emerging events and management company who fell in love with the band after they played a show the team organised called Coopers Sunday Green which married the brilliant concept of lawn balls and live music. In October 2010 guitarist Jake Chaloner, not liking the continued electronic direction of the band, started making his other project playing in James Teague's band a priority before shortly leaving a few weeks later. In November 2010, the band won Best Live Act and Best Hip-Hop Act at the 2010 Perth Dance Music Awards^[10] whilst receiving Best Live Act again at the 2011 awards.^[11]

Over the summer of 2010 - 2011 the band grew further in popularity with a sold out debut single launch at Subiaco, Western Australia's Llama Bar^[12] and slots on big local festivals including Southbound,^[13] Nannup Music Festival,^[14] Future Music Festival, Hyperfest (2010 & 2011) and supporting a variety of nationally and internationally touring acts including playing to a sell out crowd on New Year's Eve supporting Atlanta hip hop outfit Arrested Development.^[15] During this time the band received further national airplay off their first official single release Goliath / Don't You Want To Sing Forever with both tracks receiving Triple J airtime with Goliath a favourite of the two requested in by listeners. In January 2011, The Brow Horn Orchestra were chosen as Triple J Unearthed Feature Artists for the week with their music showcased across the website and played on the station throughout the week.^[16] They also won a WAMi Award in 2011 for best music video with the win covered by Video Hits who interviewed the band on the awards night.^[17] (Australia'a longest running music video show) before the show ended shortly after.^[18]

The band released their debut EP in September 2011 ^[19] to a sold out 800 capacity crowd with numerous tracks off the record receiving airplay from national radio station Triple J, with single 'Every Single Day' played on medium rotation and later nominated for the Hottest 100 voting list.^[20] In November 2011 members Alex Vaughan and Lauren Todhunter left the band to have a baby together, start a family and focus on solo projects. Regular guest collaborator, Benjamin Fear then joined the band full time ahead of their December 2011 debut east coast tour taking up duties on guitar and vocals as an emcee. As the band's popularity and busy schedule continued over the 2011 / 2012 summer period, bass player and violinist Lyndon Blue left the band from a full time capacity to focus on his own group and main project Seams. A few months later, Sax / Clarinet player Angelique left the band to pursue study in Melbourne at a circus school. With a big change in the band's lineup into a condensed five piece format, the writing of the band's follow up EP found itself influenced by the changes in the band with a focus to become more production heavy on record.

The Brow Horn Orchestra spent the first few months of 2012 writing the new record "Two Fires" with the new core lineup and released the record late June with the leading single Fade to rave reviews from the press & Triple J.^[21] The EP was picked up by MGM Distribution ^[22] helping spread the music nationally across Australia and to the wider world which started receiving positive reviews through the media and blog sites.^[23][24] The band spent the rest of 2012 on several national tours supporting the Two Fires record whilst playing showcase gigs at music business conferences such as Fuse in Adelaide and BigSound in Brisbane.^[25]

After spending 2013 touring the record and playing a range of festivals and shows across the country, The Brow Horn Orchestra changed their name back to The Brow ahead of recording their next record. ^[26]

Band members

Current lineup

• Nicholas Owen — vocals, keyboards, arrangements, production
• Karri Harper Meredith — trombone, synths, percussion
• Ben Lanzon — drums, electronic percussion, triggers
• Sky Eaton — trumpet, synths, vocals
• Ben Fear — guitar, vocals

Guest Musicians / Fill Ins

Other guest musicians live / featured on various tracks:

• Alexandra Chetter — flute, vocals
• Chris Chen — bass, vocals
• Lyndon Blue (violin, bass, synths, vocals)
• Kaprou Lea (alto sax)
• Donovan De Souza (vocals)
• Jimmy 'lips' Murphy (trumpet)
• Minky Gardener (vocals)
• Shaun Thomas Cowe (drums, percussion)
• John Brown (drums, percussion)
• Shannon Booyens (trumpet)
• Wafi Zainal (tuba)

Discography

• "Two Fires EP" - EP - July 2012
• "Can't Afford This Way of Life" - EP - September 2011^[27]
• "Goliath / Do You Want To Sing Forever?" - December 2010

Compilations

• Music Feedback (2012) ("Fade")
• Kiss My WAMi (2011 / 2012) ("Goliath / Don't You Wanna Sing Forever? (Video) / Every Single Day / King (Video)")
• Next Big Thing 2010 Compilation CD (2011) ("Don't You Wanna Sing Forever?")
• Perth Sound & Found Compilation CD (2011 / 2012) ("Every Single Day / Fade")
• Hyperfest 2010 / 2011 Festival CD (2010) ("Goliath / Every Single Day / Can't Afford This Way Of Life")

References