Bruiser: Dan and I (Clarke) have been playing in different projects together on and off for about 10 years. Running the gamut from "Jam Bands" to studio projects and all forms of rock in between to varying success. Our goal was to invent "Bruiser" even if we didn’t have the exact name or line-up… we've always been working towards attaining no frills rock and roll with enough energy to knock the fat off of Santa…which we believe we have now achieved.

Angel: What plans does the band have for this year?

Bruiser: We are currently shopping our album and lining up as many tour dates as possible. The goal for the year is to gain as much exposure as possible with the right audiences, and to perpetuate our agenda of world domination (is that saying too much?)

Angel: Do you have an album out? Where can we find it?

Bruiser: We currently do have an independently-funded, full-length album recorded, but it is in the process of being shopped, and as such it is not commercially available…yet. However, as an alternative, if you make it out to a show we always have samplers to give out free of charge. We continuously change the tracks on the sampler, so in essence you can actually get the entire album over a period of time. You can also visit MySpace or Pure Volume where our songs are available as well, or you can just e-mail us and beg and we might send you a full copy.

Angel: What is it about each member that makes Bruiser what it is?

With Bruiser it’s just the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. We all have a solid background in Rock, it’s what we do, and it’s how everything we play comes out, even though we’ve all taken vastly different roads to get to the same place. Joe cut his teeth playing old blues tunes and swing stuff, as any drummer should. Dan is a classically trained pianist and one hell of a producer/engineer and Clarke is a well rounded student of the jazz/funk realm. So we all bring these different little flavors to throw into the stew. None of them are the main ingredient, but rather a collaboration of these different takes on things…these extra little spices that make this [Bruiser] better and don't dilute the original intention to just go out and play real rock. There are a lot of subtleties that go unnoticed because we play so damn loud, but if you listen closely they're sort of hanging out down there in the undertones, seeing if anyone cares enough to pick them out. Just know that we all take great pride in finding different ways and angles to sonically punch you in the babymaker.

Tour Dates:

Just keep checking myspace.com/bruisermusic for constant updates, as soon as we confirm shows we post them to let you know.

Links:

You can find pretty much any information you need about us from myspace.com/bruisermusic. bruiserband.com is currently undergoing an overhaul so you can check that sporadically and you should check out uptownrecording.com, a great Chicago studio.