Travel and Leisure with Southern Indiana’s Brick Briscoe

by Mike Adams

Brick Briscoe is a composer, filmmaker and photographer. He sometimes writes things that have nothing to do with those things as well. Odds are you will cross his path sometime.

His new record, Travel and Leisure is his sixth LP and his fourth as a solo artist. Taking on the task of painting sound and song with the most electric, deep colors available isn’t something that just anyone should try at home but after testing the tides of both Los Angeles and New York City, Briscoe found both solace and fire in the soft rolling plains of Indiana. Home.

This soft-spoken yet hard-driven man still claims to be a fan first and foremost. Days of post-punk vinyl and the emerging indie film wave, CBGB’s, Wire, The Beautiful South, Gang of Four, The Jam, and Stan Ridgway have left an indelible mark. Those passing by the studio will also hear Mahler, Monk and the Mekons. His tastes are as eclectic as his releases.

In the recent past Brick has produced Molly D, Matt Sullivan, Machines from Birth, Denise Dill, Orenda, Namaste, dozens of commercials, a few EPKs for bands, photographed a slew of bands and clients and made a few feature documentary films.

If you find yourself lost, on the mean streets of Anywhere, USA, and are seeking a warm place to record and a cool glass of bourbon, Brick’s waiting on the porch. Although we hear he's now on wine and scotch these days.

Briscoe will be performing an unplugged show Friday March 16, 2012 at The Cherry Ghost in Washington, Indiana, with multi-instrumentalist Ray Major to help promote his new record, Travel and Leisure. Briscoe has decided to perform some solo shows right off the top as a means to more economically hit the road.

“We did a band CD release show and I think the drummer chickened out when it became clear that there was going to be a demand for shows”, says Briscoe. “I can't waste time on it, it seems we found a replacement guy, but I had several shows re-booked as solos gigs. I have found that this particular instrumentation really fleshes out the songs. Ray fills in deftly where keyboards and

another guitarist would be overkill.”

Briscoe explains that his new record, Travel & Leisure, is about recovery… “It is really about feeling out of place and having a job like I have where no one really understands what you do,” says Briscoe. “I think most people think I'm on vacation, but in actuality after speaking to people about these feelings I came to find out that everyone thinks they are out of place. So that's it in a nutshell, folks looking how to fit into a world where no one does. We’re all just floating around hoping to meet someone in the hotel bar.”

Come out Friday night and enjoy this live, mostly acoustic performance featuring Brick Briscoe performing with multi-instrumentalist Ray Major on violin, viola, banjo and God knows what else at The Cherry Ghost Coffee House, 424 E. Main Street, Washington, IN, phone 812-486-7927. Doors open at 7:00 p.m.

Brick will be performing songs from each of his releases. The event will be filmed by Chicago's Sureshot Productions for an upcoming Ustream event.

The show starts sometime after 8pm and before 8:30. Brick and Ray will play for around an hour or so. Rock-n-Roll time you know.

Get Brick Briscoe's new record, Travel & Leisure: http://brickbriscoe.bandcamp.com/

Watch video for Brick Briscoe's song "Full Moon Chicago"