2005 Best R&B Performer
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51.53% Freak Brothers*
Others with Votes (more than one):
* On the ballot |
The uninitiated should know that The Freak Brothers are the result of several different guys who finally found each other after years of bouncing within a concentrated circle of horn-based funk, soul, jazz and R&B acts. The main lineup today consists of seven members (deep breath): Dan Mihuc, guitar/vocals; Adam Martin, bass; Brandon Rentfrow, sax/guitars/vocals; Adam Rudolph, drums/vocals; Matt Cashdollar, sax/flute/vocals; Dan Cappelli, sax/vocals; and finally Bryan Osborne, trumpet/vocals. Just before their Whammy night performance, Rentfrow, Rudolph and Cappelli sat down with whatzup to help untangle The Freak Brothers’ past, as well as give some insight on the local music scene and why the Whammys do matter. The liquor demographic “We all kind of filtered into the band one at a time,” Rentfrow explained. “Five of us were in a band years ago, which was called Always in the Fridge. We played funk and Motown covers. That band broke up, and we all kind of went off and did other things. Then some of these Freak Brothers guys started playing a weekly house gig out at Bill’s Bistro [now Mid City Grill] on Thursdays. They started off as real informal, you know, as kind of a gig to play on Thursday nights, and it just kind of blossomed, I guess.” Rentfrow, who joined the group about a year after their Bistro streak, continued, “It’s not like [the band’s founders] were even playing songs that the whole band knew. They didn’t get together to rehearse anything. That gig at Bill’s was there if they could get the music together. It was just something where if everyone happened to know the same song, they’d play it.” “It was completely spontaneous at that point,” drummer Rudolph said. “That’s what it was. Completely unrehearsed. We’d play a lot of standards - well our idea of standards - tunes that we’d all kind of know. Definitely when we first started, we’d do tunes that were a little bit easier to play, and let them develop loosely. That’s what we did.” However, improvisational public jam sessions were just the starting point for what would become one of the city’s most renowned acts. Rudolph said the initial idea for The Freak Brothers was as spontaneous as the band’s set list in their Bistro days. “We really started sharpening our pencils a little bit, and we thought, ‘Wow, we should actually rehearse,’” he said. “That’s really honestly how it happened. It built up at Bill’s Bistro. The bar owners were like, ‘Hey this is pretty damn cool. We didn’t think you could get people in here.’ Their staff was surprised. They weren’t huge crowds, but typical for Thursday nights in Fort Wayne for a bar of that size.” He added, “But, they were drinking liquor, and that happened to become our target demographic. We still go for that now. We want liquor drinkers out there.” Rentfrow interjected, “They seem to be the kind of people that are drawn to what we do. They’re not the penny-draft people, per se. They’re usually people that a lot of times work during the week and they really want to go out on the weekend.” “All of the bar owners tell us that we sell more liquor than anybody else,” Rudolph said. “Even if the audience is smaller, we sell more liquor than some of the weeknight acts that draw water.” He made sure to add that The Freak Brothers are all about performing for all types of audiences, saying that they’re still busting out their “Sexy MF” cover at frat parties. Beautiful fans Both Rentfrow and Rudolph said that the Whammys are a special honor because each award is decided not by a single publication or other entity, but by fans. “Making it in a reader’s poll is awesome,” Rudolph said. As far as The Freak Brothers’ fans are specifically concerned, Rentfrow doesn’t hesitate to credit them with providing the band with continued motivation, recognition and success. “There’s nothing but positivity there,” he said. “The fans are gracious, they’re generous, they’re complimentary of us all the time. It’s never a secret how much they appreciate what we do. I feel like a night like tonight is really important, because, first and foremost, it’s an honor and a privilege to be playing music at all, much less to have people appreciate it as much as they have appreciated us. I can’t tell you how humbling it is just to even be nominated for something like this. “We’ve been really fortunate,” Rentfrow continued. “We have beautiful, beautiful fans. I mean, yeah, beautiful physically, but that’s not what I’m talking about. It’s so rare that we have a fight at one of our shows, because people come and they bring the best side of themselves, and they spread it around.” “We’ve played clubs that have told us, you know, ‘Watch out, there might be a fight,’” Rudolph said. “But no, the guys are standing around watching the girls dance, and they’re like, ‘This is great!’ And you know what? It’s cool enough for me to dance to too, you know what I’m sayin’?” Rentfrow also commented on how he feels the local music scene has continuously improved over the past few years. “I was just talking to Dan Mihuc, our singer. We were sitting back watching Left Lane Cruiser and talking about how much the overall quality of the scene as a whole has risen in the last couple of years,” Rentfrow said. “We were talking about having seen things develop from years ago, when Columbia Street first started doing M.O.M.’s on Tuesday nights, and there was nobody doing anything except for The Jury, the Migraines and Strut Train. To see it develop from just a few bands into what it is now and to see the quality going up and up and up is really cool.” It feels good... Of course, The Freak Brothers went on to win the Performer of the Year award, and after the fact, Todd Roth, frontman of whatzup Battle of the Bands champs Unlikely Alibi, said, “I’ve known those guys anywhere between eight and 20 years. Most of them and myself all went to high school and played together, as well as in college, in some different bands. I’m happy for them. They’re all great musicians. They put on a good show. I’m never going to knock those guys.” Roth was also up on stage, trumpet in hand, during The Freak Brothers’ Whammy night performance. Rentfrow reiterated his appreciation for the fan support after the big win was announced, saying, “It’s humbling, to be voted in a readers poll for something like this three years in a row. It’s surreal is what it is.” As for the band’s future, Cappelli made sure to point out that The Freak Brothers, who are known for their unique funkified takes on cover songs, are actively working on original material. According to Rudolph, the band intends to make their act a “viable business for all of us.” As far as their primary motivation for continuing to push the funk, Cappelli simply said, “It feels good ... to get funky.” That about sums up The Freak Brothers right there. |
Copyright 2006 Ad Media Inc.
Last Thursday night’s Whammy
Awards got a bit freakish. Freakish, that is, in
the fact that Fort Wayne’s live funk staple The
Freak Brothers walked away with the Performer of
the Year Award for the third year in a row. While
that particular recognition is perhaps the most
coveted amongst all of the categories,
whatzup readers decided to go ahead and
give them the Best Live Performer, Best R&B
Performer and Best Funk Performer of 2005 as
well. See what we mean by freakish?