BRAD'S BACK!

Brad is usually referred to as a "side-project," but they've been together for 15 years (on and off), so I think it's fair to refer to them as a "band."

The three principals are singer/multi-instrumentalist Shawn Smith (also from Satchel, Pigeonhed, he was at one time a member of The Twilight Singers, and he's done a bunch of solo projects), drummer Regan Hagar (also from Satchel, he also played in Malfunkshun with the late Andrew Wood - who later formed Mother Love Bone) and former Green River/Mother Love Bone guitarist Stone Gossard (also, of course, of Pearl Jam).

They seem to come together whenever the stars align properly, and you never know if they're going to work together again. I'm glad to say that they're going to have a new album out at some point. They recently performed at New York's Highland Ballroom, and they played a bunch of new songs from their upcoming album, which you can hear at their myspace page. They also played some of their older stuff, of course, and, surprisingly, some Malfunkshun songs (Malfunkshun's Kevin Wood - brother of Andrew - was playing guitar with them). And Stone kind of crushed a Woody Guthrie cover, but it was funny. The band was really in town to do a Woody tribute/Huntington's Disease fundraiser (Woody died from that disease, and Stone's mother-in-law suffers from it).

It was great to see them again: it's so cool to see Stone, who I usually see rocking sold out arenas, in a small club. But the thing is, Brad isn't really about Stone, it's about Shawn. Or, maybe it's just about thier great songs: people love "20th Century," "Secret Girl," "The Day Brings," etc., even though they were never "singles" that were "worked to radio."

Here's looking forward to their new album, I hope to be more familiar with the new stuff next time I see them.