Mike Brenner
Encyclopedia
Philadelphia musician Mike "Slo-Mo" Brenner is the veteran of many bands and has recorded tracks on over 100 CDs of both independent and major label
artists.
Brenner first became known in Philadelphia in the late '80s as a music writer for such publications as the Philadelphia Inquirer
, Philadelphia Weekly
(then called Welcomat), Tower Records' Pulse and more. He soon switched course and returned to playing music, joining local band Flight of Mavis as its second guitarist. In 1990, Brenner's own project, The Low Road, was in its infancy but grew quickly and soon forced a 'one or the other decision.' Brenner left Flight of Mavis to concentrate on The Low Road, which eventually inked a deal with Caroline Records
. The band put out two discs on Caroline/Passenger: The Devil's Pocket and Fidelity and toured with Los Lobos
, Ben Folds Five
, Barenaked Ladies
, Black 47
and others.
When the Low Road broke up in 1997, Brenner was already taken with the sound of the square-necked dobro or resonator guitar
. Largely inspired by Jerry Douglas
, Mike Auldridge
and Josh Graves
, he became quite fluent in bluegrass and country dobro styles. The first project that featured his slide playing was John Train, then a duo with Brenner and songwriter and guitarist Jon Houlon. This band remains viable today and includes drummer Mark Schreiber, bassist Steve Demarest, mandolinist Bill Fergusson and electric/steel guitarist Mark Tucker
. Around this time, Brenner also played lap steel with NYC country duo Y'ALL.
Brenner played dobro on the first disc by Philadelphia band Marah, "Let's Cut The Crap and Hook Up Later Tonight," and shortly thereafter joined as a touring member of this band, primarily playing lap steel guitar
. He wound up recording tracks on their lauded 2nd disc "Kids In Philly" and touring the US and Europe, including many gigs as an opening act
for Steve Earle
, the Jayhawks, Government Mule and more.
During his tenure with Marah, Brenner began experimenting with combining the dobro and electronica beats. His initial efforts, produced by John Wicks
, led to a deal with Bong Load Records
in Los Angeles, produced by Tom Rothrock
(Beck, Foo Fighters
, James Blunt
, Richard Thompson) and Beale Dabbs. The CD, titled "Novelty", came out in 2001 under the name Slo-Mo. The disc featured the talents of Attraction's drummer Pete Thomas
, singer/guitarist Johnny Irion, Jenny Benford and many more.
Since then, Slo-Mo has morphed into a hip-hop
hybrid, mainly due to the addition and collaboration of Mic Wrecka, a Philly rapper. The 2nd Slo-Mo disc, 2005's My Buzz Comes Back, was produced by Brenner and Edan Cohen and was a local hit and received much airplay from Philadelphia Triple A
radio station
WXPN. The follow-up, 2007's "Smokey Mountain" continued the evolution of the band and the songwriting partnership of Brenner and Wrecka.
Female vocals have played a large part in Slo-Mo's recordings. Past singers have included Nancy Falkow
, Lauren Hart, Ty Stiklorius and current band members Susan Rosetti and Steph Hayes (of Stargazer Lily). Other members to pass through Slo-Mo's ranks (both recording and touring) have been trumpeter Matt Cappy (the Roots, Jill Scott
) and Brian Christinzio (BC Camplight). The current line-up (as of May 2009) includes the aforementioned rhythm section
of Schreiber and Demarest, plus percussionist Hoagy Wing, keyboardist Daryl Hirsch, Steph Hayes, Susan Rosetti, Brenner and Wrecka.
The newly re-named Slo-Mo featuring Mic Wrecka has played with India Arie
, Arrested Development, Robert Randolph, and is a crowd favorite at the Great Blue Heron Festival in Sherman, NY.
Brenner also has recorded and toured extensively with Magnolia Electric Company/Song:Ohia, projects led by songwriter Jason Molina. Brenner's work has appeared on numerous of the band's discs including those recorded by producer Steve Albini
in Chicago.
World music market
The music industry or music business sells compositions, recordings and performances of music. Among the many individuals and organizations that operate within the industry are the musicians who compose and perform the music; the companies and professionals who create and sell recorded music The...
artists.
Brenner first became known in Philadelphia in the late '80s as a music writer for such publications as the Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the...
, Philadelphia Weekly
Philadelphia Weekly
Philadelphia Weekly , is an award-winning alternative newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, published every Wednesday.The paper was founded in 1971 as a sister publication to the South Philadelphia Press. In 1995, the paper became Philadelphia Weekly...
(then called Welcomat), Tower Records' Pulse and more. He soon switched course and returned to playing music, joining local band Flight of Mavis as its second guitarist. In 1990, Brenner's own project, The Low Road, was in its infancy but grew quickly and soon forced a 'one or the other decision.' Brenner left Flight of Mavis to concentrate on The Low Road, which eventually inked a deal with Caroline Records
Caroline Records
Caroline Records started out as a subsidiary of Richard Branson's Virgin Records label during the early to mid 1970s. The label originally specialized in putting out budget price LPs by mainly progressive rock and jazz artists generally not considered to have a great deal of 'mainstream' or...
. The band put out two discs on Caroline/Passenger: The Devil's Pocket and Fidelity and toured with Los Lobos
Los Lobos
Los Lobos are a multiple Grammy Award–winning American Chicano rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños.-History:The...
, Ben Folds Five
Ben Folds Five
Ben Folds Five is an alternative rock trio formed in 1993 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The group comprises Ben Folds , Robert Sledge , and Darren Jessee . The group achieved mainstream success in the alternative, indie and pop music scenes...
, Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian alternative rock band. The band is currently composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart. Barenaked Ladies formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, then a suburban municipality outside the City of Toronto...
, Black 47
Black 47
Black 47 are a New York City based celtic rock band with Irish Republican sympathies, whose music also shows influence from reggae, hip hop, folk and jazz...
and others.
When the Low Road broke up in 1997, Brenner was already taken with the sound of the square-necked dobro or resonator guitar
Resonator guitar
A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar whose sound is produced by one or more spun metal cones instead of the wooden sound board . Resonator guitars were originally designed to be louder than conventional acoustic guitars which were overwhelmed by horns and percussion...
. Largely inspired by Jerry Douglas
Jerry Douglas
Jerry Douglas may refer to:*Jerry Douglas , actor, who was on The Young and the Restless for 25 years*Jerry Douglas, country/bluegrass musician*Jerry Douglas , director and writer of adult films such as, Score...
, Mike Auldridge
Mike Auldridge
Mike Auldridge is widely acknowledged as a premier resophonic guitar player. He played with The Seldom Scene for many years, creating a fusion of bluegrass with jazz, folk and rock.Auldridge started playing guitar at the age of 13...
and Josh Graves
Josh Graves
Josh Graves , born Burkett Howard Graves, was an American bluegrass musician. Also known by the nicknames "Buck," and "Uncle Josh," he is credited with introducing the dobro into bluegrass music shortly after joining Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys in 1955...
, he became quite fluent in bluegrass and country dobro styles. The first project that featured his slide playing was John Train, then a duo with Brenner and songwriter and guitarist Jon Houlon. This band remains viable today and includes drummer Mark Schreiber, bassist Steve Demarest, mandolinist Bill Fergusson and electric/steel guitarist Mark Tucker
Mark Tucker (musician)
Mark Tucker is a musician, and co-founder of Tetrapod Spools....
. Around this time, Brenner also played lap steel with NYC country duo Y'ALL.
Brenner played dobro on the first disc by Philadelphia band Marah, "Let's Cut The Crap and Hook Up Later Tonight," and shortly thereafter joined as a touring member of this band, primarily playing lap steel guitar
Lap steel guitar
The lap steel guitar is a type of steel guitar, an instrument derived from and similar to the guitar. The player changes pitch by pressing a metal or glass bar against the strings instead of by pressing strings against the fingerboard....
. He wound up recording tracks on their lauded 2nd disc "Kids In Philly" and touring the US and Europe, including many gigs as an opening act
Opening act
An opening act or warm-up act is an entertainer or entertainment act that performs at a concert before the featured entertainer...
for Steve Earle
Steve Earle
Stephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....
, the Jayhawks, Government Mule and more.
During his tenure with Marah, Brenner began experimenting with combining the dobro and electronica beats. His initial efforts, produced by John Wicks
John Wicks
John Wicks is a record producer and songwriter, working with numerous artists in the United States and the United Kingdom. Wicks is best known as the lead singer-songwriter from the UK mod powerpop band, The Records, who formed in London from the ashes of the The Kursaal Flyers, during the 1977...
, led to a deal with Bong Load Records
Bong Load Custom Records
Bong Load Custom Records is an independent record label based in Los Angeles which was founded by producers Tom Rothrock, Rob Schnapf and partner Bradshaw Lambert. One of their biggest signings was Beck in 1991. Other notable bands from the original Bong Load Custom Records include Fu Manchu, Wool,...
in Los Angeles, produced by Tom Rothrock
Tom Rothrock
Tom Rothrock is an international record producer, composer and musician. Tom Rothrock has produced albums with James Blunt, Badly Drawn Boy, R. L. Burnside, Yonder Mountain String Band, Athlete, Sloan and Roman Carter....
(Beck, Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters is an American alternative rock band originally formed in 1994 by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of his previous band. The band got its name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War...
, James Blunt
James Blunt
James Hillier Blount , better known by his stage name James Blunt, is an English singer-songwriter and musician, and former army officer, whose debut album, Back to Bedlam and single releases, including "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover", brought him to fame in 2005...
, Richard Thompson) and Beale Dabbs. The CD, titled "Novelty", came out in 2001 under the name Slo-Mo. The disc featured the talents of Attraction's drummer Pete Thomas
Pete Thomas
Pete Thomas is best known as the longtime drummer for Elvis Costello. Tom Waits has referred to him as "one of the best rock drummers alive".-Career:...
, singer/guitarist Johnny Irion, Jenny Benford and many more.
Since then, Slo-Mo has morphed into a hip-hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
hybrid, mainly due to the addition and collaboration of Mic Wrecka, a Philly rapper. The 2nd Slo-Mo disc, 2005's My Buzz Comes Back, was produced by Brenner and Edan Cohen and was a local hit and received much airplay from Philadelphia Triple A
Adult album alternative
Adult album alternative is a radio format. A spinoff from the album-oriented rock format, its roots trace to the 1960s and 1970s from the earlier freeform and progressive formats....
radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
WXPN. The follow-up, 2007's "Smokey Mountain" continued the evolution of the band and the songwriting partnership of Brenner and Wrecka.
Female vocals have played a large part in Slo-Mo's recordings. Past singers have included Nancy Falkow
Nancy Falkow
Nancy Falkow is an American singer/songwriter and musician from Philadelphia.-Biography:Falkow grew up in Margate, New Jersey as part of a Jewish family and at sixteen took first prize for writing in the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts.After graduating high school in 1988, she...
, Lauren Hart, Ty Stiklorius and current band members Susan Rosetti and Steph Hayes (of Stargazer Lily). Other members to pass through Slo-Mo's ranks (both recording and touring) have been trumpeter Matt Cappy (the Roots, Jill Scott
Jill Scott
Jill Scott is an American soul and R&B singer-songwriter, poet, and actress. In 2007, Scott made her cinematic debut in the films Hounddog and in Tyler Perry's feature film, Why Did I Get Married? That year, her third studio album, The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3, was released on...
) and Brian Christinzio (BC Camplight). The current line-up (as of May 2009) includes the aforementioned rhythm section
Rhythm section
A rhythm section is a collection of musicians who make up a section of instruments which provides the accompaniment section of the music, giving the music its rhythmic texture and pulse, also serving as a rhythmic reference for the rest of the band...
of Schreiber and Demarest, plus percussionist Hoagy Wing, keyboardist Daryl Hirsch, Steph Hayes, Susan Rosetti, Brenner and Wrecka.
The newly re-named Slo-Mo featuring Mic Wrecka has played with India Arie
India.Arie
India.Arie is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter and record producer . She has sold over 3.3 million records in the U.S. and 10 million worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards from her 21 nominations, including Best R&B Album.-Background:Simpson was born in Denver, Colorado...
, Arrested Development, Robert Randolph, and is a crowd favorite at the Great Blue Heron Festival in Sherman, NY.
Brenner also has recorded and toured extensively with Magnolia Electric Company/Song:Ohia, projects led by songwriter Jason Molina. Brenner's work has appeared on numerous of the band's discs including those recorded by producer Steve Albini
Steve Albini
Steven Frank Albini is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman, and Flour, and is currently a member of Shellac...
in Chicago.