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Chris, the upstairs bartender at Woody’s, dubs this band as “phenomenal” and the “best in Evansville.” BSR has been around for upward of ten years and keeps on keepin’ on. They have pressed forward in the face of adversary and have made a real name for themselves but occasionally play for the natives at O’brians….check out what Kevin Brook, lead singer and guitarist, has to say about the BSR journey.

N4U: Hey Kevin, how’s it going?

Kevin: It’s going quite well. Thanks for getting BSR back in your magazine. I think it’s been about three or four years.

Before we get into the good stuff, I have to ask…what does your band BSR stand for?

Last names of the original guys. Book, Sartor (Terry) and Rohrer (Mark).Terry was locked into a house band gig at the time and we never really could get off the ground. I decided to keep the name because we had played a few gigs and had established a name. And it was the easiest. I can’t stand trying to think of a band name.

 
So, I hear there is a running joke that News 4U has neglected BSR?

Oh, it’s no joke. It just doesn’t bother us anymore. BSR has been and still is, snubbed by a few of the “click” bars and higher profile gigs in town. Funny thing is, is that there is not one single band in this area that has the resume’ that we have. Not one. I think it adds to a band’s credibility not to be in every bar, all over town, every single weekend. It makes it a little more exclusive and a bigger deal when you do actually play in town. That way, people want to come see you because it’ll be five or six weeks until they get to see you again.

Let me fix that right now! Tell me about your band. How long have you been jamming together?

BSR’s been together for ten years now. Brad and I have been playing for about five or six years together and Tony just joined up with us. He was the original guitarist in the Velcro Pygmies, and played with Silverloop in the Louisville area. He’s a fantastic player and singer. I believe Brad had to have been my brother in a previous life. He’s taken on 99% of the promotion of BSR with the website (www.bsrband.com), and the DVD, the myspace…etc, etc…he’s put his heart and soul into this band, like I have.

      There’s so much I can talk about with BSR really. I’m proud of the band and the fact that we’ve kept it together for a decade, through thick times and thin. We’ve been THE band in town at times, and we’ve been unpopular at times.

I am a big fan and I noticed that you do some originals. How long have you been writing? How do the other band members contribute to the process?

I’ve been writing songs as long as I can remember really. That was just always part of it musically for me. Just to be able to even reproduce something that’s in your head can be difficult for some, so I’ve always been thankful that I could do it. I’ve written the majority of material in BSR, but I always thought of it as basically just a “blueprint” for the guitarist to take and play the way a guitarist would. I can play guitar, but never wanted to in a band setting. I just use it to write. When we put a song together I always want the guitar to take whatever part I’ve written and make it his own, with his own feel. Brad and Tony can basically have free reign to get their parts in order. Brad and I are like salt and pepper. We know what the other is going to do, so that makes the songs tighter that much quicker. Our DVD that we put out has material that was supposed to be on BSR’s second studio recording but that project never came out. So we decided to use the DVD as a way to get the material out. The first show is an opening slot we did with Ted Nugent and the second show is from Louisville’s “Fourth Street Live” concert series. We’ll be playing that again this year and also recording that show.

What is in your CD player right now?

Alter Bridge’s “Blackbird”. That is a fantastic CD. That guy can really sing, and I like that.

One more question, who does your hair? (Just kidding)!!!!!

Only one female has even been allowed to get close to my beautiful locks for about 20 years with a pair of scissors…Kim Burns at Shear Talents in Evansville.