Brothers Past - History

History

The band was formed in 2000 by Tom Hamilton (vocals, guitar), Tom McKee (keyboards, vocals), Clay Parnell (aka "Parnstar,"bass, vocals), and Rick Lowenberg (drums). Hamilton and McKee have worked together since May 1998. After moving into a house together outside of West Chester, PA, the four musicians began writing material influenced by various elements of electronica (drum and bass, jungle, dub and house music.) The band began a Thursday night residency at Rex's in West Chester, PA, where it performed weekly for almost two years, building a small but dedicated following of fans. Not long after, the band began touring the East Coast and performing at regional festivals.

Since then, Brothers Past has toured nationally across the United States, playing more than 800 shows since their 2000 formation, including appearances at Wakarusa, Bonnaroo and SXSW. In the middle of 2006, it was announced that Lowenberg would be leaving the band to pursue environmental law and that Ilya Stemkovsky, formerly of OM Trio would take over for him. Stemkovsky performed with the band until Dec. 31, 2007, when the band announced a hiatus to focus on other interests. Hamilton and Parnell both turned their focus to side projects—Hamilton embraced his love of songwriting with the Americana-tinged stylings of American Babies and Parnell began working with world-renowned drummer Johnny Rabb as part of the drum and bass duo Biodiesel. McKee began teaching piano at the School of Rock in Downingtown, PA where he currently works as the school's Music Director.

After a one-year hiatus, the band returned to the stage (with original drummer Rick Lowenberg) at a New Year's Eve performance on December 31, 2008 at The Note in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The show sold out in less than 30 minutes. Since then, the band has resumed touring, while recording the followup to This Feeling's Called Goodbye. No release date for the new record has been set.

In October 2010, Brothers Past celebrated its 10 year anniversary and marked the occasion with the announcement of a digital box set release entitled Everything Must Go. On the 10th of every month, a new studio track and a previously unreleased soundboard recording of a special show from the band's ten-year history is released via the band's website.

For their first record for a music label, This Feeling's Called Goodbye, the band was produced by Jon Altschiller (Dave Matthews Band, Phish).