Starting out gigging at New York’s iconic CBGB’s at just 14 years, Brad played guitar for chart-topping punk rock band, Nasty Facts. Later playing alongside Public Enemy front man Chuck D in the group, Fine Arts Militia, one of Brad’s most memorable performances was the 2004 Lightning in a Bottle concert at Radio City Music Hall. These days Brad splits his time between his music, repairing instruments at Brooklyn Fine Guitars and Big Wrench Piano Care, and building (‘upcycling’) guitars from materials thrown out on the sidewalks of Brooklyn. Normal routine displaced; the 2020 lockdown found Brad more focused on his music. Two is an eclectic mix of songs, Brad concedes “My influences are all over the map… the songs are stylistically different, but I think they work together as an album. Some stuff is new, some started years ago and re-recorded”. Tracks Red Hook Sun and Addendum first appeared as S-Gear demos for the Wayfarer.

Brad describes the title track as “The most unusual, out of the box song on the album”, it was also the last song written. On song writing process, “80% of songs come to me when I’m walking the dog or walking down the street. I’ll get out my iPhone and sing it”. Interestingly, Brad notes that he doesn’t differentiate between demos or final recordings “I’ve tried to swear off making demos of any kind, once you’re recording, that’s it”. Making an album during lockdown means that collaborating with other artists is more difficult. Brad plays all guitars on the album and most other instruments, although this was not entirely by choice… “it’s a lot more interesting having other people doing it (playing). A lot of times it’s out of necessity, I can do it, so I end up doing it”. Despite the challenges, Brad managed to include performances from several other musicians, including Rocky Bryant (Drums) and Brad Craig Trio collaborators, Kona Khasu (Bass) and Joel Arnow (Drums). website: www.fretman.com    music: apple • spotify • amazon