Whether it's your first Bonnaroo or you’re a music festival veteran, we welcome you to Inforoo.
Here you'll find info about artists, rumors, camping tips, and the infamous Roo Clues. Have a look around then create an account and join in the fun. See you at Bonnaroo!!
Paul Kowert Paul Kowerts replaced original bassist Greg Garrison. Not much is known about Paul except that he studied under Edgar Meyer at the Curtis Institute of Music.
Former members: Greg Garrison - Bass. Greg was introduced via Pikelny before The Punch Brothers took their name (see biography below) and left the band in late 2008.
Biography: Prehistory: The band that eventually became Punch Brothers started as a solo project by Chris Thile called How To Grow A Women From the Ground. Chris Thile and Gabe Witcher had been childhood friends and after Thile came up with the idea for the album he first enlisted Witcher and then banjo player Noam Pikelny. Through Pikelny he enlisted Greg Garrison whom Pikelny had worked with in Leftover Salmon. Chris Eldridge of the Infamous Stringdusters was the last to join the quintet. At that time they simply called themselves How To Grow A Band. 2 name changes later they Settled on Punch Brothers.
The rest of the story: Starting in 2006 Thile began working on a suite for string quintet called The Blind Leaving the Blind and Thile has claimed he wrote it partially as a way of dealing with the collapse of his marriage in 2003. It was debuted at Carnegie Hall in early 2007 and it was well received. The band went on to perform the 40 minute suite at a handful of venues whose promoters unfortunately billed them as a bluegrass band. During those gigs they were met with sometimes open aggression from people who'd come expecting a knee slapping HEE-HAW Hoedown but were instead treated to a suite for string quintet in 5 movements that offered very little in the way of Hee-haws or knee slapping.
The Punch Brothers released their first album Punch in February 2008. The album included The Blind Leaving the Blind as well as 4 other more "bluegrassy" sounding songs. One of which is the opening track Punch Bowl. And it's fucking awesome!
Later that year bassist Greg Garrison parted ways with the Punch Brother. Garrison's split with the bandwas largely fueled by artistic differences with Thile and life circumstances like having a family and being expected to uproot from CO and move to NY with his family. Garrison was replaced by Paul Kowert. The lineup has not changed since. Paul Kowert first appears on the Punch Brothers' sophomore 2010 album Antifogmatic.
In 2011 a documentary film about the Punch Brothers called How To Grow A Band[/i] was released. The documentary followed the band over the course of 2 years and shows the growth and struggles of the band from Blind Leaving the Blind performances to the recording of Punch and the departure of Greg Garrison.
In 2015 the Punch Brothers released their latest album at the time of this typing The Phosphorescent Blues.
Sounds Like Genre: I describe them as acutely psychedelic bluegrass. I wish I could give something more to this description but I can't. Hackensaw Boys come to mind. Maybe touches of Bela Fleck. This isn't your Grand Dad's Bluegrass.
Suggested Listening I'm gonna try and not go to crazy here. I'm putting the youtube links in spoiler tags for the sake of slower loading internet connections.
Live Show Screaming and yelling in the middle of one of their songs? Please use discretion. I think Punch Brothers make for a fantastic middle of the afternoon show when you just want to chill and listen to some amazing mind blowing talent. Some of their tunes are quite raucous others ask for you to listen and absorb them. Personally I'd love to see them at the start of an evening. Their shows are loose yet there's an amazing precision stemming from each members virtuosity on their instrument. This is the Punch Brothers. This is not Mumford and spawn, this is not Avette Bros. Each member of this band is an amazing talent unto themselves and when they all get together to play some music for you that's exactly what it feels like. They leave their heart and soul on the stage and it's for you.
!
