Shut Down Brown

With a simple motto, “Big Time, Good Time,” the seven-piece band, Shut Down Brown will surely provide the raunchy grooves to make you move. After years of gigging, Shut Down Brown has refined their sound to a slick mashup of funk, rock and soul. They have a growing catalogue of tightly arranged tunes and take liberties with covers, some ubiquitous, some obscure. If they are feeling a particular jam, they’ll ride it out for a while, pass around solos and expand the energy before moving on. Shut Down Brown began as a rhythm quartet in the hills of Oxford county. Mike Brown (guitar), Peter Poor (keys, vocals), Will Caswell (drums) and Sam Caswell (guitar, vocals) grew up together as pals who loved jamming on soul standards. They were drawn to that golden age of music that puts you in a dimly lit room, shag carpet at your feet, with the warm sounds of spinning vinyl filling the air around you. Bill Withers and James Taylor, to name a few, provided strong early inspiration. In the heart of their college years, circa 2007, the band members met sax players Geoff deBree and Jonah Bruce. Long-time musical buddies from the Portland area, they would eventually become SDB’s energetic horn & backing vocals section, as well as lead vocalists and percussionists in various spots. Ben Leal (bass) joined the band a few years later. A low-end stalwart hailing from York, he lays down the groove upon which the rest of the guys build.