Brian Krumm and His Barfly Friends

Brian Krumm and His Barfly Friends 2023 Bio
Vocalist/guitarist Brian Krumm formed The Great Crusades more than 20 years ago and released The First Spilled Drink of the Evening in 1997. Soon after, Rolling Stone’s David Fricke wrote, “The Great Crusades look at life through a shot-glass lens, mixing anger, muscle and minor-key remorse like a roughneck Tindersticks with the bonus of a singer who’s got the tubercular pipes of Tom Waits and Axl Rose’s love child.”

In 2000, Damaged Goods was released by Glitterhouse Records in Europe and Checkered Past Records in North America. Next, the Never Go Home tour was presented by Musikexpress magazine and the band appeared on the legendary TV program Rockpalast. (The band also played Rockpalast in 2015—one of only a few bands to play the show twice.)

Welcome to the Hiawatha Inn, Four Thirty, Keep Them Entertained, Fiction to Shame, Thieves of Chicago and Until the Night Turned to Day followed, each providing a new focus for Krumm’s ever-changing songwriting and storytelling. Two of the band’s songs from Keep Them Entertained appeared in the season 4 finale of the HBO vampire series True Blood.

In 2020, as the pandemic put music venues on hold worldwide, Krumm focused on a solo project recorded with Great Crusades member Christian Moder but with a new name, Brian Krumm and His Barfly Friends. He started a residency at Chicago’s Montrose Saloon in 2021, playing on the 15th of every month with special guests.

Krumm wrote the songs on the resulting debut solo release, Just Fade Away (Pravda Records), during the shutdown. His process: drink a shot of whiskey at 5:00PM and try to write a song. Twenty-five days later, he had 25 songs, 11 of which appear on Just Fade Away. Krumm enlisted his bandmates to record the tunes, as well as a who’s who of Chicago music scene standouts. His influences, such as Robyn Hitchcock, the Jayhawks, Warren Zevon and Dylan, surface throughout Just Fade Away and Krumm’s captivating, taleteller lyrics are again at the forefront. The record gives listeners a sonic snapshot of remembrances from Krumm and a life lived observing a perplexing yet utterly inspirational world.