Broken Compass Bluegrass

Sat Apr 27 2024 9:00 PM (Doors 8:00 PM) Moe's Alley 1535 Commercial Way Santa Cruz, CA 95065 $30 advance / $35 day of show Ages 21+ Broken Compass Bluegrass opens for the Brothers Comatose at Moe's Alley in Santa Cruz! This will be the first time Broken Compass Bluegrass plays Santa Cruz! Come celebrate with us! THE BROTHERS COMATOSE The Brothers Comatose is a five-piece string band from California who make songs deeply rooted in this country’s past — traditional bluegrass, country and rock ‘n’ roll — with a contemporary spirit of experimentation, and an eye toward expanding Americana’s future. Founded in 2009 by Petaluma-born brothers Ben and Alex Morrison (vocals, guitar and banjo) and their classically trained friend Philip Brezina (violin), the band has built an international following based on their warm, resonant songwriting, rowdy live shows, and an impressively relentless touring schedule—which has taken them to Australia and China, as well as all over North America. Their fan base functions as family, gathering wherever the band plays, whether it’s at a sold-out show at the Fillmore or at their very own music festival, Comatopia, in the Sierra foothills. When It All Falls Apart, out in the spring of 2022 on Swamp Jam Records, is the sixth full-length from the Brothers Comatose. It finds the band at a crossroads: in the midst of lineup changes, the pandemic shut down the music industry, and the band was forced to find ways to connect with fans that didn’t involve their famously engaging live shows. The result is a record about unexpected endings and fresh starts. By turns poignant, painful, passionate and joyful — singer Ben Morrison also became a father during the pandemic, and got to spend time at home with his wife and new daughter — these songs also capture the thrill of the band physically reuniting for the first time after months apart. Fans got a glimpse of that exhilaration from “Ear Snacks,” the monthly live performance videos the Brothers Comatose released throughout 2021 & 2022, featuring both cover songs and originals. Each one was recorded over a weekend, with guest collaborators ranging from local friends like Rainbow Girls and Sean Hayes to artists like Jiebing Chen, an erhu player the band met through their American Music Abroad tour of China. “Finally getting back with the band was just so joyful,” says Morrison of the videos, which proved hugely popular during a time when music fans were hungering for the magic of a live show. “It’s not like we forgot it was fun to play together, but this felt different — it gave us purpose in a time of uncertainty.” ​ Following the release of When It All Falls Apart, the band is looking forward to touring and reconnecting with fans in person, as well as introducing new members Steve Height and Greg Fleischut, experimenting with different forms of media and more unexpected collaborators — and continuing to explore the possibilities that come with not playing 120 shows a year. “We didn’t know what we were going to do moving forward,” says the songwriter, of the pandemic as a reset. “But it turns out, when it all falls apart, you figure your shit out and you find a new path.”