Tag: Suckerpunch

Marc Brownstein is one of the busiest musicians on the planet. Weather its playing five night New Year’s runs in New York City, hosting the annual Camp Bisco, or touring with one of his many side projects, Marc’s appetite for growing as musician appears to be insatiable. He is currently on tour with fellow Disco Biscuit member Aron Magner as part of Conspirator and they make their first appearance in Indianapolis this Sunday February 24th at The Vogue in Broad Ripple. The band also recently released a new EP titled ‘Unleashed’ and it’s available for download HERE.

This past week Marc took some time to answer a few questions about how this tour has been, and about some of his favorite places to play in the Midwest. 

MB: The tour has been amazing. I’m almost forty years old. I’m going to be forty next month, and I mean it’s so amazing to be able to keep this thing going. When we got together in 2004 we didn’t expect really, to become a “band,” more of a project. We didn’t take it very seriously as far as writing new music, continuously putting out new music, we just didn’t have the time. Now that we have more time to dedicate to this we’ve been able to visit a million new places which is really exciting.  

We’ve never played Indianapolis as far as I know, I know we played Bloomington once. We’ve been able to come out more and more and now were making our third trip to Minneapolis, fifth or sixth trip to Chicago, second to Grand Rapids, and it seems to create this ripple affect where maybe one show you go to there’s 200 people, next time 400. You just see it double out and double out, it’s just been amazing the whole thing.  Going along with Break Science, they bring a whole lot to the table too, a lot of fans.  

We’re on tour with really great people. People who are inspiring to us as musicians and you know that’s what you want. You want to surround yourself with people that will make you a better person, better musician, better producer, all of that. I think besides a couple dates in the deep south we’ve never been to before, we’ve had a whole lot of packed houses. 

MB: Well, what’s been nice this time (tour) is that we have the luxury of playing amphitheaters and arenas throughout the course of the year. And, it’s not really an ego thing now. We can come back around having been successful before and to be able to enjoy what’s great about it, rather than always wanting to be bigger.  

The first times it’s always about wanting to get out of clubs, coveting thy neighbor, it was about always wanting to be bigger, more successful, and now you come back and you’re in small clubs and the energy, being able to control this energy with just 200 other people is pretty cool. Learning how to control the energy of various sized crowds has been something fun to discover.  

One of the things though, sometimes the stage can be a little too small in smaller venues. Sometimes you wish you had a little more space to spread out, but even so, some of these smaller clubs still have exceptional setups, small theater type settings that are wonderful to play in. 

MB: Well, how can you really do that? I mean we played in Mexico on the night the Mayan calendar came to an end, but is that better than playing at Red Rocks? 

MB: Deer Creek was pretty cool. It was really awesome, we played there the first night of the Identity tour and it wasn’t packed or anything, but still an amazing place to play. Oh! There’s a little amphitheater in Indianapolis that was one of my favorite little amphitheaters to play, on the White River? 

MB: Ah, yes… Incredible venue. Had a headliner tour go through there once, great place. But, is that any better than the House of Blues in Chicago? Ya know? 

MB: “Rothbury was just ridiculous, in the best way possible. For me it was more about getting off the stage, being able to walk through the forest, that’s what was special about that place. They just have it set up to where it’s just like, a magical wonderland. The stages, the lights, and the field are great but really they’re no better than what goes on at Camp Bisco, but what Rothbury did in that forest, the quote on quote “Electric Forest,” if you will, isn’t being done anywhere else outside of the Fuji Rock festival, which is where I feel like a lot of the inspiration for Rothbury’s setup came from.  

You wanna talk about great places to play, Fuji Rock was over the top, one of the best festivals I’ve ever played at. But yea, Rothbury, Double JJ Ranch, can’t beat it. Just year after year, whether it’s with the Biscuits, Conspirator, this year with Suckerpunch, and hopefully next year swing back around and bring the Biscuits back, or Conspirator, either one. You just have to be there.”

Conspirator’s tour ends this Sunday in Indy and after a short break they head out west for a short run in Colorado and California. Marc will also be doing a handful of shows with his other project Suckerpunch, most notably at the Electric Forest festival in Rothbury Michigan June 27-30th along with three nights of the String Cheese Incident.

The annual Camp Bisco also recently announced arguably it’s best lineup to date. With three nights of The Disco Biscuits, as well as performances by STS9, Bassnectar, Passion Pit, Animal Collective, Umphrey’s Mcgee, along with dozens more at the Indian Lookout Country Club in Mariaville New York, July 11-13th.