Brian Marx, Jeff Stender and Meleck Davis are like three great foods you might find in a Chopped basket. They taste great on their own but it takes a pretty talented chef to make an awesome dinner from them – but they have done it with the formation of Briefcase. The music is easy, enjoyable and unique.
It was great to get a chance to talk to the members of Briefcase. (We shared their video, Escape Pod, a few weeks ago.) They are clearly friends and they are playing because they are friends. But they are also challenging each and making each other better by signing up for the music that they make together, which is not necessarily the music they would play solo.
Jeff compares their process to cooking: Brian creates the ingredients, Jeff makes the dough and Meleck cooks and polishes it. Or in musical terms, from sounds to riffs to lyrics. Each stage is important and an opportunity to either make your personal stamp on the song to listen to what’s there are lean into it with your talents for the team. It’s a very grownup approach to music making and they make very grownup music.
Talking about the music we all brought up old movies, old games, cocktail parties and martinis. It’s uber cool and chill. There’s modern take on retro, like a borderline experimental Jazz Indy sound.
Also interesting to hear the impact of the pandemic on their music and they have shifted from a band that plays live shows to a band that has taken on the production themselves. With the latest EP (which was released yesterday!) they didn’t worry about how they could play their songs live; they focused on the recording. It’s fun to see them play live too; we get a taste of that in the video below:
Mostly Minnesota 