While they may have all the markings of a brand new band, Brookville--or more specifically, the band's central singer/songwriter Andy Chase--has a track record that extends back through the mid-'90s.
Chase was and is a member of Ivy--a terrific New York-based trio that emerged in 1994 and featured Chase, Adam Schlesinger, and French vocalist Dominique Durand--and since their debut single "Get Enough" in 1994, the band has released superb five albums to uniformly positive reviews.
However, when it comes to clever and talented musicians--which all members of Ivy certainly are--one band isn't necessarily enough. So as Ivy's Adam Schlesinger went off to meet significant success with his "side project" group Fountains Of Wayne, Andy Chase has stepped up his production and engineering work with several significant groups, including Tahiti 80, the Divine Comedy, and Juliana Hatfield, among others. Additionally, he started a new record label--Unfiltered Records--which has reissued many of the Ivy albums, new recordings by an excellent South Florida-based band called the Postmarks, and, not incidentally, three albums by his own "side project," a band called Brookville.
In sequence of release, the albums have been Wonderfully Nothing (2003), Life In The Shade (2006), and the brand new Broken Lights, which is filled with thoughtful, melodic and subtle tunes that linger with each listening. It is one of the year's better albums by far.
In the studio for a performance as Brookville are Andy Chase (guitar, lead vocals) , Bruce Driscoll (guitar, vocals), Aric Gillis (bass, vocals) and Mike Williams (drums). And let's take the time to point out the special appearance on "Break My Heart" by Tim Yehezkely, the entirely female lead singer of the Postmarks, who visited our studio on the same day and gave a similarly fine performance we'll be spotlighting very soon.
Check out their performances below--and download audio versions of each track in the links that follow.
The man of the hour, Andy Chase details the who, why, where and when of his fascinating career--whether it's as a member of Ivy, a producer and engineer of other fine artists, a record company and recording studio owner, or as the man who's so far made three exciting albums as a part of Brookville.