Quartjar singer Randall Brown, far right, says one of the group's new songs is called "Taming the Kraken" which is, by Brown's description, a "prog-metal epic about taking on tough stuff and succeeding in the face of some very tough tasks." The band is, from left, Tory Flenniken, Malcolm Norman and Brown.
When the band Quartjar launched a kickstarter effort to record a new album, the band offered to write songs to donor's specifications.
Fellow rocker Todd Steed requested a song in a specific key, with some specific chords and to be sung from the point of view of one of the moons of Jupiter.
Quartjar lead singer-songwriter Randall Brown decided on S 2003 J2, the 63rd moon of Jupiter; Brown describes it as "an odd-shaped rock that doesn't orbit the same as the other moons."
"I ended up writing a song about a proud little moon that doesn't follow the same path as everybody else, but he's really happy to be part of the gang," says Brown, over lunch at the Sunspot on Cumberland Avenue. "It doesn't take Freud to see that that's probably how I see myself in the music scene."
Born and raised in Knoxville, Brown has been on the music scene for more than two decades. When he wasn't on stage he was out and about as a regular part of the audience, or writing about music for local publications, or promoting shows. He worked in the News Sentinel Entertainment department for 13 years.
Brown's early musical ventures included the bands Tonite! Nude Girls and Charlie Brown on Acid. More recently, Quartjar opened for Robin Trower at the Bijou and played high profile gigs at Maryville's the Shed.
Brown's road to Quartjar probably began when he was playing bass in Torture Kitty with longtime punk rocker John Sewell.
"They decided they needed someone more committed and someone who had a better bass amp," says Brown. "They were ready to take it to the next level. I was ready, too, but it was apparently a different level."
With no hard feelings, Brown ventured away from punk toward a folkier sound.
"It was kind of my own version of Sebadoh kind of stuff," says Brown. "I started writing longer songs that rhymed again and strumming an acoustic guitar."
In 2003, Brown, drummer Donnie Mahan and bass guitarist Stephen Kabalka formed the New Randall Brown Quartet — which was misleading in several respects. There was never a fourth member, it sort of sounded like a jazz group and the acronym was NRBQ, the name of another legendary group.
The group took on the name Quartjar before releasing the debut disc "Years of a Monkey" in 2007.
The band regularly lost bass players until 2009 when Mahan suggested Malcolm Norman for the slot.
Norman has spent a few years playing in a Los Angeles metal band called Outta Line and was into progressive rock.
"I didn't know if Malcolm would be interested," says Brown. "He's very musical and I'm a three-chord singer-songwriter."
However, the combination was a surprising success. Norman not only brought a new vibe to the group, but his enthusiasm was infectious.
In 2010, Mahan decided to leave the band for other pursuits and Tory Flenniken, who had played with Norman in the bands Lucy's Milk and Skitzo Lullaby, signed on.
The chemistry between Norman and Flenniken and Brown's increased interest in heavier rock turned Quartjar into a very different brew.
"I've returned to the music of my people, and to my surprise it's classic rock," says Brown with a warm smile.
The group's 2011 release "42" (42 was both Brown's age, the exact time the CD lasts and a reference to "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy") captured the band in transition. Brown says he's happy that the group has become more of a full collaboration.
"I feel like we're really a whole unit," he says.
Brown says opening the second night of the Waynestock music festival in Knoxville last January may be his favorite moment with the group so far:
"If anything has been disappointing playing over the past few years it's that more I always imagine more musicians I know might come to our shows. But a lot of times they have shows then, too. To play at an all-encompassing thing like Waynestock, it felt like a showcase for our peers. It was an opportunity to say, 'Hey, this is what we do' and also give our best for our friends. There was just a real sense of community that night."
© 2011, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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RandallBrown writes:
Thanks for the story, Wayne!
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