Brian Brooks - Mix Artist of the Month

Congratulations to Brian Brooks for being Mixposure's Artist of the Month!

Making his first appearance in a post war, post industrial London - an era which straddled a time of immense change and upheaval between the old and the new - Brian's first thoughts were that he was glad he hadn't been born a few years earlier. 

Initially classically trained, experiencing blues and rock & roll in the early 1960's was, for him, equivalent to Saint Paul on the road to Damascus. He cut his teeth in the London club scene during those halcyon years of the mid to late 1960's -  as an audience member and occasional performer in venues such as Les Cousins, on Greek Street in Soho, listening to and learning from legendary musicians such as Davey Graham, Wizz Jones, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn and John Martyn. 

Moving to New York  in 1968,  he studied painting, drawing and photography and threw himself into the musical world of clubs, festivals, concert halls and the college circuit. During this period, in addition to a partnership in a successful live music club in Greenwich Village, with occasional acting in tv and film, he toured in every State of the Union except Hawaii, spending time also in Canada and Mexico and working with such luminaries as Spider John Koerner, Son House, Andy Warhol, John Lennon and Chuck Berry. In addition to playing on the folk circuit in places such as Gerde's Folk City, Cafe Wha'? and The Gaslight, he was also in one of the first bands to regularly perform in Hilly Cristal's CBGB's, on The Bowery, sharing the stage with Blondie, Talking Heads, The Ramones and Television whilst recording on the Adelphi label. 

Returning to Europe in 1979, Brian  toured and exhibited internationally, playing mostly in celtic bands and recording on the Highway and Topic labels. 

In the mid 1990's he relocated to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he worked with some excellent musicians and technicians, along the way assisting Sir George Martin on his film "Rhythms of Life". 

So far, as a solo artist, Brian has completed a five-track EP entitled "Paint the Town", followed by a full twelve-track album entitled "Everything Takes Forever". Before leaving Brazil he recorded three tracks for an EP entitled "Hold On To The Night".

Curently, he is hard at work on a new full album with the working title "Time & Tide" which is partly a result of a collaboration with Italian producer Alessandro Manni, alongside tracks produced in his recently-refurbished home project studio.

These days, Brian mostly divides his time between music, painting and photography.

In 2005 Brian received a Masters degree in painting and hopes, one day, to get to Hawaii...