Brickfoot

Formed by childhood friends Steve Herneker (vocals and guitar) and Jay Hammen (drums) in suburbs resting on the outskirts of the Chesapeake Bay north of Baltimore, Maryland, Brickfoot surfaced in the late nineties with a distinctive blend of psychedelic funk and sixties-flavored rock. Rounded out by Frank Chiovaro on guitar and Che Smith on bass, the band immediately took to the studio to record an album worth of songs that seized the attention of Mid-Atlantic music fans, DJs, promoters, and management, as well as an opening slot for national act Fishbone (Head, 1998). Stash, a prominent DJ for WIYY 98 Rock, offered, “Brickfoot writes songs with feeling and makes them rock! It’s no wonder why they’re one of Baltimore’s favorite and best bands…Live and on record you can’t help but feel the passion!”

Performing ceaselessly in the tri-state area from 1998 – 2001 and replacing Smith with guitar tech and long-time friend Gregory Wardrope for creative differences, Brickfoot began sharing the stage with national acts such as Nine Days, Fastball, The Psychedelic Furs, Spacehog, Me’Shell NdegeOcello, Brendan Benson, Jimmies Chicken Shack, and Good Charlotte. During this prolific time, the band recorded their second studio album, Poly Carbon Lens (2000), which was mastered by George Marino and released to wide critical acclaim. This sophomore release incorporated more of a sixties pop-rock identity with songs such as “Bubble Boy,” “Used Up Has Been,” and “Fast Forward” hailed as “blistering, irresistible tunes” (UMBC Digital Collections). Keith Jones, of Towson, Maryland’s The Towerlight stated, “Poly Carbon Lens captures one of the most infectious pop sounds to hit the American Market recently.”

On May 28th, 2000, Brickfoot joined festival headliners such as Rage Against the Machine and Stone Temple Pilots at the HFS’tival at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C. Alongside of Skid Row, the band was selected to open for the legendary Kiss at Merriweather Post Pavilion during their (first) farewell tour on October 4th, 2000. Garnering additional national attention, Brickfoot were winners in “Band-to-Band Combat,” a national battle of the bands sponsored by Lucky Strike, landing the musicians mentions in Rolling Stone and Spin Magazine, as well as the song “Fast Forward” securing placement on a nationally distributed compilation.

As the unrelenting momentum continued, Brickfoot’s single “Surprise Ending” held the number 1 spot on Billboard’s BroadbandTalent.net for forty-two consecutive weeks, gaining the attention of Epic Records, MCA Records, and talent scouts for the Jenny Jones Show. On March 29th, 2001, Brickfoot performed “Two Week Notice” and “Surprise Ending” as the show’s guest house-band. For much of 2001, Brickfoot performed showcases and met with record labels, publishing companies, entertainment lawyers, and producers. It was during this time that the band was discovered by renowned engineer Shelly Yakus (John Lennon, Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks) during a performance at the Philadelphia Music Conference. The band took to the studio with Yakus and celebrated engineer Rick Slater producing, and Michael Neumann engineering. After the recording of three singles (“Electric Superman,” “Prelude,” and “Pinwheel”), the band signed a production/management deal with Yakus. Along with “Surprise Ending,” the three songs were included on the 2002 hybrid live/studio LP, Fresh, Hot, Live!

2001 also saw the expansion of Brickfoot as international touring artists after signing a deal with Armed Forces Entertainment Network (AFEN), propelling the band on tours to over twenty countries between 2001 - 2005. Shows were sponsored by the Department of Defense (DOD) and United Service Organizations (USO) as performances entertained American and NATO troops in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Spain, Italy, Sicily, Greenland, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and nine countries in the middle east including Afghanistan and Iraq in the summer of 2004.

During breaks between tours, Brickfoot recorded their follow-up album, All the Broken Pieces (2004), mastered by Greg Calbi, and featuring songs on MTV’s The Real World and Road Rules (“Sharks in Suits,” “Uppers and Downers”). An indie-rock influence and the addition of keyboardist Shane Burke helped to shape Brickfoot’s ever-evolving sound and seemed to eschew mainstream trends that were popular on American radio. “The entire album was a prime example of things missing in today’s music” (Leon Dennis, Key of DE). Although Burke was a welcome addition, his sights were set on carrying on as a solo artist, and shortly after the completion of the album, longtime fan Keith Duckworth stepped in. Hometown performances during this time consisted of slots with California superstars Silversun Pickups and indie sweethearts Earlimart, who’s Aaron Espinoza, alongside of Grandaddy and Modest Mouse’s Jim Fairchild, would team up to produce Brickfoot’s follow-up record, When I’m Gone (2014).

In the spring of 2005, Baltimore’s “Hometown Heroes” (as named and awarded on a televised broadcast by WJZ’s Bob Turk) were invited to perform for the American Ambassador of Honduras at his residence in the Central American country for a 4th of July Celebration. The two-week stay preceded their final tour for AFEN just over a month later: a six-week second trip to Europe to include Germany, Belgium, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Austria.

Los Angeles, California would be the next location for the recording of their fifth full-length release. Owned by Earlimart’s Espinoza, the Ship Studio is home to a seemingly never-ending cornucopia of vintage and rare instruments, as well as inspiration for artists such as Grandaddy, Glass Animals, Sean Lennon, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Weezer. Produced by Fairchild, Espinoza, and Brickfoot, When I’m Gone is a double album dripping with the blood, sweat, and tears of experience and circumstance. It is the band’s truest statement; a complete artistic vision mirroring the good, the bad, and the ugly. Song titles suggest dark and trying times; “Happy (When I’m Gone),” “The Guy Who Comes in Last,” “You’ll Be the Death of Me,” “The Ability to Drive Something Completely into the Ground,” and “Everything Must Have an End” point to an apparent inevitable dissolution of once pop-happy youngsters and brotherhood. Tellingly, the album would not see the light of day until 2014, and 2008 saw the departure of founding member Hammen.

Several songs were recorded in Chiovaro’s new home studio between 2006 and 2008 prior to Hammen’s parting, some of which would help to complete the recordings for When I’m Gone, and others that would make up future releases. The band continued to function utilizing various drummers (Brandon Bartlet, Mike Scerba, Matt Bowers) and performing a handful of shows such as benefit concerts and Baltimore’s “Come Together,” an annual celebration of The Beatles. In 2010, Duckworth left to pursue other interests, with Steve Fisher replacing him on keyboards.

New music was continuously written and recorded, most of which would be included on the 2020 compilation Lost Marbles Volumes 1 and 2. These albums included songs recorded but which did not make the cut during the When I’m Gone sessions (“Imagine You, Imagine Me,” “Homesick Astronaut”), those recorded at Chiovaro’s studio (“The Saint,” “King of Nothing”), studio recordings not included on full-length releases (“Electric Superman Alternate Version,” “Knockout”), and songs recorded from 2008 – 2020 (“Ghost of Yesterday,” “Nobody Feels Sorry For You”).

In 2022, original members Hammen, Chiovaro, Herneker, and Wardrope, along with now mainstay keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Fisher, collaborated on the 25th Anniversary release of Brickfoot’s first album, which was remixed by Chiovaro, remastered by Steve Wright, and titled Head 25 (April, 2023). The album consists of a new track list order, additional music including keyboard and percussion by Fisher, the inclusion of long-lost session song “America” replacing “Heaven Hold the Sky,” and is the band’s definitive version for the album.

Future projects by this current lineup include remastering Poly Carbon Lens for its upcoming 25th anniversary as well as assembling a bonus disc documenting the making of the album, remixing and remastering the Shelly Yakus singles (of which “Pinwheel” is already completed) and revisiting All the Broken Pieces when the time comes for its anniversary release. In addition to the anniversary releases, work is currently in progress for new material. Although Brickfoot is no longer a touring act, the group immensely enjoys operating in the capacity in which they originally intended – a band of brothers creating art to share with music lovers all over the world.