arts & entertainment
Portland’s New Soul Sensation Plays April 22
Brownish Black
releases EP ‘That Love’
at Slabtown
Brian Stimson
of The Skanner News
A
s a former resident of the Motor City,
Michael Sharbatz says Motown is in
his blood.
For years though, the inner Motown lay
dormant in the musician.
The Detroit native had never played a lick
of soul music until he migrated West to form
his five member band that produces what he
likes to call “Garage Soul.”
He says it just came to him in a moment of
pure inspiration. And Brownish Black was
born.
On Friday, April 22, the band will perform
at Slabtown to celebrate the release of their
freshman EP, “That Love.” Brownish Black
will be joined
by
musical
guests On the
BROWNISH
Stairs, The Way
BLACK
Downs and DJ
Seoul Brother
Michael Sharbatz
Number 1. Doors open at 8
vocals/guitar
p.m.
Vicki Porter
Sharbatz says his band is a
vocals
hybrid soul machine that does-
Ethan Boardman
drums/percussion
n’t have many local contem-
Mub Fractal
poraries to look up to.
bass/vocals
“What it seems like we’re
Aaron Burget
doing is taking old soul
guitar
sounds and infusing it with a wide array of contemporary
indy rock sounds to make a more charged soul sound.”
He says most of his inspiration comes from the record
bins and the only new album he remembers buying was
another soul revivalist – Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.
“When she came and played the Crystal,” he says. “We
tried to make it a mandatory band field trip.”
For Brownish Black, Sharbatz writes all the songs, but
says like any group – which consists of Sharbatz on
vocals/guitar, Vicki Porter on vocals, Ethan Boardman on
drums/percussion, Mub Fractal on bass/vocals, and Aaron
Burget on guitar – the songs become a team effort.
As for the EP, the lead singer tells the Skanner news that
the songs are all about the good and bad things that love can
bring into life.
To listen to Brownish Black and learn more about the
band, visit their website at http://brownishblack.band-
camp.com.
N ew Fe at u r e
Online
ow you can post your
announcements
directly, using The
Skanner.com ‘YOUR
BEAT, Eyes on the
Street’.
page 8 The Portland Skanner April 20, 2011