Frank Brown, Buzz Zeemer, and the Sing Us Home Festival

Frank Brown is the lead singer of Buzz Zeemer, a band scheduled to perform at Sing Us Home, a festival taking place May 2nd through the 4th on the grounds of the Performing Arts Center, Venice Island, in Manayunk. My editor, Michael La Torre, set me up with a press pass for the festival and hoped I could interview the lead singer to build a little excitement. After researching cafes where we could do an in-person sit-down, fretting about their hours and Frank’s schedule, and struggling with indecisiveness, I met the lead singer on a beautiful Thursday afternoon at The 320 Market Café, a place that my wife and I have come to love in Swarthmore, PA. Although I had not made a connection between the date and the name of the market, Frank and I scored free bags of the market’s famous tortilla chips for choosing that location. So, even if the interview had gone bad, at least we had that. Luckily, it went well.

"From this perspective, from this position I have a good grip on both of them Because I have stayed home and have learned a little more about my neighborhood, which is important, you know there’s a lot of good places to eat."

James Murphy from “Pow Pow”

“I’m new to Philly.”

I have made three significant moves in my life. The first was at eighteen months when I was adopted and left Moses Lake, Washington, for Greenville, Ohio. At ten, my family moved from Greenville and my first true set of friends to Camden, Ohio, a small farm community where I never really fit in. In my forties, I left Athens, Ohio. Although I loved the small Appalachian city that taught me how to be an adult, I needed the move to help me become a professional (and professionally paid) writer and find my forever home.

It has been slow-moving, but I am on track with my goals. My wife and I have a solid relationship where we love and respect each other; we have a great house with nearly two acres, and I am becoming part of the large writing community. Now, I am trying to learn about my neighborhood, “which is important.”

Being new to Philadelphia—I will ride that for as long as possible—is a good in when meeting locals, especially those who have been here most of their lives; the outgoing, talkative ones love to share their opinions when asked questions. Where do I go for water ice? Who makes the best cheesesteak? How do I find a great music venue? So, when my editor found a local Philly music fest to cover and a band to interview for it, I reached out to Frank Brown of Buzz Zeemer for the lowdown.

Meeting Frank Brown

I immediately saw Buzz Zeemer’s lead singer upon walking into the market; I could tell because of the way he was looking around. He was wearing dress pants, a button-up shirt, and a tie. I walked up to him, introduced myself, and noticed he was taller than me, younger-looking, and had a full head of hair. As we looked for a booth, I thought of two people: Stephen King and John Hruby. Please stick with me while I explain.

I was about three weeks into reading Stephen King’s novel 11.22.63, a long but incredible book, possibly one of his best. A key theme that his main character, Jake Epping, keeps going back to is the idea of life harmonizing. People he crosses paths with share similar roles, characteristics, traits, and even names. For example, he saves the life of a beautiful woman named Doris Dunning. He later falls in love with another gorgeous woman named Sadie Doris Dunhill; both have husbands who violently attack them. Maybe it’s a stretch if you haven’t read the novel. Still, it resonated with me because I experienced similar connections.

Reflecting on the idea of life harmonizing but still loosely chatting with Frank Brown, I thought about John Hruby. He was the keyboardist and singer of a band named Guest from Athens, Ohio, whom I followed in my twenties, and later the band Perpetual Groove from Athens, Georgia. I remember first hearing him play at an open stage, and from that point on, I could always be found on his side of the stage at concerts. Although I haven’t seen the musician in at least ten years, I’ve seen posts and pictures of him. Google his name and go to his LinkedIn account. You will see a picture of a young-looking man also involved in education, wearing a button-up shirt and a tie. And while their last names are different, both are a color. In fact, raw, unpolished rubies are brown.

However, Stephen King could be wrong. I could just be feeling nostalgic, looking for a connection to my past.

"Buzz Zeemer is essentially Flight of Mavis plus Tommy Conwell,” Frank said, drawing my attention back to our conversation. I realized we had gone from chit-chat to the interview, so I pulled myself from my thoughts and focused.

Tommy Conwell was famous in the area. He had been with a band named Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers, and they had a Billboard Top 100 hit in 1988 with “I’m Not Your Man.” He added experience to the band.

“We gave Pat Feeney a demo tape, and he helped release our albums.” Pat Feeney, owner of Main Street Music in Manayunk and Buzz Zeemer’s manager, helped them release three albums, including Lost and Found, twenty-five years after Delusions of Grandeur.

“I listened to all of them but got stuck on Play Thing; that energy of producing a first album came through.” Maybe I shouldn’t have said that, but I can only learn about a band’s music one album at a time. If I try to focus on an entire discography, shallow interpretations distort my impression.

Frank said that they recorded the songs from Lost and Found at the same time as Play Thing, but they didn’t make the cut. However, he spent time listening to cassettes from their earliest recordings during the COVID lockdown. Realizing they still hit the same, he went back to Pat Feeney.

I realized those recording sessions happened during a creative period for the band, so I asked if they toured much during that time.

He said they primarily played in Philly and New York City. “But now, it’s just too hard to get everyone back together again.”

He mentioned that statement multiple times in different forms, like a man lamenting the end of an era. It made me sad, but because I saw it with the band of my twenties, I understood the layers of responsibilities the members had. It is challenging to continue doing something you love when it can no longer pay the bills.

Then, Frank said it. “There will most likely not be any more Buzz Zeemer performances.”

            That statement further triggered my nostalgia.

The Artists and Bands with Philly Connections (The ones I could find)

As the festival’s name suggests, Sing Us Home is a Philadelphia reunion. Musicians from the west side of Philly who spent their twenties and thirties together are returning to recreate the energy they made. Or at least an updated version.

Dave Hause, who curates Sing Us Home, played guitar for the hardcore/punk band Step Ahead in Philly during the mid-90s. He owns the sponsoring record label Blood Harmony Records with his brother, Tim Hause, who will perform at the festival as Tim Hause & The Pre-Existing Conditions. Speedy Orbitz’s rhythm guitarist, Andy Molholt, is from Philadelphia, and the band now considers the city their home. Quarry and Lullana (a twin duo) are also from Philly.

Although Dan Andriano is from Illinois, he played bass in The Falcon with Dave Hause. Frank Turner toured alongside Hause as part of the 2009 Revival Tour, and AJJ toured with Turner in 2011 to promote the album Knife Man. John Gallagher Jr. was born in Wilmington, Delaware, near Delco, PA, where Frank Brown of Buzz Zeemer lives.

An Invitation

“When I was in my twenties, I wanted to write about the experience of listening to live music,” I told Frank as I tried to share some of my background. I explained that I wanted to capture that energy in word form and help lift bands by understanding their motivations and relaying them to those who could not attend. However, it was as if concerts existed outside our regular realm; I could never get back in once I exited. “Yet, here I am, doing it now.”

Although my nostalgic ego appeared while I talked to Frank Brown, I knew our conversation was also helping to create my Philadelphia persona. Meeting the lead singer of Buzz Zeemer was an invitation to a scene I could relate to very well. I felt like a distant cousin meeting his extended family for the first time. We lived in different locations but shared similar DNA.

Sing Us Home Festival is a reunion for those who loved music from a corner of Philadelphia that existed in the 90s. It will bring back musical friends of Dave Hause, members from bands like Buzz Zeemer who have few opportunities to make music together, and fans who may have left the area physically or have been away because of life. Yet, I also offer you this.

Sing Us Home Festival is an invitation to come back together as a community, old and new, with music being the connective tissue. In the 90s and early 2000s, Gen Zers danced their ass off to the music around them. It kept them physically and mentally healthy. And now, when we all need it the most, it can help build a bridge between generations, give a reprieve from the stresses of the world, and offer a healthy release within a crowd of like-minded people.

Final Thought

I am excited to learn about live Power Pop, a genre I have little experience with. I can’t wait to hear the guitar work of Frank Turner, Dave Hause, Dan Andriano, AJJ, and John Gallagher Jr. and see the younger bands like Speedy Ortiz, Lullanas (the first twin duo I’ll have ever seen), and Quarry. But mostly, I am interested in tuning into the energy of a homegrown Philly festival because, like I said, “I am new to Philadelphia.”