Doom metal band Grüzer was the band Jason Brown wanted all along — it just took him 15 years to realize.
After 15 years of friendship while they worked separately, the six band members were finally able to start playing at their full potential when they formed Grüzer nine months ago. As seasoned veterans in the music game, the six members weren't surprised when Grüzer’s popularity skyrocketed in the local metal scene and beyond.
Making a name in the music community is a hard thing to do in just nine months, but for Brown, the success was a plan — it just took years of practice and dedication.
“We’ve all been wanting to [start a band] for a while. We know what we want to do and we know how we want to do it,” said Brown. “This time, we’re trying to do it the right way.”
As they wait for their first official EP drop within the next couple of months, they’re planning to continue doing what they they’ve gotten plenty of experience perfecting — performing.
From old school country music to sludge metal, their influences lay all across the musical spectrum. This diversity in musical backgrounds has given Grüzer depth to their sound, to the extent that the band identifies as metal some days and rock 'n' roll the next.
It’s a different approach, but that’s what helped them make their mark in such a short time.
“Some would call it metal music, some would call it rock 'n' roll music,” Brown said. “I think that’s what makes it cool — we can fit into so many different groups. We can play with so many different types of band and not stick out like a sore thumbs.”
There’s a long list of metal subgenres — black, sludge, thrash, etc. — but doom metal is what Grüzer calls home. They like their music "real slow and tuned low."
Most metal sub-genres fall under the same umbrella despite their differences, but Brown said the fans don’t. While the metal community is large as a whole, differing tastes create divides in the scene.
“There’s a great scene [in Columbia], but there’s lots of cliques within that scene,” Brown said. “So, with this band we like to get everyone together and not be so cliquey.”
To Brown, metal fans shouldn’t focus on what makes them different; instead, they should look to what brought them together in the first place — their love for music.
This weekend, Grüzer will play alongside four diverse groups that will each bring something unique to New Brookland Tavern’s stage Saturday night.
This weekend's bands vary from stoner rock to hardcore punk to doom metal, proving that shows like this one are what should bring the scene together, not pull it apart.
“It’s gonna be great,” Brown said. “We’re just gonna blow the goddamn roof off the place.”
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