Brown Sabbath funks up the Constellation Room June 10
Photo by: Courtney Chavanell
Brown Sabbath started off as a “half inside joke and half psychotic” according to Brownout guitarist Greg Gonzalez. A majority of the band are also part of the Grammy Award-nominated Latin small orchestra, Grupo Fantasma.
Brown Sabbath has performed at a plethora of music festivals from Fun Fun Fun Fest to Pechanga Fest. They will be performing on June 10 at The Constellation in Santa Ana.
The band even won their third Austin Music Award and has been going strong ever since. The OC Concert Guide had the opportunity to speak with Gonzalez (guitar, bass, vocals) about what’s next for them this summer, their latest LP and name origin.
OCCG: How did you come up with Brown Sabbath? What’s the meaning behind it?
BS: Brownout was doing a residency at a club in Austin this past Sept. and the goal was to do a different theme every week. We did James Brown’s classic album “Black Caesar” as “Brown Cesar” we did a BBoy night called “Brownout II Electric Boogaloo,” a hip hop night “Fear of a Brown Planet” and a Black Sabbath tribute night “Brown Sabbath.” All the shows were great, but the Brown Sabbath show was the biggest hit of the four. We sold out the club, with a line around the block. That success inspired us to record an EP of Black Sabbath covers, one thing led to another, we got a record label involved, and the next thing you know were doing a run of shows to promote an album based upon the Brown Sabbath theme!
OCCG: “Hand of Doom” with Alex Maas of Black Angels has been getting a lot of great responses and feedback from USA Today and Noisey/Vice. How do you guys feel about that?
BS: We’re stoked to be getting so much positive feedback on the track. Alex Maas did a great job on that song and it’s a pretty obscure Black Sabbath track to begin with. Whenever you try to play Sabbath there are a lot of “Sabbath purists” out there who consider it sacrilegious to do things like add horns and percussion to a Sabbath song, but overall most people have been super receptive.
OCCG: How would you guys describe your sound?
BS: Heavy Psychedelic Afrofunk
OCCG: What do you hope your fans gain out of your latest full-length LP coming out on June 24?
BS: I hope they gain a new appreciation for the funkiness of Black Sabbath. Those riffs are damn funky!
OCCG: What was it like earning your third Austin Music Award?
BS: It was like winning our second Austin music award, not so much like winning the first one. Definitely an honor, like always, plus our guitar players got to take part in one of the inevitable 15-guitar-players-on-stage-blues-jams that seem to happen every other year.
OCCG: What has been your favorite music festival that you’ve played at?
BS: That’s a tough one. Probably Bonarroo, backing up the GZA, or UtopiaFEst jamming with Bernie Worrell. Or Bear Creek jamming with Antibalas, maybe High Sierra… We recently played Psych fest, that was awesome. So many festivals, so little time.
OCCG: What are you most looking forward to for your show at The Constellation in Santa Ana on June 10?
BS: California weather (beats the Texas heat)
OCCG: What’s next for Brown Sabbath this summer?
BS: We’ll be touring throughout California and into Nevada in advance of our album release in June then probably touring in support of the album in the Northwest in August with an East coast run to ease us into the fall by which time the Brownout Presents: Brown Sabbath hype should be reaching a fever pitch!