Brothers Comatose come alive on the road
When we caught up with the Brothers Comatose late last week, the members of the San Francisco folk rock band were in the middle of a 990-mile drive from Phoenix to Driftwood, Texas.
“You try to plan your tour to be somewhat reasonable, and then certain opportunities pop up that you can’t say no,” said singer and guitarist Ben Morrison, 35, who was serving as both the band’s mouthpiece and van driver.
The Brothers Comatose also raised $40,000 in crowdfunding to record their third album, “City Painted Gold,” celebrating the release in March with a sold-out headlining show at the Fillmore.
On Thursday, April 21, the Brothers Comatose will play the Hopmonk Tavern in Sebastopol before heading off on a three-month tour that finds the band crisscrossing North America, performing everywhere from small cafes to boutique festivals in places like the Northwest String Summit in Oregon and Salmonstock in Arkansas.
On the new album, where the group thematically wrestles with modern life in San Francisco, it amps up its traditional string sound, plugging in and going for a more robust approach reflecting the shaggier end of its influences, like the Rolling Stones and the Kinks.
The first album was us standing in a room in a circle with a few microphones.
Aidin Vaziri is The San Francisco Chronicle’s pop music critic.