The Brew

The Brew is a UK blues and rock group, identified as a psychedelic rock band from the United Kingdom and active from 2005. It is a trio made up of Jason Barwick on lead guitar and vocals, Tim Smith on bass guitar and vocals, and Kurtis Smith on drums and vocals. Tim Smith is Kurtis Smith’s father.

Background and style

The band is from Grimsby and draws on the experimental music of the 1960s. Its sound is described across blues rock, blues and rock, with live performances also associated with jam-oriented music. The Brew plays a style that appeals across rock, funk, jam, jazz, reggae and pop audiences.

Live activity and reputation

The Brew tours extensively across Europe and performs frequently at festivals and clubs. It appears on national television and radio in Belgium, Germany, Poland, Spain and France, and performs a two-hour live set for Classic 21 in Belgium. It is also filmed by France 2 at Le Blues Autour Du Zinc, and appears at RTBF’s Showcase Festival in Brussels.

The band headlines the Maasboulevard Festival in Holland in 2007 and is invited back for 2008. In 2006 it plays the Rock ‘n’ Blues Custom Show at Pentrich in Derbyshire, where organisers ask it to play a second set on the following day, a rare occurrence for the event. It later headlines the British Stage at the UK’s Colne festival, where it again receives double encores.

Recording career

The Brew releases The Brew in April 2006, followed by the Fate and Time EP in April 2007. Its later albums include The Joker in August 2008, A Million Dead Stars in February 2010, and The Third Floor in August 2011. The Key, described as the band’s first full-length album in the North American material, includes the single “Hunters Moon” and the closing track “Radio Swiss”.

The Joker reaches number two on the US iTunes Blues Download Chart and also places in the Polish popular and blues album charts. The Brew also appears in Relix Magazine’s “Jam-off” and is voted Best Opening Act of 2006 by the Bruce Hornsby fan site Bruuuce.com after supporting Bruce Hornsby. It also opens for acts including moe., The Disco Biscuits, Little Feat, State Radio, Strangefolk, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Tim Reynolds and Stephen Perkins’ Banyan project.

Other activity

The Brew joins the Home Grown Music Network. The band also builds a following through heavy touring in New England in the other account of the act, but the UK trio is the version associated with Grimsby and its subsequent festival appearances across Europe.