Thursday, February 1, 2007
Mike Cibura has learned to pack a whole lot of living into short periods of time. In January, armed with an assortment of guitars, amplifiers and other music equipment, Cibura, 2006 graduate, headed west as the lead guitarist of The Brody Buster Band. The band spent a week and a half in Colorado, playing a total of five shows.
Set Change
After the release of their first album this March, the band will perform their arsenal of blues-rock originals on stages in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada and Colorado.
Traveling is nothing new to the members of The Brody Buster Band.
Members of the group trade solos during a set, which makes each night different for their Lawrence following.
“Most bands in Lawrence are doing 45 minutes sets and that’s all that they’ve got,” says Brody Buster, the group’s vocalist, rhythm guitar and harmonica player. “We play nine to one, three nights a week. We’re the only band that does that anymore.”
Brody Buster, the band’s 21-year-old vocalist, rythm guitar and harmonica player, has been playing harmonica since he was 7 years old. His talents allowed him to move to California to play professionally with B.B. King when he was barely a teenager. At the age of 14, Buster traveled to Switzerland to play the Montreux Jazz Festival with artists such as Quincy Jones, Phil Collins, Keb Mo and Isaac Hayes.
“As a kid, I’d played with everyone I ever dreamed of playing with,” Buster says.
Today, Buster and the four other men in the band call Lawrence home. Little Walter and Muddy Waters songs intertwine with the band’s originals alongside crowd pleasers from Stevie Wonder, the Meters and War. By mixing traditional blues with cover songs seamlessly, the band has attracted a varied crowd of loyal followers.
BEYOND THE BAND
Mike Cibura, lead guitar
This 2006 graduate toured Europe with the country group The Ranch Hands for three months.
Chris Hazelton, keyboard
Last summer, Hazelton played the invitation-only JVC Jazz Festival in New York. The festival is considered one of the most prestigious jazz festivals in the world.
Brody Buster, vocals, harmonica and rhythm guitar
When Buster was 7, his mother, a traveling musician, gave him a harmonica. Seven or eight years later, he says, he played the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland alongside Quincy Jones, Keb Mo, Chaka Kahn, Isaac Hayes and Phil Collins.
Buster has played on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and has made appearances on Jenny Jones, Baywatch, Full House, VH1, MTV and Good Morning Japan.
On Beale Street in Memphis, Tenn., and in California, Buster played with blues icon B.B. King. In Lawrence, Buster has played venues with Robert Randolph, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Gov’t Mule, Karl Denson and Lyle Lovett.
“They don’t seem to have a certain spot or bar that they play at in Lawrence,” Dan Webb, Olathe senior, says. “I’ve seen everything from bikers to students at their shows.”
Jenny Osborn, manager at the Jackpot Saloon, 943 Massachusetts St., has noticed the same trends when Buster and Cibura play every Thursday night as The Brody Buster and Mike Cibura Dirty Blues Duo.
“We have a regular crowd that comes in every week,” Osborn says. “There are a lot of kids around their age, and also the working crowd that’s got to get up early for an eight-to-five. It’s about half and half.”
The Brody Buster Band’s music manages to transcend the racial confines often associated with what Buster considers to be America’s true music form — the blues.
“There’s an old, dead black blues man up in here,” Buster says gesturing toward himself with complete sincerity.
Dead vocalist or not, The Brody Buster Band remains committed to their idea of pouring their blood, sweat and beers into every note they make. Luckily for Lawrence, the majority of the time it’s in our own backyard.
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