Little Brown's Electric Band's 'Share the Light'
After a 30-year hiatus, Little Brown’s Electric Band—a popular ’70s DU student group—has reunited and is once again writing and recording original songs.
In 1969, you’d find several students, instruments in hand, gathered around the Centennial Towers grand piano. Singer and keyboardist Richard Gollub, keyboardist and trumpeter Bill Brindis (BA ’73) and guitar player Gary Rich (attd. 1969-73) were among them, and the following fall—their sophomore year—the three committed to making the band official.
From 1970–74, 10 members participated in the band, performing at campus dances and outdoor concerts and organizing an annual “Be-in” and Halloween costume ball. Other DU members included Steve Glynn (attd. 1969-73) as booking agent, roadie and assistant manager; lead vocalist Spencer Pyne (attd. 1968-69), who also played acoustic guitar, trombone and bass; guitarist Steven Shmerler (attd. 1969-72); Rod “Roddy” Welles (attd. 1970-72) on guitar and vocals; and Sam Brindis (BA ’76) on keyboard and saxophone.
“We had a collection of tremendous talent and it was a matter of figuring out how to play together, how to play in a band,” recalls Gollub (BA ’73, MPA ’74).
Initially covering bands they admired—including the Grateful Dead, Van Morrison and Chicago—Little Brown’s also wrote original material that was a “folky-rocky-jazzy blend.”
During their most popular phase, the band worked four or five days a week while attending classes, traveling to gigs in Colorado, Wyoming and Texas, and even opening for some major bands at the Denver Coliseum.
After the band broke up in 1974, the members kept in touch with each other and with music. “For all of us it’s at least been a major hobby if not a full-time thing,” Gollub says.
The members’ musical talents have been applied to everything from owning a musical equipment store and composing scores in Hollywood to creating music for medical therapy and sitting in with the Grateful Dead and Carlos Santana.
The band reunited for the first time in 2004 at Sam Brindis’ home in Lake Havasu, Ariz. Soon after, they recorded an album, Share the Light (All Songs, 2006). The band began recording a second album late this summer.
“A lot of the group and individual dynamics are still going on,” Gollub says. “Some things don’t change. We are all a little older, a little bit wiser and we’ve evolved and are fabulously better musicians.”
Reconnect with the band by e-mailing Ricardino@comcast.net