| Band Members | Vaden: Vocals/Guitar
Taz: Drums/Vocals
Casey: Guitar/Vocals
Mercy. It’s a concept musicians only have a passing familiarity with, since they are only rarely afforded it. But they know the drill going in. Once you decide to become a musician, you’re stuck for life. You’re always a musician, whether you’re kicking out the jams or breaking up the band, whether you’re awaiting the next high or weathering the latest low. That’s the way it goes. That is your burden.
That’s how Vaden Todd Lewis, former frontman for the platinum-selling Toadies, found himself on a plane bound for Seattle and a new start. That’s how Taz Bentley, former stickman for psychobilly faves the Reverend Horton Heat, found himself next to Lewis, offering that new start. But neither one knew what they were getting into. All they knew is that they were musicians, and playing music is the best way to deal with the highs and lows and everything in between.
“Vaden and I met back in the day when the Toadies and the Rev would tour together,” Bentley says. Besides both being based in Dallas, Lewis and Bentley’s former bands did a stretch on Interscope Records together. “We talked about hooking up to ‘jam sometime.’ I eventually left the Rev and began writing songs of my own. I made plans to go to Seattle to record them with some friends there. Right before I left — and I mean literally a few days before getting on the plane — I heard that the Toadies had disbanded. I called Vaden and asked if he’d like to tag along just to clear his head. Sure enough, he did.”
Bentley’s friends turned out to be Matt Cameron (Soundgarden, Pearl Jam), Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin (Guns ‘n Roses). The duo cut four tracks in Seattle, and a new partnership was born — even though a band wasn’t just yet. Back in Dallas, they kept writing and recording, inviting a revolving cast of characters into the studio to help them along, under the name the Burden Brothers.
Though they wrote, recorded and toured, the Burden Brothers weren’t an actual band until the release of Buried in Your Black Heart in late 2003. By then, guitarists Casey Hess and Corey Rozzoni had joined. Good timing, too, since there was plenty of work to do: “Beautiful Night” and “Shadow” got tons of radio airplay all over the country which, in part, led to tours with the likes of Velvet Revolver, Papa Roach and Finger Eleven.
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