The Brandino Extravaganza
The Brandino Extravaganza is the new title for the years-in-the-making brainchild of the extremely active and borderline omnipresent Grand Rapids, MI musician Brandon “Brandino” Proch, formerly known as “El Brandino”. Brandino decided that it was time for a small re-inventing, a fresh name, and a removal from the ever-looming feeling of potential cultural appropriation. The hope, however, is that the music stays the same, save for being more, well, extravagant!
At a typical show, Brandino attempts to wrangle the stage all my his lonesome, with a loop-station, guitar, cajon drum, beat-boxing skills and a saxophone to create songs piece by piece before your very eyes, and into your very ears. In other, more rare cases, he employs a full band to back the extravagant show with higher energy.
The style of Brandino’s music has been difficult to pigeonhole since day one. “A musical mixologist” and “half stand up comedy, half music theory lesson” are a few of the more amusing attempts at describing the sounds and experiences created at one of his shows. In the words of Eric Mitts at Revue Magazine (long before the new title was even thought of): it’s “a sometimes-silly, all-out-amazing multi-instrument extravaganza”.
With a tendency to mash songs together and create alternate versions of pre-existing tunes (both his own and others’), you can never be too sure just what you’ll get at a Brandino show.
The Bootstrap Boys are an Alt-Country, Americana & Traditional Roots quartet from Grand Rapids, Michigan. With rich four-part harmonies, traditional heartland instrumentation, seasoned players behind them, a DIY attitude and a capable RV, The Bootstrap Boys have steadily built a devoted following across Michigan, the Midwest, and beyond since their 2015 inception.