Brass Mash Member Deep Dive: Brian Lanzone

Brian laying it on thick for us

Sit down, kids. Colin is going to tell us a story. It might be a long story at the end of the show, about how he tried to order a pizza one time. What happened to the pizza is for you to find out directly from him, but through some dad-energy kind of wordplay, we eventually get to hear from Brian Lanzone, our bassist for Brass Mash. Brian’s contributions, in my opinion nobody asked for, have elevated our sound to something even more exciting and unique. Please enjoy our chat and listen for his funky tones at the next Brass Mash show!

Year joined Brass Mash: The first time I played with them was 2018…Beginning of 2022 was when I started playing more gigs.

Current favorite mashup: Probably “Get on Levitating.” The bass line is super simple, and I really like trying to sound like the opening vocals of the Bruno Mars song in the middle (“Uptown Funk”) - Me and Sam play that part together. I get to use the fun octave pedals. So that’s probably my favorite right now.

How did you come to join Brass Mash?

I basically subbed for Brett (Malta, tuba) just a couple of times. Then throughout covid, when the band was starting back up, Brett was busy taking a lot of work at the PAC and subbing just kind of turned into doing the majority of the gigs.

Tell us about your first Brass Mash gig.

I didn’t really have a first one as a full-time member, it just kind of morphed into that at the time. My first gig subbing was memorable. It was at the old Bang the Drum location. It was really fun! I was a huge fan of the band before I subbed my first time. I knew most of the guys and girls in the band already. Just getting to play the songs that I already liked was a big moment - especially “Boy Band Brass Mash’d” - the crowd went crazy for that one! It was really fun.

Forrest (Williams) was with us at that gig, too, who subs with us on drums. He was in the audience. I remember that about my first Brass Mash gig, that Forest was in there. I’d known him and respected him and played music with him forever, and he was complimenting me. It was cool!

Share one core Brass Mash experience.

“Don’t touch the marble…” I got busted wandering off at Hearst Castle and got escorted back by the sheriff!

I was a huge fan of Brass Mash, and it’s really exciting to be a part of it now. I was jealous watching them, thinking “I want to do that!” I am self-conscious being a string player in a brass band - I’m like an imposter. Sean and I had been playing together for over 20 years, so a nice part of joining the band is riding in with him in the rhythm section.