On The Verge

The Menahan Street Band

Bushwick, NY
Bedroom Supergroup
www.myspace.com/dunhamrecords

Growing up in Staten Island, Tommy “TNT” Brenneck would often travel to see Antibalas across the bay in Manhattan. Over time he became close with the members of the Afro-beat group, and aged from fan to friend to fulltime member. “I had played trombone and guitar in bands, but they asked me to play organ, so I gave it a shot,” he jokes. When Antibalas guitarist Gabe Roth began focusing on his work with Sharon Jones, Brenneck assumed guitar duties and, eventually, began playing with The Dap-Kings himself. A few years ago, he also started moonlighting with several of his bandmates in The Budos Band, but something was still missing. “Budos Band and Sharon Jones are two extremely specific bands, stylistically. Sometimes I would have these songs and they would get rejected because they were a little to pretty.” So Brenneck recorded a series of funk, soul and Ethiopian-infused songs in his bedroom studio as The Menahan Street Band. “I would demo out a song and bring in the guys who I thought would hit it best,” he says of the extended Daptone/Anitbalas family. “Everyone has sort of passed through those bands, like paying their dues. And my neighbors haven’t been complaining as much since I’ve helped blow up our street name!”