BonnerSprings.com

Four Bonner Springs High School graduates are coming back to town this weekend for Tiblow Days, and they're bringing the funk with them.

The BSHS graduates make up a majority of the five-piece band know as Browntown, which will perform 6-9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 22, onstage in the parking lot at Cedar and Front streets.

"We've come up with our own term," said band member Brandon "Catfish" Gerken about Browntown's sound. "We call our music 'HipHunk.' The music is hip and we're hunks.

"As far as style goes," all joking aside, Gerken said, "it's kind of funky rock. There's a little bit of hip hop to it and a bit of an edge to it. We're just all over the place that we had to come up with our own word to describe us."

The band consists of Gerken, lead guitar and vocals, Brian "Swede" Mikuls, bass and vocals, Dan "Puma D" Mellott, guitar and lead vocals, Calvin "Tron" McGuire, drums, and Herschel "Hersch" McWilliams, saxophone and keyboards. Gerken, Mikuls and Mellott are 1994 BSHS graduates and McGuire is a 1998 BSHS graduate.

The band got its start back in the halls of Bonner Springs High School, when the four classmates began playing together and forming various bands throughout the years. It wasn't until five years ago that Browntown was born and the crew added McWilliams, who was friends with Gerken's wife in college.

This will be the fourth year the band has played at Tiblow Days, and the homecoming has been an event that the band members always look forward to.

"It's good because a lot of the people that come are mainly people we grew up with," Gerken said. "We get a lot more support locally here in Bonner Springs than playing downtown (Kansas City). It's kind of like a reunion every time the band plays here."

Although McWilliams didn't grow up in Bonner Springs, he said every time the band plays there, he can definitely feel the momentum that hometown crowd brings.

"It's an opportunity to play a little closer to home and back in our old stomping grounds," he said.

His favorite part of playing in Bonner, he said, was that "90 percent of the crowd is singing right along" as the band plays.

"As a musician, when that many people know that words to your song, that's a good feeling," he said.

McWilliams described the band's music as a "funky, rock, hip hop and soul blend." When someone attends a Browntown concert, he said they were sure to get a show full of energy and fun.

"Get ready to party," he said. "We get up there and have fun and try to make it fun for everyone. We feed off the audience. We're not there to do a recital, so expect a show with a lot of energy and a lot of a fun, party atmosphere."

Adding to that, Gerken said their local supporters can also expect a few changes. He said the band has improved tremendously over the past year and it's got the acknowledgements to prove it.

Their song "Turkey Boy" was featured in the August 2007 issue of STUFF Magazine as one of their Top Ten Songs to download and they won the KC Club Wars battle of the bands contest in November 2007.

In the last two months, Gerken said he was proud of the fact that Browntown got the opportunity to perform onstage at the Power and Light District in Kansas City, Harrah's Casino VooDoo Lounge and also for a fashion show.

"I feel like we're kind of on a momentum swing upwards," he said. "We're excited to come back here to Bonner Springs and show them how we've developed."

To listen to some of Browtown's music, visit the Web site browntownband.com.

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