Mason Students Release EP "The Brinkmen Ship"

Story and photo by Broadside Correspondent Lauren Jost.

Juniors Alex Heigl and David Long, who have been playing together for over two years, have faced their share of musical speed bumps. But besides the absence of a constant drummer, and their different sets of musical backgrounds, the two musicians recently released their first EP. Along with friend Jeremy Duvall, and after endless months of jam sessions, The Brinkmen Ship have produced an EP worthy of the wait.

Long says that his experience was a more hands-on approach rather than a formal education.

“I picked up my father’s flea market bass guitar about five years ago. Shortly after, I asked for a guitar. I have little formal experience whatsoever as I’ve never taken lessons or played in a serious performing band outside of acoustic restaurant gigs... and busking on the sidewalk, of course,” he said.

Heigl has been playing bass since he was 15, making his way through the basement and garage band venues.

“If you don’t spend your formative years playing in absolutely horrible venues with terrible equipment and no talent, then you have not paid your dues as a performer,” he said.

The self-titled EP is a five-song collection of the band’s eclectic musical tastes. Various genres of music are present in the album ranging from the rockabilly “Esperanto” to the driving riffs and reggae of “Sailors Rat.” Amongst the album’s creative song-titles is a danceable surf rock jam named after Mason’s own security staff, “Securitas.”

Aside from physically creating a set of songs that can be passed amongst music lovers, the band has a sense that the act of creation is what makes this piece special.

“I was a visual artist long before I became a musician and I believe that every mode of human expression shares the same underlying process of creating tension and release by stimulating the senses and playing with people's expectations,” said Long, who claims to have a love and understanding of composition and harmony in all mediums of art.

Overall, the EP has a steady feel of the “impending doom” with a mix of what Heigl describes as, “60s power trio sound like Cream and early Hendrix Experience,” that moves the album forward but keeps the common thread through all of the songs. “We ended up with the rough story of a group of pirates that have been lost at sea and end up coming back to land square in the middle of a zombie apocalypse,” said Heigl.

The hardest thing about stringing the songs together and keeping egos in check while writing songs is something Heigl and Long both agree upon: objectivity.

The band’s biggest musical influences are prevalent in this EP; from Ravi Shankar to Bad Brains as well as cement mixers, trains and howler monkeys.

“In my heart, [The] Beatles are number one, the Velvet Underground are number two, and everything else that rocks comprises the rank of third,” said Long.

As Mason students, the duo has taken advantage of local venues to showcase their talents. In the past year, Heigl and Long played at Potbelly’s, a local sandwich shop which encourages local musicians to play cover songs. The reward for playing a set lasting for a few hours is a free meal. “Obviously, the free food is a really big plus, but the atmosphere was really nice and there were occasionally people that would recognize some songs and sing along,” says Heigl.

People turned out to Potbelly’s on Sunday nights to hear Heigl and Long play covers from bands such as The Beatles and Wreckless Eric. A few Mason favorites have shown up at the restaurant as well.

“Jim Larranaga came up to us one time while we were there and talked for a while when he found out we were Mason students. Local celebrity encounters like that are fun,” says Heigl.

The Brinkmen Ship’s self-titled EP can be found at http://www.ourstage.com/fanclub/thebrinkmenship, where you can hear all five of the songs in their entirety.