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As for the title, I don't usually like to name my albums after a song on the CD but like to sum them up with a phrase that covers the feelings of the songs.  To me, "Do What You Should" does cover the feeling and vibe of the recording.  The title can be taken in many ways and that's just the way I like it.  Whatever it is you love to do, do it. "Do what you should" so to speak.

I did make an effort not to wank out on the guitar too much this time around but really wanted the songs to breathe their own sentiment.  I started with 16 songs and ended up with 11.  Not to say the others sucked.  But sometimes when recording you just don't capture the proper feel or textures of the song, and to release it that way would be an injustice to the song.

So Turn On - turn Up & Tune In.

Go ahead and have a listen to some sound clips and decide for yourself.  I dare you...

Now where in the hell do I begin this story that comes to me through a twisted haze of smoky memories disguised by flashes of thought, pictures, family, hockey, my first guitar, my first kiss, and that flight across the Atlantic.

I was born in Glasgow, Scotland and came to Canada with my parents and older brother and sister. We first arrived in Winnipeg and then shortly after moved to Toronto. I was still too young for school but I do have very strong memories of the old house we lived in and the neighbourhood. Toronto wasn't working out for us for some reason which means my Dad was most likely having a hard time finding work. So off we went back to Winnipeg where my Dad found some work and I spent my days hanging out with my mom helping any way I could. Everything seemed to be going well as far as I could tell, I got my first set of plastic golf clubs and that summer I rarely left the back yard. For some reason it was time to move again and this time we were moving out west as they say out east. As far as I remember the story we were supposed to be heading to Calgary Alberta but missed the turn and ended up in Edmonton Alberta. Edmonton seemed to be the place for us, my Dad got work and we sailed along smoothly and I was making friends in our Apartment complex. At this time I was about 5 years old and we made one more move to the town of St.Albert which was about a ten minute drive north from West Edmonton in those days. Now it is the city of St.Albert with about 60,000 people. It was the first house that we owned and I remember the joy and pride that both my mom and dad took in caring for the place. About two days after we got settled in I was out front with my mom helping her sweep the front walk which consisted of four or five concrete blocks that covered the mud that was our front yard. There were these two kids about my age (5) across the street that were laughing at the way I was holding the broom and calling me names. I put down the broom and quickly surveyed the two kids, they looked tough to me because they were wearing blue jeans and had jean jackets on too. At that point in my life I had never worn either but wished I had like all my cowboy heroes. One of the kids picks up a rock and throws it at me and of course misses by a long shot. My dad had taught me how to throw, kick a ball, skip a rock, box, stand up for myself in general, all those cool things when I was very young and even at the age of (5) I knew I had to stand up to these kids right then or forever be harassed by them. If you have ever seen the movie Braveheart, well that was me. I picked up a rock from our mud /gravel front yard and tossed it right back at them. I can still see that throw to this very day, the rock sailed beautifully over the road with a slight arch and then "Twang", it bounced right off the kids head who had the brush cut and he ran into the house crying, it was a triumphant moment for the new kid on the block. I have to laugh now because all my mom said was "nice throw, now finish sweeping the path".

St.Albert was a great place to grow up, you were close to the city but you also had the wide open fields a forest to play in that you can only find in small towns and farming communities. Off to school I went the next year with not all that much happening until grad 2 when I got my first kiss from Judy Anderson. I gave her my apple and she gave me a kiss and a chocolate bar and after school came back to my house where we kissed some more until my mom caught us and put and end to that.

I had seen the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show and was hooked on being a guitar player. So after a while of driving my parents crazy asking for a guitar and trashing all the brooms, mops or anything else that resembled a guitar I finally got one. I would sit on the steps a fake my way through Beatle songs to the pleasure of some neighbourhood kids but something was missing. I needed a drummer and a bass player but didn't know any. About half way through grade four a new kid came to our school by the name of Kim Upright, he played drums and we were almost set, we were going to call ourselves (Jolly Georges Meat Factory). The name came from my older brother Gordon who I'm sure won't remember but will most likely deny it.

By grade seven we finally found ourselves a bass player by the name of Bob Drysdale who I met through playing hockey, I played a lot of hockey and still play and love the game today. We had our first band practice over at Kims place and it went very well to my memory. We played some Black Sabbath stuff and some songs that I had written. Well it was now time for the annual talent show at our school called Variety Night where all the girls would work out these dance routines to there favorite songs and some kids would sing or like us play in a band. We decided to call the band (Stone) and even had it on the bass drum just like the big guys do. It was a great time and I have very fond memories of the show, I also remember that I never felt nervous about getting up in front of people to sing and play guitar, it all seemed so natural to me. The year flew by and we played just about anywhere someone would let us. The following year we played at the school talent show again but we had changed our name to (Triton), we all had these black T-shirts with Triton across the chest in gold sequins that my mom had done for us. At show time I decided to put my jean jacket over top so you could only see part of the name, it just felt strange to me that we would all be wearing the same shirts, I guess I just wanted to be an individual. Well my mom sure was pissed off after all her hard work. We played three songs this time round and all of them were mine, I'm sure the lyrics were fairly bad but there was a lot of wawa pedal with solid drums and bass, I'm sure we were way too loud and probably not very good but we sure had a great time.

Did I mention that I played a lot of hockey ? Well actually I played a lot of sports period. I played hockey in the winter on those fabulous out-door rinks that I miss somehow. In the summer I played soccer and baseball (hardball). I was blessed with ability of being very athletic and always excelled in any sport I played and for that reason I was always on the traveling team. The caliber of the players in St.Albert was always very high and some of the kids that stuck with it and didn't pick up the guitar actually went on to be in the N.H.L. Anyway enough about the sports let's get back to the music.

It was in 1984 that I formed my first professional band with two friends from St.Albert. It was Kim Upright on drums, Mark Brostrom on bass guitar and a fellow Kim knew from Edmonton, Mike McDonald on guitar/vocals. We jammed a few times at the house that Mark and I were living in which was quite the party house for a while. A lot of people went through that place that we were so fond of, we called it the Sheridan Club, being on Sheridan cresent and all. As I said the jams went well and Mike had this name for the band and we soon became known as (Jr. Gone Wild). Our first show was at The Sheraton Hotel just off of Jasper Avenue in Downtown Edmonton. Yes I'm sure that sounds great but we actually played in the basement that had been turned into a night club called Scandals. We opened for Moe Berg's band (Ramage & The Belts), Ed Dobek on drums, Moe Berg on guitar, Rob Lennon on bass and Ronald on vocals. Moe later became the leader of (The Pursuit Of Happiness) based in Toronto. Back to the show, we had a great night and basically stole the show. The next day in the Entertainment section of the Edmonton Sun, a half page photo of Mike and I with the caption reading "Jr. Gone Wild - Mike McDonald and Graham Brown make a powerful one two punch". Well that was it we were off and running, over the next year we played a lot of shows with hi-lights ranging from opening for (Rank And File) and headlining at the University of Alberta in the Dinwoodie Lounge to heading out to Vancouver to record some tunes and play some shows. As it turned out my van was stolen while we were busy partying at some ones house after our final show at The Railway Club. Not that this would change my mind because I had already decided that I was going to move to Vancouver and that is exactly what I did.

Once I got to Vancouver it took me about a year to put a good band together and get a record out. I had met this guitar player (Mark Findler) through my friendship with Mike Davies of (The Enigmas). Mark and I got along great and were really in the same mind set of what it was we wanted to do musically. In my mind neither one of us were great singers but we knew how to write songs and played guitar not too badly. But together we sang some very fine harmonies which seemed to be lacking in the scene at this time. We Finally found ourselves a bass player (Dave Glendening) and Drummer (Rick Vellow). Because of a demo Mark and I had put together and a ton of airplay on (CITR -FM) Grant McDonagh of Zulu Records heard our stuff and offered to help us press some copies. The result was an EP (Brilliant Orange - "Happy Man"). The record did well for us and became a national college hit. Then came the video for Much Music (Happy Man) which helped to spread the word to a wider audience. Shortly after this we replaced both Rick and Dave, I can't remember what the disagreement was about. Our last show with them was in Seattle where Dave and I almost came to blows before the show. We did the show and that was it for that line up. The two new guys were (Kevin Lucks) bass guitar and (Marcel Belly) Drums. These guys were an excellent rhythm section and the band took a huge step forward. Shortly after that we found some management who seemed to be well connected in Los Angeles. So off we went to live, play, record, and get drunk in L.A. We played all the groovy places like the Troubadour, The Roxy, Lingerie Club, The Palamino and so on.We drove up and down the coast so many times we should have collected air miles. On a cross Canada tour we went down to New York City and ended up staying there for a while playing CBGB and a bunch of other clubs that are a bit foggy to me now, did I mention that we got drunk. I remember having this huge fist fight with Marcel in the morning after drinking all night because we had drawn on him with a pen after he passed out from the booze. Oh yeah, after the fist fight was over he attacked me with a tube of tooth paste. In doing so he puts this huge gouge across my forehead, just what the lead singer in the band needs before we do a A&R show case for Epic. I can laugh now but who knows what the guy was thinking. We did eventually record some songs that got released on BMG in the States only. A very unremarkable record if I don't say myself. Too bad because it could have been so much better if management/producers would of just left us alone. I still prefer the demos we did of those songs to this day.

The band self destructed shortly after. Mark and Kevin put a band together called Stigmata and released a fine record on A&M/LSD. I went Tree Planting for a season then came back to civilization and put together a band called Greenhouse with Mark Gruft (drums) Bob Petterson (Bass) Jay Homenchuk (Guitar/vocals). We recorded a four song demo then soon afterward changed our name to Happyman and recorded the first of three full length releases for Stomp Records. Our first release was entitled (Happyman - Born To Entertain) which received a fair amount of good press. We did a super cheap video for Much Music and went on our cross Canada tour in the middle of winter like the fools that we were. Bob wasn't able to tour so we had to find a replacement. In walks bass player (Mark Gibbs) who blows us all away simply by knowing all the songs and adding a third harmony on top of Mine and Jays two part harmony. After two months of crossing Canada in the middle of winter we return home to Vancouver for a well needed rest. Drummer Mark decides that it is time to move onto something else. We all wish him well and begin the search for a new drummer.

Time to record a new CD and find the new guy. Songs were never a problem because I was always writing and so was Jay.  We auditioned what seemed like 30 drummers until finally Michael Nathanson came along a claimed the seat. Michael had good taste in music and good finesse behind the kit. It didn't take too long and we were back in the studio recording our second disc for Stomp (Happyman - Sunburst). We called Baker Street Studios to see if engineer Paul Baker would be interested in working with us. We all got along great and the tape began to roll. The result was a very pop sounding record with some crunchy guitars. The record received a lot of real good press and also got onto about 30 commercial FM station across the country as well it sold well in Spain and France. But once again it was time for a change, bass player Mark wanted to do his own thing and work on his own songs. Mark always gave 100% when he was with the band and we all wished him happiness and success. We began to wonder what's with these guys named Mark? Just like before in walks this bass player (Gary Vincent) and again the guy has all the songs down and plays with such great feel, he's the new guy. We did a lot of shows that year promoting the "Sunburst" release. By years end we did a Canadian tour with 5440 before heading back down the west coast to L.A. By this point there was some friction in the band most likely because of all the time we were spending together, we just needed a break from each other.

Time to make my first solo record (Graham Brown - Brand New Smile) that I have been thinking about for quite some time but just never had the time. The year is 1998 and I have made enough records to know what I don't like about the ones I have done to this point. It also gives me the chance to record some alt/country kind of things that the band didn't want to do. I call Paul Baker again at Baker Street Studios and ask if he wants to get involved. He is very interested and is genuinely pleased that I am doing the solo thing and goes on to tell me that I should have done this years ago. That pleased me to hear but it still seems strange to me to see my name and not a band name on the album or poster or in the paper but you know what, I got used to it and it feels just fine. I call my good friends Mark Gruft(drums) and Bob Petterson(bass) and invited them to come over to the rehearsal hall. We run through about 15 songs four about 2 hours, we do this two more times then off to the studio we go.We lay down the beds tracks(drums/bass/rhythm guitar) in three hours then stop for dinner. Mark and Bob go home and I go to work recording the overdubs (harmonica,harmony vocals, lead guitar). The next day I get a few friends to help out, Ford Pier plays some hammond B3 on one track and the amazing Robbie Steininnger plays some tasty mandolin and lap steel on a couple of songs. With in five days (40 hours) we got this one recorded mixed and mastered and off to the plant it goes.

I toured this record with my band (The Prairie Dogs) as well as doing a ton of solo singer/songwriter type of shows, which is very challenging because you're up there by yourself without a safety net. I truly do enjoy those solo shows because I can take the song anywhere I want with no worry of the band having to follow along. At the same time though I miss the big beat of the drums and the crunching of the electric guitars and of course those harmonies that can really soar through your heart. This record got strong reviews again which is always nice. I toured western Canada again with the band and went down to Los Angeles and did the solo thing for the obvious reason that it was too expensive to bring the guys along. I made some good friends down there and will continue to go down there a play.

The final Happyman recording (Happyman - Just Like You), the 4th I did for Stomp Records. This last recording was sad in a way because Jay and I had been playing together for 10 years but at the same time it did put some closure to our time together. I am very proud of all three Stomp releases we did as Happyman as well as the fine live performances we did through the years. We made all of our records on a budget of half a shoe string to say the least. Some bands spend more catering then we did on the whole recording process. Of course when ever I hear one of those recordings I hear the little things that we could have done differently if we would have had just a bit more money. But the truth of the matter is they sound pretty damn good and the songs were always there. Once again we got good reviews but unfortunately we didn't support this recording perhaps as well as we should have. Every one seemed to be heading in different directions at this point musically and spiritually so we decided that it was time to move along.

Time for another solo record, my 5th for Stomp (Graham Brown - Good 'n Broke) and once again I called my good friend Paul Baker to help out behind the sound board. Like last time I went in with Mark Gruft (drums) but used Gary Vincent (bass) this time. We laid down all the bed / rhythm tracks again in about a four hour period. Just like the previous solo recording I came back later to add some over dubs. All the songs were first take performances with the exception of a couple of songs that took two takes. Some of the lead vocal tracks I ended up using as keepers because they sounded good to me and had the right attitude. As always when working with Paul it all went very smoothly and the CD was done in 36 hours.

In 2005 I released my third solo CD entitled Graham Brown - "Stand Your Ground"

In 2008  I released my fourth solo CD "Do What You Should". This time I gave the guys in my band (The Prairie Dogs) full billing because they deserve it.  All of their hard work  is only part of what they do.  Mark Gruft (drums) and Dave Bridges (bass/vocals) are both fine musicians, good friends and superb human beings.This was my 9th full length release to date and my 7th for Stomp Records.

Well here we go again my friends, April 2011, a couple of personnel changes, the death of the Prairie Dogs, the resurrection as The Graham Brown Band and after 40 hours in the studio and a few at the pub we’ve cooked up some tasty tunes. I'd like to welcome my old friends John Werner (bass), and Rob Blackburn (keys, bg vocals, guitar) to the band to join my stalwart of 20 years, Mark Gruft (drums). These boys really kick some ass. I've put together 18 new rock & roll songs for this latest release entitled  HIWATT. This new baby is very different from our last outing where I mellowed out on the guitar thing a bit. The new record has lots of screaming wawa guitars, pounding drums and bass, which, of course, are all beautifully dressed in well written and emotionally moving rock & roll songs….Don’t be afraid, there are still some lovely quite moments where you can drift off into a field of tall grass with your lover…. But yes….ah yes… there are those times when nothing but a good pounding will bring you back to earth , search the blue skies above and look for truth…it’s all out there and now so is HIWATT….. “What the …Who are those guys … I want some”