The Briar Patch

I recently received an email from avid North Jersey Notes reader, Johnn Ventimiglia, telling me that he loves reading the column and that he appreciates that I keep readers like him updated on new bands on the Jersey music scene. Well, thank you, Johnn, for reading every week! That wasn’t all Johnn had to say, though. He did tell me that he’s been in and out of bands, and he’s finally in one worthy of a review, so I decided to give them a listen. The name of the band is The Briar Patch, and they’re not bad! If you were to ask me for a description, I would say that they sound like a garage rock band with a retro feel. I loved the groove on the song “Money Train,” the feel of “Rude,” and the arrangement and vocals on “Put You Down.”

The Briar Patch is a fairly new band, forming early last year by a bunch of guys who love to do two things in life—to rock and to party. The band is made up of some of North Jersey’s more talented musicians who thrive on putting on the greatest performance that they can in every live show. The Briar Patch is singer Martin Dull, guitarists Johnny Ventimiglia and Mark “The Groove” Hill, bassist Steve Padelski, and drummer Alex Zetelski.

The Briar Patch hasn’t found it easy to be a band from North Jersey trying to make it in the big city since there are an infinite number of bands trying to do the same thing across the Hudson. Apparently, when The Briar Patch takes the stage it’s somewhat of an anomaly. Audiences have said that by watching them you would feel like you were in a ‘time-warped Capricorn hit machine’ because of their shaggy hair, careless beards, worn-in look, and retro rock sound. You’ll have to check it out for yourself at myspace.com/briarpatchrock to hear what they sound like or to find out where they’ll be playing next. - The Aquarian Weekly