The Fallen Troubadours

Calling Hamburg their home since childhood and still today, The Fallen Troubadours are prepping themselves for an overseas trip to England to perform at Liverpool’s renowned Cavern Club May 24 and 25, followed by a show in London in the next few days.


The musically minded friends came together in October of 2009, having played collectively in earlier years be-fore going their separate ways. In rejoining, lead vocalist Bradley Stewart said everything seemed to fall into place just right the second time around.



Stewart and electric guitarist Brendan Steakelum started writing songs in their mid-teens, having been best friends since the ripe age of five.



Drummer Brandon Reber and bassist Clifton Conrad played with Stewart and Steakelum years ago under the name the Suns of Ivy, but Adam Moyer came into The Fallen Troubadours two autumns ago as the latest band’s hand-savvy organist.



Stewart describes the band’s music as akin to the feel of tunes dating back to the 1960s, as some of their influences are The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan.



They also take inspiration from classic Motown, Donovan and Elton John but compare their style as slightly similar to today’s Delta Spirit and Dr. Dog.



While the band mates are all in their 20s and 30s, their sound reels in an audience ranging from young people to even those decades older, illustrating that their music carries a timeless feel to it.



Stewart said with his habit of portraying the topics of time, love, life and death in his self-proclaimed strange or even cryptic lyrics, what he finds most rewarding about playing is when he can tell the audience connects with his writing through the songs.



Because of limited venues for shows, The Fallen Troubadours rarely play in Hamburg but do sometimes perform at Indian Fort Inn.



In the past few years, the band has performed mostly in Philadelphia, sometimes two and three times in a week. They’ve also performed in Atlantic City, New York City and at the Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center.

Just this February, the band signed onto Candy Colored Dragon, a label based out of Royersford.



Recently having finished an album after spending five months recording the tracks, The Fallen Troubadours anticipate a release date by May, with an EP slated to be out in the next two weeks.



The upcoming songs should eventually be available for purchase on iTunes in addition to Amazon.com and in stores like Best Buy.



With their first trip abroad in just a few short months, Stewart said playing in England has been a goal from the beginning, as The Fallen Troubadours and their sound are rooted in the English rock scene.



At the festival known as the International Pop Overthrow, The Fallen Troubadours will play alongside a slew of other bands belting their hearts out onstage, with these Hamburg natives finally pursuing their well-ingrained passions which stirred to life years ago one album-listen at a time.



Reflecting on the curious way his friends’ lives have panned out since rejoining, Stewart noted that even being from Hamburg, Pennsylvania, doing shows at famed venues where the Beatles played—with them being discovered by their future manager Brian Epstein while performing in Hamburg, Germany—weaves something peculiar into the band’s new history ahead.


- Berks-Mont News

The Hamburg-based band the Fallen Troubadors will perform in clubs in England where their idols played.
When he was 16 and a music-writing-and-playing student at Hamburg High School, Bradley Stewart imagined just about one of the best things to do with his band would be to go to England and play in some of the venues that helped build the careers of his idols.

It has been a few years, during which the band broke up and reformed, but later this week the Fallen Troubadours will be touring in England, performing in those same clubs.

"If you'd asked me when I was 16 what I wanted to do," Stewart said, "I would tell you that I wanted to play with my band in England. We've been so influenced by bands like the Beatles and the Kinks."

This week the Fallen Troubadours will take their folk-rock sound to venues including The Cavern Club in Liverpool, where the Beatles began performing in 1961, and the Bull and Gate in London. Additionally the band will perform at the Water Rats Theater where bands such as the Pogues, Oasis and Katy Perry first performed.

"There's so much history there," Stewart said.

The Fallen Troubadours have their own history, too. Stewart and Brendan Steakelum began writing songs together when they were 14 years old. In general, Stewart writes the words and Steakelum writes the music.

"We've always kind of worked together," Stewart said, remembering that the first song they wrote was titled "Into the Sun." "We met (Brandon) Reber, our drummer, and he's been playing with us for at least eight years."

Band members Stewart, Steakelum, Clifton Conrad, Brandon Reber and Adam Moyer all enjoyed playing the type of music their parents listened to, including the Beatles, the Kinks and the Beach Boys. Recently the band added Elise Long to its membership, and she'll be taking the trip to the UK, too.

"In our houses you'd hear The Moody Blues," Stewart said. "That was the kind of music we played, too."

Yet, the players began to drift apart a few years ago as high school was left far behind and life and jobs took over.

"It was just one of those things," Stewart said. "But we were all still interested in music."

Eventually though, the music resurfaced.

"Then in 2009 we got together again and decided that if we were going to make music we had to make it worthwhile or not do it," Stewart said. "So we started playing a lot more and meeting a lot more people."

Record producer Tim Martinkovitch (of Universal Warning Records) saw the band play at the Steel City Coffee House in Phoenixville and introduced them to a subsidiary of his company. Last fall, the Fallen Troubadours signed a contract with Candy Colored Dragons Records.

"(Producer) Isaac Betesh has worked with lots of really cool people like Iggy Pop and the Turtles," Stewart said. "We met with him, and he liked what we were doing and so we signed a contract."

The band has already recorded an album of music, "Tall Tales," but will first release a self-titled EP of six songs, most likely before the UK tour.

"Once we started meeting all these people things just kept getting bigger and bigger," Stewart said. "We got into bigger places in (Philadelphia), and instead of opening for other people we started to play them ourselves."

Ironically, though, this wasn't the first time the band was invited to play in England. Several years ago the organizer of The International Pop Overthrow Festival invited the band to participate.

"But we didn't really have a good head on our shoulders then," Stewart said. The band disintegrated and they forgot about the invitation.

Once the band was writing, performing and recording, though, word got back out to those festival organizers.

"In February I got a phone call, and they asked if we wanted to play the Cavern Club and then the Bull and Gate in London as a part of the festival," Stewart said. "You know, I'd be happy just to go there, much less play there."

Contact Tracy Rasmussen: life@readingeagle.com.


- Reading Eagle

The Deli’s Featured Artist of the Month: The Fallen Troubadours


The Fallen Troubadours aren’t actually from Philly, but we’re guessing that we’ll hear more from them soon when they finish their upcoming new album. Their rootsy rock makes a great soundtrack for many drunken nights and should be welcomed with open arms by Philly’s like-minded music community. Guitarist Brendan Steaklum was nice enough to answer a few of our questions.

- The Deli Philadelphia

Back from their tour across the pond (that’s London & Liverpool if you didn’t know), The Fallen Troubadours will read between the lines at Bookspace tonight, giving us a literary lesson in roots rock glory. And, if you want to know how the rousing swaying folk-meets-boot kickin’ rock six-piece did in the UK, either download their The Fallen Troubadours UK Tour EP,released on Candy Colored Dragon, or wait for their Live in London DVD to drop in the near future. But, in the meantime, watch them tear down the shelves with Gleason Drift and Ben Cady. Reading never felt so good. Bookspace, 1113 Frankford Ave., $7, 8pm, All Ages - Annamarya Scaccia - The Deli NYC

With songs like “Enemies”, “When We Were Young”, and “To the Ground”, the best way you can describe the sound blasts hammered out by The Fallen Troubadours is rollicking. The Hamburg-based six-piece’s version of roots music takes the noble parts of troubled folk, the beefy parts of vintage Americana, and a sultry dash of ‘50s good-girl soul to produce catchy, barefaced rock ‘n’ roll that’s ready for a good toe-tapping, bottle-smashing good time or a swell lunch date at a misty diner. They’re currently working diligently on their debut album for Candy Colored Dragon (even taking a general break from performing to do so), which, while originally set for a fall release, is now slated to drop later this month. In the meantime, strap on your boots and waltz over to Johnny Brenda’s where The Fallen Troubadours will stomp open the stage tonight with fellow Pennsylvanians and folk-rock enthusiasts Frog Holler. Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 8pm, $10 - Annamarya Scaccia
- The Deli NYC

There are many ways to describe the sounds one would hear from listening to the Fallen Troubadours. But we prefer the following: If the most influential bands of the 1960s were liquefied and thrown into a bucket, the Fallen Troubadours would be the sponge thrown in, rung out and used to wash over modern music. - Origivation Magazine