Bruise Bros. Reunion to Kick Off the Three-Day Hooligan Holiday at EMPIRE UNDERGROUND -By Rob Smittix

Music fans mark your calendars. On January 28th, 29th and 30th at Empire Underground at 93 North Pearl Street in Albany an event is being held called Hooligan Holiday. Over the course of the weekend, you will have the opportunity to see Murphy’s Law, Mad Ball, Sheer Terror, Power House, Murder’s Row, The Take and many more but one of the most anticipated shows to see is Bruise Bros. Today I’m talking with Vegas Nacy of the band about what we can expect and why they chose to do a reunion now. 

RRX: So, this show that you’re doing with the Bruise Bros., it’s a reunion, right?

VN: It is a reunion, it’s also the 21st year since the first release. We thought it was a good time to re-release the two CD’s that we did in the beginning together with some nice artwork with the guy that does all the bigger hardcore bands, Sick of it All, Agnostic Front, that kind of artwork. We were trying to do a 20-year reunion which would have been during COVID, we couldn’t make that happen. So, we figured 21 on the card, we do that whole kind of gangster, 50’s, rockabilly thing.

RRX: This is all part of Hooligan Holiday, right?

VN: It is part of the Hooligan Holiday, yes. We’re playing on January 28th with Sheer Terror and a bunch of local bands too. 

RRX: This event is January 28th, 29th and 30th. Three days for Hooligan Holiday. That’s going to be amazing!

VN: At first, I was like well it’s right after Christmas but as soon as the holidays are over everyone kind of comes down from that high and it’s good to have a little pick me up there. New venue, it’s going to be great.

RRX: Empire Underground where you are playing is the secondary performance area below Empire Live. I haven’t been to Empire Underground yet. I’m just excited that these venues exist in downtown Albany. I always wanted this.

VN: Yeah, it’s amazing. Empire Underground is really cool. I was nervous at first when I first saw what it was and what it turned into is this kind of… it really looks like this Fight Club-esque… really like an underground… when you get there the vibe is really cool. We’re thinking of having everybody there with markers out and they can tag the walls. Graffiti up the walls. Have fun with it. You know? 

RRX: I could break out my old tag from my hood days. 

VN: Exactly, yeah you got to be on there for sure. 

RRX: I know the first release was 21 years ago, how long has Bruise Bros. been together?

VN: I think the end of 1998 was when we started.

RRX: That’s when music was good.

VN: I had a band, Bone Box, back in the 90’s and we split up and I decided I was going to move to Florida because the guitar player moved there and said he had a band started and it was going to be great. It was winter here, so I said I’ve had enough of this s**t. Sold the little bit of what I had, went down and nothing worked out musically. It was hard to find a job where I was. Mike Valente and I had always kept in touch, and we always wanted to do a side project. We had some crazy names and we’d probably be banned for life if we had them now. We stayed in touch and actually before Valente, Nick from Murder’s Row was calling me and saying he really wanted to be in and do a new project but Nick was busy and Valente stayed on me so as soon as I moved back we got in the room. Rekes (he’s an amazing bass player from Attica) was there. I found this drummer who was a jazz kid, he didn’t know any of the bands that were current at the time with the heavier stuff. We loved that. He was great but he’s also a DJ and he writes for people, and he didn’t have any time so I called my old drummer from Bone Box, Matt, and he’s a beast, so the line-up is strong. 

RRX: This is going to be a great reunion.

VN: Yeah, we decided not to headline this, Sheer Terror is headlining, so we’re going to do like a 40 minute set, we decided we’ll keep it short and sweet and if something comes along in the future, we’ve been kicking around some ideas. So, who knows? 

RRX: Anything you’d like to see come out of this reunion show? 

VN: I don’t know. There’s a weird niche with the band, the way we wrote those songs, so people are always begging for more. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind writing another tune and maybe donating the money to a charity that we’re all into. Something like that.