Bruvvy recently concluded their Tuesday night residency at Good Times at Davey Wayne's. I went out the last two nights of the April residency. I jumped venues for both of those nights and it was rather convenient. I started off at Hotel Ziggy (I actually saw the band play at Hotel Ziggy in 2024) and then drove east to Davey Wayne's and then continued east towards my bed.
Each year I write up my "New to Me, but maybe not to You" list. The band made my 2024 list. Also, on that list are some musings and statistical info that relates to the year. One of the statistics that I always mention is which bands / singers have I seen the most times during the year. Bruvvy ranked second (along with a handful of others) at 3 times in 2024. After April 2025 ended, I've already seen Bruvvy 4 times. I see them one or two more times and they'll definitely end up on top of that ranking for 2025. In my mind, it would be well deserved, because I have so much fun catching this band live. Hopefully, this doesn't make me into too much of a groupie. There have been two other sets that I just skipped on purpose (meaning I could be at 6 already), because I don't want to be a groupie. I'm a bit too old to be a groupie.
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| Bruvvy at Good Times at Davey Wayne's |
I should mention that sometimes what might seem insignificant is a reason why one goes to see a band. It is always fun to catch a band that will do a quick drop by and say hello to everyone. Lead singer Liz Varum is one of the more friendly and outgoing singers in the Los Angeles music scene. She is likely to say hello to every single fan in the crowd.
As I've learned is their pattern, the band huddled up around drummer Juan Cabrera prior to starting off their final residency night. With that, Varum took to the microphone and told the DJ, "Dire Straits is over. It's Bruvvy time!" Got to love that. Sometimes you'll see bands awkwardly standing on the stage while the DJ plays a song and sometimes a second song at that -- occasionally you'll catch a band waving their arms at the DJ to cut the music.
"Let me tell you a story, baby. God made this world all by herself. She made it with five people in mind. On the first day she made Nelson [Gonzalez - guitarist]. On the second day she made three Jewish women. Liz. Paula [Bunish - bassist]. And Sarah Silverman. On the third day, God made Juan . . . On the seventh day, the Holy Day, God created the greatest band to ever shred. And she said, let there, be BRUVVY!!!"
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| Bruvvy at Good Times at Davey Wayne's |
"I'm drunk!!!" said Varum who was then handed a dry martini by a friend. Their song "Concealer" is perhaps their most addictive song out there. Varum picked up the guitar to join Nelson as both head banged their way through the instrumental portion of the song while Bunish took the bass stance to mark her spot on stage. I'm not the only one who loves this song. In the middle of the stage floor, Davey Wayne's has a couple couches and a faux fireplace with a hearth. Fans were up on both not only to catch the band's performance above the heads and shoulders of those in front of them, but also to dance with abandon. On the stage, that martini glass was dancing towards the edge.
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| Bruvvy at Good Times at Davey Wayne's |
That martini glass came back into the picture when Varum decided she wanted the olive, which she promptly spit back into the glass, half chewed. Of course, she needed to explain the situation later in the set, "I need you guys to know that I tried to chew up the olive in my dirty martini and I had to f*cking spit it back into the glass, because my line was coming up."
The moment I always love (as a photographer) is when Varum does the crowd surf, "Sorry bitches, I'm about to crowd surf." Why? Because I always love trying to capture it on camera. It might make it easier if I used flash, but I always forget to bring my flash and honestly I would have my flash turned off anyways. By the time I turned on the flash and adjusted the settings, I would miss the moment. Maybe I finally caught a decent photo on this particular night.
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| Bruvvy at Good Times at Davey Wayne's |
The band is always for crowd involvement during the set; be it holding up Varum during the crowd surfing or having them respond to the lyrics in a song such as "Talking to Yourself."
Band: Why?!?Crowd: 'cause it don't matter to me.
Band: Last chance for the people in the back.
Crowd even louder: 'cause it don't matter to me.
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| Bruvvy at Good Times at Davey Wayne's |
Another favorite of mine is their song "Anybody" and during the quiet intro someone in the audience could be heard calling out that it was their favorite song.
Come home to me, because I don't feel like anybody. |
| Bruvvy at Good Times at Davey Wayne's |
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