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The Homebrew are Matt de Harp, from Paris, playing guitar,harmonica and singing, Mark Mulholland, from Glasgow, on guitar and vocals, Boris Kontorowski, from Russia, on contrabass and vocals andStéphane Doucerain, from Paris on drums, percussion and (on special occasions) vocals. The band came into existence in early 2002, when Matt, Mark and Stéphane, who were already collaborating on other musical projects, decided to start a new venture based primarily on a repertoire drawn from or inspired by the musical styles popular on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1930’s and ‘40’s, notably swing and cajun from America and musette and manouche (gypsy swing) from Europe, particularly France.
The initial gigs, starting March 2002 in Berlin’s Junction Bar, were very well received, and it was clear that the music had an appeal that went far beyond specialised genres and fashions. The band realised however that another element was needed to fill out the sound. At this point they recruited Boris to complete the line-up. The combination worked immediately, giving the group greatly increased depth and dynamic range and adding a Russian element to the repertoire.
Biographies of the band members are as follows:
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Matt, born in 1974 in Paris, went to Prague in 1993, attracted by the magical atmosphere in the town in the years that followed the Velvet Revolution. There he met a wide variety of musicians and songwriters from throughout Europe and America who were based in Prague at that time, drifting in and out of town, playing in several loose formations, trading songs and stories, including Mark Mulholland, whose songs Matt learned long before actually meeting him.
Matt spent most of the next 10 years travelling and playing music, variously living in Sweden and busking around Scandinavia; playing in a swing band in Mallorca; working as a deckhand on a 3-masted sailing ship; playing Cuban and Spanish music with various street combos and doing concerts in the cafes of his native Paris.
In 2002 he moved to Berlin, where renewed the connection with Mark and various other musicians from the Prague days. Since then he has been playing in Berlin and throughout Europe solo, with The Homebrew, with country/blues outfit two dollar bash (also with Mark) and with several other combinations.
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Boris, born in 1978 in Saratov, on the banks of the Volga in Russia, moved with his family to Southern Germany in 1991. Both of his parents were music teachers, so playing music from an early age was almost a matter of course. Classically trained in piano, as a teenager he took up guitar, studying jazz on both instruments and experimenting with a plethora of different styles, from Russian gypsy swing to punk rock. He developed a passion for rockabilly music, playing in various local bands and also started learning double bass.
In 2001 Boris moved to Berlin, and immediately became part of the music scene there, playing electric guitar and keyboards in psychedelic rock band The Flashbacks, contrabass in country group The Comedian Pharmacists and guitar and contrabass in several rockabilly bands. As a result of his multi-instrumental talents, he is also in great demand as a guest musician on many recording projects.
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Stéphane was born in 1970 near Paris, and moved to Berlin in 1993. The following year he started performing regularly with various bands, eventually becoming fully professional. He has become very sought after as a drummer both for live work and studio projects. Since 2000 he has been playing with Nikki Sudden and the Last Bandits, recording and touring extensively, including 2 tours of North America. In 2001, Mark, who had worked with Nikki on various occasions, and also knew Stéphane from the local scene in Berlin, asked him to fill in on drums for a few gigs with his garage rock’n’roll band Impure Thoughts. The combination worked so well that Stéphane soon became a permanent member of the band. In the course of discussions on various tours, Stéphane and Mark realised that they also had a common interest in jazzier, acoustic-based music and the French repertoire, which were not appropriate for the existing band. Matt’s arrival in town was a catalyst, and soon the side-project became a fully-fledged band. As well as The Homebrew and the other groups already mentioned, Stéphane and Boris are also putting together a new rockabilly band
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Mark Mulholland, born in Glasgow in 1968, has been travelling and making his living from playing music for the last 15 years. He started playing in bands while at university in Edinburgh. After a year studying philosophy in France, Mark left his studies to concentrate solely on music. For a couple of years he toured Europe with the band The Purple Rizla Experience, then settled in Prague in 1992, becoming a key figure in The Oul’ Bogwarriors, a loose configuration boasting many great musicians and songwriters within its ranks. For several years he split his time largely between Prague and Ireland, where he also had a band and a solo career.
In 1995, he formed the band Impure Thoughts with a couple of other Prague musicians, spending a year in Ireland writing songs and playing around the country. In 1996 they set off on an open-ended tour taking in 10 European countries. On reaching Berlin, the van died, leaving the band stranded there. Mark and another member decided to stay, and the band is still playing, in a line-up that now includes Stéphane. As well as this and The Homebrew, Mark plays in an alternative country/acoustic blues band two dollar bash with Matt. Mark also plays regular solo concerts which have built up a dedicated following both in Berlin and around Europe, and released a solo album in 2003 entitled “The Devil on the Stairs”. For many years Mark has hosted a regular session which has been one of the main meeting points for musicians in Berlin. With a couple of friends he has also opened an international second-hand bookshop in the Friedrichshain district of Berlin, which hosts many small concerts and readings and is a favourite haunt of many musicians, writers and artists.
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