DoT EP87: Nat Freedberg from The Upper Crust to Better Late Than Never, plus New Comedy from Jim Breuer

If Nat Freedberg’s voice sounds familiar, it may be because you’ve heard him on this podcast way back on EP32, when I interviewed his band, The Upper Crust. Of course, back then, he wasn’t speaking as Nat, he was speaking as his character, Lord Bendover, the snarling 18th century aristocrat in a powdered wig and finery that wielded his Gibson SG like a rocque n’ roll weapon. That band got some national exposure on the late night talk show circuit, opened for Tenacious D, and, as Nat mentions here, nearly had their own reality show.

Freedberg was somewhat relieved when that didn’t work out, and he’s very happy to talk as himself here, avoiding the pressure of having to improvise as a character that was a lot more fun to play onstage than off. Unfortunately, The Upper Crust is no longer a going concern, on a kind of permanent hiatus. The good news is, that means we get Freedberg’s first solo album after almost forty years rocking in bands like the Satanics and the Titanics in the Boston scene. And it’s worth the wait.

The adjective that pops up most in reviews of Freedberg’s Better Late Than Never is “tasty,” and that’s well deserved. It’s still a rock album, but one with a lighter touch. Guitar drenched in rich tremolo weaves around electric piano on the opening track, “Devil Rockin’ Man.” There’s a more earnest, occasionally optimistic tone that Lord Bendover would never cop to on songs like “Only Takes A Minute,” “If That’s the Way You Want It,” and last week’s featured track, “Something Good About Love.” The biggest thing that doesn’t change is those sweet, sweet riffs. Freedberg is skilled at filling the spaces between phrases with melodies and lines that really connect all the pieces and keep you humming long after the music stops.

The album almost didn’t happen when Freedberg suffered nerve damage and wasn’t sure he’d be able to play again. He recovered with a new dedication to get these songs out into the world, and he’s already working on the follow-up album. You can find more about the new album on Rum Bar Records’ BandCamp site, and find more of Freedberg’s stuff on his BandCamp site, and find more about The Upper Crust at www.theuppercrust.org.

This week’s featured track is “Colonoscopy Pt. 1” from Jim Breuer’s new album, Live From Portland. I caught Breuer at last year’s Comics Come Home benefit in Boston where he did an inspiring riff on life and death. Things got complicated over the holidays, but I finally caught up to speak with Breuer for a minicast that will be out next week about love and mortality, two themes which figure heavily on the new album. You get the tiniest of hints of that in this track. Colonoscopies are necessary, yes, but not fun. Unfortunately, I speak from experience on that account, but we’ll leave that topic be so you can enjoy this instead.