Bruise Bros Celebrate Hooligan Holiday and “21 Offerings You Can’t Refuse”

There has been some amazing talent to grace the stages of the Capital Region in the past 30 years. The shows that were created always showcased the best in the local artists with no boundaries.  But mixing genres on one bill was sometimes hard to satisfy a particular crowd, but seemed to work. In the 1990s most bands cut their teeth at Saratoga Winners, Northern Lights, Valentines, QE2, and Bogies to name a few. Friends were made and soon we saw them collaborating forming new bands.  

A perfect example of this scenario would be the Bruise Bros.  Local thrashers Attica were at the top of their game when they disbanded. Making their mark as the leaders of the thrash genre. Attica was packing venues as headliners, sharing the stage with the likes of Slayer, Overkill, and Biohazard, both locally and on the road. Another act would be rockers BoneBox, who in a short time made their way up the local ladder fast and saw themselves building a quick fanbase and soon on stage with the likes of Korn.

As we know some bands survive and go on to do great things, but others just fade away.  Not wasting any time, BoneBox vocalist Vegas Nacy and Drummer Matt Bielinski sat down with Attica’s guitarist Mike Valente to form the band Bruise Bros. Eventually Attica bassist Patrick “Rekes” McNulty would be initiated into this gang of musical muscle.  Two of the leading bands in rock and metal in Upstate NY joined forces and it took off quicker than a modified hot rod.

“When Bone Box disbanded I had moved to Tampa, Florida. I wasn’t happy there and I kept telling myself to start another band with a good mashup of styles I love but aren’t likely to go together. I kept thinking ‘what if Frank Sinatra and Sick Of It All had a baby?’” states Vegas, and adds “Mike Valente and myself were talking about a side project for years so I called him up told him my idea and he was down. I moved back to New York shortly after and we started working on it immediately”.

Bruise Brothers played with everyone and their bloodstained resume states it. Reverend Horton Heat, Speed Demon, Type O Negative, Staind,  Godsmack, music festivals, venues like SPAC, and eventually they went on tour. Vegas speaking of their records “we released “Greatest Hits” and “Scars To Prove It” but unfortunately we used a company that didn’t use the greatest hits replication, which fucked it all up”.  Looking ahead 21 years later they will re-release both of those recordings onto one disc with some great artwork by Craig Holloway, who has created for bands like Agnostic Front, GWAR,  Crowbar, and Madball. “For the first time all Bruise Bros. music will be available digitally on January 28th titled “21 Offerings You Can’t Refuse”.

Join these Bruisers for this special reunion on day one of Hooligan Holiday 2022. This 3 day festival at Empire Underground will prove why these 4 guys are still brothers.