Rising Stars: Meet Brass Quest of Denver

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brass Quest.

Hi Brass, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Prior to becoming “Brass Quest – your new favorite French horn + tuba Oldies Cover Band,” we’d spent decades serving communities across the country as your everyday friendly neighborhood classical musicians! DeAunn Davis (French horn) grew up in Alabama and went to school in Michigan and Illinois. Adam Snider (tuba) grew up in Pennsylvania and studied in Massachusetts and Michigan before moving to Chicago, where we fell in love and got married. Together we’ve also lived in Hawai’i, Utah, Nevada, and Colorado, actively performing at each stop along the way.

Brass Quest is something special that grew out of our desire to make music together, just the two of us. Although we’ve been performing Christmas tunes and “classical music” as a duo at music conferences, libraries, chamber concerts, and bookstores since 2011, we only started playing oldies covers in 2020. A year prior, one of DeAunn’s former horn students asked us to perform for her wedding and cocktail hour – though at the time we had no cocktail hour repertoire! Cue the pandemic, which provided plenty of time to arrange and record an album’s worth of love songs for her student’s wedding, under the name “Adam and DeAunn’s Love Song Cover Band.”

We also started performing live during the pandemic for an outdoor socially-distanced get-together in our friend’s Denver neighborhood. That was the first live performance of our oldies covers. Now Brass Quest plays a 4th of July “parade” in that neighborhood every year, one of our favorite gigs! All the kids, dogs and bikes get decked out in red, white and blue. We play a bunch of fun oldies for the grown ups, then some Sousa marches (sitting in place) while the whole neighborhood parades around the block – such a great time for everyone!

For the last two summers, we’ve also loved busking at farmers markets and parks in the Denver area. As classical musicians, we can be pretty disconnected from our audience. We enter and leave through a different door. We’re up on a stage and they’re down below – or we’re in a pit and they’re up above! We’re usually performing pieces from the 1800-1900’s that we’ve studied and love but often hold little connection for today’s listeners. It’s been so much fun for us to reach audiences as Brass Quest with oldies music that we all know and connect with! As a patron of a farmers market we played this year said, “I see y’all, putting good vibes out there!”

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The number one challenge for Brass Quest as musicians is endurance. Brass musicians don’t generally play for 60 to 90 minutes straight with very few breaks! Even in solo music with piano, we usually have long stretches of rest. But in Brass Quest, each of us is half of the ensemble! We’re both playing constantly. It’s almost like aerobic exercise. Sometimes we get a little daffy after a show: “Brass Quest brain,” we call it! Endurance-wise and focus-wise, Brass Quest is the biggest challenge either of us has ever faced as musicians – while also being the most fun!

Another challenge as Brass Quest is developing our audience – we’re so unique and niche! But we’re also just getting off the ground. It delights us every time Brass Quest gets a chance to perform. So far everywhere we play, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. People leave feeling light and happy – including us!

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
While Brass Quest isn’t exactly a traditional “cover band,” we’re not exactly a classical chamber ensemble either. As Brass Quest, we play the music that’s soundtracked all of our lives! We’ve both arranged extensively for the ensemble, which is another way Brass Quest provides a creative outlet that we both enjoy. Hopefully we’re presenting this amazing repertoire in a way that shows deep respect for the talented songwriters and performers that made these songs legendary in the first place!

We also love that, because Brass Quest doesn’t use lyrics, listeners get to play “guess that tune!” One farmers market attendee asks, “what song was that?” and another yells “‘Power of Love’ by Huey Lewis and the News!” A mid-40’s dad comes all the way around the lake at City Park with his daughter to tell us that our ‘Inspector Gadget’ theme song is “on point.” Multiple people stop by to ask, “How do you know ‘Nearness of You?’ How do you know ‘Pink Panther?’ That’s from MY generation!” As performers, it’s been such a surprise that Brass Quest unlocked these special, meaningful moments with our audience.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
We’re proud that through incorporating as an LLC, Brass Quest has allowed our family to become small business owners! Two important sources continue to help us plan and run our small business:

“Beyond Talent: Creating a Successful Career in Music” by Angela Myles Beeching. DeAunn studied this book in a music entrepreneurship class in college, and it helped us structure our business from the ground up.

Cover Band Confidential Podcast hosted by Adam Patrick Johnson and Dan Ray. This excellent podcast helped us find our cover band identity.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.brass-quest.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brassquest/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@brassquest
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/brassquest
• Other: https://vimeo.com/user34309330

Image Credits
Giuliana Maresca