Southold’s Brady Rymer has a stacked resume — bass guitar player in major label band From Good Homes; three-time Grammy nominee in the family music genre and soon-to-be-featured artist at a film festival.
The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame Music Documentary Film Festival will feature performances, parties and music documentary film screenings, including one depicting the beginning of Rymer’s music career: “From Good Homes: Charlie Loves Our Band” on Aug. 10.
Starting Aug. 8, stop by the hall of fame’s Stony Brook location at 11 a.m. to catch one of the 24 films, panels and live music offered (to see the full schedule and to buy tickets, look here).
Northforker: How’d you get your start in music?
Brady Rymer: [I was] in fifth grade and my brother was in sixth grade and he and his friend, one of the guys in From Good Homes, were in a band and they were playing trumpets, and they said, ‘You can’t play Kiss on a trumpet,’ so we started a rock band.
We started writing some songs and we did that all through high school. And then three of us from that band kept in touch in college.
We moved to New York City and we just started doing that thing where you get a day job and then you start playing at night, rehearsing down on Bleecker Street; we took a different path right there.
Instead of just continuing that kind of thing, we said, ‘Why don’t we find a house out in New Jersey where we could get a couple of gigs and we can pay our rent with the gigs, and we could set up our equipment in the living room and play nonstop.
We found a local gig down the road on Route 23 out in Wayne, New Jersey. We were able to develop a following, and then we were able to just come home and completely immerse ourselves in the music.
We started to tour around with the whole jam band scene that was developing then with Dave Matthews and Hootie. It was all this new scene that was growing and it was great to be a part of it.
NF: How did you make the switch to writing music for children and families?
BR: It’s just something I started to naturally do, having kids and observing their world and what it’s like to be a dad and all the things that come with it. One thing led to another and I started to record the music.
I met some local parent/musicians down at the park and at my children’s preschool. We started a band together called The Little Band That Could. This year we’re celebrating our 25th anniversary and we’re releasing our 14th CD.
NF: Where does For Good Homes stand now?
BR: The first run lasted until 1999. In 2009, we did a reunion show. Ever since then we’ve been playing together. We do a handful of shows a year and we put out a brand-new record a couple of years back.
We’re all great friends and it’s a blast every time we get together; the fans are still there and there’s still a purpose and a desire and a connection.
NF: How did the film come to be?
BR: Vic Guadagno, the director, is a lifelong friend of mine. We went to high school together and ever since then he was always documenting things.
When we started to do the band thing he became involved in that in many different ways. He would tour with us, he would do some business with us. The whole time he was quietly documenting this.
Then once we got back together and kind of settled into [playing every year], I think he just started to see that there’s a really nice story here.
