A longtime figure in Sacramento’s musical history has passed away.
Greg Brown was the founding guitarist of the hometown rock band Cake, created in the 1990s along with lead singer John McCrea. He was the songwriter behind Cake’s 1996 hit song “The Distance,” and became known for helping to put a Sacramento band on mainstream radio.
Cake announced over the weekend that Brown had died following a brief illness.
In a social media post the band wrote, “Greg was an integral part of CAKE’s early sound and development. His creative contributions were immense, and his presence—both musical and personal—will be deeply missed. Godspeed, Greg.”
Even after leaving Cake in 1997, Brown mentored decades of local artists through his band Deathray and other side projects. He was remembered by former CapRadio music host Nick Brunner as being “quiet and kind… very interested in what was going on in your life when you were talking with him.”
“[Brown] was always curious about what was going on, working inside a radio station, and what went into the day-to-day… it was one of the most easygoing conversations with another human being I’ve had the pleasure to have,” Brunner recalled.
McCrea spoke with Insight Host Vicki Gonzalez about his memories of working with Brown, and the musical connection they shared.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
How are you? How have you been processing and reflecting since Greg’s passing?
I’m objectively sad. It really caught me by surprise. You just don’t think that somebody’s gonna perish, so I’m still dealing with it.
You two have a long history. How did you and Greg first meet?
He had a band that played in the park, I think it was Land Park. There used to be concerts there in the summer and his band Saturday’s Child played. It was a three-piece with Todd, our current drummer and Victor, who played bass in Cake for a little while, and Greg. I just remember hearing his guitar playing, and it was different. At that time I was tired of rock; I was tired of this sort of “rock grandiosity.” It’s the early 90s and it seemed like it was never going to end.
Greg was playing rock in a way that was messy, and precise, and inherently musical. I heard something in that and eventually I asked him if he wanted to play some music, and we got together and did it. It took a while for things to gel but when it did, I think both of us knew that it worked.
You really had a palpable musical connection. Why do you think the two of you worked so well together musically?
I think that he noticed all the things that I missed, and I noticed all the things that he missed. Our musical personalities were complementary. I was sort of good at the broad brush strokes, and borderline more sort of drama. And he was really good at just really precise, detail-oriented, contrapuntal expression.
Greg is being widely remembered, particularly for writing one of Cake’s biggest hits, “The Distance.” What was the process like of creating this song?
I remember we were playing some shows in Los Angeles, I think we were even playing on the street in front of Canter’s Restaurant, busking. Then we decided to take a short break… we had a few hours off and we went to the La Brea Tar Pits. We were sitting around, and he wanted some help on some lyrics and I’m like, “what is this?” I wasn’t clear whether those lyrics would be sung or not, and that was the first sort of work on the song, and discussion about the song.
Greg Brown was Cake’s founding guitarist, and the songwriter behind the band’s 1996 hit song, “The Distance.”Courtesy of Cake
Then a few weeks later he came into the practice studio with some guitar riffs and baselines, and we kind of strung them together. I don’t think anybody knew that it was going to work until it all sort of fell into place.
I don’t think I knew, or he knew, but I know he was working really hard on it. It was a beautiful sunny day, and he was wanting to work. That’s the thing I really respect about Greg, and I think separates Greg from other musicians. He’s my favorite guitar player, and he worked really hard… he put in his hours.
What was Greg able to tap into with his guitar, to make his sound so distinct?
I think he had ingested a lot of the good classic rock, and there’s a lot of great classic rock that has something to offer. But I think at the same time, he didn’t feel obligated… he didn’t feel like he owed the perfectionism of classic rock anything. He was freer and messier in a way that was really perfect.
Many Cake fans know that Greg parted ways with the band, but you all did reunite in 2011. How was it to reconnect again?
Good. We stayed in touch, and have been friends. I’m super grateful that we had a friendship after he broke up with the band, and especially before his passing. As sad as I am, I’m glad that we were able to be friends.
Did you have any plans to play together again?
Oh yeah. We sent each other our new songs, and we were in communication musically. I wrote a part for a song of his last year, and I didn’t know that he was ill. He’s a pretty stoic, quiet suffering person, and I wish he had been more open about what he was going through. But yeah, some of his guitar playing is on our next album, so we’ve kept working.
You can listen to the full conversation, including remembrances from Sacramento News & Review journalist Scott Thomas Anderson and Nick Brunner, Music Program Director at Iowa Public Radio and former host of CapRadio’s Hey, Listen!, here.
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