Mischief Brew
Mischief Brew was a Philadelphia folk punk outfit built around Erik Petersen’s songs and voice. What began as a solo project grew into a touring band that mixed acoustic punk with protest-minded lyrics and roots music touches, pulling in everything from American folk and Celtic sounds to swing, gypsy punk, and junk-percussion chaos.
How It Started After The Orphans
Petersen launched Mischief Brew after his earlier band, The Orphans, ended in 2000. The Orphans had formed in West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1995, and later returned for reunion shows in 2004 and 2008. When that chapter closed, Petersen kept writing and took the material into smaller rooms first, often just him with an acoustic guitar or mandolin.
From One Person To A Full Band
Early on, Mischief Brew was built for tight spaces and quick setup: Petersen playing songs that circulated as the Mirth demo. In 2003 he released Bellingham & Philadelphia, a split with Robert Blake, along with the Bacchanal CDEP. After sustained acoustic touring, he expanded the project into a full-band version, adding drummer Christopher “Doc” Kulp and bassist Sean “Shantz” Yantz for the first lineup.
Records, Road Time, And A Bigger Instrument List
In 2005, Petersen put out the first full-length album, Smash the Windows. The record widened the musical palette and included guest appearances from friends in the punk world, with songs that could pivot from fast, sharp strumming to swing-leaning arrangements.
The next release, Songs From Under the Sink, gathered material written across the late 1990s into the early 2000s and pushed the band’s anarchist themes to the front. After that album, Yantz stepped away. A few shows were covered by Kevin Holland, and then Shawn St. Clair took over on bass and stayed through the band’s final years.
In 2008, Mischief Brew released Photographs From the Shoebox, a split LP/CD with Joe Jack Talcum of The Dead Milkmen. The following year, Petersen worked with Guignol on Fight Dirty, and “Punx Win!” appeared in two versions on a split with Andrew Jackson Jihad. That release came out as an 8-inch with parallel grooves, meaning the version you heard depended on where the needle landed.
The Stone Operation arrived in 2011. Ahead of its release, an unmastered track titled “Dallas in Romania” was previewed on WXPN’s Y-Rock in October 2010. Across these years, the live show often ran bigger than the core lineup, with rotating support players and extra instruments like trumpet, accordion, violin, mandolin, vibraphone, and found-object percussion.
Causes, Community Sets, And The Final Years
Mischief Brew played benefit-minded shows and events supporting groups such as Food Not Bombs, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and ABC No Rio. In October 2011, Petersen also performed an acoustic set connected to Occupy Philadelphia.
Petersen died on July 14, 2016. A radio tribute followed three days later on WXPN’s The Folk Show. By that point, the active band lineup included Petersen, his brother Christopher Petersen, and Shawn St. Clair, with Doc Kulp tied to the project across multiple eras.
Who Played In Mischief Brew
Erik Petersen – vocals, guitar, mandolin (2000–2016)
Shawn St. Clair – bass (2006–2016)
Christopher Petersen – drums, percussion (2008–2016)
Christopher “Doc” Kulp – drums, percussion, guitar (2003–?)
Sean “Shantz” Yantz – bass (2003–2006)
Other musicians regularly joined live, including guests and early collaborators, depending on the tour and the set.
Kettle Rebellion
Kettle Rebellion was an early full-band project connected to the songs that later fed into Mischief Brew. Formed in 2001, the group recorded eight songs in 2002 that were later released on an eponymous EP in 2014.
Erik Petersen – vocals, guitar, mandolin
Jon Foy – bass, backing vocals
Christopher “Doc” Kulp – drums, percussion, backing vocals, bugle
Discography
Bellingham & Philadelphia (2003) – split with Robert Blake, released as Erik Petersen
Smash The Windows (2005)
Songs From Under The Sink (2006)
Photographs From The Shoebox (2008) – split with Joe Jack Talcum
Fight Dirty (2009) – collaboration with Guignol
The Stone Operation (2011)
This Is Not For Children (2015)
Bacchanal ’N’ Philadelphia (2016)
