MUSIC
Swiss Army Life MULTI-HYPHENATE ADA BRUMBACK KEEPS MUSICIANS IN TUNE By Lauren Textor Imagine Phoebe Bridgers performing to a sold out crowd of screaming fans, shredding on her prized Danelectro ‘56 Baritone. Suddenly, there’s a crackle and a pop! as an amp blows. Who comes to the rescue? Kansas City’s own behind-the-scenes superhero, Ada Brumback. A rockstar in her own right, Brumback has toured all over the U.S. with her own bands and while working with other professional musicians. She joined local post-punk group Regret, the Informer as a drummer while she was still in art school and has played guitar for Chase the Horseman’s live band at venues such as recordBar and The Riot Room. “I’ve been in a lot of situations where I’ve just learned all the songs on Spotify and flown in and joined the tour,” Brumback says. If there’s one word to describe her, it’s versatile. “It’s too much to say photographer, videographer, drummer, guitarist, lighting assistant, stage manager, tour manager, merch person, and 15 passenger van driver, you know what I mean?” she says. “I tell people sometimes that I want to be like the Swiss Army knife of people.” Brumback even has a song named after her—“Ada” by The Greeting Committee, one of KC’s most beloved bands. She directed the accompanying music video and inspired the lyrics with her experience as a trans woman. Although Brumback recently moved to LA, she was in KC for the May 31 Reunion tour date and spent two days resting on top of the local performance date. It made for a bittersweet experience. “It was weird because we’re in this Covid lockdown where we’re not allowed to see anyone, or do anything, or go to public places. We’re limited to walking around outside the hotel or at the show,” Brumback says. “If we’re around any people that are not in our bubble, we have to wear masks. So, in KC we got a private session at Inner Space Yoga. It was the most beautiful place
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I’ve ever lived. It was so perfect. I left, and I touched my old apartment door, and then I kept going.” Brumback spent her free time riding around on Bird scooters and showing her tour family around her favorite spots. After the show at Starlight, she was able to see her friends briefly. “It was nuts to be there from the production standpoint,” she says. “I just never expected to be on the other side of that
”I tell people sometimes that I want to be like the Swiss Army knife of people.” stage. And that was really cool. That felt like kind of a big deal to me. So, my mom was there, you know, and she was dancing, and clapping, and just really going hard on being excited about me. It felt cool to be like, ‘I’m here doing this thing. All my friends can see it.’” At the time of this interview, Brumback is staying at Hotel X in Toronto as the guitar tech and backline manager of Bridgers’s Reunion tour. It’s her day off, but she’s still double-fisting two mini mugs of coffee. When room service knocks on her door, she orders more Nespresso, even though it makes her feel awkward to ask them for anything. Her primary job on the tour is setting
Above: A superhuman stage manager hangs by the bus. Below: Brumback displays a custom Gibson guitar to raffle for gender-affirming healthcare. Photos courtesy of Ada Brumback
