Lou Brutus has been one of the most acclaimed, beloved and respected radio hosts of the last three decades.
Through his twenty-eight plus years of national syndication, twenty-two years at Sirius XM Satellite Radio and successful work in Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC and Providence, he is an instantly recognized voice to radio listeners across North America.
Brutus has garnered tremendous amounts of positive press for both his intensely creative on air work and ground breaking original programming… all without ever running afoul of the F.C.C. Publications such as Rolling Stone, USA Today and Entertainment Weekly have sung the praises of his work.
He was named The Best Nationally Syndicated DJ in America by his peers at the 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 at the Rock Radio Awards. He is the only winner in the history of those awards. Lou has also won or been nominated for a long list of other honors. In 2017, he and his syndicated show were inducted into the Rock Radio Hall of Fame.
Whenever asked what he does for a living Lou simply answers, “I’m a professional music fan.”
Brutus is considered to be one of the finest interviewers in music media. His deep knowledge of multiple genres has made him a favorite of artists as diverse as Metallica, Disturbed, Reba McEntire, Theory of A Deadman, Smashing Pumpkins, Avenged Sevenfold, Rush, Tool, Wynonna, Slipknot, A Perfect Circle, KISS, Rancid, AVATAR, Stone Temple Pilots, Stone Sour, Fleetwood Mac, The Ramones and 3 Doors Down.
Lou has provided backstage coverage for mythical musical events such as Live Aid, Live Earth, Live 8, The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, The Wall at The Berlin Wall, and countless others. He has worked as stage host for numerous large scale festivals including Rock Fest, Ozzfest, Rock on the Range, KnotFest, Blue Ridge Rock Fest, Band Camp, Sonic Boom, and many others. Lou has been the boots on the ground for other events including multiple Red Carpets at the Grammy Awards, MusicCares Person of the Year, and Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Parties.
Lou’s roots in the music community go deep through many genres. He has the ability to move through the worlds of Active Rock, Alternative, Punk, Metal, and Classic Rock with a strong understanding of each genre as well as connections with the movers and shakers.
His nationally syndicated “hardDrive with Lou Brutus” is now in its 28th season. It airs on over 100 radio stations each week in the United States, Canada and Europe. It’s been instrumental in helping to break such platinum level acts as Five Finger Death Punch, KoRn, Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold, Disturbed and Godsmack. It has become radio’s preeminent Active Rock program. The weeknight version of the show, hardDrive XL, has also grown in reach and is heard on dozens of stations every Monday thru Friday night for over a decade and a half.
As Senior Program Director at Sirius XM Satellite Radio Brutus helped steer New Hard Rock channel Octane, the action sports channel Faction, the gin-soaked madness of Rock Bar, and The Grateful Dead Channel. He also guided BB King’s Bluesville, Sirius XM Comes Alive, Faction Punk, Marky Ramone’s Punk Rock Blitzkrieg, Bon Jovi Radio and many other channels. He was hand picked by Metallica to create their Mandatory Metallica channel. Lou received kudos for building the nation’s first ever punk rock radio station Fungus 53 and the creative maelstrom of Special X where he appeared as maniacal musical dictator Generalissimo Ortega. His satrad credits also include a dizzying array of themed micro-channels celebrating Halloween, baseball, Christmas, UFOs, and a myriad of other subjects.
Additionally at Sirius XM, he has been heard as host of the lauded Artist Confidential interview/performance series where he has welcomed an amazingly diverse array of talent including James Taylor, Evanesence, KoRn, Smashing Pumpkins, Shinedown, Harry Connick Jr., Cheap Trick, Indigo Girls, Snow Patrol, Reba McIntire, Fall Out Boy, Wynonna, Graham Nash, Snow Patrol, David Gray, Chicago, John Fogerty, Evanescence, George Thorogood, and The Fray to name only a few.
His creative flair has led him to national success as a performer in the Ohio State versus Michigan football rivalry band the Dead Schembechlers with whom he has appeared on HBO. Lou is the group’s lead singer, songwriter and official mouthpiece, Bo Biafra. He is the composer of the world’s first cow punk rock opera, Hee Haw Hell, which was recorded by legendary swamp rock band Dash Rip Rock. Additionally, he has several baseball inspired pieces he’s written and recorded featured on the Diamond Cuts album series, which he released under the moniker of Lou Brutus and the Perfect Pachydermus Percussion Pitches. Another musical foray is as the creator and lead singer of the Grumpy Old Punks, which he describes as “middle age punk rock rage.” Their self titled debut album “Grumpy Old Punks” was released in 2011 with the follow up “Anarchy in the Prostate” in 2012. In 2014 the group put out a holiday tune “You Get Nothing (For Christmas)” as well as balls out, one and a half minute cover of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off.” In 2015, they released their third EP “Driving Around with the Blinker On.” Also in 2015, Lou released the spoken word with music story “Me and Bill Murray” on YouTube and iTunes.
He has also produced his own series of comic books, “The Adventures of Brutusman,” as well as bottled his own line of micro brewed beers “Lou-in-Brau” and “Brew Loutus Ale.” Additionally, Brutus has released coloring books including The Beatles parody “Yorkie Submarine” and “The Darlalorian” which is a sendup of the Marvel Universe, especially “The Mandalorian” and “WandaVision.”
In what little spare time he has Lou is an accomplished photographer including on field for Major League Baseball. His music photography has been used by Cheap Trick, Godsmack, Skillet, Stone Sour, Halestorm, Nonpoint, PLUSH, Shallow Side, GWAR, Gibson Guitars, Washburn Guitars, Pearl Drums and many others. Additional images from Lou have graced magazine covers as well as having been published by National Geographic, USA Today, Huffington Post, Getty Images, Yahoo Entertainment, The Associated Press, BBC Science Focus, Zaikei News of Japan, The Global Times of China, aeroTelegraph of Germany, iHeart Media, Lighthouse Digest, Gulfstream Aerospace, United Airlines, The Weather Channel and others.
On April 14, 2020 Rare Bird Books of Los Angeles published Lou’s first book SONIC WARROR: My Life As A Rock and Roll Reprobate – Tales of Sex, Drugs, and Vomiting At Inopportune Moments. It’s a collection of insane-but-true stories from his many years in the music world. It features a Foreword by Corey Taylor and original illustrations by Alan MacBain. He also voiced the audiobook version released by Recorded Books. It was the #1 selling new release on multiple Amazon book charts for nearly three-months. The hardback edition sold out and the book went into paperback in 2021. As for future publishing, he looks to release a coffee table book of his music memorabilia collection entitled One Man – Three Thousand Concerts: The Greatest Collection of Rock & Roll Shit in History. He has also begun work on the follow up to Sonic Warrior as well a book of his photography with images of aircraft flying across the Sun and Moon. Lou is represented in the literary world by D4EO Literary Agency.
Wherever his travels have taken him, Brutus remains a proud New Jerseyan. He was born in Newark, NJ in the Down Neck (aka Ironbound) section of the city. This would be the same neighborhood the fictional Tony Soprano would spring from. His family then moved to the farming community of Englishtown, NJ where he grew up learning how to tip over cows. Brutus is a graduate of Manalapan High School where his main interests were theatre and smoking behind the gym. He attended Brookdale Community College where he DJ’d on the campus radio station WBJB-FM.
Lou works around the clock, seven days a week, apparently needing very little sleep, subsisting on black coffee and loud music. He lives with Darla the Wonder Dog who barks orders at him all day.