Jeff Brawer of Choking on the Revelry, which plays New World Tampa on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. Credit: Photo by Dave Decker

Jeff Brawer’s uniform—black tee, backwards black ballcap and scruff—can lend itself to blending in with the crowd, and listeners will undoubtedly hear a lot of themselves in his band’s new album out this week.

The album art for Choking on the Revelry’s Burn The Minutes. Burn The Hours. Burn the Days. is nihilistic, featuring a crudely-illustrated bed on fire in front of the bill for a funeral. The themes on the 10-track rock album follow in the same vein, and trace what it’s like to deal with anxiety, depression and insomnia.

The album’s title is lifted from the lyrics of “All My Best Friends Sing,” a track that Brawer (a member of beloved hardcore band Dukes of Hillsborough) wrote on the New Year’s Eve after his mom died, when all he wanted to do was go back to a better days.

“A comfortable place, with people I love,” Brawer told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, explaining that the world seems to be a nonstop place. “Sometimes it seems like we’re just kind of running towards a damn-near paid off grave.”

There’s light on the record, if you look really close, and you’ll see it on display when Choking on the Revelry—featuring Melissa Grady on strings, Sean Pomeroy on bass, Adam Revak on drums and guitarist-album producer Mike Ingold—takes the stage for this album release show alongside electro-punk band Tiger 54, Shae Krispinsky’s Shower Beers jank-pop outfit, and DJ Cub.

Tickets to see Choking On The Revelry play the music hall at New World Tampa on Saturday, Aug. 16 are still available for $10.