Lee brothers connecting with crowd

A few years ago, Brian and Jeremy Lee played before about 60,000 fans in Giants Stadium with their band, Ashbury.

These days, the Las Vegas brothers are playing the slightly cozier confines of the ETA Lounge at Aliante Station as an acoustic duo. And while it is, obviously, a different sort of experience, Brian Lee says it's also, in its own way, just as nice.

Brian, 28, and Jeremy, 23, have been playing together for just over 10 years.

"I've been singing most of my life, but I didn't play guitar or anything like that until I was 17," Brian says. "Shortly thereafter, I taught (Jeremy) to play, and we started an original band with each other."

That band, Ashbury, achieved impressive local success and even won a national contest to play with Bon Jovi on the latter's tour, leading to that memorable Giants Stadium gig during the summer of 2006.

After Ashbury broke up in 2009, Brian continued in music -- he still writes songs for local bands and his music has been featured on a number of TV shows, including "The Hills" -- and attended college. He plans to attend law school and figures that playing with his brother in the new duo not only will be fun but even may help to pay his way through school.

Jeremy plays drums and sings backup while Brian plays acoustic guitar and sings lead. They do mostly covers, with set lists based in part on the music they heard growing up, including " '80s music, especially like hard rock and hair metal and all that stuff," Brian says, as well as '70s tunes from such bands as The Eagles and, from the '90s, "Nirvana and the Cranberries. And, then, we'll throw in some modern stuff, too."

Brian says that, compared to large venues, the intimacy of a lounge "makes it easier to kind of connect with the crowd. There's more interaction with individuals, and you can see people connecting with what you're doing."

By the way: Fans of Ashbury and the brothers' own music needn't worry. Along with the covers, "we'll try to throw some original stuff in there," Brian says. "That's what got us into music in the first place, so there's no reason not to."

Brian and Jeremy Lee play from 8 to 11 p.m. Fridays in the ETA Lounge at Aliante Station, 7300 Aliante Parkway, North Las Vegas.