Interview: Bright and Early
Posted on Play Crack The Sky Music on October 17th, 2011.
With the release of their new EP (Getting Through It) imminent, Play Crack The Sky Music recently caught up with Bright and Early vocalist and guitarist John Browne (JB) to discuss the EP, joining up with Pacific Ridge Records, their cover of an Alkaline Trio classic and how they’re not accepted in the Pop-Punk scene.
To begin with can you introduce yourself and your role in Bright and Early?
My name is JB. I write the bulk of the songs, and I sing and play guitar.
Your new EP, Getting Through It is the follow up to last year’s Louder Than Words EP. How has the band changed and developed with this new release?
That’s a tough question to answer. We’ve been through a lot of life changes and learned a lot in the past year. The band has changed in mindset, sound, goals, lineup, and just the entire overall direction. We still and will always keep our recordings as real and true to our natural sound as we can get them. We plan on going more of a rock and roll direction. We just want to riff out and be catchy. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the new cool thing is to be anti-pop-punk.
Since that last release, you’ve played shows with the likes of Punchline and I Call Fives. Have playing with those bands influenced this new EP in anyway?
Maybe. It’s hard to say. I feel like my writing is influenced by everything in my life. Steve (Soboslai) from Punchline has definitely influenced me in a few productive ways. He’s got his shit together. He made us all want to get more on the ball. He creates opportunities for people and thats a great thing.
The new EP sounds more structured than previous releases. Was this something you had planned on doing from the start?
Sort of. The idea was to more or less involve a few different stages of breaking up. So I guess yeah. The songs themselves tell this push and pull, love/hate type of bipolar relationship story. The other guys feel what I feel. I’m lucky to be able to play with dynamic musicians, who always want to further themselves. It makes it easy to change. We are always evolving as a band. We’ll always try to change and do something different.
You’re releasing the new EP through Pacific Ridge Records. How did you join up with that label?
We were approached by Pac Ridge for the Alkaline Trio compilation and we just seemed to get along well. We are a “keep things simple” kind of band. Pacific Ridge offered to support us in what we do, in the way that we felt that we needed for this EP. Its a small self-recorded EP and we hope that it will open more opportunites for us. We hope to tour a lot more and do bigger records. One step at a time!
You recorded a cover of ‘Stupid Kid’ by Alkaline Trio for a recent true album. Why did you choose that track?
We all wanted to do one that was upbeat. Out of all the songs that were left, that was the one that best fit our band. I wish we could’ve done Queen of Pain.
Recently you’ve been on tour with Squid The Whale. Have how those shows been going?
They’ve been pretty good. We have been having a shit ton of fun. We’ve been playing these games as if we’re little kids. We’ve got dudes on this tour ranging from age 19 to 28, and we’re all proning.
How has the reaction been to the new songs?
We honestly haven’t had a single bit of negative feedback. Everyone seems to be loving it. Each song is different than the other. Each song is meant to represent a different feeling or group of feelings. One moment its despair, then anger, then happiness, etc… I think that helps to keep it interesting.
With the Pop Punk genre going through a resurgence, what makes Bright and Early stand out from the crowd?
We’re not really in that crowd. We haven’t been accepted well by the pop-punk scene. You know how it is. If you don’t get down with the trends, then you aren’t IN with the trend either. We’re the dorks who don’t fit in but thats kind of ok with us. We’ll fit in wherever we end up connecting with other people because thats life. Everyone fits in somewhere.
We do love I Call Fives and The Wonder Years, but we haven’t really gotten to meet many of the other bands. There are too many politics and popularity contests. We just want to play music and get in front of people everywhere.
What else can we expect from Bright and Early over the next 12 months?
A split, maybe some random singles, a full length, and lots of touring. We also really hope to step it up and get out there with some other hard working bands. When you tour with other bands who are capable of booking and promoting, everyone wins.
Is there anything else you’d like to finish the interview?
We just hope that everyone picks up our new EP and gives it a good listen! We all put a lot of work into this, and we feel that it’s important for people to know that we couldn’t have done it all on our own. It’s important for you to tell a friend about us or help get the word out in pretty much any other way. Thank you!
Getting Through It by Bright and Early is available now on Pacific Ridge Records.
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