a chat with the brummies

I recently got to interview The Brummies, where we talked about how they started, writing/creative process, and new music. You can listen to "After Midnight" here, and you can also listen to their newest single "Sunshine" here. Don't forget to preorder their newest album Automatic World out on November 13th!

Hi guys! Thank you so much for taking the time out to answer my questions, how are you? Wonderful! How are you? ;) What made you guys want to start a band? How did it come to fruition? We always wanted to play music. We all really got into bands and wanted to start one for ourselves… so we could get girls to like us and everything else that goes with being in a band in high school. It doesn’t really matter if you’re good or not because at the end of the day, you’re in a band. What got you guys involved with music in the first place? I grew up with my dad being in a band, my grandfather in a successful gospel quartet, and my cousin as a successful songwriter. Jacob has a lot of bluegrass roots throughout his family. We all have different reasons for getting involved in music, but I guess at the root of it, I didn’t think there was another choice but to give it a shot. We wanted to play so badly and couldn’t think of a better use of our time. There’s a certain rush when you’re creating and have a breakthrough moment. It’s about the same as playing live but you know that you're actually growing when you do it on the creative side. Is there a backstory behind your guy’s name? We’ve had several band names throughout the years but we landed on The Brummies when we were playing shows in the UK. When we announced that we were from Birmingham, Alabama, they would respond that we are Brummies. We didn’t really know what that meant until we asked about it, finding out that it’s the slang term for a native of Birmingham, UK. Our presence in the UK was as strong or stronger than in the US, so when we changed from our previous duo name “John and Jacob” to a band name, we were given an easy choice of what it should be. When you first started writing and creating music is it still the same sound you are creating now? Or is it different? It’s definitely different. We are always evolving and continually being inspired by other musicians and writers. I think that shows growth, and in my opinion, maturity as writers and musicians. Do you think where you are from has an affect on the music you play/write? Umm that’s a tough one to answer. I’m sure it’s influenced us in countless ways, but at the same time, not many people play the style of music that we play from our hometown. Music is universal so in that sense we take from the music that we love…which is from all over the world. Then we apply the things we’ve learned and love to ourselves and our music. All that to say, we have a better understanding of things like Bluegrass, Southern Rock and Country than someone would if they were from somewhere other than the Southern US. Regardless of where you’re from, I think that you will be attracted to what you like. Is there a formula you follow when creating music and writing lyrics? No, there are so many ways that you can write a song. I think that we’ve done it in most ways that I can think of. From coming up with a melody, or a lyric, to waking up from a dream with a song being pretty much gifted to you. We’ve had songs where there is a single writer to songs with several co writers. You could have a guitar lick that inspires a song and just a drum groove to kick things off. There’s no right or wrong way to write a song. What’s your favorite song you’ve ever written? That’s a personal question for each person, but for me, I’d have to say “Haunted.” And that’s a song that I feel like I had a minimal hand in writing. Another one is going to be on our new album and it’s called “Island.” It’s a melancholy beach song which kind of juxtaposes itself. That’s half the charm for me as well as the harmonies and lyric. Can you tell us about your writing and creative process? This goes along with what I was saying with the formula when creating music. The first thing writing takes is a bit of inspiration. Whether that is sought out or comes to me, and both happen. If I have an idea, then I’ll take it to Jacob or vice versa. Again, this process isn’t a formula… it’s very fluid. We will be attracted to the main element of the song, whether that’s a melody, a groove, or a vibe in general. Then a lyric is usually already on its way or we will picture where this song takes us by its vibe. We will go to that place and write from that perspective. These places are all usually places we have been or are currently in. It’s authentic that way, and just what seems right and natural to us. We will either finish the song then or take it to the rest of the guys to see it through. This is just one example of how we write. We also create together in the band room. We did much more of that on the upcoming album. During the creative process do you listen to any bands or artists? If so, who? We are always listening to new bands and artists. That keeps us inspired and gives us ideas. The variety of artists that we collectively listen to is vast. From Ariel Pink to Anderson Paak, we are just drawn towards what is good music to our ears. When we tour and travel, we all play what we are into, so we each get exposed to a lot of music. It keeps us locked in, and on the same page. We have an easy recall for references this way. You guys recently released “After Midnight” can you tell us about the creative and writing process? What was the inspiration behind it? This song was just a musical vibe that had been floating around in our phones for months. It started with the bass synth riff you hear at the top of the song followed by the groove. That synth riff is the cornerstone of the song. We knew we liked that so we would slowly expand on that when we got together for practice or to just jam. We didn’t really dig into this one until we were doing pre-production for the new album. That’s when the chorus chords were created and some loose melodies were still floating around. It eventually got tighter and tighter as we kept going through it. I had run out for a little less than an hour, and within that timeframe, the rest of the guys had written all of the lyrics to the song. We originally had a halftime breakdown section for the bridge, that would never make it back to the original groove. We loved this part but felt like it killed the groove we were attracted to from the beginning so we scrapped it towards the end of finishing the album. That part is not lost though if you listen to the album hard enough. Was the process of creating “After Midnight” different from the songs on Eternal Reach? Recording Eternal Reach and the newer stuff has a lot of similarities in that they were both tracked to tape at our good friend, Jeremy Ferguson’s studio, Battle Tapes. The two projects also both started out with us trying to get 5-7 songs down and we end up with 12-14 songs. That’s about where the similarities end though. We decided to take a more sonic-intentional approach with the new songs as well as be more groove and synth incorporated. We tried more instruments on the latest project as opposed to sticking with most of the same instrumentation like we did with Eternal Reach. With “After Midnight” in particular, there isn’t a real bass on the track. It’s all synth-bass. The vibe was specific with “After Midnight” in that we were thinking ‘dark disco.’ When writing do you guys write lyrics first, or do you start with the music first? This differs by each situation as I was saying above. They're all unique in how the song wants to naturally present itself to us. Eternal Reach was released in 2018, since releasing it and coming out with After Midnight. Will the new music be of the same vibe? Or will it be different? The new music will be more in the vibe of “After Midnight.” We made a collection of works within the creation of that song. All of them will sound different from Eternal Reach, reflecting the natural evolution of our band. Can we expect another album in the future? Yes, soon. Last question, we’re all about discovering new music. Who are you listening too right now that we should check out? I’ve been listening Mild High Club a lot lately. The album Skiptracing is an enviable work of art to me. If you don’t know it, I highly suggest it.