Originally from Hartford, Connecticut, is the blues and folk rock band known as Bronze Radio Return. The band grew up with a background in traditional blues and jazz style music, which has shaped who they are today. They have launched their musical career by landing over 50 syncs in TV and film, and have recently released their latest album Up, On & Over, as well as started their Fall 2013 US tour. B-Sides decided to find out what lies ahead for this upcoming band!
So you mention in your bio that you guys really like getting into your element such as traveling to rural country towns to inspire your music and being surrounded by farmland, what made you delve into this kind of music genre in the first place? Where did your love for it stem from?
Chris: I think a lot of it stems from our early influences and the music that we listened to growing up. I grew up in a household that was into a lot of blues, jazz, country, and traditional American music; so I think a lot it stemmed there. And a lot of us had a similar upbringing with music, and you know, we certainly went through different phases of rock and things like that. This group is kind of reinterpreting the music that we were influenced by earlier on.
And can you explain how being in your element plays a big part in your creativity?
Chris: Being in the element — we just really enjoy the separation and cut off, and going through an area as I’d say with limited communication to family, friends, girlfriends, lives, and just really focusing. I think that the keyword is just the focus element that comes from places like being on a farm in rural Virginia and doing that. So you know it’s just that whole immersion process where we go and we just work and we work as hard as we can and then we go home.
How did the name Bronze Radio Return come about?
Chris: Actually harping back on what I mentioned before on early influences, I grew up in Maine and my dad is an artist there, my sister and I had our fair share in studio and there was this old bronze colored radio that we listened to a lot of music out of. And in turn we learned a lot about blues, jazz, and folk music. And with this band and we kind of reinterpret these early influences, and more or less this is the return of that bronze radio that we grew up listening to.
Your album Shake! Shake! Shake! was very successful upon its release your band received over 50 syncs on TV and in film, what was that like to receive all that attention so quickly?
Chris: Oh it was great! We felt really fortunate to have that kind of exposure. It’s great for an unknown band like us, a younger band, because it exposes you to a larger audience of people and we’ve seen an increase in people coming out to shows, and listening to our music, so it was awesome. It happened with one or two syncs and then a few more, and then it kind of felt almost like a snowball effect of more opportunities so we’ve enjoyed riding that wave.
You guys recently released your new album Up, On & Over, what can fans expect from this album is it a continuation of Shake! Shake! Shake! Or different?
Chris: I would consider it a little bit of both. A little bit of column A and a little bit of column B. It is certainly a continuation but I also consider it a further evolution of ourselves. I think the more you do something the better you get at it, this album certainly is a benchmark for us being together for 5 years, playing together a lot, as well as touring a lot, and there are new textures and new songs to learn but I think it relates people to our previous material as well.
You guys are currently touring in the US for the Fall, how has touring been like so far? Have you encountered anything out of the ordinary or done anything crazy while on the road?
Chris: Well we are about 12 days or so into this tour, and it has been awesome we recently made it to the southwest which is an area of the country we have not been to. We also saw our first cactus, or cacti?, so that was pretty awesome and just the terrain and the drive has been really gorgeous so far. As far as crazy stuff, its been pretty tame so far we’ve had some really fun shows and it’s been a really positive tour and great support. And we have about three more weeks that is part of it, and we are just excited to be out on the road performing songs from Up, On & Over and sharing some of the new material with our fans.
Have you started to write and work on any new material for another album?
Chris: Yeah definitely, I feel like that process is always an ongoing one for sure. I think we are already thinking about the next album after Up, On & Over, while we are still making Up, On & Over, we are always planning ahead and we have started working on new material, we have no concrete plans to get into the studio at this point but we are constantly creating.
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