Field Dispatch
BRSR | Matt Connarton Unleashed
Speaker 1: I love it. That is portals. The band is BRSR
Speaker 1: and we have members of the band on with us
Speaker 1: via Microsoft teams. We're gonna speak with them in just
Speaker 1: a moment. But if you are listening live, welcome. We
Speaker 1: have entered our number two New Maarrow dose of Matt
Speaker 1: Connorton Unleashed and we are live from the studios of
Speaker 1: WMNH ninety five point three FM and glorious but very
Speaker 1: very bitterly cold, Manchester, New Hampshire. Of course, you can
Speaker 1: stream the show from anywhere. Go to Matt connorton dot
Speaker 1: com slash live for all your live streaming options, social
Speaker 1: media links, contact info, show archives, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 1: Today is January thirty one, twenty twenty six, and let's
Speaker 1: go ahead. We'll get this up here. And I think
Speaker 1: we've got a few members of the band with us.
Speaker 1: Hello everybody, Hello, Hey, hey, good. So let's see. So
Speaker 1: it looks like we have Matt Hison, Drew Young and
Speaker 1: Chloe Johnston with us. Is that correct? Yeah, that's right, wonderful.
Speaker 1: Welcome everybody, And uh yeah, I love that track. I
Speaker 1: mean it's it's just and I did listen to the
Speaker 1: whole album by the way you've got a just a
Speaker 1: big sound. I just uh, you know, that's the easiest
Speaker 1: way to describe it. It's just big. It's expansive, and
Speaker 1: I really really like that. I love I love the mix.
Speaker 1: I love everything about it. So welcome. It is wonderful
Speaker 1: to speak to the three of you now, and you're
Speaker 1: a five piece correct, Yeah, yeah, I bet when you
Speaker 1: play live, I'm sure it also sounds you know, you
Speaker 1: know big. I'd love to I'd love to see all live. Obviously,
Speaker 1: geographically that would not be uh not be easy to
Speaker 1: pull on. But but let's see. So, so Matt you're
Speaker 1: you're the guitar player, and Drew you're the drummer, and
Speaker 1: Chloe you do vocals and synth. Correct, yep, that's right,
Speaker 1: very good, very good. So well, let's start with the
Speaker 1: most obvious question first, and then we'll kind of we'll
Speaker 1: we'll talk more about the music. But I want to
Speaker 1: know about the name. Uh what does b R s
Speaker 1: R me?
Speaker 2: So it's actually just short.
Speaker 3: In the version of Bruiser it was Dove who's not
Speaker 3: here to their front man who wanted here, originally wanted
Speaker 3: to be called Burst, and I thought that was the
Speaker 3: worst name we postally go for, because the quotations for
Speaker 3: that in Scotland are probably completely different from anywhere else
Speaker 3: in the world. But yeah, so we we went with Bruiser,
Speaker 3: but I found out there was a DJ also called Bruiser,
Speaker 3: so I thought the easiest thing to do was to
Speaker 3: shorten it. Also, just it looks, it looks better in
Speaker 3: terms of the logo and things like that. Just it
Speaker 3: looks looks a little bitter on the T shirt.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true, it does, it does. So am I
Speaker 1: Am I saying it wrong?
Speaker 4: Then?
Speaker 1: Am I?
Speaker 5: Am?
Speaker 1: I not supposed to say b R s R.
Speaker 2: No, it would be bruiser.
Speaker 3: But we get a lot of people all the time
Speaker 3: being like, oh hey, what what does it stand for?
Speaker 3: I'm like, well, nothing, so.
Speaker 1: I should be saying bruiser Yeah brs Okay, wonderful, Okay, excellent, excellent.
Speaker 1: So tell me about that that track portals because it just,
Speaker 1: like I said, it just sounds so big. It's atmospheric,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's it kind of reminds me a
Speaker 1: little little bit of of some of the at least
Speaker 1: what was happening here in America. Some of that Well,
Speaker 1: I shouldn't say happening here in America because a lot
Speaker 1: of it was happening over there, but it was becoming
Speaker 1: very popular here in America. You know that that kind
Speaker 1: of a big, expansive sound, But I'm curious, I mean,
Speaker 1: is that kind of I listened to the whole album.
Speaker 1: It kind of sounds that's like what you're going for broadly,
Speaker 1: but you you capture it so well. I think Portals
Speaker 1: is an excellent choice for a single, But how do
Speaker 1: you how do you describe your sound? What what is
Speaker 1: it that you're trying to project with with Bruiser now
Speaker 1: that I know how to say the name.
Speaker 3: I think for us, from the start, we've always spoke
Speaker 3: about the fact that we feel that the best personal
Speaker 3: selves is live and when we recorded this album, we
Speaker 3: recorded initially live in a converted church building over.
Speaker 2: The course of two days.
Speaker 1: Oh really.
Speaker 3: So for example, one of the longest song on the
Speaker 3: album is the second last track, Buried at Home, which
Speaker 3: is just under about eleven minutes, and the take that
Speaker 3: is on the album was the was the only take
Speaker 3: we did, and it was done live and full. And
Speaker 3: I think that that is the way that we want
Speaker 3: to capture the band because for me, I feel like
Speaker 3: any band should be at the peak of the powers
Speaker 3: when they're live and are able to express themselves and
Speaker 3: change things as time goes on.
Speaker 2: Because you know the quarterly version of anything.
Speaker 3: I think if you're going to stick to that version
Speaker 3: for this, your career is going to get boring pretty quickly.
Speaker 2: Mm hm.
Speaker 3: So this, this is the kind of way the songs
Speaker 3: sound now, but it's open to the idea of we
Speaker 3: can adapt these as as as the sound progresses, as
Speaker 3: we progressive musicians and as we change as people as well.
Speaker 3: But I get what you mean about this about the
Speaker 3: sound as well. Like we I would say was probably
Speaker 3: my attempt to write a hum song. So yeah, as
Speaker 3: long as long as we've captured the kind of essence
Speaker 3: of that, then I'll be happy with that.
Speaker 1: And what are the lyrics about here? And who writes
Speaker 1: the lyrics? I don't know if your singer writes some
Speaker 1: or if you read them or who who who?
Speaker 3: It's it's myself for the time being, so that this
Speaker 3: this album is written by myself out there in necessity
Speaker 3: because we've been we've been a band of six months
Speaker 3: and we had about three songs that we we we
Speaker 3: sort of rushed together for a gig. The band is
Speaker 3: pretty much that the gig goes booked before before a
Speaker 3: band essentially, and the band was sort of made for
Speaker 3: a gig I still six months later, so one song
Speaker 3: became two, two became four, and then ended up just
Speaker 3: with the full albums.
Speaker 2: So that's pretty much what we've been working with the
Speaker 2: past year or so.
Speaker 3: Lyrically, it's it's part of the album as a whole,
Speaker 3: is as as a concept piece, but it also doubles
Speaker 3: up as as individual songs as well, so that they
Speaker 3: have their own separate means to me personally as well
Speaker 3: to the actual story itself. But it's it's sort of
Speaker 3: about being either trap within yourself and looking for a
Speaker 3: way out, but it's also about being trapped with another
Speaker 3: but feeling like you're together, but you're not feeling together.
Speaker 3: So you know, the kind of wor would have been
Speaker 3: that you can be living with someone, but you can
Speaker 3: feel like you're not actually living with someone, if you
Speaker 3: know what I mean. It's almost like so as a
Speaker 3: feeling like you're living with someone that you have a
Speaker 3: deep connection with, but the connections feeling.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And I think that's something that's relatable. You know,
Speaker 1: certainly a lot of people go through that. I mean
Speaker 1: probably everyone goes through that at some point in their lives,
Speaker 1: you know. Feeling that way, yeah, I feel like and
Speaker 1: again not just with portals, but with the rest of
Speaker 1: the album too. You know, there's there's a lot of
Speaker 1: emotion there. It's it's as you know, obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: songs can be you know, they're up to the interpretation
Speaker 1: of the of the listener, but I I could feel
Speaker 1: a lot of I just found it. I found it
Speaker 1: highly relatable the whole thing, like I said, in addition
Speaker 1: to the big sound, it also you know, just hearing
Speaker 1: these lyrics and again, you know, I everyone puts their
Speaker 1: own interpretation onto what they're hearing, but to me, I
Speaker 1: really I really connected with a lot of this. Can
Speaker 1: you can Can you tell me more again about how
Speaker 1: this band started, because that was interesting. You said something
Speaker 1: about a gig and then you had to put a
Speaker 1: band together to fit the gig, and tell me about that.
Speaker 3: So essentially, David, our singer, had decided that he we
Speaker 3: were in the band previously, and he'd been out to
Speaker 3: music for quite a while and he'd said to me,
Speaker 3: I'm looking at getting back at the music again.
Speaker 2: But he'd previously been a drummer.
Speaker 3: But we we'd known for I was in a band
Speaker 3: with him when when I was fifteen, so we'd always
Speaker 3: known that he had a great voice and he wanted
Speaker 3: to be He wanted this to be his first solo adventure,
Speaker 3: and I was like, okay, that's that's that's kind of cool.
Speaker 3: But he went ahead and basically said to someone that
Speaker 3: we know that he had, he had music to put
Speaker 3: out and he was willing to you want to play?
Speaker 2: What to play the first gig?
Speaker 3: So he put him on a bill and he said
Speaker 3: to me, was like, oh, this gig coming up in
Speaker 3: about a month's time.
Speaker 2: And I was like, okay, cool, who's playing with you?
Speaker 2: And he was like, no one.
Speaker 3: So I said to him, I was like, I wasn't.
Speaker 3: I was kind of out of music at this point
Speaker 3: as well. And I said to him, right, okay, i'll
Speaker 3: cover guitarphy just now, and if you can get a
Speaker 3: band together, then I'm quite happy to do.
Speaker 2: The show with you and we'll just take it from there. Yeah.
Speaker 3: But I said to him that I wasn't interested in
Speaker 3: writing any material or anything like that, so I said
Speaker 3: I'll leave that to you and once you've got songs,
Speaker 3: let me know and we'll get we'll get this together.
Speaker 3: And then about two weeks before the gig, I said
Speaker 3: to him, I was like, so, what's happening with us?
Speaker 3: How many songs we have? And he was like, I
Speaker 3: still have the one. I was like, I kind of
Speaker 3: said to him. I was like, right, okay, we'll go
Speaker 3: out of the room and we will. We will spend
Speaker 3: as long as we need to to get enough songs
Speaker 3: together for a settl list. So the first three singles
Speaker 3: we put were written within this base of about half
Speaker 3: an hour an hour or so, and we wrote we
Speaker 3: wrote those together, and I remember we actually finished the
Speaker 3: lyrics for the last song on the setlist just as
Speaker 3: the bass player and Dromore thumb that for for our
Speaker 3: first and only rehearsal before that gig. So that's that's
Speaker 3: kind of how it all started. But it's it's obviously
Speaker 3: it's involved in Drew and Chloe further on downline as well.
Speaker 3: It's just myself and the for a while and Kieran,
Speaker 3: who's the best player as well. He's been in there
Speaker 3: since since day one. So it's it's essentially a new
Speaker 3: a new outfit. Now the chaotic beginnings of the band
Speaker 3: have made this. So I'm very grateful for the deciding
Speaker 3: that he was going to be a gig with no
Speaker 3: songs or no band.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. I mean, you know, it almost kind of
Speaker 1: makes you believe in fate, right that that this came
Speaker 1: together like that under such chaotic circumstances that sound like
Speaker 1: it sounds like it couldn't possibly work out, and then
Speaker 1: and then it does and you just you just make
Speaker 1: it work out. That's fantastic. So obviously the show went well.
Speaker 3: There's the show went well enough that we decided, you know,
Speaker 3: maybe we can continue with this. But as I said,
Speaker 3: we waited and I said to him, I was like, okay,
Speaker 3: I helped you with the songs. There, it's your baby.
Speaker 3: You run with it and you do the songs and
Speaker 3: we'll just get a practice together whenever. And then about
Speaker 3: five six months past and I was like, how's it
Speaker 3: coming with the writing, and then he was like, yes,
Speaker 3: I'm not got anything. And I was like, okay, I'm
Speaker 3: kind of bored of playing the same like four or
Speaker 3: five songs. Let's try something. And it's been the first
Speaker 3: time since I've written a song myself and probably about
Speaker 3: nine to twelve months, I would say the first song
Speaker 3: that I wrote was on My Reasons, which is the
Speaker 3: second track on the album, and then Portals pretty much
Speaker 3: quickly followed after that, and it was sort of just
Speaker 3: a snow wall effect of just I think I had
Speaker 3: a headspace of just I was back writing again and
Speaker 3: I had a purpose to write and we needed material,
Speaker 3: so it all just came out one after another, and
Speaker 3: it wasn't an intention to write an album, but when
Speaker 3: we ended up with mante material we did, I was like,
Speaker 3: this feels like a cohesive units as a as eight songs,
Speaker 3: so we may as well. And then the more I
Speaker 3: was looking at the lyrics myself, I was like, this
Speaker 3: is telling more of a full story rather than individual
Speaker 3: stories themselves. So yeah, it's it's been.
Speaker 2: It's been a blessing.
Speaker 3: Disguss because I didn't think I would have I would
Speaker 3: ever be in a band again.
Speaker 2: They've been writing songs again, but yeah, it's been.
Speaker 3: It's been great for myself and it's been really really
Speaker 3: good having these guys with me as well on this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt. Well, when it comes together too like that,
Speaker 1: when it just feels like I said, there's almost a
Speaker 1: sense of fate or destiny to it, uh, you know
Speaker 1: the way you tell it. And when when it comes
Speaker 1: together like that, you know you've got something. You know,
Speaker 1: you're like, like if it's one thing, if you're if
Speaker 1: you decide to start a band with somebody, and then
Speaker 1: you're you know, you're spending a year or whatever, you know,
Speaker 1: trying to come up with some songs, and you're working
Speaker 1: hard at it. And there's nothing wrong with working hard
Speaker 1: at it. But but when it when it almost sounds
Speaker 1: like you know, it just sort of uh, there's almos
Speaker 1: in alchemy to it, and it all just sort of
Speaker 1: comes together like that, that's when you know you've really
Speaker 1: got something and it's interesting to you. So you said
Speaker 1: you didn't think you'd ever be in a band again.
Speaker 1: Why is that?
Speaker 3: Well, personally, I'd been through quite a bad stint with
Speaker 3: my own mental and physical health over the past two
Speaker 3: years before this, and it kind of continued in the
Speaker 3: start of this. Is why it was taking us quite
Speaker 3: a while to actually get to this point, because I
Speaker 3: was essentially bed bound for most of like twenty twenty two,
Speaker 3: twenty twenty three. So to be able to get to
Speaker 3: this point and be be here just now as a
Speaker 3: medical inner of itself. But as I say as well,
Speaker 3: like this is a this is a project that couldn't
Speaker 3: have been done without everyone involved, because it can. You
Speaker 3: can write as many songs as you like, but if
Speaker 3: you don't have a unit around you understand everything and
Speaker 3: are invested in the project as much as yourself, then
Speaker 3: it's it's really all for nothing.
Speaker 1: Right, absolutely, So, how long has the band actually existed
Speaker 1: at this point.
Speaker 3: Well, from from our first Our first gug was twenty
Speaker 3: twenty two, so you're you're talking about three three and
Speaker 3: a bit years or so.
Speaker 2: But her most recent member just now.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, Drew's the new guy.
Speaker 2: Yes, drink.
Speaker 3: Cloe came in towards towards the probably bout mid section
Speaker 3: last year. I'd say Chloe originally was just providing backing
Speaker 3: vocals on a lot of the album, and I felt
Speaker 3: that she contributed so much to the harmonic balance of
Speaker 3: a lot of the songs. Yeah, felt wrong to just
Speaker 3: have her as essentially like a studio musician. And I
Speaker 3: said there, I was like, what would you feel about
Speaker 3: joining the band? And she was like, but I can't
Speaker 3: play anything, And I was like, you can play synth.
Speaker 3: She was like, I can't play it, and I was like,
Speaker 3: you can learn. Yeah, So that's that's so she now
Speaker 3: plays synth and she learned and she goes and she's
Speaker 3: doing very very well.
Speaker 1: Oh that's actually yeah, yeah, yeah, I go ahead, Chloe.
Speaker 5: I was just gonna say, and keeping with the band
Speaker 5: being forced in kales, I've only been playing some since July.
Speaker 1: Last year, no kidding. So is this your first So
Speaker 1: is this actually your first musical instrument that you've played.
Speaker 5: So I've played like a little bit of guitar and
Speaker 5: stuff in the past, spot I've never been in any
Speaker 5: bands or anything, just sort of doing it for fun.
Speaker 5: And then obviously this is the first project where I've
Speaker 5: really had to get my head down and learn an
Speaker 5: instrument from scratch. So it's been a challenge, but a
Speaker 5: good one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, it's good. And you know, I've heard a
Speaker 1: lot of this comes up a lot on the show.
Speaker 1: I've heard a lot of you know, music teachers and
Speaker 1: music professors say that everybody, and by the way, I
Speaker 1: did not take this advice. I can't play anything on
Speaker 1: a keyboard, but that every musician should at least know
Speaker 1: some some synth, keyboard, piano, whatever, because it helps you.
Speaker 1: It helps you just knowing even a little bit of
Speaker 1: that helps you with everything else in terms of music.
Speaker 1: It helps you to understand chord structure better, It helps
Speaker 1: you with everything. And and a lot a lot of
Speaker 1: them will say too that that's the best place to start.
Speaker 1: Obviously you're already playing guitars, you said, but to, but
Speaker 1: to even if you start, even if it's not going
Speaker 1: to be your primary instrument, if you start on a keyboard,
Speaker 1: it's going to help you with everything. So but but yeah,
Speaker 1: but it does fit the chaotic nature of how the
Speaker 1: band started, right, So that's great. Good for you, Good
Speaker 1: for you. I mean, has it been scary or do
Speaker 1: you just take the challenge and say now I'm going
Speaker 1: to do this, or or what's been your mindset with it?
Speaker 5: It has been quite intimidating, and especially since all the
Speaker 5: guys have been in bands before and bands that have
Speaker 5: done quite well. And I sort of sometimes get a
Speaker 5: little bout that imposter syndrome where I sort of get
Speaker 5: up on stage with them and I'm like, I'm surrounded
Speaker 5: by these people who've been playing their instrument for like
Speaker 5: decades now, and here I am just plunking away at
Speaker 5: my keys. No, I do what I actually doing right
Speaker 5: in that regard, it's been a little a little bit.
Speaker 5: I have a dating, but the guys are so just
Speaker 5: so lovely and so so encouraging, and I couldn't be
Speaker 5: surrendered by better people.
Speaker 1: So yeah, oh that's fantastic. And then so Drew. So
Speaker 1: you're the newest member. So how long have you been
Speaker 1: in the band now?
Speaker 4: I am yeah, it will be coming up on a year.
Speaker 1: I reckon a year in okay maybe, okay, okay.
Speaker 4: But it's been great fun. I think myself and Matt
Speaker 4: we played in a different band maybe two or three
Speaker 4: years ago. That just open the pandemic sort of lust steam.
Speaker 4: So when Matt had got in touch that their drummer
Speaker 4: or the previous drummer Kyle had stepped aside, totally jumped
Speaker 4: at the chance to be.
Speaker 2: Able to play with Matt again.
Speaker 4: It's always been great fun, and as he said, I've
Speaker 4: always really enjoyed his songwriting. Yeah, and also all the
Speaker 4: stuff that Kyle had recorded for the album has been
Speaker 4: super super fun to just sink my teeth into and
Speaker 4: learn all these parts.
Speaker 1: And then when you do that, when you come into
Speaker 1: a project like this. This is something I'm always curious about.
Speaker 5: Do you.
Speaker 1: Do you then try to learn exactly what he did
Speaker 1: or do you try to kind of, you know, learn
Speaker 1: what he did, but then maybe kind of put your
Speaker 1: own Because I've known drummers who will They'll come into
Speaker 1: a situation and they'll say, I'm going to or someone
Speaker 1: in the band will tell them if they're you know,
Speaker 1: if they're coming in new to a situation, I'm going
Speaker 1: to try to learn everything. I'm going to learn the
Speaker 1: fills exactly. I'm going to replicate exactly what the previous
Speaker 1: drummer did, you know, And other drummers, of course want
Speaker 1: to come in and well probably everybody wants to kind
Speaker 1: of put their own stamp on it. But what's been
Speaker 1: your approach with that? Yeah?
Speaker 4: I think definitely taking the you know, the skeletons and
Speaker 4: the muscles of what Kyle had written on the drums
Speaker 4: and building on that with my own flavor, my own taste. Obviously,
Speaker 4: every drummer is unique in what they play. Yeah, I
Speaker 4: think I appreciate that Matt trusted me to be able
Speaker 4: to fit the bill for what was already built. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and I guess if you want to really top shop.
Speaker 2: And get it.
Speaker 4: I am a left handed drummer that plays on a
Speaker 4: right handed drum kitas whereas Kay Kyle is right handed.
Speaker 4: And so there's a lot of the films that I
Speaker 4: really liked the sign of wanted to play very true
Speaker 4: to what he plays physical physically. I would have to
Speaker 4: swap a lot of my like sticking in the nation
Speaker 4: around to make these work. So that's been really really
Speaker 4: fun to try and work around lots of these problems
Speaker 4: as well.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, how has that been hard to pull off?
Speaker 4: I mean, yeah, it's been hard, but it's been well
Speaker 4: worth the challenge, you know, yeah, to play drums and
Speaker 4: like to learn fun things.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's very cool. That's something
Speaker 1: that wouldn't have even occurred to me, but that's yeah,
Speaker 1: that's interesting. Yeah. So now you've already you guys have
Speaker 1: already gotten some some success with radio, right you're it's
Speaker 1: you've gotten some traction over there, some early radio support.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're actually go on, We've we've had amazing video
Speaker 3: in the UK and the US has been pretty early
Speaker 3: champions of the music and gym and scott and Scotland
Speaker 3: has been. It has been really good for us, and
Speaker 3: this is this is but this is only like this
Speaker 3: is a third interview in one day, but this is
Speaker 3: a interview of all time.
Speaker 1: So Okay, it's been.
Speaker 2: Order to be here.
Speaker 3: It's it's been good to get to talk people who
Speaker 3: are actually interested in music. Yeah, and have I've actually
Speaker 3: listened to what we've done, because in the past we
Speaker 3: found it quite difficult to talk to people who kind
Speaker 3: of you're like kind of where they kind of like
Speaker 3: they've heard about thirty seconds of it and they're like, yeah,
Speaker 3: and I know what we're talking about, what you guys
Speaker 3: are all about it.
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, I'm also curious to know about the
Speaker 1: live situation there because it looks like you're you're having
Speaker 1: a lot of success. You've been playing some solid out shows. Correct.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, so this is something.
Speaker 3: But as Drew mentioned, the drummer on the album, Kyle,
Speaker 3: he stepped aside earlier last year just just due to
Speaker 3: the fact that we were talking about going on to
Speaker 3: alast year and we ended up pushing the album back
Speaker 3: because he said that the concept of a tour wasn't
Speaker 3: his cup.
Speaker 2: Of tea anymore.
Speaker 3: He'd been in the bar before who would toured quite extensively,
Speaker 3: and he was like, I'm not cut out for this anymore.
Speaker 3: So it's been a bit of a shame because he
Speaker 3: left at a point where we started actually building more
Speaker 3: of a fan base in our own in Glasgow and
Speaker 3: sourround the areas. So we played a place called the Cools.
Speaker 3: I think it was drew it your third gig, second.
Speaker 2: Gig, second I think yeah, second second.
Speaker 3: Show, and it was it was it was parked and
Speaker 3: it was sort of just came out of nowhere because
Speaker 3: we we've been playing, you know, we've been playing to
Speaker 3: like ten to fifteen people for so long that we
Speaker 3: just kind of think, okay, it's just going to be
Speaker 3: this or like added finium. So we just turned up
Speaker 3: and it was like about an hour before doors and
Speaker 3: they were like, oh, so out and I was like,
Speaker 3: you mean it sold out and I was.
Speaker 2: Like, that's it's just there's no tick left how and
Speaker 2: it was. It was.
Speaker 3: It was crazy for a start because there's a lot
Speaker 3: of people we've never seen before, and it just it's
Speaker 3: kind of continued from there. We had our prober bus
Speaker 3: this year for gigs last year, which building one of us.
Speaker 2: It's worth for the for the best.
Speaker 3: With the album this year, and we've got quite a
Speaker 3: lot of shows or the books for this year, so
Speaker 3: it's it's been great.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Oh that's excellent, very very good. You do any
Speaker 1: I didn't think to look do you have any music videos,
Speaker 1: because like a song like Portals, I think would really
Speaker 1: lend itself to something and and and I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, looking at the artwork that you have, like
Speaker 1: the visual component is important. It is important to the
Speaker 1: to the span to bruiser. But do you have you
Speaker 1: met any music videos?
Speaker 3: Yeah, we've actually got well for funny, as you mentioned,
Speaker 3: we're actually finished recording.
Speaker 2: The music with for Portals yesterday.
Speaker 1: Wow. Good.
Speaker 2: So I'll be in that over the next couple of
Speaker 2: couple of days or so.
Speaker 3: We try we've tried to do everything in house from
Speaker 3: the start here because it's it's quite hard to get
Speaker 3: any sort of funding or support in the UK for
Speaker 3: for music.
Speaker 2: So any money that we can.
Speaker 3: Save for you know, recording or going on tour like that,
Speaker 3: like that, like that the actually important things for people
Speaker 3: hearing music, we will cut that. So I've learned how
Speaker 3: to do you know, filming and editing and that kind
Speaker 3: of thing to save the cost of that.
Speaker 5: So we do.
Speaker 4: We have.
Speaker 3: We've got a video for Judas, which was our first
Speaker 3: proper single, and there is a visualizer for man Made Fires,
Speaker 3: which was a single before. There was plan to be
Speaker 3: music with you for that, but we we sort of
Speaker 3: run out of time to do it, and the weather
Speaker 3: over here is so temperamental that to try and from
Speaker 3: outside was it got to got to point where we
Speaker 3: tried to start filming it and my hands were on
Speaker 3: the camera and I actually couldn't feel I lost all
Speaker 3: sensation of feeling on my fingers. I was like, actually,
Speaker 3: don't know if I'm pressing the record button.
Speaker 5: Here's not.
Speaker 2: So the port Ports music video will be out soon,
Speaker 2: we do. We did plan on having a video for
Speaker 2: every song on the album.
Speaker 3: Really, as I say, the the connotations of trying to
Speaker 3: get a budget together and when we all work full
Speaker 3: time as well, Yeah, it's trying to think the thing
Speaker 3: to get it all done while also keeping the set
Speaker 3: as tight as possible and working on as well.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely no, it's always a challenge. But
Speaker 1: so Judis was the previous single.
Speaker 2: So Juis was was our first proper single.
Speaker 3: I came out about June last year, in the record
Speaker 3: of the video for that that is on that's on YouTube,
Speaker 3: and yeah, so port Portals will will.
Speaker 2: Be our second port music video. We do have music
Speaker 2: videos for our first three singles, but those are only
Speaker 2: one band campus.
Speaker 3: Now, we weren't really one hundred percent on this on
Speaker 3: the sound on those ones for those three singles as well.
Speaker 1: Okay, by the way, I think I forgot to mention,
Speaker 1: so the name of the album A Field of man
Speaker 1: Made Fires? What what I'm really curious about the title?
Speaker 4: What?
Speaker 1: What are does that mean?
Speaker 3: So I look at as I mentioned earlier on my
Speaker 3: health issues of the past couple of years, I went
Speaker 3: through a period of time where I was not feeling
Speaker 3: like I was being the person that I should.
Speaker 2: Have been, and I kind of view to kind of
Speaker 2: a bit of reflected perspective. I had.
Speaker 3: One of the worst cases in the UK of psoriasis
Speaker 3: that they've ever seen. So I got to the point
Speaker 3: where where I couldn't leave my bed, and I started
Speaker 3: to think that every mark that I had in my
Speaker 3: skin and every scale that came up was a punishment
Speaker 3: for me being.
Speaker 2: Basically false to myself.
Speaker 3: So the kind of concept of I feel the Marmory
Speaker 3: f is was me just surveying my mistakes and putting
Speaker 3: the playing on myself for a lot of things in retrospect.
Speaker 3: I mean, a lot of things have probably been a
Speaker 3: bit too harsh on myself for But I think when
Speaker 3: you are on it in such a low position, you
Speaker 3: do just kind of start to fixate on the thing
Speaker 3: that you could have done things so much better. But
Speaker 3: at the same time, it's it's hindsight's a wonderful thing,
Speaker 3: and when you look back on things regarding that, I mean,
Speaker 3: there's only so much you could have done right. And
Speaker 3: I think I've grown as a person since since then.
Speaker 3: But it's pretty much chronicles my life from a bit
Speaker 3: of ages of nineteen to about twenty four, and that's
Speaker 3: that's pretty much the whole concept of the of the
Speaker 3: album is just dealing with the mistakes that you've made
Speaker 3: and either accepting it and moving on or wallowing on it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I totally get that. I just heard a weird sound.
Speaker 1: Are you all still there?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're still here?
Speaker 1: Okay, So I heard a strange sound. It must just
Speaker 1: be in my headphones. No, I can. I can totally
Speaker 1: relate to that, you know, And I'm someone who you know,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned mental health, like I struggle with depression.
Speaker 1: My listeners know this about me, and I ruminate a
Speaker 1: lot and almost constantly, and so I can, I can.
Speaker 1: I can relate to a lot of what you're saying.
Speaker 1: And maybe that's why you know so many of these
Speaker 1: these lyrics really connect with me too. Like I said,
Speaker 1: I listened to the whole thing. How is your how
Speaker 1: are you now? Matt, Like how how are you doing?
Speaker 2: As we said here today, as I'm as close to
Speaker 2: cured as it possibly can be.
Speaker 3: I'm on I'm on medication. It's helped, but I went
Speaker 3: through a period the long time. I think if anyone
Speaker 3: who's listening who's been through or is suffering with the risis,
Speaker 3: I think I have been at the lowest point you
Speaker 3: could possibly be with with the disease and understand that
Speaker 3: it might seem like there's no escape from it. But
Speaker 3: I've been dealing with this since I was about eighteen
Speaker 3: and I'm twenty six now, so it's taken me into
Speaker 3: the past year to actually get to the point where
Speaker 3: I can do normal things. I can go to work,
Speaker 3: I can go to the gym, I can live a
Speaker 3: normal life again. So and I suppose it goes it
Speaker 3: goes hand in hand with depression as well, and I
Speaker 3: think I think that's why a lot of people spoke
Speaker 3: spoke about lyricism on the album and it connecting people.
Speaker 3: And I think it's because when when you talk with
Speaker 3: things like the pandemic and things like that, I think
Speaker 3: that made people realize just how bad the mental who
Speaker 3: possibly could be. And David as well is the front man,
Speaker 3: he's you said, battles with depressions as I think we
Speaker 3: all we all have at different points. I think it's
Speaker 3: trying to be I think we're now in a in
Speaker 3: a time where we can be more open ourselves and
Speaker 3: everyone around those that you know, we we can we
Speaker 3: can say, you know, I'm not actually doing great today,
Speaker 3: and there's things where where you're we're doing great for
Speaker 3: one periods of time. But I think knowing that you've
Speaker 3: got a group around you who have been through the
Speaker 3: same thing, it makes things so much easier now.
Speaker 1: It does it does? I know for me because it's
Speaker 1: been a it's been a struggle for me since I
Speaker 1: was probably a teenager. And you know, in my case,
Speaker 1: I mean as far as depression, I got to a
Speaker 1: point in my life where it's like it's too exhausting
Speaker 1: to try to hide it. I'm just not gonna hide
Speaker 1: it anymore, you know. And then you you know, and
Speaker 1: then you're up about it and you talk to people
Speaker 1: and you realize it's so so common, like there's no
Speaker 1: reason for there to be any stigma because it's something
Speaker 1: so many of us deal with. So yeah, So, like
Speaker 1: I said, I really love the album A series of
Speaker 1: man made fires, and we will we'll begin to wrap
Speaker 1: up all three of you. I appreciate you. You've been
Speaker 1: very generous with your time. Mattrew and Chloe, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for joining us. I'm thinking at the end
Speaker 1: of our conversation, I will play Judas another great track
Speaker 1: from the album, because we did talk about it. I
Speaker 1: love I Love Portals, great great song, love the whole album.
Speaker 1: And where is the best place where should people go?
Speaker 1: Especially because again because of the way that you spell it,
Speaker 1: we want to make sure people know where's the best
Speaker 1: place for people to go online to keep up with
Speaker 1: everything that Bruiser is doing as a band, so we
Speaker 1: are most active.
Speaker 3: On Instagram and tech talk for music related things. I
Speaker 3: would say that currently I mean Spotify as were. Most
Speaker 3: people see people for things, but we are trying to
Speaker 3: push this on buoncomp as much as possible. Yeah, I
Speaker 3: think when we're living in this world New Were Combat
Speaker 3: and AI and everything else, is the best thing you
Speaker 3: can postally do is be as close to your grusher
Speaker 3: supporters as possible. So the album will be up towards
Speaker 3: end of February on band Camp and it will be
Speaker 3: pay what you want. So if you if you can't
Speaker 3: afford that, take it for free, come to a show.
Speaker 3: We'd much rather that than people giving us, like, you know,
Speaker 3: five quid, ten quid.
Speaker 2: Here here they are.
Speaker 3: It's more important that people hear the songs and hear
Speaker 3: the stories we want to tell than giving us any
Speaker 3: extra money.
Speaker 1: So yeah, absolutely band camp does offer that option. And
Speaker 1: I'm a big advocator. You know, a lot of industry
Speaker 1: people to listen to the show, and so they've heard
Speaker 1: me say this, but I'm a big advocator for band
Speaker 1: camp because what a lot of people don't realize too
Speaker 1: is you get a higher quality file from band Camp
Speaker 1: then you do you know, say just streaming it on
Speaker 1: YouTube or wherever, you know, wherever people get their music.
Speaker 1: So so I'm a I'm a big fan of band camp.
Speaker 1: Their whole their whole model of how they do things
Speaker 1: and everything. I think it's it's it's so artist friendly
Speaker 1: in an industry where there are not enough artist friendly
Speaker 1: tools that you can use. But I'm a huge fan
Speaker 1: of band camp. So so that's good to hear. But well, listen,
Speaker 1: so we'll wrap up, We'll let the three of you go.
Speaker 1: I'm going to hit that track Judas, another great song
Speaker 1: from the album, A series of man made fires. But again,
Speaker 1: Matt Trew Chloe from Bruiser, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: joining us, and we will definitely do this again, obviously.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you're gonna be you know, whenever the next
Speaker 1: single is ready, or if you got another album down
Speaker 1: the line, or you know, whatever you got coming up.
Speaker 1: We would love to have you back in the future.
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan, so.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, you got it all right. We'll talk to you soon,
Speaker 1: I'm sure. Take care,
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