Hometown heroes, Brett, have been tearing up the indie dance scene around DC for the last year or so. Former members of The Dance Party, Brett has a fun upbeat sound with the energy of an indie rock band and a super sleek electronic music backbone. This Saturday they’re playing a DJ set at 9:30 Club’s Backbar, so we sat down to talk with them about their upcoming album, the DC music scene, and, of course, DJing. Check out the interview below and don’t miss them this weekend as Newdust.com presents Brett, Chris Burns, Pleasure Curses and Josh Stewart!
What’s 2014 looking like for Brett? What have you guys been up to and what’s next on the horizon?
We have a single coming out the first week of April, and then our full length in May.
We’re doing some east coast & west coast tour dates around the album release but until then we’re spending this month working out the new live set and playing out some DJ sets.
You’re about to DJ a night at 9:30 Club’s Backbar this Saturday. How does DJing come into play with the band?
We’re huge fans of dance music, and we’ve been DJ’ing as individuals at various parties for years, mostly for fun.
It’s just an extension of making music. It’s just great to set a vibe, mix in great songs from different genres of dance music.
For us, listening to DJ sets can be a great way to expose yourself to new music. I love listening to shows like Beats in Space and Boiler Room to hear new stuff, get a picture of whats going on, and find new inspiration.
But I’m not kidding anyone, DJ’ing is mostly about having a good time.
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You’ve also done a handful of really nice remixes. Can you touch on your production background?
We’ve been producing music together for years – from Mick’s cassette 4 track, to some pretty substantial studios. We luckily got to learn a lot of the ropes by working firsthand with some great, talented producers. I think we owe a lot to working with our friend Andros Rodriguez, who is just amazing to watch work. When we started Brett I also spent some time talking back and forth with David Frank of the System to get some better perspective on classic gear and early electronic production techniques. We also have to give some credit to Kyle Downes, who mixed the full length. He’s a great person to shoot ideas off of or hit up for production and engineering opinions.
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Who are some artists you’re excited about at the moment?
We’re all over the place. If you ask individual members, everyone has their own eclectic tastes. Yumi Zuma, Speedy Ortiz, Darkside, Hot Since 82, Hercules & Love Affair’s new record.
I enjoy what Nacey & Misun are up to – our drummer Jon has been playing with them the last year, so it’s been fun to follow. DC has some great stuff going on right now – I’m really into Pleasure Curses and this new project Furniteur I got to be a part of.
As a DC based band, how do you feel about the city’s music scene right now? What excites you about it?
DC is pretty awesome. The electronic scene is great. The DIY scene is as vibrant as ever. There are some great music blogs located in the city. There are a bunch of talented bands, and a bunch of bands doing a great job of gaining exposure and getting their music into the public consciousness. There seem to be more people looking for shows and dance nights then there were 5 years ago. My only concern is that this city is so expensive for what it is, and we keep losing talented artists to other cities.
Let’s talk about the album. You’ve been working on this for awhile now. Can you tell us some about it?
We are very excited about the full length. It has been a year long effort of love, with it’s ups and downs. But it all came together, and the 5 of us are very proud of what we accomplished and creative message we will be sharing with everyone.
Has the Brett sound changed at all over the course of writing the record?
We’ve certainly refined our sound. The full length could have gone in a number of directions – there were about 30 demos floating around for it. I think we did a great job of creating a cohesive work that captures what Brett is about and what Brett has been doing for the last 2 years.
What was the writing process like for the new record?
Most of the demos resulted from Mick and I sitting together coming up with ideas. Ideas led to songs, and the songs that resonated the best led to higher production value.
Both the song writing and production work were very meticulous. Mick poured over lyrics with more scrutiny than I think he was used to. We paid so much attention to sonics and detail, and recorded the majority of the record on all analog gear – we wanted the songs and record to have a vibrant quality that’s missing from most electronic music.
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