| Master Fan
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 16,161
| He's using that song?  Yay, one I already know beforehand! That's awesome though, I like that song, and it's actually very fitting for s5.  And of course Shadows&Regrets but I've talked about that enough  If it happens though, I'll die of happiness. 
Anywhoo, so saw this on LJ, it's a BG Interview And he talks about acting and music...but I thought I'd share some of the music stuff..it's pretty interesting..and relates to what you guys were talking about the other day...
Quote:
“I wrote my first song when I was 15, I was dating this girl who lived in San Francisco and I was living in St. Louis. I met her on this trip to Israel and I fell in love with her and I wrote this song, and actually the hook is still pretty good now that I think about it. The rest of it’s kind of ehhh. It’s called ‘Phonebooks and Letters,’ and here Bryan breaks into song in the middle of Ammo unashamedly. And not surprisingly the next table over, which is full of women, begins to swoon under his spell, “Cause phonebooks and letters, they ain’t my thing, I need to hold you in my arms again. The weeks all fade into one day and still your 3,000 miles away.”And Bryan giggles and shakes his head at his long ago infatuation. Did you ever send it to her? I ask. “I don’t know if I ever had the balls to do that. But my friends at camp, they’d always be like, ‘Play “Phonebooks and Letters!”’ cause when we’re sitting around the campfire I was always that guy, that guy with the guitar.”
So that first song was a love song. But I guess I really haven’t stopped writing love songs (laughs). It’s kind of my go-to.” And he’s not kidding. His whole album, Waiting for Now, is a compilation of tender heart treadings which falls somewhere between Edwin McCain and Elliott Smith’s dark shadow. But unlike many guitar virtuosos, Bryan is not classically trained. His introduction to the guitar happened in a bizarre sort of manner, “When I was 13, some kid moved in across the street and he was this punk rocker, a real intense guy. And he was like, ‘ARGG! I don’t have any friends in this town, so you’re going to be my friend!’ And I’m like…’ok?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, and we’re going to start a band, so you’re going to have to learn guitar. I’ll teach ya, argggg!’ So we were just doing all these Minor Threat covers, and it was all punk power chords, which is a great way to learn guitar because it’s easy and you can get your rhythm down. And then I just never really put it down, it’s just always been part of my life. And to this day, it’s a great way for me to escape from the really competitive rat race of the film and TV industry. I just find it very liberating to go into the studio and form the sound that I want. For this album, my buddy Emile Kelman and I produced it together, I really wanted that vintage sound, so we used a lot of analog equipment. Emile helps engineer with T-Bone Burnett (Oh Brother Where Art Thou), so when T-Bone was out of town we’d sneak in his studio and lay stuff down, and T-Bone’s heard the stuff since then, and he’s cool with it. He’s sorta given us his blessing, which is amazing, you know?”
But the process of making the album wasn’t as easy as it might sound.
“It took years. Years and years and years. Because we totally did it on our own and with my own money…and favors. We’d record guitars and then I’d go off and shoot a movie on location, and then I’d come back and do vocals and then I’d go off and shoot a TV show. And we did it piece by piece too. We’d get a drummer to come in and lay down the drums, we’d find a bass player to come in separately and lay the bass down. The keyboard, the horns, everything separate. It was all one thing at a time and it was immensely time consuming. We want to cut a live one next time, just rehearse the hell out of it and rent out Elliott Smith’s old studio and just ****ing do it live. Because there’s something missing, there’s that organic element missing.”
As for distribution of the album, you can only find that sucker on iTunes, and not because of some weird promotional licensing deal, “I can’t even remember the last time I went to a record store and bought an album, I really can’t. Everyone I know gets their music off of iTunes and I just wanted to get it out there. I mean I’ve walked away from a couple of deals, it’s just really tricky in my situation. People don’t really know how to handle me as a music artist, and I don’t really know either, I just do it. I just create these songs, I don’t have the master plan, I’m not a business savvy guy, I don’t know how to market myself…so **** it, this is something I can control and I don’t want to be a bitch to some major label pimping me out, putting me in Hallmark ads and things like that that I don’t want to be a part of. In this day and age it’s so cool that you can control your music. I own everything. I have say in where my stuff is placed, and I’ve been really fortunate that October Road, Unscripted, Nobel Son, One Tree Hill, they all showcased my music.
One might think that Bryan pimps his music to producers, but such is not the case. “I don’t sell it on ‘em. I think it’s just that music’s a passion of mine and I’m in my trailer playing guitar and they’re like who is this guy? They wanna get to know me, and I’m like, ‘Oh, I play music too.’ It comes up inevitably. And then I give ‘em the CD and…I think really, everyone just expects it to suck because I’m an actor. And then when it doesn’t suck, they’re like, ‘Oh, we should use this!’” and with this Bryan laughs knowingly. “So I think that’s how it happens, I think people’s expectations of me are so low that that’s how I get in.”
And from what Bryan tells me, he’s definitely gotten himself into many fans’ ears with some sizable iTunes profits to show for it. And for now, he’s in the process of assembling his new album. “I’ve got material I’ve been writing, I’ve got 13 new songs I think? Maybe four of those we’ll do for the album. But I’ve just got to get my music hat back on I’ve been in the acting world so much of recent.”
And with things the way they are on the Hollywood landscape, Bryan might just find himself with the time he needs to delve into his music for a period of time. The future is definitely uncertain. “With the strike, everything’s in flux. I’ve been looking at movies, but everybody’s a little scared because I’m in a contract now. What if the strike ends and I have to go back to October Road? Nobody’s really sure. I might just do that next album. I might do some theater in New York, who knows? I might try and just play some acoustic shows, maybe the Hotel Café in January. I don’t know. But I gotta do something because I’ve got a mortgage to pay for (laughs).” | __________________ Steady hands, just take the wheel...
And every glance is killing me
Time to make one last appeal...for the life I lead.
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