Brightest Young Things

DC critical darlings and BYT favorites Bluebrain, aka brothers Ryan and Hays Holladay, return this weekend for their first show since their Story/Stereo appearance back in October, and it’s about time. If you haven’t heard of them yet, well, then you must be new here. They’ve been on BYT’s radar since their days in NY as the Epochs and we haven’t shut up about them since.

They’ll be playing at The Fridge this weekend. Outputmessage is also playing, Autorock is DJing, and there is CHEAP booze. You really don’t have an excuse. It also helps Bluebrain is absolutely phenomenal live.

And, just because you can never have enough Bluebrain, BYT also got them to take some time and answer some questions about their past in NY, present in DC, and what we can only assume is their future global domination.

BYT: You guys had quite the run as the Epochs (http://www.myspace.com/theepochs). Are there any lessons you learned as a burgeoning NYC band that have helped you in your DC rebirth?

BB:Well with The Epochs, there was sort of an "all or nothing" mentality. The five of us literally living on top of one another in a warehouse space in Brooklyn, playing any and every show we could; anything that would help us achieve the ultimate goal of being really successful on a national level. It was taxing in every sense. I think now we're trying to figure out how to do this in a more sustainable way, in a way that's fun and exciting regardless of what the ends are. For instance, while putting together an event from scratch is certainly more involved, I've enjoyed it so much more than being sandwiched into a five band bill at Mercury Lounge with a revolving door audience. That luxury may not last forever, but right now we are so enjoying doing things on our own terms.

BYT: You had a base to build upon in NYC. What compelled you both to move back to DC and have Bluebrain based out of here?

BB: Hays and I both moved to New York when we were 18, but we grew up here. There were a number of different factors but really DC just feels exciting right now. We both lived in New York while this whole Manhattan to Brooklyn diaspora was happening. And don't get me wrong, I love the city to death, but I don't think many people considered it a good thing for the community at large. Every person who moved to Williamsburg, for instance, considered anyone that moved there after them as part of the problem, making the neighborhood a little less authentic and over saturating it. And maybe a similar thing will happen in DC, but right now, from what I can tell this recent influx of youth and creativity is largely celebrated. People seem to appreciate that more people want to stick around these days than would normally move to New York. I'm sure others will have a very different take, but for us it's been exciting to see the poles reversed on the New York to DC magnetism, even if it's just temporary.

BYT: You've recorded, engineered, and produced your records on your own in a variety of studios, and the number of sounds on them are rather staggering. Can you describe the writing and recording process at all? Is it a matter of constant layering or do you set out with a plan for each song?

BB: We've never been good at limiting ourselves production-wise. We're trying to get better at going through our recordings before the mixing process and making sure that every thing in there serves a purpose, take out all the fat. In the past it's been demo after demo until we feel like we have the right approach and often combining every idea from each. But we're trying to get better at sticking to one direction and trying to limit the pallet. Hays is better at that than I am.

BYT: You’ve certainly shown an affinity for out-of-the-ordinary venues and performances: Chad Clarke's "Story/Stereo" series, last fall's boombox performance in Dupont, your summer Kenyon House gig, and this weekend you'll be at The Fridge. Is it a matter of necessity, because of the visual component to your show, to play unusual spaces that can be arranged to accommodate your setup, or did you set out with the intent of trying to break free from the constraints of a typical rock show?

BB: Yeah, a large part is that our set up is quite extensive. It just seemed easier to be able to control the variables and have, say, just one other artist before and a DJ after to make things logistically less of a nightmare. But really, we're just trying to think of what would be fun to go to ourselves as audience members. The boombox thing was born out of me participating in Phil Kline's in New York and just wanting to try writing something like that ourselves. We've submitted a proposal to do something at the Rock Creek Planetarium in the summer, so we'll see about that. Really we're just taking on things that seem like a lot of fun and, so far, we've had a blast doing it here.

BYT: Keeping with the topic of Bluebrain as a multimedia experience, what are some influences you've had outside of the world of music?

BB: I've never been into comics my entire life but I've always wanted to be. I'm not sure why. But I recently bought the 2009 collection of 'Best American Comics' and zeroed in on a couple artists whose work I've bought more of and really enjoyed. There's some out there stuff and, to me, it seems really fresh and exciting. It's a world I know nothing about, graphic novels and such. So I'm sure I'm drawn to things that most people find really lame. But I've read a bunch of Adriane Tommine's 'Optic Nerve' series and thought that was pretty cool!

BYT: Was there a particular inspiration for your now-signature two podium setup? Is there a logic behind it?

BB: Well since we decided Bluebrain would just be the two of us, we knew we'd be doing a much more electronic-heavy set. And neither of us wanted to be hovering over a table with laptops so we tried to come up with something slightly different. And podiums just seemed strangely appropriate for Washington.

BYT: What's the plan for 2010?

BB: Our debut album comes out next month and we'll be doing a weekly residency at Pianos in New York for the month of February. After that we have some things up our sleeves for live shows in the Spring in DC but it's too soon to talk about them. We're also thinking about doing another boombox gathering but maybe ask other people to contribute the music so it's not quite so centered around us. I think 2010 is going to be a good year. For all of us.

BYT: Finally, a Boston website described the Epochs as "Brooklyn Based Band Might Be to Rock Critics What Jessica Biel is to Teenaged Boys". Please complete the following statement in regards to Bluebrain: "DC Based Duo Might Be to Rock Critics What ______ is to ______ ."

BB: "DC Based Duo Might Be to Rock Critics What Saxby Chambliss is to Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry”

Bluebrain plays the Fridge this Saturday. Their album Soft Power is out February 9th on Lujo records and available wherever digital and physical records are sold.