MusicReview interviews Brandt Morain

MusicReview caught up with with Jared and Eddie of Brandt Morain, for an interesting chat about music and the successes of Brandt Morain Volume One.

Brandt Morain – great to talk to you! So tell me, how would you define ‘Brandt Morain’, who are your influences and what is your music about?

J&E: Well, Bret, We would like to preface this interview by saying how much we appreciate the review and articles you have written about us. We are honored!
Ever since your review our lives have become very busy!!

Jared: Defining Brandt Morain?? That’s a tough question! The album is composed of genres that are all over the map. I’d say the best definition is “Diverse”.

As far as my influences are concerned, Bret, I would say again, Diverse. The truth is I have performed nearly every style of music that exists and loved them all. Each genre has it’s great music and it’s garbage. The trick is to identify what is great about each genre and why. But if you force me to give names I would say all of Toto’s work, particularly Jeff Porcaro, Timothy B. Schmidt of the Eagles, the songwriting in Journey and Steve Perry’s lead vocal work, Mutt Lange’s production work, Take Six’s vocal work, Pink Floyd’s songwriting, Neil Peart’s studio work with Rush and just about everything Steve Gadd and Steely Dan did together. I’ve also done a lot of symphonic and jazz work but the list would get too long.

Brandt Morain Volume 1 is about doing the very best work possible at every level–Songwriting/Recording/Engineering/Production/Mastering. We don’t care about genres or marketing. We don’t care about how the rest of the world makes albums. We care about quality. This is why it took 3500 man-hours of hard work, 21 months, to create Brandt Morain Volume One.

Eddie: I define Brandt Morain as two individuals that happened together because no one else could take this grueling process that Jared just referred to. Every time I tried to put something of quality together with other musicians it fell apart. So it was quality and hard work that drove us together. Quality is the definition of Brandt Morain Volume One.

My influences are Elvis Presley, Ricky Van Shelton, Marshall Tucker Band, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Merle Haggard, Pink Floyd, and my Uncles George Boyd, Dale Ainge and Jim Morrow because they got me interested in music.

Our music is about quality. That’s it.

Well said guys, I must agree! We recently reviewed Brandt Morain Volume 1 and loved it, giving it a Music Review rating of 77. Tell us about the album, did you enjoy producing it?

Jared: Well, Bret, every one thinks that making music is all fun. The truth is that I get about 2 minutes of pleasure for every 100 hours of hard work. And, because industry standards for recording are so full of irritating artifacts and distortions, I was forced to invent about 7 new processes from scratch. So, on the average I would have to say that making Brandt Morain Volume One was a very long and tedious process. But at the end of the day there is no work more gratifying. I think Volume Two will be easier to create because I won’t have to invent anything. The proper process and techniques are already designed.

Eddie: I actually enjoyed producing the album with all the headaches that came along with it. The major headache was “Do it again”. I doubt many people would be able to put up with that for very long! Again, the grueling process. But, you can’t argue with the end results. I’m proud to put my name on it.

We have noted that you have a pretty unique approach to recording in today’s day and age. Tell us about your philosophy of recording and music.

Eddie: Well, Bret, every 20 years or so history repeats itself. Here it is again. Twenty years ago there were no drum machines, no vocal processors, no pitch altering devices. So, our philosophy is to ignore these devices now because music should always sound natural and pure.

Jared: Yea, Eddie is right. We are very unhappy with the way that music is made today. There is way too much emphasis on technology and way too little concern for quality (M.R. ed – I couldn’t agree more). All these devices allow the industry to make music very rapidly. This means the industry makes a lot of money but at the expense of recording quality. For example, compression and limiters are used EVERYWHERE in the industry. Nobody seems to care that these devices introduce artifacts, minor errors, in the music. Drum machines sound sterile. Autotune pitch correction destroys character in vocal tracks.

Our philosophy is: We will accept no artifacts, no distortions, no sterility, no loss of character—nothing that will hinder the quality of good recordings. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. It doesn’t matter how many new recording or engineering processes we have to invent.

And of course, all the performances have to be played perfectly in the pocket with perfect intonation. They also must be delivered with character.

Brandt Morain has offered a $10 000 finder’s fee for a record contract. How is that going? Have you received any serious offers which you are willing to talk to us about?

J&E: Yea, this has generated a lot of options. We can’t go into great detail, but we can tell you that we have Atlantic and Jive (Sony) Records in the works thanks to Na Jas Promotion’s great efforts. We also have an outside representative who is currently pitching us to Mike the Pike Productions, a feature movie film production company, world-wide concerts, and UFC/MMA Pay Per View + concert events. It’s a new firm out of LA that’s aggressively investing in every facet of entertainment. They may choose to take us on or use their contacts to get us signed by a recognized label.

Also, Hollywood Tweet out of Burbank has pulled A LOT of strings for us, including promoting us at the Topanga Film Festival and various Arena Concerts. As a matter of fact they are getting our music into the hands of Cobra Starship, Good Charlotte and Metro Station this very week end. They have direct access to these band’s representatives and are asking them to check us out. Of course, we are very excited about this because Cobra Starship currently has the #2 album on Billboard. Metro Station is Miley Cyrus’s brother. Hollywood Tweet has a few more strings that they are pulling for us but we are not at liberty to discuss them.

A couple of days ago a Scout from Capitol Records called a friend at 5:30 AM asking detailed questions about this “Brandt Morain thing up in Idaho”. Every week it seems like we get hit with a new “Wow”! Of course, Bret, your articles and review figure prominently in all this. The Capitol Scout heard rumor that we were already signed or that a major deal was being generated for us.

So, yea, a lot has been going on. The fact is we have become so busy it’s difficult to keep up!!

But, in truth, Bret, this machine REALLY started to move right after you did your review of Brandt Morain Volume One. The Finder’s Fee is just icing on the cake. This makes you our new best friend!!

That really is great news, I hope you guys get signed to a suitable contract soon… Okay – now for some delicious nitty-gritty for the musicians out there. Jared – your drum kit looks immensely impressive, what drums and cymbals do you play on.

Just pots and pans from the kitchen!! Hah! But seriously, I use a Yamaha Recording Series Acoustic kit as my primary set. I rigged the snare semi-piccolo style because it really has presence in recordings. The cymbals are mostly Paiste with a Zildian and Wuhan, or two, tossed in for good measure. I also use a 1964 Ludwig Classic floor tom because it sounds great. For auxiliary percussion I use Yamaha and Alesis electronic drums and Remo RotoToms. The trigger pads are made by Roland and Simmons. I have a couple other kits collecting dust that I might use from time to time. I really like some of the Drum Workshop equipment. I’m considering a switch to a DW snare on future albums. I’ll have to run some test recordings before I make the switch. After all, It’s going to be tough to beat the semi-piccolo snare! (M.R. ed – Wow! I nearly died hearing that… I would give anything for a kit like that!)

Eddie – I can imagine that you must have quite the collection of guitars, what are you currently playing on?

I actually built my primary electric guitar. I call it a StratoStang because it has a 1966 Fender Mustang Body with a1966 Stratocaster neck (M.R. ed – WOW!). I built this kind of guitar to better fit my hand. I wanted more action and was tired of hard fretted guitars—and I got it! I used a Gibson Studio on some parts of the album to get differing textures. In addition, all the acoustic work was done with an Ovation Acoustic Electric.

Jared: Eddie’s StratoStang can hit notes one half step higher than a standard electric, plus it goes to eleven!

Wow, what a great setup! If you had to tour the world with any band, past or present, who would it be and why?

J&E: If we had to or wanted to?? The truth is we spent way too many years on the road to get excited about touring again. But if you have to pin us down:

Jared: For me it would be Toto or Steely Dan with Take Six on background vocals. Why? Because these are some of the best musicians/songwriters ever!

Eddie: For me it would be Garth Brooks. Why? Three reasons. I believe that the musicianship in his band is very good. Also the showmanship is great and Garth always draws a great big crowd!! You definitely would not be playing to an empty room!!

Would you ever consider playing a gig in South Africa?

Jared: Well, Bret, I checked the globe in my office and South Africa is absolutely the farthest place on earth from Idaho!! The next farthest place is the Moon. This would have to be a pretty good paying gig!! (M.R. ed – haha! That’s precisely why very few musicians head down here…)

Eddie: Show me the money!!

J&E: Seriously, we would tour any where if circumstances permit. Touring would mean we would have to build a live band. This would not be easy given our vocal work. If we ever go live we are going to do so with a full Choir. We would also need several drummers to perform the last song on our album live. At the moment it’s just the two of us in a studio.

Now for some silly questions – In five words – describe your music.

J&E: In five words? Can we use four?? Diverse, Meticulous, Clean, Natural, Unique.

In five words – describe what you think is wrong with the music industry today.

J&E: This is an easy question. Autotune, Drum-Machines, Compressors, Greed, (c)Rap.

Brandt Morain, thank you for taking the time to talk to us. We wish you all the best! Where can people find out more about you? What is your website address? Are you on Twitter?

No problem, Bret. This has been a lot of fun! We are honored and thrilled that you would consider us for this interview. And, of course, thank you once again for everything you have done for us!!

Our website has lots of info about our work including a page dedicated to all our Reviews, Sample Audio and MP3′s, our Biographies, Photographs of us in the studio, our Philosophy on Recording, $10,000 Finder’s Fee info, Radio Play, and ways to purchase the CD.

Our website is: www.BrandtMorain.com
Our Twitter site name is: BrandtMorain

- Bret D
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