Brawlers have been making waves on the alternative circuit for some time, with their guitar filled pop melodies that hark of Weezer if they hung around in 1960s American fast-food joints. With debut album, ‘The Romantic Errors Of Our Youth’, on the imminent horizon, we chat to vocalist Harry George Johns about the record and its release.
How is life as Brawlers right now?
It’s good! It’s exciting! We didn’t waste any time getting a record out so we’re just happy to finally have people be able to listen to a full record from Brawlers…
Tell us about the process of getting ‘The Romantic Errors Of Our Youth’ laid down. Any particularly memorable moments?
We’ve already had the talk – a ten song record every year – so with this, our debut, it had to reflect where we are right now. We recorded it all live and raw, like our current live experience, and didn’t think too long or hard about the whole process, just had a great fucking time making exactly the record we wanted to make to introduce ourselves to the world. Not overthinking things seems to be working for us, so we didn’t fuck with that.
How are you preparing emotionally for the album release?
I like it. The boys like it. Our mates like it. I don’t read reviews so I guess I’m not really worried. Glassjaw are one of my favourite bands, they split opinion daily, so I’m not into worrying too much about critics, I just want to live up to the expectations of our fans and hopefully make a few new ones!
What do you hope your fans will take from the new record?
Hmm, just that it’s OK to like pop music, you know? Everything is so categorised and labelled these days, Brawlers are hard to do that with, so just accept its pop music with guitars and that doesn’t have to be lame. It’s not fucking Bastille or something, it’s just good old fashioned pop music with a bite!
Lyrically, the album is almost conversational. How does the lyrical content develop?
I’m a huge Hemingway fan, and Raymond Carver, and also a fan of country and blues music. Lyrically and literally these things and people tend to shy away from metaphor, which is what I try to do. Just be honest, it makes for a better story. Hemingway said “The only great stories are the truest stories” – I completely agree.
You’ve just completed a run with Real Friends. Did the road treat you well?
Yeah man, I love that band. We tour a lot, it’s our bread and butter and where we feel most comfortable. The road is definitely our friend.
How are you planning to celebrate the album’s release, or more importantly, what would your dream celebration be?
I’d like to put it on over every school Tannoy, every shop speaker system in the world and give out free pizza and have kids just freak out at school and people fed up with their jobs just high-fiving each other! We’ll probably just go over to Ant’s house and drink a bunch of beers though…
‘The Romantic Errors Of Our Youth’ is available from the 6th April 2015. The record is streaming in full via Kerrang! now.
APRIL
21 YORK Fibbers*
22 NEWCASTLE Think Tank*
23 SWINDON The Vic*
24 SWANSEA The Scene*
May
04 GLASGOW King Tut’s**
06 LONDON Underworld**
07 MANCHESTER Sound Control**
08 SHEFFIELD Corporation**
09 BIRMINGHAM Asylum II**
10 CARDIFF Clwb Ifor Bach**
*w/ Max Raptor and Water Rats
**w/ Set It Off and Decade