June 5, 2025 • 32 mins
Before the release of their self-titled debut in early 2020, weeks before the pandemic struck, the band BRKN Love had been on the road doing what all new bands do. They were paying their dues and building a fan base, which included me. Since then, they have put out two more albums, each one doing just a bit better than the previous. Justin Benlolo is the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the band. In fact, BRKN Love has been Justin's baby all along. They are a swinging rock and roll band and one that's worth a listen. Just listen to Justin explain it here, how could you not be rooting for this band?
BRKN Love's 3rd album, The Program, is available now.
BRKN Love's 3rd album, The Program, is available now.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Attention plays and no it cutters run around rock cast.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
In the year twenty nineteen, which seems like fourteen decades ago,
I had a run in with the band Broken Love
at the Aftershock Music Festival in Sacramento, California. And the
only reason I remember this is because the band Broken
(00:26):
Love absolutely blew me away. I watched you guys side
stage for the first few songs, then went out and
so good man, so so energetic, so full of life.
The music felt like, and here you are, continuing justin
from the band Broken Love joining us.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Thank you for doing this, man, Yeah, man, thanks for
the kind words. That means a lot. Yeah, that does
feel like it was ages ago at this point.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Well, you know, and it's kind of festival season right
now in the United States, right like, there's you know,
we just kind of rounded out some of the May festivals,
a lot of people talking about obviously the ones coming
up this summer, and so the memory bank has been hitting,
you know, all of those stories and trips and the
(01:13):
trials and tribulations that go with it. And I haven't
been to a music festival in quite some time at
this point. Yeah, thinking about that, I was going to
all the Danny Wimer ones, it felt like doing all
these backstage interviews. We had our own festival that was
happening where I live in Wisconsin that we were hosting,
you know, for forty thousand people, like all of them,
(01:34):
and it was it's intense. And now we could sit
here and have these conversations in the comfort of our
own basements or jam rooms or wherever it may be.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Little my studio, you know what do you want to
call it? Somewhat of a studio exact. We both hey,
we both have drum sets behind us. That's all we need.
We got guitars, we got we got drums. I got
a piano somewhere in here that I still haven't learned
to play.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I got a keyboard behind the wall over here.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I feel like every musician has just like a lone
keyboard sitting in the corner of the room that they're like, tomorrow,
I'm gonna tomorrow, I'm gonna try. I swear tomorrow is
gonna be to the day.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I always thought about pull up you pull up.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Your old uh you know, Van Halen records, and you're like,
I'll just learn this instead.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Or Raggus and Machine Records, which always sends to be
my go to as you're wearing Ragingus and the team.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah, I mean I got this at their show they
played in Toronto. Like I don't know, maybe it was
like two years ago now. And I have, much like
every other rock guy, just a very wide collection of
band T shirts. And when I go through my T
shirts every single day, I always just wear black or
white playing these.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Do you ever do you ever like when you go
to buy a T shirt, go, you know what, maybe
I'll get the yellow one this time.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Yeah, every once in a while, like maybe I'll experiment
with some color and then you still never wear it. Well,
I took a I took a gander at a blue
shirt this morning, and I was like, today the day.
Am I going to try some color today?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
No?
Speaker 3 (03:04):
No, But I just went back to scheduled, you know,
just just a regular programming and put on my black
T shirts. And I haven't seen this Raide shirt. I
guess it was buried beneath my other one hundred band
T shirts. And I was like, oh, this is a
six shirt. Why don't I put this on today? There
you go? I like it.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Broken love listen because that was a long time ago
and there seems to be a new found I mean,
obviously with the new out on the program, you know,
it seems like people are starting to kind of refine
broken love for the people that did know, or if
they didn't are finding it.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Now. Bring me back in history, man, tell me about
this project from the start.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Well, it's been a I mean yeah, like you said,
I mean, even thinking about twenty nineteen feels like fifteen
years ago, Like.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I mean, there was a worldwide pandemic in the middle there,
so it sort of well.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
That's what kind of complicates things for us because we
really didn't get a start until twenty twenty of I
mean February twenty twenty, which is insane to say because
that was like two or three weeks before the pandemic
really shut everything down. So we didn't put out a
record until then, and we we had somewhat of an
(04:16):
extensive touring period between like you know, February twenty nineteen
through twenty twenty. February twenty twenty, and we were just
kind of getting our footing, you know, like you know,
we were freshly signed to Spinefarm Records, and the new
album or the first record, it's Josly my memory right now.
So for time, the record obviously been done for a
(04:38):
while and we were just waiting for the right time
to put it out. You know. We put out the singles,
and we went on like six or seven tours within
that period, and then when we put out the record
February fourteenth to twenty twenty, we had like two more
weeks or something until everything shut down. So it it
really screws up like the timeline within the band. Of course,
(05:00):
we have very foggy memories of how things have actually gone,
how long things have been going on, because it's tough
to gauge with like the year or two that we
kind of lost with COVID. When we came out of it,
it was sort of like we were rebuilding from square
one again.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
We had all this momentum that essentially, just like everybody else,
you know, it just kind of dipped and we were
kind of like forced to start again in a sense.
So we were lucky enough that like we got to
record a deluxe edition during COVID in New York City,
(05:39):
so we had we got lucky with that and we
could breathe some you know, there was some existing life
we could breed into the first record at the time,
and towards the end, I guess of the pandemic, we
were able to start touring in the States. Again, I'm
from Canada for the people that don't know, I'm in Toronto, Canada,
So it wasn't quite allowed here yet, but we took
advantage of that as soon as we could and started
(06:00):
going to America in the places you could, and you know,
when we came out of it, it was like, all right, well,
I guess we need another record. It's like the first
record basically, you know, not didn't exist, but like it
didn't really get to do what we wanted it to
do because of, you know, the global situation. So we
kind of picked back up and just put out our
second record pretty shortly after that, in like twenty twenty
(06:24):
three or something.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I think it was late twenty twenty two, if I
remember correctly.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah, because I was just looking at I was just
looking at it because I was trying to figure out
remember the exact dates of when things happened, and which
brings me to a question, because black Box, which was
that second record, did that feel almost like your second
debut album?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
It felt it really felt like our Yeah, like like
our debut record again just because of everything, you know,
the trials and tribulations of everything that happened up until
that point. So there was an interesting vibe in the air,
especially since that record also was you know, written in isolation.
Like me and Anton Deloss, who did Black Box and
(07:08):
did the program, we were just like cooped up in
his like storage unit downtown Toronto every single day, and
like I remember driving every day down to the studio
and there's just nobody on the streets, like there was
nothing going on. So is this really just bleak environment?
Making that record as well, and yeah, it felt like, well,
(07:32):
you know, there was a certain hopelessness almost at the
time when I was making it too, because I was like, man,
obviously with the uncertainty of a situation, was like is
this ever going to work? Like is this ever gonna
a Thing's going ever going to be normal again? Are
we ever going to be able to play shows again?
Like is this all going to be for nothing? It's like,
we worked so hard to get to this point, and obviously,
you know, we took the first record on the chin
(07:53):
and like that was just what it was going to be.
But hopefully this one, you know, can sort of fix
the mess that that happened with the first record, And
I think i'm you know, I'm happy to say, and
I believe that we successfully achieved that with the second record.
It went off a lot better than we expected it to.
(08:15):
And yeah, I mean it was definitely interesting. Like you said,
even when you said, oh, I came out end of
twenty twenty two, it's like, it's hard for me to even,
you know, have a very clear memory of what happened
in that period because there was so much downtime and
so much nothing that I can't even remember, like when
(08:36):
things started again, and also between Canada and America, and
then like this province you can play, but and then
this state you could play, but this province you can't.
It was like it's fuzzy trying to think about when
we actually started kind of going at it again. And
then you know, when all was said and done with
that record cycle, which I guess must have been at
the end of twenty twenty three, we were sort of
(08:59):
in like a similar boat again because it was like, Okay,
now we need to keep going and we're on the
third record already. How the hell are we on the
third record?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
How'd that happen? How did this?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I feel like we just, I feel like to many
people and even still to this day, we kind of
were like a new band to a lot of people. Meanwhile,
we've been doing this now for like six years, I
think so. I mean, I think that's relatively new on
a band, like in a band world these days. Sure,
Like back in the seventies, if you lasted six or
(09:32):
seven years, it was like monumental. But now that feels
like pretty elementary. Like most bands you talk to, you
are like, oh, yeah, we've been going around for like
ten years or twelve years or something before they really
start picking it up and things start getting going.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Now, how long how long before that that first album,
the cell titled album, were you guys already out doing stuff?
I mean, I know you toured, you know, from getting
signed to release, but before.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
That even we had like from if my memory is correct,
I think that we came together in twenty eighteen or
like towards the end of twenty eighteen. Okay, Now, I
had already had the first album done before I met
the band guys, and I'd actually done the first record
on another record label. It ended up dropping me, so
(10:20):
I used to be on a label called Razor and Tie.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
In Razor and t I ceased to exist, and.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah, so I got dropped because we never put anything
out and then they were gracious and I was lucky
enough to actually get my first record back, and uh.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
That's good.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
So that doesn't always happen, you know, and that's it's
very rare that that happens. And I and you know,
the entire time I was with them, I was like,
why are we putting out songs? You know? And it
kind of worked in our favor that nothing ever was
released into the world. So they were like not precious
about it basically, and they just gave it right back.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
We didn't even have to buy it back. It was
pretty pretty crazy. Now during during that, I mean, was
it still under the name Broken Lovely obviously if it
was just you, you know, was it still under that
name or was it more of a solo thing?
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Like what how were you looking at? Like how were
you picturing?
Speaker 3 (11:06):
It was a different name. I don't want to say
the name just in case people could find stuff, you know,
but there was a pre existing formation of this band
that was much different and it was it's always kind
of been like a so well, it was more of
a solo kind of endeavor at the time. Through the years,
(11:27):
we've kind of, you know, blossomed as a group. But
for a long time I was just kind of doing
this on my own, and I hadn't been lucky enough
to meet guys that really wanted to do it with me.
And you know, it's hard to convince I wasn't lucky
enough growing up to like convince my like handful of
friends to just like throw away their lives for music,
you know, because I decided to do this when I
(11:50):
was like fourteen years old, you know, and decided that
I was going to go head on. And you know,
I'm very lucky and grateful that my parents were like, hey,
I go ahead, like support you in this. That's not
the case with most kids, especially when you're in high school.
You know. I remember distinctly going over with my best
friend's house houses Here, who he actually played drums on
(12:10):
Black Box and he's a great musician himself, and his
parents are big artists in Canada and talking to his
parents and being like, listen, I need you to let
your son drop out of high school to join my band,
and they were like absolutely not, like this is a
huge mistake and it's just funny, you know. So basically
(12:31):
I didn't really get afforded the opportunity to meet guys
that were like willing to do it, or you know,
people that are cool enough parents to let them go
and do it as well. So up until that point,
it had just been myself. So yeah, that first record
was done.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
And you know, I gotta be honest, like, if I
put myself back in that time frame, and I'm a
little older than you, but like, if so I graduated
high school in nineteen ninety eight and I played in
a punk rock band, and if like putting my myself
back in that time frame and be like I would
have given anything to drop out of high school and
just play punk. I mean I think I tried and
(13:06):
they didn't let me, you know. And in retrospect now
as a parent of two teenagers, I'm like, don't you
ever dare to leave school?
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Us? Right?
Speaker 3 (13:15):
And maybe times have changed. So it's you know, you
said you graduated ninety eight, I was born in ninety seven.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
Well damn so, so I think times maybe changed too
a little bit, you know, as things moving have moved forward.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
I feel like people started looking even more at music
and going, wow, this is really not a great avenue
for you to go if you want to be successful
and make a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Okay, but you know what, but I can look at
my kids. But I can look at my kids, and
my daughter's a great singer. She's even gotten on stage
with my cover band, done songs with us, including Raging
against the Machine, which is a funny story that I've
told on this podcast before. But basically, she got on
stage with my friend and I and did killing in
the Name, and I literally took the microphone after the
show or after the song and went year grounded get
(13:59):
off stage for saying the F word too many times.
And my son's playing drums hence the drums behind me.
But there are avenues for music for business now that
didn't seem to be, you know, because I think back
in the day and you were probably looking at it
the same way. Right, it's garage band, it's get on tour,
(14:19):
it's release records, and there are other opportunities within music
now that maybe weren't available to us, you know, as kids.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Yeah, I agree. I mean the thing that that kind
of dawn upon me at the more I got into this,
you know business quote unquote is like there's not just
the artist's side of things, you know, and like, excuse me,
I mean most of the guys I know that are
doing really really well are just like songwriters, you know,
or they do a lot of like sink stuff, and
(14:49):
they write, they get placements, and they do stuff for
commercials and you know, scoring and all that kind of
stuff and like that all encompassing. Like I never thought
about those things when I was trying to do this
because I'm like, I just want to be I want
to be a rock.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Star, you know.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
But I know tons of people that still work in
the industry that are not, you know, the ones writing
the songs or making the music or anything like that.
So for sure, there is avenues you can go that
are probably, if anything, probably a little bit more secure
than being the artist of it all. But I wouldn't
have it any other way obviously for myself as well.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
And here's the thing, right to bring it all together.
It seems to be working, I think.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
So it's hard to say, right because like, as the
time goes on, it's like when you're a kid, I
was like, oh man, by the time I'm like, first
of all, I thought that being like twenty five when
I was like fifteen was like an adult, you're angel,
you know, like you have all your you know, I
don't know if I could swear. Can I swear?
Speaker 1 (15:48):
You can swear?
Speaker 3 (15:50):
I was thinking like, oh, by the time I'm twenty five,
I'll have all my shit together, like I'll be like
a full I'll be fully independent, like you know, I'll
have everything going for me. And now I'm twenty seven
years old, and I'm like, damn, I still feel like
a kid, Like I still feel like I'm a teenager.
And but and I still have those like aspirations that
I that I did when I was like, you know,
an actual kid, and I lost my train of thought.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
No, that's okay.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Yeah, when you're I mean you're still trying, You're still
trying to be like you still have that that feeling
of like of like I'm gonna still I'm still gonna
do this.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
I guess that That's what I'm getting at, is like,
you know it's working. Yeah, it's definitely working. And I
think that if I told like fourteen year old justin
like where where he would be now, he'd be like
no way, man, Like you shut up, like you're you're
lying to me, and it's like the the your measure
of success, only it just keeps expanding as we keep going.
It's like at first, it's like I just want to
(16:52):
make a record. Okay, Now I want a band. Okay,
I need to get a record deal. If I get
a record deal, it's like that's the end, all be
a you know. And then you get the record deal
and you're like, okay, well, now what, Okay, I want
to start touring. I want to have some songs on
the radio, and it's like, you know, you have to
keep striving for more. Of course. It's like it's important
to sit back and be thankful and grateful for the
(17:13):
success and everything that's you know, come at this point
and think about how many people would kill to have
this opportunity. But oh yeah, of course, like we're we're
all ambitious, you know, we want more out of all
this stuff, and it's it's just a never ending cycle
of like okay.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Now what, Yeah, it's always what's the next thing?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Of course, heay, I hit that goal, Like if you
have your if you have your dream board, it's like, okay,
well I hit this one, this one, this one, this one,
what's the next one? And you gotta yeah, you got
to keep fighting for.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
It, and we're lucky enough and now we actually just
got to put out a third record. It's like, I
feel like so many bands don't make it to this point,
and that's pretty monumental, I think.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
So let's talk about this record, because not only do
you put on a third record, but i'd arguably say
and I hate it when bands do this, and I
kind of make fun of it, but as a radio DJ,
I think I have to, but it really is your
best one.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Well, thank you. I'm glad to hear that.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
And for instance, and that's like, and I loved that
first album, like loved it, and I got to be honest,
it took me. I didn't even realize black Box was
out until after it was out. Yeah, but this this album,
for whatever reason, I hit play on it went, oh
you know, twenty twenty vision starts, I'm like, okay, what
is this?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
It's this is good. I really enjoyed it and I
had to learn more.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
And so even when I asked for this interview, I'm like,
I'm kind of obsessed with this band right now, so let's.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Thanks. I appreciate that. I'm glad to hear you say it, because, like, again,
the other thing about having a third record is like,
now there's a body of work, so you actually have
something you have to live up to. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
True.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
So I definitely had a lot of anxiety throughout well,
you know, just the process of trying to get it
really and I guess the initial process of it all
of like, man, what if what if people don't like it?
What if people are like, oh, your last record was better,
or you know, go back to the sound of the
first record. It's like and I feel like that's inevitable,
like you're always going to have people that feel that
(19:13):
way always. But I, of course I feel like it's
the best record we've ever done. And I don't think
any band or artists would ever sit here and be
like I think, you know, I don't think we really
hit it out of the park this time.
Speaker 5 (19:26):
But I really wish somebody would just just one somebody right,
just one time, just And I know nobody actually believes that,
because of course that's how you feel as an artist,
like and I'm a musician, I get it.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I know what that's like. It's like, well, I'm not
the last riff I wrote. That's awesome, but that one
you like from twenty years ago that sucks.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
You know, it's tough, and when you're writing songs like
for as long as we have like, there's certainly an
element of doubt in like can I do this again?
Can I do I still got riffs? Do I still
have melodies? Like? Do these things still exist within me?
And that's that became a little bit more of a
(20:08):
struggle this time around, because because we're on the third
record and it's like, we really have to be a
little bit more ambitious here. We have to get a
little bigger, we have to change it sound a little bit.
We got to do something a little bit different so
we don't just keep giving people the same thing. And
in my mind, I feel like the three records we've
put out at very three distinct sounds, and I like
now that people can go back and be like, oh,
(20:29):
this is the era that I like, you know, you
give people more choice and option.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Now I still want to do I want to do
the same conversation with you in a decade and play
that exact sound clip back to you and then see
how you feel.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Well, maybe in ten years from now, I'm gonna go, oh, man,
the program sucks, Like we really could have done better
on that one. It's true, you know, I had a
lot of time to live with this record as well,
because I finished it, man, like a year and a
half ago. I want to say, Wow, it'd have been
in the can for a long long time. There was
a lot of internal things and there was just a
lot of moving parts that we couldn't control that kind
(21:05):
of delayed the release. And with that going too much
into that, It's like I got a lot of time
to sit with the album and listen to it like
ad nauseum, you know, just keep playing it over and
over and over again and comparing it, contrasting with what's
coming out and other bands, and you know, even listening
to the old stuff sometime and kind of just sizing
(21:28):
it up. Sure, And I never really had an element
of doubt when I was listening to it that I
thought it was great, and I always felt pretty certain
about it. And I actually I hadn't listened to it
probably since we released it. Like I did a full
listen through the night it came out, just as a refresher,
and then I put it on like two days ago
(21:49):
because I haven't listened to it in a while, and
I was like, oh wow, we did such a good job.
We really killed it on this one.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
So justin you mentioned something when you first started talking
out the record about a fuller sound or a bigger sound,
and I do believe I think you guys pulled that
off on this because there is it does sound. You know,
not only to know okay, bandwise you're a three piece, right,
but like, but really what it's it's it's you and
it's a producer. But there's so much sound happening within
(22:19):
these songs that I think if that was your goal,
then you definitely pulled it off. Thanks, You're very welcome.
How do you how do you apply that? Because listen,
at the end of the day, right, it's all about
getting on stage and kicking ass live.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
That's what that's what we live for. That's what we
dream about.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
You know, Like I don't care if I'm playing at
a bar for ten people or you're playing in a
festival for forty thousand.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
It's like, that's the dream. How do you pull that
off live?
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Well, we're very choosy about the songs we pick because
you know. I mean you've seen us before, maybe you remember,
but we don't. We don't play with any playback or
tracks or anything like that, so thatkind of inhibits some
of the songs because, like like you said, especially on
this new record, we kind of just said screw it
(23:08):
and went like, let's just produce the shit out of
some songs just because we can, just because you can
put ten guitars on a song, you know. And we
used to shy away from that before because I was
always thinking about the live show. I'm like, okay, well
if there's more than two guitars, like we don't have
a third guitar player, you know, things like that. And
(23:28):
this time around, I was just like, whatever, let's just
make it sound as big as possible. Let's layer when
we feel it's necessary. If it's just going to make
things sound bigger, let's just do it. But we definitely
omit like sections, or we just don't play some songs live.
It's simply because of that. Like obviously, in today's climate,
(23:50):
when people are playing with a lot of backing tracks
and stuff, and I'm not hating on that at all,
you can get away with so much more because you
can't just put the extra vocals on the track. You
can put the percussion in the track. You can put
the keyboards that you know you don't have a keyboard play.
You can put all that in the track obviously, a
keyboard that you never learned how to play. Yeah, Like
we we we just don't do that, like we're we're
(24:14):
more we're more privy to like the classic kind of
rock formation. You know, it's just two guitars, vocals, drums live,
you know, and we do a lot of we jam live,
we do some kind of we extend things, we throw
things at each other, we call songs on a spot
like we're kind of doing it like the old school way.
I guess that's part of the Yeah, well that it
(24:37):
makes it. It makes it kind of like a controlled
chaos for us on stage, because I mean, if you
ever see us multiple nights in a row and a tour,
it's like it's very rare that we'll play the same songs, like,
you know, two shows after the one you just saw,
because we're like, ah, let's just try this one tonight,
or somebody will yell something out on the crowd and
we'll be like, all right, let's do that one, and
it does develop, you know, we have a certain sense
(24:58):
of spontanuity because of that, and and it does make
it fun. But there's just certain things we can't get
away with live because we layer things so much, or
you know, as a guitar player singer, like there's only
so many things I can play and sing at the
same time. Like I like to think I'm pretty capable,
but I'm not like a wizard, you know. I'm not like,
(25:19):
you know, like an Ian Thornley or a Miles Kennedy
or somebody that could just kind of play everything and
sing at the same time like I could. I could
hold my own and to a certain extent, but there's
some choices we have to commit to live that you know,
the live show is the live show, and the records
the record. And I'm a big believer that, Like, if
(25:40):
you want to hear the record, if you want to
hear the songs sound exactly the same as the record live,
then you could just stay at home and listen to
the record, like I love listening to old Zeppelin bootlegs
or you know, old like Kiss live recordings or ACDC
and just hearing how they expand on these versions. Of
(26:01):
songs that we already love, you know, but just seeing
what they're going to do with it, because that's what
makes it fun. It's like I could choose four different
versions of communication, breakdown or a whole lot of Love
from from whatever time period in the seventies and go,
I like this one because of that. You know, this
one's twenty minutes, this one's six minutes, and this one's
fifteen minutes. You know, and we kind of embody some
(26:22):
of that in our live shows. And you know that
being said, it's like, I'm not going to shy away
from making the records sound as big as they possibly
can anymore, especially this time around, because we'd never really
done that yet. So yeah, to answer your question, like,
that's my long winded answer, that's all right now.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Because you have me, you have me in my head
going down a wormhole of old live records. There was
something special about some of those old school live albums,
and that's not against some of the more modern ones
that have come out. There isn't a lot of them anymore.
There isn't a lot of It doesn't seem like a
lot of bands are releasing live albums, you know. Yeah,
like through through the early part of the twenty first century,
(27:06):
it is very rare. The song Pulling Leeches is the single.
Tell me about this tune and why and why you
decided to try to get it on the radio.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Well, you know, as far as like radio stuff goes,
Just like for disclaimer, for everybody, it's like I just
kind of hand the records in and then I go,
you decide, you know, cause like I don't know, I
love all the songs. If you ask me what I
think the singles are for every single record, I'm like
all of them. I go maybe this one, Oh, maybe
(27:40):
this one, or maybe this one, you know, and it's
like I'm never going to be able to come to
that decision because I'm not the expert in the radio field.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
You know.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
I trust the team, I trust everybody that has expertise
in that area to sort of pick it and and uh,
you know, in particularly like the head of the label,
Jon has heard Pulling Leaches and he's like, I have
a feeling about this one. So we're like cool, all right,
sounds good to me. But in terms of like direction
and why we made that kind of song, we were
really aiming for like a white stripe see kind of
(28:11):
I guess White Stripes is the best way to describe it.
We wanted to do something like really dumb and like
really bone headed in the context of this record, because
a lot of the stuff on this new record is
like a little bit more musician y quote unquote. It's
a there's a little bit more like funky stuff. There's
some more kind of like R and B elements, there's
like a little bit more ambitious music, should I say,
(28:33):
And we're like, man, we got to tie together with
something just like a good little earworm that's very simple,
very straightforward. And we took a lot of inspiration from
from Icky Thump actually, you know, because Ikey Thump has
that kind of floor tom stabby thing the entire time,
and we're like, oh, maybe we could do something like that,
And we just kind of sented it around this thumping
(28:56):
bass and you know, floor tom thing, And even when
we recorded it, we kept thinking like, Okay, well, if
we wanted to get like that White Stripes energy, it
needs to be as raw as possible. So like everything
had to be one take. Like there's there's flubbs, there's
a couple bad notes on the guitar like that, my
vocal isn't perfect, but I think to get that sort
(29:16):
of like raw, like not I don't want to say
like vicious, but like just that kind of care free energy.
We had to just do it in one take just
to make it feel like alive. And it's interesting because
when we did it, I was like, oh, that's a
good rock song, and then when we got the mixes in,
(29:37):
I was like, whoa, this is a banger. And we
had been playing it live for a while. It was
one of it was actually probably the first song that
we started putting into the set from the new record,
so that also helped kind of like shape the idea
of it being a single because people were really reacting
to it, Like every time the chorus dropped, people just
started jumping up and down. We're like, okay, this is
(29:58):
this must be doing something. People are reacting to this awesome,
you know. Well.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
The album is called The Program. It is available now
from the band Broken Love b r kN. In case
anybody kN is watching this and going or listening to
this and going, I don't know who Cutter is talking
to you this week. I just have it on in
the background while I'm cleaning my house. But it's Broken
Love as the band. I highly recommend it. What do
you guys doing live for the rest of this year?
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Well, to be completely honest with you, I just I
just got my visa for the US like two or
three days ago, so that was like a whole prongratulations,
thank you very much. It had been very long and
drawn out and part of the reason why we haven't
announced anything up until this point.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Apparently apparently we're not supposed to like Canadians. Now, I
don't know.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
I can't keep it.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
I can't tell you what's going on, but I'm further
where I live.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I live in the United States.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
You live in Canada, but I actually live further north
than you do, so you're basically Canadian.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Basically our accents are well.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
I had to you know, basically we haven't been announcing
things because it took me months to get my visa
when it used to be much quicker. So gotchare we're
actually I should be talking with our agents later this week,
and we have some stuff planned.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
The summer might be a little light, but in the fall,
we already have some things that we're planning that for
sure will be a go, so just keep a keep
an eye and an ear out. We will be touring
definitely before the end of the year. Just I appreciate
people being patient with me with my whole you know,
immigration such, we got it.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Yeah, you gotta do what you gotta do, and you know,
especially in the world we currently live. Yeah, exactly, b
r K and dashlove dot com is the website that's
where we'll find more. Justin from Van Brooken Love dude,
thank you for doing this, man, I greatly appreciate it's
a pleasure to have this conversation with you.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Yeah. Man. Likewise, I'm super stoked about this. I could
talk forever.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
So same Carter's rock Cast.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Don't forget to tune in exactly
Attention plays and no it cutters run around rock cast.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
In the year twenty nineteen, which seems like fourteen decades ago,
I had a run in with the band Broken Love
at the Aftershock Music Festival in Sacramento, California. And the
only reason I remember this is because the band Broken
(00:26):
Love absolutely blew me away. I watched you guys side
stage for the first few songs, then went out and
so good man, so so energetic, so full of life.
The music felt like, and here you are, continuing justin
from the band Broken Love joining us.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Thank you for doing this, man, Yeah, man, thanks for
the kind words. That means a lot. Yeah, that does
feel like it was ages ago at this point.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Well, you know, and it's kind of festival season right
now in the United States, right like, there's you know,
we just kind of rounded out some of the May festivals,
a lot of people talking about obviously the ones coming
up this summer, and so the memory bank has been hitting,
you know, all of those stories and trips and the
(01:13):
trials and tribulations that go with it. And I haven't
been to a music festival in quite some time at
this point. Yeah, thinking about that, I was going to
all the Danny Wimer ones, it felt like doing all
these backstage interviews. We had our own festival that was
happening where I live in Wisconsin that we were hosting,
you know, for forty thousand people, like all of them,
(01:34):
and it was it's intense. And now we could sit
here and have these conversations in the comfort of our
own basements or jam rooms or wherever it may be.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Little my studio, you know what do you want to
call it? Somewhat of a studio exact. We both hey,
we both have drum sets behind us. That's all we need.
We got guitars, we got we got drums. I got
a piano somewhere in here that I still haven't learned
to play.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I got a keyboard behind the wall over here.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I feel like every musician has just like a lone
keyboard sitting in the corner of the room that they're like, tomorrow,
I'm gonna tomorrow, I'm gonna try. I swear tomorrow is
gonna be to the day.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I always thought about pull up you pull up.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Your old uh you know, Van Halen records, and you're like,
I'll just learn this instead.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Or Raggus and Machine Records, which always sends to be
my go to as you're wearing Ragingus and the team.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah, I mean I got this at their show they
played in Toronto. Like I don't know, maybe it was
like two years ago now. And I have, much like
every other rock guy, just a very wide collection of
band T shirts. And when I go through my T
shirts every single day, I always just wear black or
white playing these.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Do you ever do you ever like when you go
to buy a T shirt, go, you know what, maybe
I'll get the yellow one this time.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Yeah, every once in a while, like maybe I'll experiment
with some color and then you still never wear it. Well,
I took a I took a gander at a blue
shirt this morning, and I was like, today the day.
Am I going to try some color today?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
No?
Speaker 3 (03:04):
No, But I just went back to scheduled, you know,
just just a regular programming and put on my black
T shirts. And I haven't seen this Raide shirt. I
guess it was buried beneath my other one hundred band
T shirts. And I was like, oh, this is a
six shirt. Why don't I put this on today? There
you go? I like it.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Broken love listen because that was a long time ago
and there seems to be a new found I mean,
obviously with the new out on the program, you know,
it seems like people are starting to kind of refine
broken love for the people that did know, or if
they didn't are finding it.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Now. Bring me back in history, man, tell me about
this project from the start.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Well, it's been a I mean yeah, like you said,
I mean, even thinking about twenty nineteen feels like fifteen
years ago, Like.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I mean, there was a worldwide pandemic in the middle there,
so it sort of well.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
That's what kind of complicates things for us because we
really didn't get a start until twenty twenty of I
mean February twenty twenty, which is insane to say because
that was like two or three weeks before the pandemic
really shut everything down. So we didn't put out a
record until then, and we we had somewhat of an
(04:16):
extensive touring period between like you know, February twenty nineteen
through twenty twenty. February twenty twenty, and we were just
kind of getting our footing, you know, like you know,
we were freshly signed to Spinefarm Records, and the new
album or the first record, it's Josly my memory right now.
So for time, the record obviously been done for a
(04:38):
while and we were just waiting for the right time
to put it out. You know. We put out the singles,
and we went on like six or seven tours within
that period, and then when we put out the record
February fourteenth to twenty twenty, we had like two more
weeks or something until everything shut down. So it it
really screws up like the timeline within the band. Of course,
(05:00):
we have very foggy memories of how things have actually gone,
how long things have been going on, because it's tough
to gauge with like the year or two that we
kind of lost with COVID. When we came out of it,
it was sort of like we were rebuilding from square
one again.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
We had all this momentum that essentially, just like everybody else,
you know, it just kind of dipped and we were
kind of like forced to start again in a sense.
So we were lucky enough that like we got to
record a deluxe edition during COVID in New York City,
(05:39):
so we had we got lucky with that and we
could breathe some you know, there was some existing life
we could breed into the first record at the time,
and towards the end, I guess of the pandemic, we
were able to start touring in the States. Again, I'm
from Canada for the people that don't know, I'm in Toronto, Canada,
So it wasn't quite allowed here yet, but we took
advantage of that as soon as we could and started
(06:00):
going to America in the places you could, and you know,
when we came out of it, it was like, all right, well,
I guess we need another record. It's like the first
record basically, you know, not didn't exist, but like it
didn't really get to do what we wanted it to
do because of, you know, the global situation. So we
kind of picked back up and just put out our
second record pretty shortly after that, in like twenty twenty
(06:24):
three or something.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I think it was late twenty twenty two, if I
remember correctly.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah, because I was just looking at I was just
looking at it because I was trying to figure out
remember the exact dates of when things happened, and which
brings me to a question, because black Box, which was
that second record, did that feel almost like your second
debut album?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
It felt it really felt like our Yeah, like like
our debut record again just because of everything, you know,
the trials and tribulations of everything that happened up until
that point. So there was an interesting vibe in the air,
especially since that record also was you know, written in isolation.
Like me and Anton Deloss, who did Black Box and
(07:08):
did the program, we were just like cooped up in
his like storage unit downtown Toronto every single day, and
like I remember driving every day down to the studio
and there's just nobody on the streets, like there was
nothing going on. So is this really just bleak environment?
Making that record as well, and yeah, it felt like, well,
(07:32):
you know, there was a certain hopelessness almost at the
time when I was making it too, because I was like, man,
obviously with the uncertainty of a situation, was like is
this ever going to work? Like is this ever gonna
a Thing's going ever going to be normal again? Are
we ever going to be able to play shows again?
Like is this all going to be for nothing? It's like,
we worked so hard to get to this point, and obviously,
you know, we took the first record on the chin
(07:53):
and like that was just what it was going to be.
But hopefully this one, you know, can sort of fix
the mess that that happened with the first record, And
I think i'm you know, I'm happy to say, and
I believe that we successfully achieved that with the second record.
It went off a lot better than we expected it to.
(08:15):
And yeah, I mean it was definitely interesting. Like you said,
even when you said, oh, I came out end of
twenty twenty two, it's like, it's hard for me to even,
you know, have a very clear memory of what happened
in that period because there was so much downtime and
so much nothing that I can't even remember, like when
(08:36):
things started again, and also between Canada and America, and
then like this province you can play, but and then
this state you could play, but this province you can't.
It was like it's fuzzy trying to think about when
we actually started kind of going at it again. And
then you know, when all was said and done with
that record cycle, which I guess must have been at
the end of twenty twenty three, we were sort of
(08:59):
in like a similar boat again because it was like, Okay,
now we need to keep going and we're on the
third record already. How the hell are we on the
third record?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
How'd that happen? How did this?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I feel like we just, I feel like to many
people and even still to this day, we kind of
were like a new band to a lot of people. Meanwhile,
we've been doing this now for like six years, I
think so. I mean, I think that's relatively new on
a band, like in a band world these days. Sure,
Like back in the seventies, if you lasted six or
(09:32):
seven years, it was like monumental. But now that feels
like pretty elementary. Like most bands you talk to, you
are like, oh, yeah, we've been going around for like
ten years or twelve years or something before they really
start picking it up and things start getting going.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Now, how long how long before that that first album,
the cell titled album, were you guys already out doing stuff?
I mean, I know you toured, you know, from getting
signed to release, but before.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
That even we had like from if my memory is correct,
I think that we came together in twenty eighteen or
like towards the end of twenty eighteen. Okay, Now, I
had already had the first album done before I met
the band guys, and I'd actually done the first record
on another record label. It ended up dropping me, so
(10:20):
I used to be on a label called Razor and Tie.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
In Razor and t I ceased to exist, and.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah, so I got dropped because we never put anything
out and then they were gracious and I was lucky
enough to actually get my first record back, and uh.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
That's good.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
So that doesn't always happen, you know, and that's it's
very rare that that happens. And I and you know,
the entire time I was with them, I was like,
why are we putting out songs? You know? And it
kind of worked in our favor that nothing ever was
released into the world. So they were like not precious
about it basically, and they just gave it right back.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
We didn't even have to buy it back. It was
pretty pretty crazy. Now during during that, I mean, was
it still under the name Broken Lovely obviously if it
was just you, you know, was it still under that
name or was it more of a solo thing?
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Like what how were you looking at? Like how were
you picturing?
Speaker 3 (11:06):
It was a different name. I don't want to say
the name just in case people could find stuff, you know,
but there was a pre existing formation of this band
that was much different and it was it's always kind
of been like a so well, it was more of
a solo kind of endeavor at the time. Through the years,
(11:27):
we've kind of, you know, blossomed as a group. But
for a long time I was just kind of doing
this on my own, and I hadn't been lucky enough
to meet guys that really wanted to do it with me.
And you know, it's hard to convince I wasn't lucky
enough growing up to like convince my like handful of
friends to just like throw away their lives for music,
you know, because I decided to do this when I
(11:50):
was like fourteen years old, you know, and decided that
I was going to go head on. And you know,
I'm very lucky and grateful that my parents were like, hey,
I go ahead, like support you in this. That's not
the case with most kids, especially when you're in high school.
You know. I remember distinctly going over with my best
friend's house houses Here, who he actually played drums on
(12:10):
Black Box and he's a great musician himself, and his
parents are big artists in Canada and talking to his
parents and being like, listen, I need you to let
your son drop out of high school to join my band,
and they were like absolutely not, like this is a
huge mistake and it's just funny, you know. So basically
(12:31):
I didn't really get afforded the opportunity to meet guys
that were like willing to do it, or you know,
people that are cool enough parents to let them go
and do it as well. So up until that point,
it had just been myself. So yeah, that first record
was done.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
And you know, I gotta be honest, like, if I
put myself back in that time frame, and I'm a
little older than you, but like, if so I graduated
high school in nineteen ninety eight and I played in
a punk rock band, and if like putting my myself
back in that time frame and be like I would
have given anything to drop out of high school and
just play punk. I mean I think I tried and
(13:06):
they didn't let me, you know. And in retrospect now
as a parent of two teenagers, I'm like, don't you
ever dare to leave school?
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Us? Right?
Speaker 3 (13:15):
And maybe times have changed. So it's you know, you
said you graduated ninety eight, I was born in ninety seven.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
Well damn so, so I think times maybe changed too
a little bit, you know, as things moving have moved forward.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
I feel like people started looking even more at music
and going, wow, this is really not a great avenue
for you to go if you want to be successful
and make a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Okay, but you know what, but I can look at
my kids. But I can look at my kids, and
my daughter's a great singer. She's even gotten on stage
with my cover band, done songs with us, including Raging
against the Machine, which is a funny story that I've
told on this podcast before. But basically, she got on
stage with my friend and I and did killing in
the Name, and I literally took the microphone after the
show or after the song and went year grounded get
(13:59):
off stage for saying the F word too many times.
And my son's playing drums hence the drums behind me.
But there are avenues for music for business now that
didn't seem to be, you know, because I think back
in the day and you were probably looking at it
the same way. Right, it's garage band, it's get on tour,
(14:19):
it's release records, and there are other opportunities within music
now that maybe weren't available to us, you know, as kids.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Yeah, I agree. I mean the thing that that kind
of dawn upon me at the more I got into this,
you know business quote unquote is like there's not just
the artist's side of things, you know, and like, excuse me,
I mean most of the guys I know that are
doing really really well are just like songwriters, you know,
or they do a lot of like sink stuff, and
(14:49):
they write, they get placements, and they do stuff for
commercials and you know, scoring and all that kind of
stuff and like that all encompassing. Like I never thought
about those things when I was trying to do this
because I'm like, I just want to be I want
to be a rock.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Star, you know.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
But I know tons of people that still work in
the industry that are not, you know, the ones writing
the songs or making the music or anything like that.
So for sure, there is avenues you can go that
are probably, if anything, probably a little bit more secure
than being the artist of it all. But I wouldn't
have it any other way obviously for myself as well.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
And here's the thing, right to bring it all together.
It seems to be working, I think.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
So it's hard to say, right because like, as the
time goes on, it's like when you're a kid, I
was like, oh man, by the time I'm like, first
of all, I thought that being like twenty five when
I was like fifteen was like an adult, you're angel,
you know, like you have all your you know, I
don't know if I could swear. Can I swear?
Speaker 1 (15:48):
You can swear?
Speaker 3 (15:50):
I was thinking like, oh, by the time I'm twenty five,
I'll have all my shit together, like I'll be like
a full I'll be fully independent, like you know, I'll
have everything going for me. And now I'm twenty seven
years old, and I'm like, damn, I still feel like
a kid, Like I still feel like I'm a teenager.
And but and I still have those like aspirations that
I that I did when I was like, you know,
an actual kid, and I lost my train of thought.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
No, that's okay.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Yeah, when you're I mean you're still trying, You're still
trying to be like you still have that that feeling
of like of like I'm gonna still I'm still gonna
do this.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
I guess that That's what I'm getting at, is like,
you know it's working. Yeah, it's definitely working. And I
think that if I told like fourteen year old justin
like where where he would be now, he'd be like
no way, man, Like you shut up, like you're you're
lying to me, and it's like the the your measure
of success, only it just keeps expanding as we keep going.
It's like at first, it's like I just want to
(16:52):
make a record. Okay, Now I want a band. Okay,
I need to get a record deal. If I get
a record deal, it's like that's the end, all be
a you know. And then you get the record deal
and you're like, okay, well, now what, Okay, I want
to start touring. I want to have some songs on
the radio, and it's like, you know, you have to
keep striving for more. Of course. It's like it's important
to sit back and be thankful and grateful for the
(17:13):
success and everything that's you know, come at this point
and think about how many people would kill to have
this opportunity. But oh yeah, of course, like we're we're
all ambitious, you know, we want more out of all
this stuff, and it's it's just a never ending cycle
of like okay.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Now what, Yeah, it's always what's the next thing?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Of course, heay, I hit that goal, Like if you
have your if you have your dream board, it's like, okay,
well I hit this one, this one, this one, this one,
what's the next one? And you gotta yeah, you got
to keep fighting for.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
It, and we're lucky enough and now we actually just
got to put out a third record. It's like, I
feel like so many bands don't make it to this point,
and that's pretty monumental, I think.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
So let's talk about this record, because not only do
you put on a third record, but i'd arguably say
and I hate it when bands do this, and I
kind of make fun of it, but as a radio DJ,
I think I have to, but it really is your
best one.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Well, thank you. I'm glad to hear that.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
And for instance, and that's like, and I loved that
first album, like loved it, and I got to be honest,
it took me. I didn't even realize black Box was
out until after it was out. Yeah, but this this album,
for whatever reason, I hit play on it went, oh
you know, twenty twenty vision starts, I'm like, okay, what
is this?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
It's this is good. I really enjoyed it and I
had to learn more.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
And so even when I asked for this interview, I'm like,
I'm kind of obsessed with this band right now, so let's.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Thanks. I appreciate that. I'm glad to hear you say it, because, like, again,
the other thing about having a third record is like,
now there's a body of work, so you actually have
something you have to live up to. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
True.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
So I definitely had a lot of anxiety throughout well,
you know, just the process of trying to get it
really and I guess the initial process of it all
of like, man, what if what if people don't like it?
What if people are like, oh, your last record was better,
or you know, go back to the sound of the
first record. It's like and I feel like that's inevitable,
like you're always going to have people that feel that
(19:13):
way always. But I, of course I feel like it's
the best record we've ever done. And I don't think
any band or artists would ever sit here and be
like I think, you know, I don't think we really
hit it out of the park this time.
Speaker 5 (19:26):
But I really wish somebody would just just one somebody right,
just one time, just And I know nobody actually believes that,
because of course that's how you feel as an artist,
like and I'm a musician, I get it.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I know what that's like. It's like, well, I'm not
the last riff I wrote. That's awesome, but that one
you like from twenty years ago that sucks.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
You know, it's tough, and when you're writing songs like
for as long as we have like, there's certainly an
element of doubt in like can I do this again?
Can I do I still got riffs? Do I still
have melodies? Like? Do these things still exist within me?
And that's that became a little bit more of a
(20:08):
struggle this time around, because because we're on the third
record and it's like, we really have to be a
little bit more ambitious here. We have to get a
little bigger, we have to change it sound a little bit.
We got to do something a little bit different so
we don't just keep giving people the same thing. And
in my mind, I feel like the three records we've
put out at very three distinct sounds, and I like
now that people can go back and be like, oh,
(20:29):
this is the era that I like, you know, you
give people more choice and option.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Now I still want to do I want to do
the same conversation with you in a decade and play
that exact sound clip back to you and then see
how you feel.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Well, maybe in ten years from now, I'm gonna go, oh, man,
the program sucks, Like we really could have done better
on that one. It's true, you know, I had a
lot of time to live with this record as well,
because I finished it, man, like a year and a
half ago. I want to say, Wow, it'd have been
in the can for a long long time. There was
a lot of internal things and there was just a
lot of moving parts that we couldn't control that kind
(21:05):
of delayed the release. And with that going too much
into that, It's like I got a lot of time
to sit with the album and listen to it like
ad nauseum, you know, just keep playing it over and
over and over again and comparing it, contrasting with what's
coming out and other bands, and you know, even listening
to the old stuff sometime and kind of just sizing
(21:28):
it up. Sure, And I never really had an element
of doubt when I was listening to it that I
thought it was great, and I always felt pretty certain
about it. And I actually I hadn't listened to it
probably since we released it. Like I did a full
listen through the night it came out, just as a refresher,
and then I put it on like two days ago
(21:49):
because I haven't listened to it in a while, and
I was like, oh wow, we did such a good job.
We really killed it on this one.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
So justin you mentioned something when you first started talking
out the record about a fuller sound or a bigger sound,
and I do believe I think you guys pulled that
off on this because there is it does sound. You know,
not only to know okay, bandwise you're a three piece, right,
but like, but really what it's it's it's you and
it's a producer. But there's so much sound happening within
(22:19):
these songs that I think if that was your goal,
then you definitely pulled it off. Thanks, You're very welcome.
How do you how do you apply that? Because listen,
at the end of the day, right, it's all about
getting on stage and kicking ass live.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
That's what that's what we live for. That's what we
dream about.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
You know, Like I don't care if I'm playing at
a bar for ten people or you're playing in a
festival for forty thousand.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
It's like, that's the dream. How do you pull that
off live?
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Well, we're very choosy about the songs we pick because
you know. I mean you've seen us before, maybe you remember,
but we don't. We don't play with any playback or
tracks or anything like that, so thatkind of inhibits some
of the songs because, like like you said, especially on
this new record, we kind of just said screw it
(23:08):
and went like, let's just produce the shit out of
some songs just because we can, just because you can
put ten guitars on a song, you know. And we
used to shy away from that before because I was
always thinking about the live show. I'm like, okay, well
if there's more than two guitars, like we don't have
a third guitar player, you know, things like that. And
(23:28):
this time around, I was just like, whatever, let's just
make it sound as big as possible. Let's layer when
we feel it's necessary. If it's just going to make
things sound bigger, let's just do it. But we definitely
omit like sections, or we just don't play some songs live.
It's simply because of that. Like obviously, in today's climate,
(23:50):
when people are playing with a lot of backing tracks
and stuff, and I'm not hating on that at all,
you can get away with so much more because you
can't just put the extra vocals on the track. You
can put the percussion in the track. You can put
the keyboards that you know you don't have a keyboard play.
You can put all that in the track obviously, a
keyboard that you never learned how to play. Yeah, Like
we we we just don't do that, like we're we're
(24:14):
more we're more privy to like the classic kind of
rock formation. You know, it's just two guitars, vocals, drums live,
you know, and we do a lot of we jam live,
we do some kind of we extend things, we throw
things at each other, we call songs on a spot
like we're kind of doing it like the old school way.
I guess that's part of the Yeah, well that it
(24:37):
makes it. It makes it kind of like a controlled
chaos for us on stage, because I mean, if you
ever see us multiple nights in a row and a tour,
it's like it's very rare that we'll play the same songs, like,
you know, two shows after the one you just saw,
because we're like, ah, let's just try this one tonight,
or somebody will yell something out on the crowd and
we'll be like, all right, let's do that one, and
it does develop, you know, we have a certain sense
(24:58):
of spontanuity because of that, and and it does make
it fun. But there's just certain things we can't get
away with live because we layer things so much, or
you know, as a guitar player singer, like there's only
so many things I can play and sing at the
same time. Like I like to think I'm pretty capable,
but I'm not like a wizard, you know. I'm not like,
(25:19):
you know, like an Ian Thornley or a Miles Kennedy
or somebody that could just kind of play everything and
sing at the same time like I could. I could
hold my own and to a certain extent, but there's
some choices we have to commit to live that you know,
the live show is the live show, and the records
the record. And I'm a big believer that, Like, if
(25:40):
you want to hear the record, if you want to
hear the songs sound exactly the same as the record live,
then you could just stay at home and listen to
the record, like I love listening to old Zeppelin bootlegs
or you know, old like Kiss live recordings or ACDC
and just hearing how they expand on these versions. Of
(26:01):
songs that we already love, you know, but just seeing
what they're going to do with it, because that's what
makes it fun. It's like I could choose four different
versions of communication, breakdown or a whole lot of Love
from from whatever time period in the seventies and go,
I like this one because of that. You know, this
one's twenty minutes, this one's six minutes, and this one's
fifteen minutes. You know, and we kind of embody some
(26:22):
of that in our live shows. And you know that
being said, it's like, I'm not going to shy away
from making the records sound as big as they possibly
can anymore, especially this time around, because we'd never really
done that yet. So yeah, to answer your question, like,
that's my long winded answer, that's all right now.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Because you have me, you have me in my head
going down a wormhole of old live records. There was
something special about some of those old school live albums,
and that's not against some of the more modern ones
that have come out. There isn't a lot of them anymore.
There isn't a lot of It doesn't seem like a
lot of bands are releasing live albums, you know. Yeah,
like through through the early part of the twenty first century,
(27:06):
it is very rare. The song Pulling Leeches is the single.
Tell me about this tune and why and why you
decided to try to get it on the radio.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Well, you know, as far as like radio stuff goes,
Just like for disclaimer, for everybody, it's like I just
kind of hand the records in and then I go,
you decide, you know, cause like I don't know, I
love all the songs. If you ask me what I
think the singles are for every single record, I'm like
all of them. I go maybe this one, Oh, maybe
(27:40):
this one, or maybe this one, you know, and it's
like I'm never going to be able to come to
that decision because I'm not the expert in the radio field.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
You know.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
I trust the team, I trust everybody that has expertise
in that area to sort of pick it and and uh,
you know, in particularly like the head of the label,
Jon has heard Pulling Leaches and he's like, I have
a feeling about this one. So we're like cool, all right,
sounds good to me. But in terms of like direction
and why we made that kind of song, we were
really aiming for like a white stripe see kind of
(28:11):
I guess White Stripes is the best way to describe it.
We wanted to do something like really dumb and like
really bone headed in the context of this record, because
a lot of the stuff on this new record is
like a little bit more musician y quote unquote. It's
a there's a little bit more like funky stuff. There's
some more kind of like R and B elements, there's
like a little bit more ambitious music, should I say,
(28:33):
And we're like, man, we got to tie together with
something just like a good little earworm that's very simple,
very straightforward. And we took a lot of inspiration from
from Icky Thump actually, you know, because Ikey Thump has
that kind of floor tom stabby thing the entire time,
and we're like, oh, maybe we could do something like that,
And we just kind of sented it around this thumping
(28:56):
bass and you know, floor tom thing, And even when
we recorded it, we kept thinking like, Okay, well, if
we wanted to get like that White Stripes energy, it
needs to be as raw as possible. So like everything
had to be one take. Like there's there's flubbs, there's
a couple bad notes on the guitar like that, my
vocal isn't perfect, but I think to get that sort
(29:16):
of like raw, like not I don't want to say
like vicious, but like just that kind of care free energy.
We had to just do it in one take just
to make it feel like alive. And it's interesting because
when we did it, I was like, oh, that's a
good rock song, and then when we got the mixes in,
(29:37):
I was like, whoa, this is a banger. And we
had been playing it live for a while. It was
one of it was actually probably the first song that
we started putting into the set from the new record,
so that also helped kind of like shape the idea
of it being a single because people were really reacting
to it, Like every time the chorus dropped, people just
started jumping up and down. We're like, okay, this is
(29:58):
this must be doing something. People are reacting to this awesome,
you know. Well.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
The album is called The Program. It is available now
from the band Broken Love b r kN. In case
anybody kN is watching this and going or listening to
this and going, I don't know who Cutter is talking
to you this week. I just have it on in
the background while I'm cleaning my house. But it's Broken
Love as the band. I highly recommend it. What do
you guys doing live for the rest of this year?
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Well, to be completely honest with you, I just I
just got my visa for the US like two or
three days ago, so that was like a whole prongratulations,
thank you very much. It had been very long and
drawn out and part of the reason why we haven't
announced anything up until this point.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Apparently apparently we're not supposed to like Canadians. Now, I
don't know.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
I can't keep it.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
I can't tell you what's going on, but I'm further
where I live.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I live in the United States.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
You live in Canada, but I actually live further north
than you do, so you're basically Canadian.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Basically our accents are well.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
I had to you know, basically we haven't been announcing
things because it took me months to get my visa
when it used to be much quicker. So gotchare we're
actually I should be talking with our agents later this week,
and we have some stuff planned.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
The summer might be a little light, but in the fall,
we already have some things that we're planning that for
sure will be a go, so just keep a keep
an eye and an ear out. We will be touring
definitely before the end of the year. Just I appreciate
people being patient with me with my whole you know,
immigration such, we got it.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Yeah, you gotta do what you gotta do, and you know,
especially in the world we currently live. Yeah, exactly, b
r K and dashlove dot com is the website that's
where we'll find more. Justin from Van Brooken Love dude,
thank you for doing this, man, I greatly appreciate it's
a pleasure to have this conversation with you.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Yeah. Man. Likewise, I'm super stoked about this. I could
talk forever.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
So same Carter's rock Cast.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Don't forget to tune in exactly
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