BRUCE!
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Friday, April 12
Dicey Riley’s
Free entry
Bruce! don't do things by halves.
The Tarrawanna-based band have just released their first recording together as a group and, rather than easing into the recording process with EPs or singles, they decided to go for a full-length album on their first shot.
They have also released their self-titled debut in three formats - on CD, on vinyl, and on Bandcamp, a digital music hub where artists can sell their music.
"There's no beating around the bush with Bruce!" drummer Elwyn Brindle-Jones says.
Bruce!'s debut was rather a long time coming. It wasn't because of technical difficulties while recording, as all four band members have previously released material with other bands, but because their steadfast commitment to releasing a vinyl version slowed down the entire process.
The group demoed 17 tracks for the album, choosing the 13 that best encapsulated their sound to be properly recorded.
"We recorded all the songs within two days back in June," Brindle-Jones says.
"It took five or six months to get everything mixed and mastered, but the thing that took the most time was pressing the vinyl. Now that it's finally out, we're very relieved.
"We all agreed that we wanted to release this on vinyl.
"You can't really capture that vinyl sound any other way, it's just got another whole atmosphere to it; you can hear things you just can't in other formats."
No one band member takes responsibility for writing their tracks - all four have an input into the music and lyrics. Brindle-Jones says they usually compose the instrumentals first and allow the mood of what they create to
shape the words to match it.
"We pretty much have equal share in the songwriting. It's really natural how all the songs come together, we share them out, and either the guitarist or bass player will go away and get ideas for lyrics and it all comes together," he says.
"We'll demo all the songs as instrumentals first and each of us will take a copy away and get ideas lyrically by listening to that.
"The guitarists have little notepads where they've jotted down all their lyric ideas, and I think a lot of the time they have ideas out of nowhere for just a chorus and the idea will spawn from there for the rest of the song."
Brindle-Jones says their final sound is influenced by other desert rock bands, basically "anything with a fuzzy guitar and that's loud", and describes their tunes as "powerful, in-your-face rock".
While waiting for the album to come to fruition, Bruce! kept busy by playing a stack of shows in Wollongong and Sydney, supporting Norwegian deathpunk band Turbonegro on their recent Australian tour and making sure they kept on top of their twice-weekly practice schedule.
"We wanted to be firing on all cylinders for our shows," Brindle-Jones says.
Listening to the songs almost a year after they were finalised, there are a few little things Brindle-Jones would have liked to change, but he says overall Bruce! are stoked to finally have an album out there for their fans.
"As a whole I could not be happier with this album and I think I speak for the rest of the group as well."