By Wendy Martinez |Staff Writer|
Brick + Mortar are on the path to big things in this tough music industry and are worthy for CSUSB students to listen to and watch.
Band members Brandon Asraf and John Tacon, first began playing together when they were in middle school, dreaming of making it big in the music industry.
Their latest album, “Bangs”, consists of seven songs and was released on July 30, 2014.
Originally called Black Rhythm, they decided to undergo a name change in 2008, reappearing as Brick + Mortar.
“Best described as controlled chaos, the band combines choppy rhythms, smooth bass lines, tempestuous drumming and honest lyrics…,” according to their official website brmr.net.
They have opened for big artists like Icona Pop and Imagine Dragons, and have also performed in major summer festivals like Made in America, Loufest, and Lollapalooza.
“Bangs” has many meanings behind it, including a story of Asraf’s father who is in jail and is banned from the U.S.
In a previous concert in New York, he explained how he wants to get famous in order to perform in other countries and specifically in front of his father.
“The story is my chance to be in [my father’s] world and tell a conglomerate of a bunch of stories I’ve heard,” said Asraf in an interview for VICE Magazine.
Asraf continues, telling his fans on their webpage, “Listen, without you Brick + Mortar doesn’t exist. We write about the kind of world we believe in, we write about our lives, we are not perfect and we don’t want you to be either. The point of what we do is to make you realize we all have what the world needs.”
This album includes emotional stories they’ve heard, and many of their own experiences.
“I started listening to them because they were going to be in a festival I had tickets to. I kept listening to them because I can tell how genuine their music was and how much it actually meant to them,” said CSUSB student Carlos Mora.
One of my favorite songs from their latest album is, “Keep this Place Beautiful.”
The lyrics say, “One day I will be dead, I will be dust, keep this place beautiful. Some day when we grow up, tell them I said, keep this place beautiful. Will you promise me that, promise you will keep this place beautiful? Some day when we grow up, tell them I said.”
These lyrics are positive and explain how this world and this life still has some beauty in it.
The song continues, explaining how we all have to die at some point, but we want reassurance that everything will be okay.
Brick + Mortar’s music style has a taste of electro drum and bass, along with some of their acoustic sounds from the electric guitar and drums.
This captured my attention from the start.
If you are a fan of Bear Hands, Cage the Elephant, Arctic Monkeys, or the Kongos, then this is a new band to discover and listen to.
They are currently still on tour and have traveled all across the U.S., showing off their talents and expressing their opinions through song lyrics.
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