Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
Last few tours, we’ve been renting a Chrysler Town & Country. Nothing like rolling up to a venue; all the other bands have these kick ass, funky looking busses and converted, stripped down “band vans”…. and here comes The Brevet, pouring out of a shiny new soccer mom car!
No breakdown stories – the closest was when we thought our van got stolen in DC. We were freaking out; we had a lot of expensive gear in there. Then someone informed us that it’s common practice for the city to tow your car to the next block if it’s a no parking zone, street sweep, etc. THEN we realized we were simply turned around and looking on the wrong street. We found our car, right where we left it…
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
We’ve been fortunate and have had lots of friends put us up while on tour, so we’ve been pretty well taken care of- haven’t resorted to bologna and sliced bread yet (knock on wood).
How many strings, cymbals and drum heads do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
We might break a string every couple shows. I haven’t cracked a cymbal or busted a head in years, I generally attribute breaking stuff to poor technique. Drum heads do get stretched out though, and ideally I like to change them out every month or 2, depending on my financial situation. replacing drum heads will run about $100/$150.
Where do you rehearse?
We’ve got a great, 1,100 sq foot commercial unit we’ve been rehearsing and recording in for a while now. Before that, we were working at an abandoned clubhouse in a trailer park in Westminster, CA (much of our “Moving Mountains” video was shot there).
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
The first song we wrote as The Brevet was “Rocks Beneath the Water” – A line from the song “Feeling on the outside, inside of this town” – this absolutely characterizes us in many ways. We took a very backwards approach to the music industry from start.
Describe your first gig.
We played a show at Hotel Cafe, in Los Angeles. We had already gotten a few placements on shows like 90210 but we had never played out before, so we had LOW expectations for our draw. We were wrong… the place was packed! We were wound up pretty tight- and to make matters worse, Aric broke a string on the 1st song; about 15 seconds into the song actually hahah. After we figured that out, and got a few songs in, we felt pretty good, and had a lot of positive feedback and support from our audience.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
Ben is finishing up his Doctorate and teaches bass.
David teaches private drum lessons, plays for churches and cover gigs.
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
It’s always fluctuating- we’ve had really good months, followed by long, dark dry spells. we all hope for this to be our full time job- to support a family with The Brevet would be a dream come true.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
We knew what we were getting into, and have always known, It’s a tough industry, but there are times when it can wear on us, and thick skin is a must. I am grateful for my youthful, blissful ignorance though; before the business side of things got too heavy. If anything, I hope to keep that spirit alive as we continue our music career!