COLUMBIA CHRONICLE
Premium Blend
September 29, 2008
By Meryl Fulinara
Far from the coast of the Atlantic and the “patriotism” of New England, indie-rock band Brighton, MA found a home in the Windy City-Chicago.
Matt Kerstein, vocals and guitar; Devon Bryant, vocals and bass; and Sam Koentopp, drums, decided to leave the pop sound of the Scotland Yard Gospel Choir in 2007 and go in a different direction with their music. They then added Jim Tuerk, and most recently Joe Darnaby, on guitar, to form Brighton, MA.
The band’s sweet melodies and retro sound would make any listener fall in love with their new album, Amateur Lovers, due to be released on Oct. 28.
With their CD release show approaching on Oct. 11, The Chronicle caught up with Kerstein to talk about the band’s first EP, upcoming record and the living-and-recording situation the band has found themselves in.
The Chronicle: ‘Amateur Lovers’ is the band’s first full-length album. What can you tell us about the first EP the band released?
Matt Kerstein: Both these records have been a good learning experience for us and an opportunity for us to grow together as a band. The first EP was a record that I already had in mind when I left [the Scotland Yard Gospel Choir]. I already had the songs written for it. Amateur Lovers has been more of a collaboration with the guys for a more unified sound. This has been an experiment of what this group of guys can do.
What can we expect from the new album?
It’s our first full-length record. Since we put out our EP last June, we immediately started working on this one. It’s been a long process. We recorded the bulk of it during the last winter and fall, and now we are putting it out on Loose Tooth Records, a Chicago label.
How did the band form?
The rhythm section and I were in a band; the drummer, bass player and I all met in the Scotland Yard Gospel Choir. We knew Jim Tuerk from around the Chicago music scene. Now, it looks like we are going to play with another guitar player who is from a group of bands that we know.
Guitarist Joe Darnaby does not play on the record. Is he starting to play live shows with you?
He just started to play with us. At the Metro show on Oct. 11, we are going to have a five-piece band. The record features some horns and keys. At the show, we are going to have all the musicians that play with us on the record play with us on stage.
What do you hope fans will take away from your new record?
My main hope for the record is that people have an immediate reaction to the record. As they sit with it and invest time in it, they find songs that take a little more time to hit them. Hopefully people find a few different layers of our music and things will continually keep popping out [at them].
Does it get tiring living in a house with all of your bandmates?
It has its ups-and-downs. The main thing, I think, is it won’t last forever. We will probably end up getting a practice space, which will be kind of cool when we can all leave our [respective] homes and meet up at this other space where that separation can be really cool. But for this record and our next record it’s been cool to have the same music playing around the house and get into the same mindset, which makes it easier for us to collaborate. It’s easier to fall in line and be in tune for where the songs should go. I don’t know how much longer we’ll all be living there for. Since we are a pretty new band, it was kind of a good thing to do from the get-go.
