A Conversation With The Brook and The Bluff
Interview and Photos by Tommy Moore
Full Story Featured in DAYBREAK V.5: Home
The Brook and The Bluff photographed by Tommy Moore in Chicago, IL.
The Brook and The Bluff are a five-piece indie-rock band out of Alabama--out of Mountain Brook and Bluff Park to be exact.
Starting as a duo and building up the current full five, the band has been together for the better part of a decade. Following the path from college bar duo, to road bound quintet, The Brook and The Bluff have found deep success online, which has in return sold out show, after show, after show.
'Road Dogs' as they call themselves, they've been hard at work the last few years building up a hell of a pedestal to stand on. Back in DAYBREAK V.1, The Brook and The Bluff was our first ever music feature. Nearly three years later, we follow up with the crew to dive into the path to today, their new record "Bluebird", and their creative process.
Catch the full story in DAYBREAK V.5: Home.
The Brook and The Bluff photographed by Tommy Moore in Chicago, IL.
Joseph Settine: Now like, looking back on three years ago, it's like, “Holy shit. We have come a long way. But day to day it feels like baby steps. Getting the opening gigs things that we've got over the last year was like, “Oh, wow, this is a real thing.”
John Canada: And making it through the pandemic in one piece.
TM: I feel like you probably said it right, that it wasn't too much, too quick. Th Mt. Joy crew is such good people, and I don't know the Rainbow Kitten Surprise crew, but I’ve heard wonderful things about them as well.
JS: They're all incredible. Everybody that we've been fortunate enough to go out with have been really, really good people.
The Brook and The Bluff photographed by Tommy Moore in Chicago, IL.
TM: It's so important to have that backbone of support. It’s nice to have good people around you to kind of shepherd the direction a little bit.
You guys are doing your own headlining run this fall with the Bendigo Fletcher guys though. I've gotten to know them pretty well, and they're just the biggest sweethearts.
JS: I think Flipturn just did show them, too, and they were saying the same thing. I'm really excited to finally meet them.
TM: I feel like so many Midwest, North side of the South, there are so many good people in the folk scene. Is there a new project dropping to accompany the fall tour?
JS: Our third record is going to come out on September 15.
The Brook and The Bluff photographed by Tommy Moore in Chicago, IL.
TM: With the first three singles, it feels like there’s a little bit more of this ethereal blend to them. It definitely feels a little bit more airy, but fuller, than some of the older stuff. What was the general direction for the whole project?
JS: Honestly, that's a really cool way to describe it. It's funny that you describe it that way. We literally recorded all of it in the mountains, so we were actually high up in the mountain air.
When we would have talked to you the first time, it would have been in the same house that we recorded that we tracked this record. So that house, in the time since we first met you, that house kind of has taken on a pretty extreme significance for us as a group. That's where we go unplug, and be together, and write new stuff, and just be a band without all of the like distractions of what we have in our day to day lives. We have been able to go up there a few times and got really, really good songs out of it. We were up there in I think early 2021, and we had a talk at the end of that retreat, and we were like, “What if we just did the whole record up here? What if we brought our producer and asked him to come up, and we spent 10 days just trying to make a record in the house that captures the feeling that we have being in the house?” Which for me, and I think for us personally, it's just this complete release of stress and all the all the things that kind of weigh you down on a day to day basis in your day to day life. It's just doesn't really exist for us in the house. We wanted to make a record that kind of felt like an escape in the same way.
The Brook and The Bluff photographed by Tommy Moore in Chicago, IL.
TM: How has that writing process changed? Is there some sort of groove that you guys have found, whether it's in the retreat or how you handle things when you're on the road?
JS: So interestingly enough, this record has some songs on it that had started and kind of existed around the same time that we were working on First Place. The process for some of the songs that we've written, and some of the songs that I've written, have been really fragmented. So when this record came around, John was like, “Hey, that chorus was really, really good. Maybe one of the best ones that you've ever written. We should try a song for that, and so we ended up finishing that as an idea. I think the process is kind of as scattered as my brain in general, which is very, all over the place. A song like Tangerine, which was written in January of this year, or Long Limbs, or Headfirst, which was another one that was started from a loop that Alec created in 2016.
TM: I can't imagine going about things in like a rigid way, because it just doesn't feel natural.
Alec Bolton: A lot of times the cool stuff comes when you didn't really want to write, but then you just decided to.
The Brook and The Bluff photographed by Tommy Moore in Chicago, IL.
AS: I think we all really enjoy outdoor things like surfing, mountain biking, hiking, and just being outside. Salt Lake’s a great place to do it. As far as how it influences our music, Tyke does most of the writing, so he’ll be able to answer that better, but I feel like being the way that we are, we listen to a certain type of music, and I think it comes through in our recordings.
CJ: The way that I really met them was when I moved up to Utah, and the only reason I went up to Utah, was for the mountains. It led into meeting all of them, and then ended up with me joining the band.
AS: Tyke, would you say nature plays a role in songwriting?
TJ: I never really realized how much time I spent outside, growing up in Hawaii, but I spent so much time outside so much.
"A lot of times the cool stuff comes when you didn't really want to write, but then you just decided to."
The Brook and The Bluff photographed by Tommy Moore in Chicago, IL.
TM: It's always been at like three in the morning, when it's just like, “Fuck, I can't sleep and I have to do this right now.”
JS: The most annoying one is when you're like, “I know this is a good idea, so I have to.” I did that the other night, and my wife was like, “What the fuck are you doing?” I was like, “Don't worry about it.” I think it's our process is kind of scattered, like flourish by nature.
AB: We don't write on the road as much, because we're just exhausted. But you get back from the road, and a lot of times the travel and stuff is inspiring. That's an important part of it.
TM: It’s almost like the post vacation depression is the best time to write sometimes. It’s that readjustment period.
JS: It's like you still don't feel like you're home yet.
AB: Your thought patterns are different, because you've broken out of the mundane everyday at home.
"The Fonda in LA, and Webster Hall in New York, some of the ones that you hear about when you're a teenager or something. It's a really cool thing to go out and be like, 'Oh, shit. I'm on stage now.'" - Joseph Settine
The Brook and The Bluff photographed by Tommy Moore in Chicago, IL.
TM: Are you guys all in Nashville now?.
JS: Yeah, where we're at right now, we kind of all still need to be in the same place. Maybe one day we'll end up spreading a little bit, but our thing works best when we’re all in the same town, because it's just easier. Then we can all be together and always be playing together.
TM: It keeps things consistent, too. It's like a body in motion stays in motion kind of thing. As soon as things trickle off, it's that much more energy to get things going again, versus just keeping it going.
You guys had a really busy year, it seemed like. Is the road as euphoric as I'm sure it was at first, or do you feel much more settled in?
JS: I think it has become a little bit more like work than it was the very beginning. Because at the very beginning, before we had any crew, it was kind of just the four or five of us. We were sleeping on couches and floors. It definitely felt a little bit more like an adventure. We're piling in a van with friends. We didn't know what was gonna happen tonight. We could end up in an a hotel somewhere or end up on the floor somewhere. I think there was a little bit more of that early 20s spirit behind it all. Now that we've added crew, when you add crew, you’ve got to move to hotels, because they're just not as down for the lifestyle as it was before. So once you do that, it becomes more professional and you feel more like you're in a in a job. But with that also comes advantage of things like showers. There's definitely trade-offs, and I would say we've found a rhythm at this point, for sure. It always takes two weeks, but then you’re clicking and you look up and it's been two months.
"...my wife was like, “What the fuck are you doing?” I was like, “Don't worry about it.”"
The Brook and The Bluff photographed by Tommy Moore in Chicago, IL.
TM: Outside of the new project, what are you guys stoked on?
JS: I think the project has taken up so much time that I'm still really excited. We started in September of 2021, and for the songs, as many times as I've heard them in as many different versions, still feel as fresh as they were the day that we were tracking them. I think it says a lot about the project. It's kept me in that world for a really long time, and hopefully I don't have to like leave it anytime soon, just because it's been such a special experience for me making this record, and I think for all of us together. I'm focused on the project, making the tour an extension of the record, and seeing how far we can take Bluebeard and see how it connects with people.
JC: It's like all Bluebeard mode. But then after that, we have another tour planned for the spring. It feels like it kind of just keeps rolling on it.
JS: I mean, you hope that it's anywhere from 18 months to two full years that you can be working the record.
JC: But it'll be nice to slow down again, and think about the songs that we have and what's next. We've already recorded some demos. I'm not even in the headspace yet to think about releasing them, but it'll be before we know it.
JS: We've had these songs for a long time, but now that they're out, I'm like, “Holy shit, where did that time go?”
"...One of the main motivators to survive the pressure cooker of tour is just seeing how much people care, and growth, and everything like that's happened so far."
The Brook and The Bluff photographed by Tommy Moore in Chicago, IL.
TM: It's really your baby that's only been yours, but then all of a sudden it's gone, and it's so hard to wrap your head around.
AB: This tour will be the culmination of so much work we put in the last three years. We spent all of last year opening for people across the country, but we this will be the first like headline tour in major markets we've done. It'll be some of the biggest and coolest shows we've ever gotten to play. I feel like one of the main motivators to survive the pressure cooker of tour is just seeing how much people care, and growth, and everything like that's happened so far.
TM: I feel like the size you guys are at right now, you're hitting the perfect venues. Like when you guys come to Chicago, Thalia Hall’s the dream of mid-sized, gritty, Midwestern spots.
JS: Then like The Fonda in LA, and Webster Hall in New York. Some of the ones that you hear about when you're a teenager or something. It's a really cool thing to go out and be like, “Oh, shit. I'm on stage now.” It's exciting.
A Conversation With The Brook and The Bluff
Interview and Photos by Tommy Moore
Full Story Featured in DAYBREAK V.5: Home
The Brook and The Bluff are on tour throughout the Midwest and Southeast this spring. They're a bubbly bunch and have built a full, well run production out of all their headlining runs. The Brook and The Bluff tour tickets.