Roll of the Dice: 8 questions with Brackish

Have you checked out Rear View, yet? The fantastic new record from Brackish is so damn good! TGEFM highly recommends you click here to download, press play on the record and then check out our interview with vocalist Connor Byrne below and then listen to Rear View again and again and again and again.

Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview. Congrats on the recent release of Rear View!  What can you tell us about Brackish and this record for readers just discovering the band?

Salutations! We’re four guys in our thirties who have been playing music since we were teenagers. That’s a lot of basements and bars but we live to tell the tale. We started out in Philadelphia and now we’re back in New Jersey where we were raised. We put out a full length record in 2022 ourselves with the exception of two songs that were recorded by Ace Enders from The Early November.

What album or band or significant singles made you go “Yeah, this is what I want to do”  Not just an influence but who or what was the catalyst?

When I was in high school I would wake up every morning to my CD player alarm clock blaring Tell All Your Friends by Taking Back Sunday and Thursday‘s Full Collapse. Both of those records gave me a special impression where it was like “you might be able to write a song that can mean something to somebody.”

Rear View fittingly, features a sound invoking the mid 00s pop-punk/emo sound.  With albums like yours along with the recently announced return of Warped Tour and When We Were Young Fests, that whole sound is having something of a resurgence.  What do you think is going on recently, thats brough this scene back to the forefront?

We’re of the opinion this sound hasn’t really gone anywhere. It’s only expanding. Whether it was the 90’s, early aughts, or the mega-breakout of Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance – the world of emo and punk bands has only gotten bigger. That’s good for the entire community. The reason the name felt right was because we’ve gone from leaving New Jersey to returning to New Jersey. Even just growing up in NJ, it’s a ton of driving and commuting. It felt right to return with the new material we had and acknowledge our physical departure from Philadelphia, PA where the band started. We only live a half an hour away but it is still sentimental. 

We’ve all got a few, what is your biggest regret? A gig you turned down, advice you didn’t take, what one thing do you wish you handled differently as a musician?

Don’t worry about what other people are doing. Focus on taking the next best steps specifically for you on improving your songs, shows, or whatever it is you’re pursuing. It’s great to make friends who are talented and it’s even better when they do well, be happy for them. Don’t feed into the feeling you need to be doing exactly what they’re doing. It’s a huge waste of time comparing yourself to others. There are so many different types of artists and their stories are all different. Music can be so many things but most importantly it needs to be fun to do. 

What have been some of the most memorable moments or experiences as a touring musician so far? What’s been the most unexpected? The weirdest?

One time that sticks out in particular, It was 2019 and we were in Chicago and the entire tour was going great but our show fell through that night. Last minute the promoter for the original show lets us know about another show we could hop on and open up. Thirty minutes outside of Chicago there’s a suburb called Naperville and we played a house show’s last show. It was packed the entire time and from the moment we started people started dancing. It was a beautiful thing to kind of accidentally walk into, everyone was really nice and made sure we felt included. It was just such a major relief in the moment that the only show of the tour that might have ended up a wash turned out to be the best one of all.

One of our obligatory questions in these interviews also tends to be the one I have found most important on a personal level. Who are some bands on your radar that TGEFM readers may not know about, but you think they should?

The original drummer for Brackish is in a great band called Cabana Wear with friends of ours. Also our pals Soft No and Color Charge. We played with our pals Awakebutstillinbed last time they were in Philly and they introduced us to Like Roses who I’ve definitely had in heavy rotation since seeing them. Also I hope everyone checks out Greg Mendez, he’s such an incredible songwriter and it was always fun playing with him. We listen to a lot of music so it feels like we’re always leaving somebody out but these are good to start.

Now that the world has its hands on the record,  what’s next for Brackish?

We’re already writing new songs. Part of getting this EP out was to sort of clear the board for what’s coming next. The new stuff hopefully will connect even more than what we have released.

What do you wish I asked about or that you had more of an opportunity to speak about during this interview?

I think it stinks that the Spotify CEO gets to walk around in public without loud boo’s and people throwing milkshakes at him. Artists deserve to be paid more for their work. It matters at all levels.

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Roll of the Dice is a short interview format with a variable amount of questions. A pair of dice is rolled and the total, between 2 and 12, is the amount of questions we can ask. All questions are given to the interviewee(s) at once, and no follow-ups are allowed. The interview may be lightly edited for content and clarity.