I chatted with Chris from Plaid Brixx about their music and their experience performing at Ottobar recently.
Q: How did the band form?
A: Mark, the drummer, and I went to high school together and played together in a band. We weren’t great at the time but we had a lot of fun and so when I finished college and was looking to form a new band, Mark is the first person I called. Jared was a fan that came to one of our shows…one thing led to another and now he is our bass player.
Q: Who inspires you? (personally or musically)
A: Musically, there are a lot of great artists that have provided inspiration for me including Ryan Tedder, Max Martin, Bruno Mars, to name a few. Right now, I am really into the creativity of Grimes… I love that she writes and produces all her own music as well as her videos and live performances.
Q: What is your songwriting process?
A: There are lots of pieces to my process. First, I try to write some music every day…some days are obviously better than others! I start with the beats and then layer on the melodies. Lyrics come last once I have a feel for where I want to go with the song. And then once the song is done, I go back and re-write and re-write and re-write until I think it’s as good as I can make it.
Q: What is your favorite song of yours and why?
A: No one has heard it yet! As a songwriter, my goal is to always improve, to take my craft to the next level. So the songs I have ready for release later this year are, in my opinion, the best so far. However, for the songs that have been released so far, my favorite is “Don’t Look Down” because I am so proud of writing it and of the fan reaction to the song. We did an animated video and it has more than 500,000 views so far…and the fan comments about the song have been so favorable.
Q: What was it like filming the music video for “Since You Came”
A: Filming this music video was one of the best experiences for me. It was my first effort at developing a script and also being involved in the costumes and casting. We worked with Paul Cunningham of Cool World Photography and he identified a great location with sand dunes and water (Silver Lake Park in Michigan) and then did an amazing job on the film. And of course, the shoot itself was great fun….a fabulous location filming with friends and beautiful women…does it get better??
Q: What’s the hardest part of touring? Best part?
A: The best part is performing, visiting a lot of great cities and venues and getting to meet our fans and make new fans all over the country. The most difficult part is the logistics…lots of driving, loading and unloading, staying in hotels. But we are having a fabulous time because of our fans and hope to tour again soon.
Q: How was performing in Baltimore with We The Kings?
A: This was our first performance in Baltimore and we really liked the city and Ottobar. We had some excellent tandoori chicken at a place down the street from the venue. And we are having a great time with We the Kings …they put on an amazing performance and are really easy to work with. The other bands on the tour, Cute Is What We Aim For and Astro Lasso, are also very talented and fun to tour with.
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