Brights

Ottawa's Brights bring back the year 2K

The end of the millennium.
Aggressive pop music. The college rock that should be. Songs with the same melodies and lyrical themes as the 1950s, done with originality and force. Bands that play loud, abrasive music and aren't afraid to wear their hearts on their sleeves. Dare I say, emotive at times. These aren't songs with poetic lyrics about cars and making money; nevertheless, it's the soundtrack for a new generation of kids who can't get into Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy.

Brights are a musical encapsulation of the year 2000, back when bands like Alkaline Trio, The Get Up Kids and Vagrant Records ruled the underground and managed to break into the mainstream. Heartbreakers, the band's debut release, is a testament to that era. The band is yet another offspring of Ottawa punk rock veterans Chris and PJ Catsiyannis (The Transit, This Is Rocket Science, Riot Service), the two once again rising to the top of the local scene, being one of Ottawa's up-and-coming bands. "We started playing together as a band for fun and things simply progressed from there," explains PJ. "Everything came together quickly and has been growing from there on."

On the surface, their influences are obvious to most. But beyond their love for late-'90s punk rock and emo, there exists a deep-rooted fondness for rock and post-punk. "We get a lot of comparisons to bands of the past 10 years, such as Hey Mercedes, but there's much more to our sound than that," elaborates PJ. Chris Catsiyannis describes their sound as

a realistic mix of two other relevant punk bands, along with a heavy note to American rock from the '80s. Coincidentally enough, both bands are Minneapolis-based - Hüsker Dü and The Replacements. "We're big fans of those bands. At the same time, we're still making music that's our own," explains Chris.

The band haven't wasted a moment since their birth less than a year ago. Along with a slew of recent high-profile shows and the release of Heartbreakers on Toronto's Square Up! Records, they've managed to heist a slot at Bluesfest this July, side by side with Stars and Jason Collett. Musically, it's far from a match made in heaven, but an incredible leap for the band regardless. "It's a great opportunity for us. We're really anxious to push this record," Chris confesses. In addition to the Bluesfest gig, other touring plans forecast a busy summer ahead for Ottawa's Brights. - Ottawa Xpress

It’s always refreshing when a band buck a current trend they could pretty easily latch onto. Ottawa’s Brights write powerful, catchy pop punk songs that would make them a shit-ton of coin if they opted to clean up all the mid-’90s emo influences in their sound. Instead, the band make an earnest leap into the heyday of a genre led by bands like the Get Up Kids and Hey Mercedes, adding some of the vitriol of Jimmy Eat World’s Static Prevails and the hooks of early Moneen. Ultimately, Heartbreakers will resonant with anyone who thinks that earnestness abandoned pop punk in 1999, as Brights bring back all the driving, anthemic catchiness that got sold out for tight jeans and haircuts when everyone turned 21. - Exclaim