Chris Brady

27 Jun 2007

CHRIS BRADY has slept past midday after a long night recording, so JAKEB SMITH goes and grabs lunch before calling the sleepy local singer/songwriter back.

Chris Brady is a man of change. He's just started jamming a new band for his next show at The Zoo, before he jets overseas in August. He does normally have a band, but they weren't available. "I kind of did have a band but lately they've all been busy with their own bands so they haven't been able to play on the same night as me," Brady says frankly. "I had to get basically a whole new band."

The line-up is now looking as all-star as ever, with Crystal Radio's Murray Johnson on bass; Jon Weber of Idle Cranes playing lead guitar; 2010's Adrian Wilson on keys; and Dave Gilbert from Andrew Morris And The Dry Bones hitting the skins. And after a couple of rehearsals, Brady says it's all working out quite well.

"The band's more into the music I think, playing these songs with them just makes them sound really good. The dynamics are really coming together, and I think that will have a big impact on the night, using the dynamics in the songs with these guys will really drive it in the heavy bits and pull back in the soft bits. They really know when to go for it or when not to and add a whole other level of intensity."

Brady admits pulling everything together at the last minute has been a little stressful though.

"It was a bit of a rush, I was a bit worried at one stage. I was ringing up my old guitarist going 'are you sure you can't play? What time are you going on for your gig?' and he was like 'no we're playing at 10' and I'm like 'oh no, we're playing at 10 too'. And I was like 'fuck, who am I going to call?'"

Not Ghostbusters, but perhaps Qantas. Brady has decided to leave Brisbane behind for now, flying out of the country to Ireland in August: a tough move. "It will be a bit hard because all the people that I like to do music with will be in Australia," he says, optimistic despite the level of competition he'll face solo.

"It's pretty intense, the kind of people that are fighting for gigs over there. I think it's exciting, it offers up a lot of possibilities and it'll be a lot of new inspiration for songs."

Brady has established some infrastructure for himself already though, via the internet. "I have a manager over there now that I met on MySpace and he was really keen," he chirps, excited by the prospect of having someone share his current workload.

"He's going to setup gigs and just take care of all the business really, which is good because I do all of that here. It will give me time to relax and write some news songs and take in the culture and hopefully get some good music out of it."

Good music indeed Chris Brady, godspeed.

You can catch Chris Brady and all-star band at The Zoo Saturday, supporting Mia Dyson. His debut album, Satellites, is available now on iTunes, at local music stores or from www.myspace.com/chrisbradymusic

- Rave Magazine www.ravemagazine.com.au

Time Off Mag http://www.timeoff.com.au/index1.php?area=Archive&pg=42&subarea=190&sel=6143&showcontent=6143

Backed by a four-piece band, local singer-songwriter Chris Brady runs through the bulk of material from his recently-released debut album Satellites. The feel-good pop of 'Happy' and 'Everytime' exemplify Brady's broad vocal range, while the rocking 'Satellites', the psychedelic 'Corruption', and the seductively epic 'Mexican Eyes' in turn reveal Brady's true stylistic depth. VINCENT GAMBINI

Faster Louder review http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/reviews/events/9695/Mia-Dyson-Chris-Brady-Blackwater-Fever-The-Zoo-Brisbane-30062007.htm

Chris Brady opens with low-key gentle tunes characterised by mellow, yearning vocals and guitar harmonies that float along on a stream of bongo-laden percussion. The tempo accelerates when his band strikes up Mexican Eyes, though, and the fast-growing crowd laps up the staccato Spanish beats. Corruption, from Brady's debut album, follows, slow to begin, but peaking in a wondrous crescendo of percussion and haunting, eastern-tinged guitars. Brady finally rounds out the set with a brash and funky rendition of the Doors-like Satellite, leaving the punters well-warmed for the main act. DEMOSTHENES


Rave Mag http://www.ravemagazine.com.au/content/view/4246/82/

Then it's Chris Brady. Support acts are so often dismissed but this guy makes a connection with the crowd that, although unexpected by both parties, makes us grin that little bit more.
LEE HUTCHISON

- Time Off magazine, fasterlouder.com, Rave Magazine

In between his numerous other musical occupations, local singer-songwriter Chris Brady has been gradually piecing together his own debut long-player Satellites, and the result is a well-rounded collection that showcases Brady's multitude of diverse musical personae. Recorded with the help of numerous local identities but predominantly featuring multi-instrumentalist Brady, Satellites reveals a clear songwriting progression from Brady's preceding release Mexican Eyes.

Spanning every nuance of guitar music from upbeat rocker ('Let You In', 'Satellite') to introspective balladry ('In My Life', 'Burning') to Spanish ('Mexican Eyes') to airy psychedelica ('Frenchie'), picking a favourite from the bunch is no easy task. 'Everytime' stands out as a slice of breezy, feel-good 60s pop that could well pass as a Beatles B-side.

The album's centrepiece is the two-part 'Corruption' - a social comment on the recent corruption within the Victorian and Queensland police forces. Opening with a simply strummed acoustic tune, the song traverses many musical seas before climaxing with a dizzying spell of eastern-influenced soloing by Brady. Expect many more good things from this local boy.

3.5/5 (Justin Grey) - Time Off Magazine

CHRIS BRADY 'Mexican Eyes' (Jarsonic Records)

Brisbane is overflowing with the safe singer/songwriter types at the moment, therefore it comes as a refreshing surprise to stumble across this EP - a taster of what's to come on his forthcoming album - and Brady's fearless attitude to making something a little obscure. The title track is an outstanding opener coming at you like an indie-Springsteen via Brandon Flowers taking a cruise through a hot desert in a convertible Cadillac. The subsequent tracks - 'Happy', 'In My Life' and 'Frenchie' - are revealing, moody glances into the head of the singer. Bring on the album Brady! (BP)
- Time Off Magazine

Chris Brady takes the stage with a five piece band including keyboards and bongo drums and reveals later on that this is the first time the band has played together. Chris Brady's music is mellow and acoustically based, at times leaning towards a more experimental sound especially with the song Corruption which has an eerie keyboard line and the softly sung lyrics 'One day you're gonna pay'. He breezes through songs including the more stripped back love song Frenchie , the melancholy ballad In My Life and the up tempo marching beat of Mexican Eyes from his soon to be released debut album Satellites.

He ends the set with the title track of his album, an up tempo number which even includes an extended guitar solo which once again goes to show that just because you play acoustic guitar doesn't mean you can't rock out with the best of them.
- FasterLouder.com

Since the late 2006 release of his stellar debut album Satellites, singer-songwriter Chris Brady, pictured, has gone from strength to strength. He's secured a european management deal, digitally released the album worldwide, and is about to embark on his first overseas tour. Now, Brady has also been awarded the support slot for Mia Dyson's upcoming local shows at Soundlounge Friday June 29 and the Zoo Saturday Jun 30. he's also supporting Brant Ward at the troubadour Sunday Jul 15. You little beauty! - Time Off Magazine

CHRIS BRADY

ON HIS DEBUT long-player Satellites, Chris Brady inhabits multiple personae - a dreamy introvert, an upbeat rocker, a social commentator, a country-tinged troubadour, and a sexy, bullfighting balladeer - yet under each of these guises the local singer-songwriter excels.

“It wasn’t a conscious decision,” Brady says of his stylistic variances. “With the way I write songs, it swaps all around style-wise, and in the end the style of the song is the best vehicle to get out the meaning of the song. You could turn [album track] ‘Everytime’ into a punk song, but it had a bit more charm doing it in a Beatles-ey, country style.

“With the lyrics it has to be the right feel, and the different styles come through because the feeling of the song is what dictates the style of the music. So if it feels that it should do that, than that’s just what happens, rather than trying to stick to one style or let the style engross me.”

Brady recorded Satellites over a 12-month period, in between his duties as bassist for Andrew Morris.

“It started with the four tracks that we’re on the EP Mexican Eyes,” Brady explains, “and I did those just with Raf [producer]. Then I started to put a band together to play a few gigs, and they started coming into the studio to play on the new songs. The drumming was a big factor - it put the tracks into a certain feel and put a direction to the songs.

“It’s definitely a progression musically and lyrically, and I think that the album has the full spectrum of Chris Brady. It has a lot of the more upbeat rock songs like ‘Let You In’ and ‘Satellite’, and it’s got some more introspective ones, and some country-tinged ones.”

Satellites’ centre-piece is ‘Corruption’ - a two-part song that was inspired by recent news headlines.

“That was a strange song to write actually,” Brady admits. “There was all that stuff about the police being corrupt in Victoria, and I think that’s a rather big problem in Queensland at the moment. Also, it relates to governments, especially the American government, which is obviously corrupt and dying from the inside. All of that really frustrated me and I had all these emotions going on, and ‘Corruption’ came out straight away.

“I recorded it acoustically and then I got the electric guitar out and I only did one take. There are a lot of mistakes on there, which actually ended up being quite good. I had no idea what I was playing the whole time and those are the notes I just happened to hit. I’d hit a right note, then a wrong note, then a right note, then a wrong note and it ended up being this eastern-Indian thing. Listening back to it really surprised me.”

The first single off Satellites is the upbeat opening track ‘Let You In’.

“‘Let You In’ is one of those songs where personally I’m not sure of it,” Brady reveals, “but it seems to be the one that people like and think has immediacy. It’s one of those songs that the artist doesn’t get but everyone else seems to.”

Chris Brady launches Satellites at The Troubadour Friday Feb 2.

JUSTIN GREY
- Time Off magazine

After first cutting his teeth in local punk-rock combo Jilted, Chris Brady has spent recent years as a gun for hire, including session performances with the likes of Andrew Morris, Bernard Fanning, The Boat People, Halfday and James Grehan.

Of late, his role has expended to a permanent guernsey in Andrew Morris and the Dry Bones, but all the while he's been quietly honing his own swag of juicy tunes.

The first of those have seen the light of day on the EP Mexican Eyes, which is available for download on Jarsonic Records from iTunes or Streaming on his Myspace. The Ep will be followed by his debut album, Satellites, set for release next February.
As Brady explains the digital EP was designed to serve as a taster of what's to come.

"I wanted to save it more for the album," Chris Brady says of his songwriting. "You get a better idea from a singer-songwriter from an album as opposed to an EP, especially with my songwriting, as its not in any one syle in particular. There's lots of different styles on the album.

"The four EP tracks were recorded first then I started playing around with a few friends and got a little band together (that) played Rics's etc. It started sounding really good, so we jumped in the studio and finished off the album. The band did about half the tracks but the EP was mainly just myself and Raf, who's the producer at Jarsonic. It was just me and him sitting in the room recording stuff and having fun with it."

The EP's title track, "Mexican Eyes", boasts rich Spanish-tinged staccato strums and a tale that Brady swears is a figment of his imagination.
"It's a fun song about being in a bar and getting drunk and seeing that girl across the bar and catching her eye, and she has that glint in her eye. That's what the song is all about. There's lots of references to tequila and margaritas in there..."

More of an old romantic, Brady says the song is no reflection of his behaviour in bars.

"Thats not normal for me, I never do that," he laughs. "It just cam out of my head. It actually never happened to me... but I don't mind going out to bars and spending the whole night there and having fun.

"I'm not really sure how the song came about... I just started playin git and started singing this thing about Mexican eyes and then kind of built the song around that. i had this idea of a really smoky bar and hazy drunkenness. I thought I'd just try and capture that in a song and the Mexican thing just sits nicely in that. Everybody seems to like it when I play it live."

Although the album won't be out til the new year, punters can enjoy a taster when Brady plays the Powerhouse this Sunday afternoon.
"I'll be playing all the songs off the album and the EP. I might be getting a bongo player along as well to add a bit of percussion to the day instead of just playing solo."
Matt Connors, Editor, Time Off Magazine, Brisbane. - Timeoff magazine