The Bread Brothers

LOCAL MUSIC SPOTLIGHT: The Bread BrothersAthens’ own The Bread Brothers, who recently competed in the Road to Roo competition, put on by 106.1 WNGC, Power 100.1, and 103.7 Chuck FM cultivate an alternative rock sound that has been compared to Jet, The Strokes and Kings of Leon.

Classiccitytoday.com had the opportunity to ask guitarist Cody Provost some questions about how The Bread Brothers got their start and their experiences along the way.

Q: Where did the name The Bread Brothers come from?

A: It’s actually from the movie A Clockwork Orange. It’s not in the book, but it’s in the movie. There’s a scene where the main guy is going through the records and naming off band names and Bread Brothers was one of them. That ended up being the final name.

Q: How did you guys all come together and decide to form a band?

A: It started with Aaron, the lead singer. He was writing songs and wanted to get a band, and said it was time to get something started. I actually wasn’t even in the band originally. It was just him and our bassist, Remington and the lead guitarist, Alex. Then after that, they went through a couple drummers and about a year after that it ended up being the lineup it is now, with Cameron playing drums and me playing guitar. We’ve been together for about a year. Remington, Aaron and I all met at work together, and we all shared an interest in music. Alex is a friend of Remington’s. Then, we just saw Cameron play drums at a show one time and asked him if he wanted to be the drummer. It was kind of like friends from the get go, and then just eventually formed into a group.

Q: Which is your favorite song to perform and why?

A: My favorite song to play is a song called “Whole”. It’s an original song. That’s one of our newer songs we have written. It just came together really well. It was actually the second song we had written for our current lineup. It kind of showed the evolution of what it was before to what it is now with the current lineup. It kind of gave a glimpse of what it could be going forward. It’s a very fun song to play. It’s a very catchy song, and a lot of people we’ve played it for have loved it.

Q: Who writes your songs? Do you all come together to write them or does one specific person usually write them?

A: Up until now it’s been mostly Aaron who writes the songs. Me, personally, I’ve dipped my pen in the ink a little bit and written out some stuff. Aaron comes up with the foundation and he usually gets on acoustic, and then I learn my part. Then, we get with the drummer and the bassist. We all come together and get with Alex. It’s become like a formula almost. We are starting to venture out to everyone writing a little bit here and there. Everyone kind of writes their own part to shape and shift the song into different directions from the original idea to what it ends up being in the end.

Q: Where was the most exciting/interesting place you have ever performed and why?

A: We haven’t played a whole lot of different places for the most part, but recently we were invited to play in Greenville, South Carolina. I guess what is interesting about it is that it really helped us grow in a short amount of time into a much better band. We were asked to do it in January. We were super excited and were like, “yeah we will do it” and then they were like, “Alright, well you have to play a 2 hour and 15 minute set.” At the time we only had maybe about 40 minutes worth of material so we had to come up with the rest of the material in a little less than two months. From that point until the show, we worked really hard and practiced as much as we could because we all work pretty much full time. We would get together and it forced us to write new songs. We also learned a bunch of cover songs. We probably hated each other a lot of the times and yelled at each other. We would really get on each other’s nerves at times, but at the end we did the show. I think it was 19 or 20 songs we got together in that time frame, and then we did the show and it went really well. We were super excited, and when it was done we had a moment of reflection of hey, I can’t believe we just did that. I can’t believe all this trouble, all the hard work, all the good moments and new stuff we came up with in that short amount of time was really rewarding. That was really the most exciting part about it. It was more of an internal thing. It was a good show, a decent crowd and people who were there loved it. It was out of town, out of our comfort zone in a way. The next night we played in Atlanta at Smith’s Olde Bar and that show was really exciting. It was only an hour set so we were like oh, we’ve got this. We did really well. The people who were there brought friends who had never seen us, and after we got done playing they were just blown away. Our expectations honestly were not very high and it went really, really well.

Q: Do you have any memorable fan experiences?

A: One memorable experience was when we played a show at Caledonia [Lounge], and our friend Edwin was moving back to Brazil the following week. He was just going wild and crazy. It was something about him being Brazilian, I think. There weren’t a whole lot of people, but there was a decent amount. He was crowd surfing, acting a fool. He had maybe a little too much fun, but we fed off of that. When he started doing that other people started getting a little crazy, so we were rocking a little harder on stage. We felt good energy and it was a good experience. That was another good show. We haven’t had many individual fan experiences, but that one was one for the books for sure.

Q: Do you guys have any preshow rituals?

A: #1 ritual is no one drink too much, I guess. We get together, kind of like getting in a huddle before playing football. Just kind of like, “Okay, do this. Don’t do this. Don’t mess this part up.” But no particular ritual other than those two things…the huddle and making sure everyone is clear headed and ready to play.

Q: If you could describe each band member with one emoji, which one would it be and why?

A: Hahaha. I don’t want to make anyone mad.



Aaron (vocalist, guitarist): Let’s make Aaron a kitty cat. I don’t know why. I just think it’s funny.

Cody (guitarist): I guess for me, of course I’m going to pick the coolest one. I’m trying to find my spirit animal. Um…There’s a joker card. I see that. I guess I’ll be the joker card because I can be a wild card on stage sometimes. I’ll just do something completely random.

Alex (lead guitarist): I want to make Alex a poodle because he’s just so elegant.

Remington (bassist): Remington is a skyscraper because he’s so tall. I’m tall too, but he’s like, outrageously tall. (and because there is no giraffe emoji).

Cameron (drummer): Cameron would be the snowflake because he’s just so chill.

Q: Where do you guys want to be in five years? Do you still want to be playing? Do you want to focus more on your full-time jobs? Or focus more on your band?

A: Five years from now? If we are still together in five years I would hope that we have reached a level to where we could all just quit our jobs and play music all the time. Yeah, I guess in five years from now if we’re not playing at Madison Square Garden, then we’ve failed as a band.

Q: So music is definitely something you guys are really passionate about and want to do full time? It’s not just a hobby?

A: I mean, as much as we yell at each other, it doesn’t feel like just a hobby. We’re making it a job, which is good because we are serious about it. We want people to at least give us some respect for our music. They don’t have to love our music, but respect the fact that we work hard and really want to make something of it. We’ve gotten to the point now where we are starting to write some really good songs, and we are going to record again soon and start playing more shows. We are willing to progress forward, but we are also realistic right now at the same time because we are so young and we all work. We all understand there’s a certain tipping point where we might have to be like, “Okay, we have to each make a choice. What’s it going to be?” Until then, we are enjoying it while we can. The most important part is to make sure A. we write the best songs we can write and B. have a good time and enjoy ourselves. That’s going pretty well, so we will keep on doing that and see where it goes.

Q: Is there anything you wanted to add?

A: One thing, we are trying to work really hard and I feel like the local Athens scene is great for musicians, but I’ve noticed some aspects of it where it’s hard to break in in some ways if you’re not in a certain genre. There are some bands out there that we feel like we’re at least on par with, but it’s hard to get spots. We’ve been kind of struggling to book shows around Athens, but outside of Athens has done pretty well. In Athens recently, it’s been going a lot better, but it’s kind of like clawing and fighting for it. One thing about us is we are really working hard. I just really want people to know that. They don’t have to love us or love our music, but if they could just give us a chance. We are working forward and ultimately just want to get mutual respect from one musician to another musician or one band to another band. That’s one of the things that everyone kind of agrees on, and we take that as motivation to push us to get better.

The Bread Brothers will play on the Georgia Theatre Rooftop on May 20th with Voodoo Visionary.

Follow their other upcoming shows and music here:

https://www.facebook.com/thebreadbrothers

https://twitter.com/breadbrosband

https://instagram.com/thebreadbrothers/

https://thebreadbrothers.bandcamp.com/ - Classic City Today

May 20, 2015 at Georgia Theatre in Athens, GA.

Beginning the road to CounterPoint Music Festival with a free show on the rooftop of the Georgia Theatre! Voodoo Visionary will be joining The Bread Brothers for a special co-bill on Wednesday May 20th!

May 20, 2015
Georgia Theatre Rooftop
Doors at 9pm
No Cover!

Set times:
10:00 – The Bread Brothers
11:00 – Voodoo Visionary

Voodoo Visionary
“While genre conventions are clearly upheld, driving rhythms, blistering lead guitar, and gospelesque lyrics, Voodoo Visionary escape the generic and create their own space, capitalizing on what works within funk as a genre. These guys will no doubt jam easily into the college bar scene, keeping the waning hippie contingent well fueled with healthy servings of funk. For that matter, Voodoo Visionary maintains the spirit of bump and sway in an otherwise monolithic universe of EDM. Before robots usurped dance music, this was what you dropped doses to. This is what outer space looked like from fifty thousand feet.” – Jon Litten, The Artifact Magazine
Voodoo Visionary is made up of Dennis Dowd (keys), Vanessa Graniero (vocals), Jimmy Lynch (bass), Scott MacDonald (vocals), Mac Schmitz (drums), and Mike Wilson (guitar). Wilson, Schmitz, and Lynch have been jamming together for over 8 years, during which time they built a unique chemistry that allows for exceptional improvisation during live shows. MacDonald joined the group in July 2013 as the lead vocalist and Voodoo Visionary began writing new music and playing shows immediately. Dowd joined the band in March 2014 providing a missing link that enhanced the band’s unique sound, and the group has taken off around the Atlanta music scene. Graniero is the newest member of the group, lending her vocal talent that takes the music to the next level.
Voodoo Visionary closed out their inaugural year in 2013 by performing on New Year’s Eve with Zach Deputy. They have also been direct support for acts such as Col. Bruce Hampton, Full Service, and Futurebirds and performed at the RAW Artists Atlanta showcase in September 2014 held at Terminal West. In October, the band made a live radio and TV appearance on WUGA’s It’s Friday program. They have just release their debut album, “Spirit of the Groove,” on March 12, 2015

The Bread Brothers
What started as a standard rock outfit has now progressed into a solidified mold of sound amongst the members of the group. This melodic, yet hard hitting music shows many colors of the band’s background and is transforming evermore into something special with each new song that is written. With comparisons to modern rock acts like The Strokes and Kings of Leon, The Bread Brothers look to use such influences as a boost into their own creative infrastructure. - evensi