Churchill

     When you listen to music, whether it’s your favorite song or something you hear on the radio, you get a certain feeling or thought associated with the tune.  When Churchill’s singer, songwriter, Tim Bruns was asked what he ultimately wanted listeners to think when they heard his music, he answered with a slight laugh.  “I would love for them to think that they are happy. We want people to just have a good time, feel hopeful, and feel like life is good and that there is always a reason for living.  We just want to make people smile when they hear our music.”

     After writing songs ever since 7^th grade, Tim Bruns has created a band, with the assistance of Michael Morter, that has been ranked 4^th in the Denver Post’s Best Colorado Artists.  Bruns and Morter started off as a duo, but later added pianist and singer, Bethany Kelly, bassist, Tyler Rima, and drummer, Joe Richmond.  “When we started the band, we had heard Bethany sing at a church and really liked her voice…We later found out that she was an amazing piano player as well.  We had known Joe was a good producer and drummer, so we asked him to produce our record and to play drums as well.  We met Tyler at a wing place we use to always love going to and, after that, we learned he played bass” explains Bruns.

     With a fully formed band, the next step would be to find a record company.  Octone Records offered Churchill a contract, only to be shut down multiple times. However, “they just kept coming back and kept pursuing us and after some really good advice from our lawyer and some other people, we decided they were the label for us” Bruns tells us.  And with that decision the band put out their first full length album, “Happy/Sad, and started down their path to success.

     Every band has its influences and for Churchill, influences included The Fray and Switchfoot.  These bands did not only influence Churchill in their music, however.  “Switchfoot is known as some of the nicest people in the music business and we really want to learn to be like that and be kind to everyone.  We try to always be humble and be gracious for where we are and I think those guys have been very influential in us doing that” Bruns shares, also mentioning how The Fray is the same way.

     The band continued to grow with the rising popularity of their new single, “Change.”  Before Tim Bruns wrote this song, he had been listening to an artist known as Narles Barkley, who ended up having a small influence on the song.  “I was going to write song like Barkley’s song “Crazy,” but it didn’t really turn out like it at all” Bruns confesses. 

     Although the band is most known for their single, “Change,” the song is one of five on the band’s “Change EP.”  This EP has a slight difference from the band’s first album in the way it was recorded.  “We recorded Happy/Sad exactly how we play it live, while the EP has a lot of different layers.  This was the first time we had an electric guitar,” Bruns describes.  “We wanted to go for a little bit bigger sound.”  The challenge in creating the EP came not from recording the songs themselves, but from the variety in the songs. “Because the songs are all very different, I think the biggest challenge was making the production work in a way that all the songs still sounded like our band and not five songs by five different bands,” Bruns explains.

     But did the EP turn out how the band imagined? “It’s always fun to be in the studio,” Bruns answers.  “You never know what to expect, but I think we are all happy with how it turned out.”  Bruns even had a hard time picking one song as his favorite, realizing he loved playing all five of them. “I think “I Am Yours” is my favorite song,” Bruns decides.  “It is a little more personal to me.  It’s about a personal experience I went through and it always reminds me of that.  It’s close to my heart.”

     Churchill “never expected to be in LA recording a record and never expected to tour,” Bruns admits. “We all quit our jobs in December and are able to do this full time and do what we love.”  And that is exactly what the band intends to do with a full length album on the way. 

     Not much can be released about the band’s upcoming album, but what we do know is we can expect a much louder sound.  “We are going to have that kind of epic pop, rock sound,” Bruns explains thoughtfully.  “I’m really excited to see how it turns out.”

The Relapse Rebellion

The Relapse Symphony is a newly formed band from Washington D.C. that has been playing together since March of 2012.  The band consists of vocalist, Brett Von Dehl; guitarists, JC Charles and Alex Foxx; and drummer, Tyler Gloyd.  The members of the band had some connections before the band began, but they did not all meet until they decided to start The Relapse Symphony.  “Alex and I have known each other and played with each other in the past. Alex is my brother from another mother. Bret and Tyler knew each other, but I didn't know them at all until we started working together. Luckily we all clicked and now I consider them family,” notes guitarist JC Charles.  Now that the group is together, their band has become very popular in just a few months.  The band does not think of this growth in popularity as success, however.  “It has been really cool to see the fan base grow so quickly over the last few months. I guess we consider success being touring the entire world, playing to huge crowds, having our music in every record store we walk into. We definitely aren't there yet, and until then we will stay hungry and keep working hard every day” Charles says.

So far, the band has released an EP by the name of “Time’s Running Out.”  Don’t ask about their genus, however, because the Relapse Symphony does not have one. “This band doesn't care about what genre you call us, whether it be rock, pop-punk, pop, whatever- it doesn't matter. We all listen to everything and we enjoy incorporating elements of the various bands we love into all of our songs,” Charles comments.  The band’s songs do not have any specific theme, either, but all their songs are based on personal experiences.  “I had no idea what "Make Your Move" was about until after we recorded it, and then the meaning hit me,” Charles admits. But once they recorded the song, he realized that it was definitely based on personal experiences.

The Relapse Symphony intends to continue playing as a band as long as the fans want them to.  Speaking of fans, the band tries to connect with their fans.  When asked about their future goals for the band, Charles mentioned growing closer to and helping their fans: “I just want us to continue to build this amazing relationship with our fans. They remind us a lot of ourselves. The things they are going through now are things we all went through growing up, and I wish I had a band like us when I was going through rough times. I just hope the fan base continues to grow and we can keep meeting more amazing kids who like the same music we do.”

The Relapse Symphony is a band that I would recommend to any music lover! Check out their Facebook and give their songs a listen.  You won’t regret it!  A big thank you to JC Charles for taking time out of his day to let me interview him.

The Photo Atlas

     The Photo Atlas is a band that is into high energy, fast dance rock or punk.  The members of the band include singer/lead guitarist, Alan Andrews, guitarist, Bill Threlkeld III, Bassist, Mark Hawkins, and drummer, Josh Taylor.   “We started playing music together in junior high, we basically learned how to play our instruments together and have grown up together,” says Andrews.  The band began in 2004 under the name “The Atlas” but later learned that, that name was taken and changed it to “The Photo Atlas.”  “We basically did this when we went national and started touring” Andrew comments.  The band has released three CDs by the names of “Ways You Once Thought Were Shortcuts” in 2005, “No, Not Me, Never” in 2007, and “To Silently Provoke the Ghost” in 2009.  Alan Andrews also has a solo project called “Serious Moonlight” which is a kind of folk/country sort of thing.  “I’ve always loved playing music; it has been a struggle and a lot of fun and somewhat profitable.  But, I’d rather struggle to do what I love than do something that’s not creative or that is unsatisfying” Andrew tells us.  Last, the band will be releasing a new album in May and you can see them live on March 3^rd at Illegal Pete’s Downtown Denver before they go on tour.  I highly suggest this band to any concert goers or music listeners.  Thank you to Alan Andrews for letting me interview him.

The Epilogues

     The Epilogues started playing in Denver during 2004.  The members of the band include vocalist and lead guitarist, Chris Heckman, bassist, Jeff Swoboda, Keyboardist, Nathaniel Hammond, and drummer, Jason Hoke.  The band was started by Chris and Nate who had been long time friends. “Originally, they had a different drummer and bass player, but in 2006 I joined the band and in 2007 Jeff joined,” explains Hoke.  In the beginning, the band played anywhere they could get a gig.  When they finally got their current lineup and began taking things seriously, however, they were able to get many shows at the Marquis Theater in Denver.  Now they play at many theaters like Gothic, Bluebird, Ogden, and Fillmore.

     The band has put out one CD so far titled “The Beautiful, The Terrifying.”  This CD came out in 2008 and has a dancy yet dark theme that the band tried to stick to, defining who they were as a band.  “I think we’ve developed and evolved a bit since then as any artist does, but it still stands as our debut album and the framework to our band and what we are now,” says Hoke.  Some of the songs were written back in 2004, but they remained as popular singles for the band as of today.  “I think that albums ability to stand the test of time over the years came as sort of a shock to us, yet is something that we’re very proud of,” Hoke tells us.  

     The Epilogues also recorded a friendship EP with another local band called The Photo Atlas.  This CD was a split album in which each band released two new songs and also covered one of the other band’s tracks.  This CD is where The Epilogues most popular single “Hunting Season” debuted on.  “The Photo Atlas have been our brothers in the music world and we have always been finding new ways to work together and combine our efforts and this seemed like a great opportunity,” Hoke notes.  These two bands have since combined forces in order to start a group in Denver called The Inca House Collective.  This is a group of Denver based musicians, artists, businesses, ect that have been combining resources in order to create a large scale Denver movement that focuses around the rapidly growing music scene.