I Don't Know What to Say: An Interview with Best Behavior
The mid-1960s brought a variety of rock and pop groups from
the UK over to the US, from The Beatles to The Rolling Stones to The Dave Clark
Five. The British Invasion created a cultural impact that still influences
musicians today, including Brooklyn’s Best Behavior.
The garage pop band released their first album, Good Luck Bad Karma, in 2015 and has
played alongside acts such as The Darkness and The Struts. When their EP, Things That Happened, was completed in
2016, producer Justin Gerrish saw one of their live performances and offered to
have the band re-record the EP at his private studio.
Although re-recording added another year to their release
date, the learning experience made up for it. “From my perspective, even though
there are fewer songs than on the debut, the scope of Things That Happened is much more ambitious than anything Best
Behavior has ever done,” bassist Daniel Jacobson said. “Look, we've all heard
the Brooklyn fuzz sound, and while an aspect of that desire to just fuck it and
make noise will always be in my heart, I think we all wanted to see how
polished and filled out of a record we could make. The thought was: let’s take
everything that makes Good Luck Bad Karma
great and just bring into sharp, naked focus. Take away all of the trappings of
the early 2000s garage rock throwback thing, and just let the songs shine.”
Vocalist Alex Gruenburg didn’t go into writing this record
with a theme or message. His writing process involves isolation, playing music
for hours alone and coming out with material that he’s proud of.
“Alex is a solitary writer, and once he begins to explore a
musical idea he tries to see it from all these different angles,” Jacobson
said. “All of the songs on Things That
Happened are a part of that same bedroom world. They all have things in
common, certain types of progressions, sounds and structures. They are
influenced by everything that he's ever listened to. It's less a formula than
acknowledging, through a slow and painful process of trial and error what
conventions are rewarding and what conventions aren't.”
Their reward was released earlier this month; four songs in
the form of harmonious vocals and reverb-heavy guitars. It’s the sound they
grew up on, the sound they’ve idolized, the sound they wanted to create. From
their British Invasion forefathers to now, Best Behavior keeps the time-honored
sound alive.
0 comments