We give Oklahoma garage rock three-piece Broncho a New Noise grilling ahead of their sophomore release, ‘Just Enough Hip To Be Woman’
Having caused quite the commotion with their debut LP ‘ Can’t Get Past The Lips’, Oklahoma garage rock three-piece Broncho, are back with their forthcoming sophomore album – ‘Just Enough Hip To Be a Woman’, out this September. Another dosage of their signature indie rock, infectious pop melodies and jagged hooks, their catchy retro garage sounds are set to infiltrate the mainstream. Currently on a 30-date national tour across the US, the guys took time out of their busy schedule for a New Noise grilling with Wonderland…
Tell us a bit about what you’ve been up to over the past three years since your first album was released?
We’ve turned into a group of real gentlemen since the first record came out. We have been on the road almost non stop since then. Personal health is a topic that has come up as of late. It’s not necessarily being met, but we are thinking about it.
Good to hear! So how do you feel you’ve progressed as a band since “Can’t Get Passed The Lips”?
The songs have progressed a lot since the first record, progression keeps our attention. Fashion keeps our attention too. We’re always in search of that balance, between having fun and getting things done. It’s important for us to keep things loose, I create better in an environment where things are loose. It’s important for us to not box ourselves in, that tends to dampen creativity for our personalities. We are our only boundaries. We like to keep expanding ourselves personally and finding ways to create through that personal expansion.
Talk us through your process when putting a track together…
Coming up with a general idea or structure to a song comes first. Then we can either record the idea or start playing it live. Both are great ways of finishing a song, but songs that work live don’t always work on record and vice versa. Figuring out how to make songs work in both mediums helps me sleep better at night. It’s always best when I keep an open mind about the idea as well. It helps keep everyone involved rather than being stuck to my initial idea, a balance between the two keeps the process going, while still including the group around me.
What’s the most surreal experience you’ve ever had?
We were playing a show in mobile Alabama a couple years ago at the Alabama music box. That part of mobile looks a lot like the french quarter in new orleans. After the show we were hanging out in front of the club and the owners were telling us about how the venue was used as a hospital during the civil war, and there were numerous ghost stories associated with the building. In the middle of our conversation this guy walks by us and says 12:23. No one thought much about it and we went on with our night. The next night we were in new orleans, in the French quarter, and a gentlemen started telling us about his great great grandfather who had been a doctor during the civil war. He wore a necklace that had been passed down through the generations that had the number of people who had died in his great great grandfathers care. Inscribed on the necklace was the number 1223 . I got up to go outside and smoke, when a stranger walked up to me and asked me the time. . . it was 12:23. In shock, I looked up to tell him the time, and he was gone. Doing acid in vegas is always surreal too.
Very surreal… Talk us through your thought-process when putting together a new record…
It can be as simple as having a bunch of songs, or ideas for songs. Somewhere in the process they all will end up sounding like they should be on the same record (hopefully). But the initial ideas don’t always reflect that. My writing can be very schizophrenic. I like turning a ballad into a broncho song. Using broncho as a filter for any song idea is an experiment. We have played in all kinds of bands together, and we view this band as another personality to our multi-personality disorder. I think its healthy to explore all possible sides to broncho, rather than keeping it to one idea and knocking out records with that narrow view of the band. It might be better business to keep it to one personality, but I don’t think it’s as entertaining.
A lot of people believe that organically making music with real instruments is dying out, how do you respond to this view?
Instruments will forever progress and change, so I’m not to worried about it. There was a time when guitars were viewed as a bad influence. The spirit of originality can be lost on people that value tradition to much. I also get the idea of being bummed out by everyone jumping on a certain type of music/instrument that is popular at the time. When everyone is playing keyboards, it’s easy to be like fuck that, we’re playing guitars. But living purely on the idea of not touching a keyboard is just as stupid to me.
Finally, if you could support any act in the world, dead or alive, who would it be?
Iggy pop, he’s my James brown.
Broncho’s new album ‘Just Enough Hip To Be Woman’ out September 16th.