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Phone interview with Jonathan Brightman of Black Robot

February 15th 2010, Los Angeles CA

Andrew: Your debut album is coming out in April. Talk a little bit about that.
JB: We had an EP out digitally available and now we're getting ready to put this record out and we're pretty excited about it. Well what we did was, we went into the studio and we did a lot of work all at once. We made an 11-song record and we sold it independently and people were calling from all over the world, we were mailing them from Egypt all the way to Ireland, Japan and all over the world. It was pretty amazing that we were able to sell a lot of copies just doing it the old fashioned way. One of the things that we didn't want to do again was to wind up with a major label. So we had to figure out how, and I was even selling them on eBay. What happened is we decided that we want to give it a chance to get distribution and we started out own label. The first thing we put out for digital release-only was 'The Battle For Tokyo'. It has six songs that are also on the record that's coming out in April. The full length record that's gonna be coming out in stores everywhere, that is going to have 13 songs on it. We did two more songs to add to the record and they sound really good. I'm pretty excited about the fact that we were able to go back and add a couple more songs into the record. We are releasing it on CD. The way this record is, we made it just like an old school record. We used a lot of vintage amplifiers, microphones and everything, so we're hoping that we'll get some sales under our belt and then when we see it being a worthwhile thing, we'll get it up on vinyl.

Andrew: What's going on with the band touring wise? You must be hoping to play some gigs to promote this album.
JB: Yeah we're going to do a West Coast tour. We're trying to book some stuff for the release of the record around April and May and we're going to take a look and see if we can make some friends and tour with other really good hard rock bands. We have some friends now that we're talking to. We'll have an official announcement on our website at blackrobotmusic.com.

Andrew: When you tour now with Black Robot, do you play any Buckcherry songs at all?
JB: No, because Buckcherry are reformed now. They're out there playing their songs. We're really focussing on the material that we have. It is fresh and really cool. We don't want to go back in time in any way because we feel like we're moving ahead with this band.

Andrew: How hard is it for people like you, who've been in a band for a number of years and then start a new thing, to get out of the shadow of that old band?
JB: Well, for everyone it might be different. Its funny I ran into Matt Sorum [ex-Guns N Roses] and we were talking about it. He said, 'Man, I'm still seeing a psychiatrist after what Axl [Rose, Guns N Roses frontman] put me through. So it takes a lot because you invest so much of your life into something and then when it falls apart, it takes a lot for you to get back into it. It's a lot like if you got out of a bad relationship you just don't want to date anyone for a while. (laughs)

Andrew: I saw that your influences are AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and the likes. How different is your music as compared to Buckcherry?
JB: The music is just straight up rock and roll and we draw from the influences that are out there. We feel privileged to be in the year 2010 and to have all this stuff to draw from. From the Beatles to Lynyrd Skynyrd and Led Zeppelin, our whole goal with this record was to really have something that shows our influences and that's what we're going to do, wanting to set out and make a classic rock record because people are not doing that anymore. This is a lot of great music coming out, but really there is nothing as far as an old school rock n roll record. So we wanted to do something like that. Compared to Buckcherry, I would say that they kind of modified their sound to be a bit more commercial. I look at them to be in that phase as Aerosmith were when they started having Diane Warren write songs for them. They achieved some commercial success and that's great, but the goal for my record is not to try to become successful commercially. We wanted to do something that would get the respect and just be a nice piece of work.

Andrew: Music has moved far away from the roots of blues and classic rock. Would you agree?
JB: Absolutely! I just saw that documentary 'It Might Get Loud'. You should check it out. The documentary is about a conversation on music. I just think its really important for the legacy of rock n roll to kind of carry on and for music to be available from which you can draw the roots of rock n roll. The roots are obviously the blues. That originated from the poor people who needed to express themselves back then. I feel really strong about the fact that new music should be pure rock n roll.

Andrew: What did you do in the 2002-2008 period, after you left Buckcherry and before forming Black Robot?
JB: I did a bunch of stuff. I started a business and started working with some artists. I really didn't think I was going to jump on the band side of things again. But I was working with some young bands. I got involved and ended up recording some music for film and TV. I mostly did a lot of just 'getting back to myself' and how I felt about it, because I was pretty much living and breathing everything in that band that was on the road for six years. I didn't have a life when I came back. I had no friends and I had no place to live. I had to re-establish my life, my friends and it took a while. I had to wait because Yogi [Lonich, guitar] was playing with Chris Cornell and toured with them for a couple of years so it was nearly impossible to get everybody together. When we got a chance to finally schedule, we just acted as fast as we could to make a record that we were talking about for a while.

Andrew: You've been in the business for more than 25 years. These days you see bands who've been around for much longer. Do you think too many bands carry on for too long and don't really retire in a graceful manner?
JB: Yea I totally agree with that man, because they're not doing anything cool anymore. Their life has changed. They are not the same people they were when they were giving you the first record. They were young and pissed off, they were poor and they stood for something. I'll even look at a band like, probably I shouldn't even say, but a band like Metallica. I love Metallica and I think they are probably the greatest rock band in their genre. But I think that something they had when they began, was just something you could only get when you're young, pissed off and money doesn't meet anything. I see the way their records are and you could get a sense when you're hearing music that comes from millionaires. You should be hearing music that comes from people who feel like they can change the world with music. That's the kind of rock n roll I want to listen to, and not from a 50-year old guy who is trying to sound like when he was 25.