Congrats to our June Artist of the Month, Brooklyn Rye! This new blues-influenced rock/pop group is fairly to the KC/Lawrence scene, making its live debut earlier this year. Find out more about the band and see what they have coming up.
The Deli: Down and dirty: one sentence to describe your music.
Brooklyn Rye: Time warped rock & roll best paired with a good whiskey.
The Deli: Give me some background on Brooklyn Rye. How did the band come to be?
Brooklyn Rye: The band started nameless in the dormitories of a small junior college in southeastern Kansas. Zach Dodson, Branden Moser, and Steven Bauer passed the time by creating simple progression songs with melodies that usually piqued the humor of the group. Bauer and Moser continued writing songs in this fashion before forming their first band in summer 2014. Kyle Babson had played with a group of friends in college and had toured the Midwest before meeting Bauer, Moser, and Dodson. On the search for a female vocalist Moser found Grace Griffin, who had been a solo singer-songwriter looking to collaborate with other musicians around the Kansas City area. Then we started jamming and haven’t stopped.
The Deli: What inspires your music and songwriting?
Brooklyn Rye:Life, love, loss, hope, sex. We write about what everybody feels and goes through in their life. We just tell our side of the story. We try to always push each other out of our comfort zones and try to create something that has parts of all of us. A Frankenstein of music roaming the streets of Kansas City.
The Deli: What have been your greatest accomplishments as a band?
Brooklyn Rye: We feel that being able to play music everyday with your best friends and share that music is our greatest feat. We are just lucky enough to have the opportunity. But we are honored to receive the Deli KC’s Emerging Artist of the Month.
The Deli: Do you have any recorded music or anything in the works? What can we expect?
Brooklyn Rye: We have released two demo tracks (“Demon Shake” and “Hangman”). We have an EP in the works without a release date at the moment but probably winter/spring . In the meantime, we are branching out later this summer/fall to continue pushing our own boundaries and road test new songs for the record. We adore playing live so we just try to work sessions around that.
The Deli: What does supporting local music mean to you?
Brooklyn Rye: In Kansas City alone, there are hundreds of bands that go unnoticed that have a great deal of talent. This city has so much to tell the world, and Kansas City’s choice of medium just happens to be song, which is pretty damn cool. We like to believe in the underdog and that you can make music and be seen and heard no matter where you’re from.
The Deli: Who are your favorite local musicians right now?
Brooklyn Rye: Grand Villanova, Me Like Bees, Scruffy and The Janitors, Radkey, and the other bands in the poll with us.
The Deli: What is your ultimate fantasy concert bill to play on?
Brooklyn Rye: The ‘69 Woodstock bill would be pretty rad.
The Deli: A music-themed Mount Rushmore. What four faces are you putting up there and why?
Branden Moser: That’s impossible. I’d put the other four members of our band on there. They’re pretty good looking and would provide great overseers for the people of South Dakota.
The Deli: What goals does Brooklyn Rye have for 2015, and beyond?
Brooklyn Rye: Recordings, festivals, gigs—anything we can get our hands on. We want to fully immerse ourselves in music.
The Deli: Where can we find you on the web?
Brooklyn Rye: www.brooklynrye.fm
The Deli: Always go out on a high note. Any last words of wisdom for the Deli audience?
Brooklyn Rye: Stay hydrated and ration the use of selfie sticks, people.
Brooklyn Rye is:
Steven Bauer: vocals
Kyle Babson: bass, guitar
Zach Dodson: drums
Grace Griffin: vocals
Branden Moser: guitar
–Michelle Bacon
Michelle Bacon is editor of The Deli KC and plays in bands.