BRAINSTORM
Courtesy
BRAINSTORM have been keeping Portland weird for four years, and you can hear the results on their new record Heat Waves (How will their weirdness affect our funkiness? No one knows for sure.). Most definitely recommended if you rock Talking Heads and/or Dirty Projectors on a semi regular basis. Check out their collaboration with African musician Mdou Moctar. Tell them where to eat and get coffee while they’re in town. Check them out at Nightbird Books during an all-ages show with local band Swimming at 9 p.m. Monday, Oct. 22.
I asked Patrick from BRAINSTORM some questions and he didn’t ignore them…
First of all, why all caps? Feel free to ignore the question and go off on an unrelated tangent.
The all-caps writing of the band name is more of a visual, typographic thing than anything else, actually. I am kind of a font nerd and I think the band name looks way better in a sans-serif font when each letter is capitalized.
How long has BRAINSTORM been active? How long has Heat Waves been in the works?
We’ve been playing together for four years. Some of the material on Heat Waves was written a couple years ago, though most of the songs are more recent.
How do you balance band life and work? Do your jobs influence your music?
Adam and I both have pretty flexible jobs. I work at an awesome farm-to-table restaurant and Adam is a seasonal bird biologist. Food and birds definitely inspire us, can’t entirely put my finger on it, though, but it’s in the music somewhere.
What non-musical influences affect your songs?
Friends, seasons, coffee, YouTube, basements, burritos, jumping into rivers, dreams, etc.
What have you been reading lately?
In the car we just listened to “Cities on the Plain” by Cormac McCarthy. Highly recommend it. I just started “Pale Fire” by Nabokov. Dasha and I both read a fun book called “Love is Not Constantly Wondering if You Are Making the Biggest Mistake of Your Life.”
Favorite tour activites?
Finding the best food or coffee in town. Meeting local celebrities. Any recommendations?
Have you been to Arkansas before? Any stories or expectations?
I expect it’s like Kansas with more “ar.”
Heard any new jokes on the road so far?
An old man on the side of the road in Chicago volunteered this one. “Why are there fences around cemeteries? Because everyone’s dying to get in.”
