AN EAR FOR THE INLAND EMPIRE
Psychedelic soul trio Brainstory stays in touch with its roots
While it’s made a name for itself as part of Long Beach’s music scene, the trio Brainstory looks to another part of Southern California for its roots.
“I think the Inland Empire is the backdrop of this band,” said guitarist and vocalist Kevin Martin in a recent Zoom interview, who says the group finds ways to incorporate the area “into everything.”
The inland city of Rialto was home to Martin and his brother, the band’s bassist Tony Martin, and Rialto profoundly influenced the thematic elements of the psychedelic soul group’s upcoming sophomore album, “Sounds Good,” which will be released April 19. The band kicks off its West Coast tour in Los Angeles on Thursday and follows up with a second Southern California show at Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown on April 21 before embarking on the tour’s European leg.
The recording of “Sounds Good” was a bittersweet experience for the Martin brothers. As they wrote the album, their parents decided to sell their childhood home in Rialto. Though they hadn’t lived there in years, the space held a special place in their hearts. The loss and the inability to return to their childhood sanctuary seeped into the album.
“It was uprooting, and when I was writing some of these lyrics for ‘Peach Optimo,’
Where: Lodge Room,
104N. Ave 56, second floor, Los Angeles
When: 8 p.m. Thursday
Tickets: Sold out
Also: 9p.m. April 21, Pappy & Harriet’s, 53688 Pioneertown Road, Pioneertown. $30-$35 at pappyandharriets.com.
I was reminiscing about what it was like to be over there, and a lot of that was on my mind,” Kevin Martin said, “I think a lot of the album is tied to loss and the gains that come from loss, starting over, new chapters and new beginnings.”
The brothers’ musical journey began in their childhood home, where they regularly listened to radio DJ Art Laboe’s show. Their father, a gospel soloist, introduced them to the rich sounds of oldies, soul, funk, and R&B. Their Grandpa Juan, a talented saxophone and clarinet player, sparked Tony’s love for blues and jazz.
These diverse influences, combined with the deconstruction of their formal music education and meeting drummer Eric Hagstrom in college, laid the foundation for the sound of Brainstory. But like many local Inland Empire musicians trying to hit their big break, they were initially confined to playing in backyards and DIY spaces.
“There are no real venues other than small bars and coffee shops here and there,” Kevin Martin said. “I didn’t really grow up playing any ticketed events. I mean, there is the Glass House, which exposes people to some up-andcoming and more established acts, but it’s arguable that Pomona is even in the I.E. But I believe it is, culturally.”
Despite their love for these intimate settings, they yearned for a professional breakthrough. In 2014, they made a necessary move, relocating to Long Beach, when Burger Records and Lollipop Records were booming as garage and surf rock dominated the region’s festival scene.
“We didn’t exactly fit into that mold or that scene, but we definitely entered through there,” Kevin Martin said. “We found a home in Long Beach because it was more down to earth and something that we were used to as friends in a community playing music together. Long Beach has a strong sense of musical community.”
In 2019, the band released its first album, “Buck,” produced by Leon Michels, the leader of the soul project El Michels Affair and cofounder of Truth & Soul Records and Big Crown Records. The group said “Buck” was their first time recording in general, let alone in a studio. They were also still getting acquainted with Michels but said they’ve developed more chemistry as a team, built their own studio in Long Beach, took everything they learned from crafting their first album and carried it into the recording of “Sounds Good.”
“It’s been a culminating process,” Kevin Martin said.
“With ‘Sounds Good,’ we’ve been stepping into our own sound that sets us apart from most of what’s going on right now.”
“Sounds Good” is indeed a step forward for the band, with substantive tracks that illustrate musical and lyrical growth. The soulful ballad “Too Yung” begins with a melancholy acoustic guitar and nostalgic lyrics that yearn for events of the past.
Other standout tracks include “Hanging On,” a groovy, melodic soul collaboration with alt-indie singer-songwriter Claire Cottrill (aka Clairo), who adds a layer of soft backing vocals that serve as a nod to the oldies but goodies heard on the rest of the album and throughout Brainstory’s music. While these sounds help shape the band’s sound, it doesn’t define it. Kevin Martin said part of the musical mission is to take their influences and modernize them with more depth.
“When you are open to adding different elements to classic styles like R&B and soul, you get a new sound, and we do draw from these old influences, but we’re not doing it to cosplay an older time or even a sound like Motown,” Martin said. “We don’t want just to do the same old ‘Baby Baby, I love you’ type (stuff). There’s a lot more going on in the modern world, and the music has to reflect that. (We’re not) dissing other bands that only do that oldies sound, but we’re trying to move forward and see what’s ahead.”