A Conversation: The Brook & The Bluff

On a street corner outside of the Columbia City Theater, an unsuspecting door opens to The Brook and The Bluff mid sound check circled around a microphone crooning an acoustic version of “Father McKenzie” off their new album First Place. For a moment, I’m transported into their world — one full of intoxicating vocal harmonies and intimacy. Lead vocalist Joseph Settine is wearing an Auburn University t-shirt, an homage to where Settine and guitarist Alec Bolton established the beginnings of the band. Prior to their move to Nashville in 2018, Settine and Bolton rounded out the four man band with percussionist John Canada (whom they met after a gig back in Alabama) and bassist Fred Lankford (a neighbor of Alec in their hometown of Mountain Brook).   

Promptly after soundcheck, the quartet and I peel off upstairs to a quiet room for a conversation about everything from their favorite cover song to realizations amidst their first national headline tour. It’s been 11 days since they’ve released their first full length project, First Place. The album acts as a canvas for both Settine’s exposition on past relationships as well as the band’s own exploration of their sound. In many ways, the album represents a step forward in the band’s maturation both sonically and stylistically following their recent relocation to Nashville.

“If you’re not making something new, then what’s the point. You’re just recycling stuff you’ve heard before.”

First Place, at times sounds groovier with tracks such as “Shelby” and “Halfway Up” compared to their self-titled EP, The Brook and The Bluff. On the other hand, the project sounds just as warm and intimate with the addition of John Mayer esque songs like “Lover’s Rock”. On the track “I Could Never Draw”, Settine’s utilization of autotune is a perfect tip of the hat to one of his musical inspirations, Frank Ocean. Whilst The Brook and The Bluff draws inspiration from other artists, Alec describes how, even with outside musical influences, “If you're not making something new, then what's the point. You're just recycling stuff you've heard before.” The choral backgrounds and performances of the four band members, which differentiate the band sonically, both act as a common thread that weave the swirling collage of work that is First Place together.

The album itself represents Settine’s process of putting past relationships in perspective. Whilst tracks such as “Everything Is Just a Mess” speak to events 4-5 years in the past, “Off the Lawn” depicts experiences that are seemingly fresh. There hasn’t necessarily been a timeline for Settine’s revisitation of feelings of the past. “When that relationship ended I didn't want to process it. And then sometimes when I would wake up and there'd be a line in my head, it was like, Oh, this is like something telling me that I need to look back, you know. For every song, it could be different because maybe that urge is more pressing.” he says.

It’s getting to be evening, as the conversation wraps up and the boys ready themselves to head next door to the Columbia Ale House, I can’t help but ask Settine about the new Frank Ocean releases. The consensus landed on the fact that Frank Ocean, indeed, has too much success to not brag about it. 

Alexander Wen: You guys just came from Salt Lake City? I looked on your instagram and all I saw was a bunch of people sleeping in the car, with the location tag being the Oregon Trail.

The Brook and The Bluff: The actual computer game. Yeah, it was a long day. A trick we learned is to leave early so you're driving through most of the day. When it gets dark, that's when it feels a lot longer. We left at 6:45 in the morning, or something like that. It was beautiful, mountains and stuff everywhere. 

AW: This being your first time coming to the Northwest and California as a headliner, what’s been the main difference between this tour and supporting other bands? I know you guys came this March to support Ripe on their tour.

TBATB: I mean it's different in that obviously as an opener there's not as much pressure on you. You don’t have to worry about bringing the crowd. With Ripe, we had full rooms regardless of whether we brought people out. So this one is more honest, but it feels cool. The upside being that it is your show you get to tailor it. We get to play our own set, and we’ve made a show for this specific time and all those kinds of things. With Gripe, basically, they would set up seven people for their soundcheck and then we'd have to squeeze in the little tiny pockets on stage. There are trade offs for sure, and honestly the pressure of having our own show is kind of fun because people come for the songs they want to hear. And we’re going to play it for them.

“But honestly, my favorite thing that Alec used to ever play together was Tribute by Tenacious D. It was the most fun. Every single time.”

AW: In the beginning, when it was just Alec and Joe, you guys started with a lot of acoustic covers, and then you started thinking about writing original content. Do y’all still like to rewind the clock and play acoustic covers during your shows? Or is that something of your past?

TBATB: We like to do that. It's usually on a little old microphone that we have. We'll gather around and sing three or four songs in the middle of every set we do. It's a little acoustic section. It’s kind of like a throwback to how it started. We do like including some covers. 

Joseph Settine: When we first wrote, it was just us two so there were some songs that were acoustic. Even on this album, Hallways was written acoustically before it became this full band arrangement. We'll play that one that way and then we’ll play it acoustically.

AW: If you could go back to like the archives, what’s one cover that you just instinctively remember playing. I guess, what’s one song that you love playing, whether it be acoustically or cover-wise?

JS: A little bit weird, but always, the really really drunk kids at the very end of the night would always want to hear silly songs. But honestly, my favorite thing that Alec used to ever play together was Tribute by Tenacious D. It was the most fun. Every single time. And I think it was because the first time we played it, neither one of us had played it together before. And then we hit that vocal part. Literally perfect, first time we played it together...It was tailored to drunk college kids. I would say now it's a little different. If we were doing it now and it was cover sets for what we wanted to play, I think my favorite thing that Alec and I have played together is Harvest Moon by Neil Young. I love that song. 

AW:  What's your guys’ experience in seeing your fans and the people who are coming out to the tour. Do you adapt to their energy or how they interact with you?

TBATB: It's a crazy feeling when people show up. I feel like it's been a slow process from playing for people from where we’re from where it was all like friends. But in the past, it'd be a big crowd of all of our friends. Now, we’re slowly growing out of where we grew up in Birmingham and Alabama. Now coming to a city like this where I don't know anybody, I'll see whoever is in the crowd tonight. I will never have met anyone before, so they don't have the pretense of having to like my music because they know me, or feel like they have to. But the jump from friends to fans has been pretty cool. 

AW: When did when did you start feeling that jump?

TBATB: Maybe recently. It started regionally for sure. Even when we play in Atlanta, and have 60 people show up. The cool thing for us is going back to Auburn where we all went to college. And now we don't have anybody that's still in school there but we play for 400 people. I feel like it's been slowly growing since the beginning. We've hit periods of like more exponential growth when we released Halfway Up at the beginning of this year. We saw a huge jump in different markets. It seems like every time we play a live show for a bunch of friends they bring their friends, and we usually end up turning a lot of those people into fans. They go home and listen to our music. It's been a lot of word of mouth. It's been a really big factor in the growth. 

AW: I've seen that you guys have performed at a ton of Sofar Sounds concerts in Dallas or Chicago or New York. What's your specific experience with one-off concerts or shows that aren't necessarily structured as a tour?

TBATB: We use Sofar as our first time going to cities that aren’t our hometown or surrounding towns to have an audience. Maybe an immediate audience of like, like 75-200 people. It was a really good way for us to go to St. Louis for the first time, and play for 80 people when we otherwise couldn't have done that. So we use Sofar as a way to start touring. We would string them together on the East Coast and in the Midwest. We would hopefully be able to get to a point where we could book our own shows like this. The stuff that we did with Sofar helps because some of the tickets we sold for this, were people come back from the Sofar shows.

AW: In a previous interview with Sofar Sounds in Dallas, you were asked the question, what food would you describe your band as. This was before you guys had released your current project..if I need a jog your memory you guys responded with fusion BBQ. Is that answer still correct, or do you have a new answer?

John Canada: I don't think it would be barbecue, we’re much cleaner than barbecue now. Maybe sushi.

Alec Bolton: To me, almost bitter sweet, almost like a tart

Fred Lankford: Maybe more savory and sweet

JC: We’re talking about the duality of man

JS: I guess the answer is going to be sushi, like, really good sushi.

AB: What’s something that’s smooth, like a souffle, good and hot, but not like a burger. 

JC: Let’s just go with sushi.

AW: One thing that you guys have talked about specifically is the question of “Have you guys felt like you've made it?”. Y’all have said that you don't have a specific time where you’ve thought you’ve made it. That it’s more so baby steps or small steps that you’re looking forward to. Fast forward to now, in the midst of things, What does that next step look like for you within the realm of this current tour or after the tour? 

JC: I feel like especially nowadays the whole idea of “making it” is really just baby steps on a slope. There are things that can happen and it can make it go fast, but there are times where it will go pretty slow. But if we spend five years touring the country, and keep on playing bigger and bigger clubs, by the time we're playing thousand cap rooms in every city, you could say you’ve made it. Because you're making a living playing music. But there're so many people who would think, “well what about 20,000”, you know. Based off of where we are, we are making a living doing music. But barely. One thing that Jason Mraz said that has stuck in my mind for a long time is he said, “When I first started playing music, if I could make a living playing music, everything on top of that would be a bonus.” So that’s how I think about it. 

AW: From your songwriting perspective with First Place, you’ve spoken about how the subject matter is mostly from a relationship 4-5 years ago. When you look to write, do you try to keep distance between when things happen and when you write about it, or could you write about something that feels like a fresh wound?

JS: With the album I was trying to do so much reflection and basically trying to figure out how to live or how to get back into the place where I was in that relationship and trying to get that relationship back. A lot of the album was reflection and at the same time was, I think subconscious and conscious processing...It’s like the tip of an iceberg, so when I write that one line, all of a sudden I’m right back in the place that I was three or four years ago.

AW: Could you give an overview of what went into the album art? There are motifs such as the sea, or even the pastel blue background that both appear lyrically. But there are also images like the golden gate bridge and birds that don’t necessarily show up in the album.

JS: They’re actually all pictures that I've taken on tour with my film camera. I think it kind of ties into this idea that a lot of the songs came from and are centered around this reflection that I did in the past couple of years. It was like a little microcosm of the relationship that I was in on this trip to Europe. I think the way that album photos tie into that is another theme of travel. I was trying to find something in a different continent that was not in front of us when we lived in America. I think that the collage of personal photos kind of also ties into that. And then the whole personal nature of the songs.

AW: Since moving to Nashville, you’ve talked about how you’ve met producers and have had more opportunities in general. Do you think, being settled in Nashville, you’ll start to draw more inspiration from Nashville rather than Birmingham? 

JC: I feel like it's so music is so global now,  we all listen to the same stuff, wherever we live. Lyrically, and experiences too.

JS: Yeah, and actually moving back to the processing question, I know I want to go back to that because it my thought wasn't complete. But I think that the album was my way of processing who I was. During that time, I put a lot of it away. When that relationship ended, I didn't want to process it. And then there would be days when I would wake up and there'd be a line in my head. It was like, “Oh, this is like something telling me that I need to look back.”. So for every song, it could be different because maybe that urge is more pressing. With Off the Lawn, when I wrote that it had just happened but it was something where I immediately knew I had to write. I've grown a little bit now, I'm not 22, I'm 26 and I know that it's not good to push things away for a little while. 

FL: I think, yes, the environment internally, will have a big effect on it. The studio we recorded the album and had a huge impact yeah the way it sounded, just like the person we were working with too. So I think we're whoever we record the next project will have a big impact on it.

AW: Finally, what's one thing that the world may not know about The Brook and The Bluff that you’d like them to know? The floor is yours.

FL: I'll say this, We all are trying to not take ourselves too seriously. And I guess what we would want people to know is that we're like human beings just like you. And the reason I even say that is because as a music lover, I’m really prone to idolizing the musicians that I love. Now, becoming a musician and getting to meet all these fans it's just like,“Oh, you're just like me.”

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and brevity.