Today we’d like to introduce you to Quinlan Braiwick.
Hi Quinlan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
After months of searching for a bass player to fill out the first iteration of this band, I remembered that the White Stripes existed and began to wonder if I could sound like a full band without a bassist. I tend to be pretty hard-headed. I started sharing my idea about a two-piece band that sounded like a full band.
Quite a few people told me it definitely wouldn’t work and also mentioned that it wouldn’t be “cool” even if it did work because people had done it so there was no point in trying. I’ve always liked a challenge and so I thought it would be fun to see if I could both make the idea work and make it cool. I also realized those people might be dumb it might be fun to make art that I like.
I’m obsessed with gear so the opportunity to spend hours studying pedals, amps, cabinets, frequencies, and every other nerdy thing I needed to know in order to pull off this sound was exciting.
Most of the sound of the band was a happy accident of the universe. There are pedal/amp combinations that I could have spent the rest of my life searching for and never found. At the time, I began working on this project I was working at a rehearsal studio in Las Vegas which meant I had a lot of free time and access to multiple amps and cabinets to experiment with.
I was also lucky because I worked for someone who was equally gearing-obsessed and willing to offer help and/or sell me gear that he wasn’t using at a heavy discount. That is how I came across the bass cabinet I use. It is a discontinued Ampeg cabinet with a 15inch speaker and a 10-inch speaker. Although I’ve used other bass cabinets and I have liked the sound there is nothing that sounds like that cabinet.
After years of experimentation, I finally locked in “my” sound. I worked with the incredible people at XactTone Solutions to build my current pedalboard. Barry is the absolute genius who helped me tame the chaos of pedals and cables I was dancing on before I came to them. I would never have been able to create the absolute work of art that I use now without them.
The project has gone through several iterations. It started as a project heavily influenced by early 2000s emo and post-hardcore. The influences are definitely still present but we’ve begun to learn much more heavily about modern alt-rock and pop influences. Trash Boat and Don Broco are the two biggest influences on my songwriting in the last year or so.
Mason Craft is my current, and if everything goes to plan, only drummer. We’ve been working together for about 3 years. We met just before 2020 and began creating a new sound almost immediately. We had planned on making an EP in 2020 but the universe had other plans.
We met with producers, set dates, and began finalizing songs but then march 2020 came along and put the world on pause. We locked down and redoubled our efforts. Once restrictions lifted we booked time at Graybox Studio and spent a little over a week working with Cody to create a batch of 6 songs that we will be releasing throughout 2022.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t think any creative project travels a smooth path.
We will probably be told every day for the rest of our lives that we “need” a bass player. I disagree and if those people still think that after listening to our recordings and seeing us live then that’s fine. They’re just objectively wrong.
It’s a sad reality that a person can not make art in the 21st century without a chorus of naysayers announcing that we are wasting our time. Art is the most highly valued commodity in our society and yet we seem incapable of valuing the artists.
As artists we are constantly told that this can never be a “real job”, We are told that we should expect to fail or live lives in poverty in order to pay homage to the art that everyone wants for free. We are belittled for spending time honing our craft and we are mocked for believing in ourselves.
Society has been and will continue to be our greatest adversary until our quality is undeniable at which point our doubters will rally behind us and claim they’ve been there since the beginning as though we didn’t see them standing in front of us with their noses turned up.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We are a two-piece rock band that makes melody-focused, riff-driven, alt-rock.
We make songs that I forget we wrote. I will listen to our music and sing along to it as someone else wrote it. The only thing I have ever wanted to experience is music I create through someone else’s ears and even though that will never really be possible this is the closest I have ever gotten.
These songs make my heart soar, they make my ears burn, and they make my lungs swell. Making music with Mason has solidified my belief that doing this is what I was put on this earth to do I love changing people’s minds about what is possible with music and modern gear.
No one expects us to sound the way we do either on a record or on a stage. I love shattering expectations. When we load gear in before a show there is a palpable confusion as two people load 5 people’s worth of gear onto a stage but that doubt is erased with the beginning notes of our first song.
We create a fuller sound with two people than some create with 5.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
I’ve learned that it’s important to be calm and take your time when creating. It’s easy to get overexcited and rush to commit to an art piece or project but sometimes it’s best to take a step back and make sure you’re making the best art you can.
We had planned on making our EP in the summer of 2020 and while I’m sure we would have made a solid product I think we made something that exceeded everyone’s expectation by being forced to wait and polish the songs we had ready.
Patience has never been my strong suit but it’s something I was forced to practice throughout 2020 and I think I am a better artist and we are a better band for it.
Contact Info:
- Email: quinlan@destroytheabove.com
- Website: destroytheabove.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/destroytheabove_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/destroytheabove
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIJa2078t9vnGLUlyXY3S7w
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3y4QBHv3pKPeg2UdDfBew8?si=KWaGMD_aS4i-h_Gd9zCb-w
Image Credits
Mistfits Studios International @Misfitstagram
