While making 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 that the group finds ways to incorporate the area “into everything.”
The Inland Empire 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 on Friday, April 19. The band kicks off its West Coast tour in Los Angeles on Thursday, April 18, and follows up with a second Southern California show at Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown on Sunday, 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. Despite not living there for 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,” I was reminiscing about what it was like to be over there, and a lot of that was on my mind,” 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 Martin 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 unique sound of Brainstory. But like many local Inland Empire bands trying to hit their big break, they were initially confined to a music scene limited to backyards and DIY spaces.
“There are no real venues other than small bars and coffee shops here and there,” 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-and-coming 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, and garage and surf rock dominated Southern California’s music festival scene.
“We didn’t exactly fit into that mold or that scene, but we definitely entered through there,” 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 their first album, “Buck,” produced by Leon Michels, the leader of the soul project El Michels Affair and co-founder of Truth & Soul Records and Big Crown Records. The group said that “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 the group has learned from crafting their first album, and carried it into the recording of “Sounds Good.”
“It’s been a culminating process,” 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 the group’s musical and lyrical growth. The album’s 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), adding a layer of soft backing vocals that serves as a nod to the oldies but goodies heard on the rest of the album and throughout their music. While these genres help shape their sound, it doesn’t define it. Martin said that part of the mission of their work 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.”
Brainstory
Where: Lodge Room, 104 North Ave 56, 2nd floor, Los Angeles.
When: 8 p.m. Thursday, April 18.
Tickets: Sold out.
Also: 9 p.m., Sunday, April 21, at Pappy & Harriet’s, 53688 Pioneertown Road., Pioneertown. $30-$35 at pappyandharriets.com.
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