July 11, 2005
Interview with Brian LaBlanc
I had a chance to speak with Brian LaBlanc of Blanc Faces recently and enjoyed hearing about how these two brothers have had music in their lives for as long as they can remember. They have been involved in a lot of projects over the years and are no strangers to the music world. I was very impressed by the maturity but more importantly the positive outlook Brian has even though they have had some rough breaks over the years. I have thought about his words and his love for the music since the interview and it is clear that Brian and his brother have kept their focus on the creation of some fabulous music and have coupled that with making it fun! The release of “Blanc Faces” finally gives us all a chance to see what these two are capable of and the result is 12 tracks of pure listening pleasure and enjoyment! Enjoy the interview!
Kathy: Thank you for taking the time for this interview, to start out I would like to invite you to introduce yourself; Brian LaBlanc, the man behind the music, as you would if you were meeting someone for the first time and letting them know about your music…
Brian: I would just like them to know that I am dedicated to making quality performances and try to write quality songs.
Kathy: Who does the main songwriting?
Brian: I do. I write most of the stuff and Robbie sings most of it. He did collaborate on a couple of songs with some lyrics. Mainly the writing is my thing.
Kathy: Your debut album is all but ready to be released and the buzz in the music world is a great sign that this album is going to do very well. Could you tell me a little bit about the finished project and what the recording process has been like on this project?
Brian: Well we did everything in our small studio that my brother has in his house. We don’t have the latest greatest stuff like equipment and everything but we have been doing it for a long, long time so we know what we want and can make it happen. We also had Kyle Woodring, who my wife met, he plays for Dennis DeYoung. We were worried about who was going to play drums on the record and we saw Kyle. My wife met him and we flew him out. I had never played with him before but he turned out to be excellent! He had never heard the songs before and I didn’t have any of the tracks down yet. So we put a quick little track down on the tape and I played an acoustic guitar and that’s all he played to … No vocals, no nothing! He just banged it out, he played it in a room with the cat litter and that’s what he played to – one, two takes and he was done!
Kathy: Excellent, a real professional! It’s terrific when things like that just happen like magic!
Brian: Yes, he said “let me hear what you got” and he listened to the little demo once, twice, wrote a couple of notes down and that was it. You know the drum track is really the starting point of the whole thing. Kyle was very important and once we had those drum tracks down I was happy and just knew that stuff was going to come out good. My brother he takes care of all the rhythm guitars and I play the bass and we pretty much do every thing else. We had a friend of ours play some keyboard and stuff. But the drums that was the big unknown … I wasn’t sure about the drums and I was really happy when that was done.
Kathy: Ok, There has been a lot comparison of your sound with Survivor and Journey. In your opinion is this a good comparison and would you say your musical influences and experiences show in your music and on this album?
Brian: You know they do. Its funny because we play a lot of different kinds of music and this is just really one of the styles that we play. We are kinda like an Eagles band in a way too, with a lot more harmonies, all acoustic guitars, we play like that a lot too. It was almost like a problem for us, we could play a couple of types of music and we never really knew which direction to go in. It was funny when we talked to Serafino he said what he wanted, he is very particular – so it really helped in a way to put me in a direction. He said I want a Survivor, Journey type album and I said, ok! I love those guys so it was great!
Kathy: We know that you write, produce and engineer your own music which I believe gives you a higher amount of control over what you want to express with each song. When you sit down to write a new song do you work together always or do each of you bring your ideas together and work them out to final form after developing them yourself?
Brian: I would say that 90% of the stuff on the record I wrote, and I do usually work by myself, but my brother is a very good sounding board. I play for him and make sure he likes it and he may have an idea and throw that in but most of the time when I come up with stuff I work on my own, we don’t sit in a room and write.
Kathy: Would you say you write from life experiences, listening to other music coming up with other ideas, where do you get your musical ideas from?
Brian: You know I really don’t know; I just don’t. Sometimes I wonder where it came from. A couple of songs on the record I like a lot, some of the stuff I like the best people aren’t talking about too much. I like the song “Pray For Me”, which is about a soldier and how he might feel sitting over Iraq or somewhere and I am not sure if people know what the song is about. That’s a ballad I like a lot – lyrically … “We Will Rise”, I like that lyric a lot as well.
Kathy: One of my questions was; is there one song on the album that has special meaning and what you could tell me about.
Brian: Yeah, I think the song “Pray For Me”. I like that one a lot. I think about these guys fighting over there and if you listen to it now then you know what it’s about.
Kathy: Thank you. Its only natural I think for the listener to try and form their own opinions on what a song is about and put their own spin on it. Its wonderful when you can find out from the artist who created the song what were their thoughts when they were writing and what the meaning is.
Brian: There is a song called “Where Do I go From Here”, lyrically I like that one too, its pretty heavy. Its about how someone lost someone in 9/11 and they are by themselves now, lyrically I would say that is my favorite one.
Kathy: Blanc Faces has a great line up of musicians to back up your style and bring depth to the sound, can you tell me about the line up and what you think the groups strong points are?
Brian: I read a review and I was really happy, it was great, it said; “If I could say one word it’s professionalism!” He kept saying that word over and over and that it was done really well, that was cool, I think all the players that played on it where excellent. Kyle was excellent, he played exactly what we wanted, which is rare. The guitar players name is Butch Taylor – We are from the New York / Connecticut area and Butch lives in Connecticut. I bartend and work in restaurants to make ends meet so I used to book all the music. So, Butch Taylor used to come play with a disco band, they’d play like “Freak Out” and all these songs but one day at the end of the night he played some rock stuff and was ripping the guitar. I heard the guy for a long, long time and I thought Jesus Christ this guy is a great guitar player and I couldn’t believe it! I invited him to come try some solos and so my brother set him up with his sound. He has all these special Marshall amps and stuff and we had a great sound and he was perfect – Couldn’t have been happier with him … A real pleasant surprise! The keyboards on the album are done by our friend Jeff Batter who is a great musician. He could go out on the road with anybody, tomorrow and play!
Kathy: Speaking of special meanings I always like to ask who your biggest musical inspirations are I know Survivor and Journey were mentioned earlier but who else would you each give credit to?
Brian: The Beatles are definitely going to be one, for my brother and myself. They are why we played and sang and still I just think their songs, there singing, even their playing. McCartney’s bass playing and George Martin Productions - just mind boggling! Toto is also a big influence and we had recently seen them, we love those guys! Steve Lukather is one of our favorite guitar players!
Kathy: Speaking of playing out, I know that you guys play a lot in your local area and would like to find out how the reaction to the album has been, have people been excited, what feed back have you been getting on the music and over all how have the shows been?
Brian: We really haven’t been playing out that much. We haven’t played any of these songs other than one at a party for Paul Shaffer’s wife a month or two ago. Kyle flew in and played and Tommy Dziallo, who plays with Dennis DeYoung too. They flew in and played with us. We played the song “Staying Power”, it turned out really good and people liked it. It’s hard around here in the US with the way the music is, but I’d love to go over to Europe or Japan someday and play!
Kathy: I know that the first album is just barely out but we always want to know, is there another one planned and when might it be coming out?
Brian: I’ve started getting another couple of tunes together, writing a couple of new songs and think I have a couple of good ones already.
Kathy: You have worked with some well known and respected names such as Rupert Holmes, Felix Cavaliere and others, what have been some of the highlights of your careers so far and what artists would you like to work with in the future?
Brian: To be really honest with you we really haven’t had much of a career at all (laughs). A long, long time ago we worked with Felix Cavaliere and we did a record. We were just young and starting out and there was a couple of good things on it but we were young and it was a first effort kind of thing. It was great though working with Felix, he is a great guy and it feels like a million years ago. For the most part we have had a lot of so close stories. We were signed by Arif Mardin, one of the biggest legendary producers who has done the Norah Jones stuff. He’s an older man probably in his 70’s but he’s done everyone from the Bee Gees, to Aretha Frankin, a big name! He signed us and we were going to do a record but the big line between my brother and I is “The wrong place at the wrong time.” and that seems to be what’s happened to us for the last 20 years. But, if something happens now I will enjoy it and appreciate it! My brother has never sung better in his life, he’s at the top of his game! So who knows maybe it is all for a reason.
Kathy: While a music career seems coveted and viewed as a great life it I am sure still has issues and stress like any other job, perhaps even more at times, what do you do to balance your life and keep a positive outlook?
Brian: I think that anyone, especially after 9/11 if someone just can’t be appreciative that they live in freedom and are walking around and are healthy and stuff like that you have to be crazy. For me I just can’t take anything too seriously, including myself, nobody is that important. We are just little dots on this earth and that I can make some nice music and have people like it, that’s great – It’s just great! Life is too short, you never know when your last day is and you really just can’t take yourself too seriously!
Kathy: I agree with 100% on that one Brian! My last question … Is there a message you would like to take a moment to send out to all your fans to close out this interview?
Brian: For anyone that is a fan of ours I would just like to say Thank You Very Much! I am really happy that something I wrote on this little piano I am looking at. My wife’ grandparents died a couple of years ago and pretty much every song I’ve written since has been written on it. If someone across the world enjoys the music it makes my day. To know that we’ve touched someone and that they like our stuff is great! Hopefully this is just a start and we’ll put out some other records and it will keep getting better! Thank You!
Posted by Kathy at July 11, 2005 09:03 PM