Onward & Upward

It’s quite rare to find a duo such as Dan Holman and Tony Anthos of Brightmillion, a band straight out of East Los Angeles, crafting their own music and producing their own material these days. In a city filled with competing dreams and big egos, you’ll find that Holman and Anthos are nothing of that sort. In fact, these are just two completely normal guys doing what they love. Today, they will perform at Armadillo Records and KDVS radio live. This week MUSE interviews Brightmillion.

Who exactly is Brightmillion? What are the stories behind these faces which make up the pieces of Brightmillion today?

Dan: Well, we both grew up in the Midwest. I’m from Minnesota and Tony is from Michigan. I started getting into music and then playing guitar in middle school after seeing a Led Zeppelin boxed set infomercial on TV. I moved to Los Angeles to escape the winter and have more opportunities for playing and writing music. I have been in a couple bands since moving to L.A. as a bass player, but realized that I wanted to start a project for my own songs. Tony and I actually met in Minneapolis before I moved to L.A.; we both worked at the same music store. I spend my days writing, recording or performing music and have realized there is little else I want to spend my days doing. Besides a little vegetable gardening, reading classics, watching movies and someday soon traveling the world!

Tony: Growing up in northern Michigan I was first influenced by what my parents were listening to. Anything from The Beatles to Roy Orbison. No matter what was playing I always gravitated towards the drums and basic rhythm of the songs. I didn’t play music as a child even though my mother played piano and guitar. I didn’t seem to have the patience to sit for hours at a time. After high school I bought a drum set from a friend and was instantly hooked. I decided to move to a big (for me) city, which was Minneapolis, Minnesota. Meeting local musicians like Dan I started to really focus on my drumming skills. After a few years I moved to Los Angeles to see where I could take music as a career. I played in a few bands, notably Solare and Last Exit, then reconnected with Dan and now I’m happier then ever. We are now working hard from the ground up to build a band that we can be artistically satisfied and emotionally happy with.

Listening to your EP entitled Start a New Day, you have some moments of heavier rock/alternative qualities to your sound—how would you describe your music and influence?

Dan: I’ve always been drawn to song- and melody-based pop music and grew up listening to classics like The Beatles, Beach Boys, Tom Petty, Smashing Pumpkins – but I also love bands like Failure, Built to Spill, My Bloody Valentine and Shiner. I’d say we are song-oriented pop rock with a little roughness around the edges.

Since you are playing a show at our Armadillo Records as well as KDVS radio, what is it about these types of venues which attract you the most?

Dan: While we’ve never played either before, they both seem to be very supportive venues to independent music. The staff of each has been supportive and great to us and we are thankful they like what we do and want to work with us to promote our music.

What types of things inspire you guys musically? How do you find inspiration for your lyrics as well as composing and producing songs?

Dan: I’m into any sort of art that comes from a truthful place.

Musically that might be anything from Coltrane and Ornette Coleman to early Metallica. But I think most of my inspiration comes more from day to day life. I tend to write more about what I know and feel rather than narrative type songs. I am also more drawn to other art forms even more than music for inspiration – film, literature and painting. Sonically, I love recordings with full body, more ‘old school’-type recording from classic records.

What comes first for you? Music/melodies or lyrics?

Dan: Music and melodies almost always come first. For me they come out faster and truer than words to express a certain feeling.

Since there are many “L.A-based bands” trying to make it big in the industry, do you ever find it difficult to compete with the music scene there?

Dan: We tend not to play very much in L.A. As much as we are trying to ‘make it’ and have careers as musicians, all I really want to do is write songs and perform them. And I don’t believe in chasing an industry – which is what the vibe seems to me in L.A.; if I like the music and other people want to hear it, we are doing well and it will just go from there. I don’t feel we are competing with anyone. This isn’t a career choice for me that changes to a new path if I don’t ‘make it’ and become rich. It’s all I do and if we are honest and true in our music, how can anyone compete with that? We’ll always be the best at being us just as anyone else is the best at being themselves and doing what they do.

What does the future hold for Brightmillion?

Dan: We are on the road until mid-October, then we are finishing an EP this fall before the end of the year. Next year we plan to be on the road at least 150 days-hopefully abroad. We are working on going to Europe and Japan, as well as another California tour in January.

UYEN CAO can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.