Chicago – New Jersey BFFs Brandon Asraf and John Tacon have been making music since they were teenagers, but not until 2008 did they start writing songs and performing seriously as a duo. The two formed Brick + Mortar, with John on drums and back up vocals and Brandon on bass, lead vocals, and occasional guitar, and began fusing their raw lyrics with a unique mix of electronic samples, indie rock, and drum & bass. After years of building a strong fan base in Asbury Park, these childhood friends released their EP Bangs and began to expand upon their following with wild, energetic live performances and singles like “Bangs” (which is all about Brandon’s childhood experiences growing up with an international blood diamond smuggler as a father!) and “Locked in a Cage” garnering radio play. Brick + Mortar are now ready to unleash their debut LP Social Studies through Photo Finish Records. In anticipation of their release, I caught up with Brandon and John and briefly chatted about music, candy, fan art, and a little TLC.
Sarah Hess: I hear you guys have been working on a full length. Can you share some of the deets? Do you have a title yet? What has influenced your songwriting this time around? Is there a release date yet?
Brandon Asraf: The new record is set to release on June 17th and the title is Social Studies. This being our first complete record, you could say we wrote it our whole lives so pinning down single inspirations is hard!!
SH: Your song writing is remarkable! Aside from writing lyrics, do you ever write short stories or simply journal your thoughts?
BA: I have never written short stories or journaled my thoughts, but I do think about doing so from time to time. I have always wanted to write a film, but this dream kind of took hold before I ever tried step-one of writing. I love movies. They are my great escape besides music.
SH: If you could collaborate with any musician, who would it be?
BA: This is a tough question. My top picks would be between Kanye, The RZA, or Beck.
John Tacon: For sure, Kanye. It’d be cool to do something with Schoolboy Q and Kendrick Lamar. Definitely dig those dudes. I think we would learn a thing or two if we were to ever work with Sigur Rós. They are pretty inspiring.
SH: Brandon, in your interview with Kids Interview Bands you said you still do some trick or treating every now and then for Halloween. Hands down, what’s your favorite candy?
BA: Caramello, but you never ever get that on Halloween. I have since given up the creepy act of being an adult trick-or-treater.
SH: Gotta tell you that I love your Instagram pics and memes you post on facebook! Who spends the most time with a camera to their eye, and which one of you makes the memes? Do both of you share in creative control when it comes to social media and connecting with your fans?
BA: Tacon is the cameraman! Our label does the #brickandmortified pics and we send them some to photoshop. Sometimes they send us them and we pick. We share creative control with everything including social media. It really varies day to day.
SH: You get a lot of awesome fan art. Do you guys ever frame some of it to hang in your pads? And speaking of art, do either of you draw or paint?
BA: Yes, we have some fan art in our houses. We love getting artwork from fans! I have no artistic ability, but I do know what I like! Tacon can answer this better because he has more fan art at his place and has some real artistic skill.
JT: I’ve done a decent amount of sketching. For whatever reason my drawings are always creepy faces and variations of that. We’ve received work from two artists in particular, Erik Eliot and Justin Steracula, [who are] very talented and humble human beings, who really excel in different mediums. It means so much to us that we’re able to inspire other artists. Oh, and Richie Brown is the shit. He visually gave life to Brick + Mortar with his design that was the cover of our Bangs EP.
SH: Okay Jersey boys, I must ask what’s your favorite Bruce Springsteen song and/or album? AND are you fans of his album Nebraska?
BA: I never got too into Bruce growing up, although I plan on sitting down and getting to know his works soon. I think it was because my relatives all loved him and tried to force it upon me, so my rebellion made me shun him! Foolish youth. Anyway, I hope to be able to answer that question properly next time it comes up.
JT: Bruce was my very first concert, like in ’96. It was the first time where I saw adults really lose their shit for someone they listened to. I listened to him a lot for a brief period before I heard Nirvana and KoЯn for the first time.
SH: Brandon, I read TLC was one of your favorite bands growing up. I pretty much listened to Crazy Sexy Cool non-stop for most of 8th grade (and yeah okay, maybe 9th grade too), so I just can’t finish this interview without asking about your song rankings for that album. Give me your top 3 Crazy Sexy Cool songs, with #1 being the ultimate.
BA: Gonna be honest here: #1 “Waterfalls,” #2 “Creep,” #3 “Red Light Special.”
SH: And John: Who were your favorite bands growing up?
JT: The three bands I thrived off of from like 5th grade to pretty much high school were KoЯn, Limp Bizkit, and Deftones. Abe Cunningham from Deftones was a huge drum inspiration for me growing up. The dude still crushes it.
Brick + Mortar are currently on tour. Check out their facebook page for tour dates. They’ll be playing a few shows with Morning Parade, Kongos, and Manchester Orchestra. Brandon and John will be releasing their debut LP Social Studies on June 17, 2014. Until then, you can purchase their EP Bangs on iTunes.
