Braindead Romeo: On "War" and Band City Fest

Braindead Romeo, From Left to Right: Andrew Brandt, Angus Livingstone, James Belle, Tim Borgares

"We're all just friends and we don't let anything get too serious."

That's how Andrew Brandt, singer and guitar player for Braindead Romeo describes playing in his band.

Braindead Romeo has been playing music together since 2010 and that will culminate into playing the official Band City Fest after-party at the Park Hotel on the evening of Saturday August 25th. At said event, they will be introducing the good people of Moose Jaw to the music from their 2018 album War is What We're Good For; an album that the band is really excited about.

"The actual songs on the record are the best we've ever written" Brandt said. "We weren't originally thinking about doing a full length album but just releasing singles, so every song we wrote had to be really really good to stand on its own. War... is now basically a collection of the ten best, catchiest, hardest-hitting songs we were able to write in this time period."

"And I mean, full brag" he added, "these are the best vocal performances I've ever given and the coolest guitar solos I've ever written. James (Belle) was an absolute monster on this record too, his drum takes are incredible. All the guys brought it."

The album is rife with big rockers, solid riffs and blistering solos all fronted with Brandt' Mike Patton meets 80s hair metal vocals.

" Up & Atom" is a burner that didn't shy away from adding cowbell. It's all about superhuman, radioactive monsters and atomic, mutant daughters.

"Music in Yer Head" rocks even harder and "1 900 Vicious" leads off the album with a blast of hard rock satisfaction.

"We did it all ourselves" Brandt said proudly. "We've gradually taken more and more of the responsibility for our albums' production through the three records. On the first album, (Soul'd Out - 2011) we had a difficult experience in someone else's studio - it left a bad taste in our mouths. On White Noize City (2014), we did most of the recording on our own but sent it off to someone else to mix; it turned out okay but we didn't have much money to really pay for quality work. This time we bought some better recording gear, hunkered down, and learned how to do it all ourselves."

The guys in Braindead Romeo are excited for Saturday August 25th, where they will be hanging out at Band City Fest then playing the official afterparty at the Park Hotel after that.

"It (Band City Fest) seems like a really cool event that hopefully will really catch on and be continued year after year" Darrell said. "It would be great to have that kind of tradition in the community.

Although they are excited about the festival, the guys in Braindead Romeo fell their music is more suited for the late-night cocktails crowd than it is an ages festival in a city maintained park.

"We're very ready to give a loud, energetic, rocking show to anyone willing to stick around" Brandt exclaimed. "I hope that the after-party is full of musicians who played that day, because it's nice to get a beer with someone and network and talk about music, right?"

Next up for Braindead Romeo is more album promotion, live shows and making music videos.

"I'm going to keep on writing for the next album, and the one after that, and we'll keep going as long as these guys want to keep on playing the songs. With a band this good, I can pretty much write anything."

Catch Braindead Romeo at the Park Hotel on Saturday August 25th and listen to War is What We're Good For on Spotify