BRKN LOVE (JUNE 13RD, 2022)

Just as BRKN LOVE returns with their new album ‘The Program’, we've rediscovered our interview with Justin Benlolo, the band's leader and mastermind...

What's the one question you've been asked too many times that you're sick of answering?

Justin Benlolo: ‘What inspires you?


And you won't be asked that...

Thank you!


Unfortunately, BRKN Love's first album was released in the middle of a pandemic and wasn't promoted as it should have been. How did you and the band deal with this frustration?

Well, at first I was disgusted, we'd just released the album and we were about to start our tour, we were in Canada and three weeks later: lockdown!
At first I thought it was a pain in the arse but there was nothing we could do about it and it would last for two or three months... In short, it didn't really affect me for the first two or three months but after that it lasted a lot longer than I thought and how can you predict something like that: we'd never been through anything like it before and I hope we never will again...


I don't want to be a bird of ill omen, but we don't know what the future holds...

You're right: we don't know, but so far we've been lucky enough to be on the road for a year in the United States, which will always be open (Laughs): the theatres quickly reopened, but that's business (Laughs)!
But at the time, I thought we'd never be able to tour... Even if we did tour a bit last year, it was with songs that were dated... They were old novelties in a way but it was hard to live with because this album represented a lot of work - these are songs that I wrote and that I cultivated for years - and it was a bit like throwing away this work...


Nevertheless, the album and the band have not gone unnoticed: over 350,000 listens a month on Spotify (with peaks of over 500,000), the track ‘Shot Down’ reached number 15 in the US charts (Active Rock) and number 5 in the Canadiancharts. We suppose there's a mixture of pride at having reached these positions without too much promotion and frustration at not having been able to go further?

Maybe... Canada has always been kind to us because I'm Canadian and Canadians look after each other...


I want to talk about benevolence, but if you've reached such honourable positions, it's mainly because your music is good...

That's really nice of you to say (Smiles)! But now I'm really excited to know what's going to happen, knowing that so far all the indicators are green... We'll see what happens!


For these reasons, do you feel that this new album, ‘Black Box’ - made up of two EPs - is the real start for BRKN Love?

In my opinion, ‘Black Box’ is the album of redemption... and it will be the real test that will allow us to see...


I didn't feel like playing music for a while: I stopped for months!




That must make you all the more angry because this test was promised to this first eponymous album, which had all the qualities to take up the challenge...

Oh thank you, thank you very much because this album is a bit like my baby, you know! I was frustrated, disgusted... and I didn't feel like playing music for a while: I stopped for months!


To the point of giving up the band for good?

Honestly, for a few months, when I was at home, I didn't pick up my guitar, I didn't sing any more... I just sat on my sofa drinking beers and watching films or playing video games: it was a waste!


And what was it that made you want to play again?

At one point, it was ridiculous! I hated what I was becoming. I was a wreck who didn't take care of myself: I didn't eat a balanced diet, I slept too much, I didn't do anything...


It was really complicated to write lyrics because nothing was happening in my life!




... like most of the planet, which was in depression...

... and I was drinking a lot! And I remember one day waking up and saying to myself that I had to think differently: it couldn't go on like that. I started working on music again and things started to calm down, particularly in Canada, people started to get vaccinated... things started to change, even if at the time we didn't really know where we were going, but we had to because we were all starting to go a bit crazy... So I started working on music again and things started to calm down, particularly in Canada, people started to get vaccinated... things started to change, even if at the time we didn't really know where we were going, but we had to because we were all starting to go a bit crazy...
So I started working on the music again, telling myself that if everything went well, we'd be back on the road and I wouldn't have time to do it...
But the difficulty was writing lyrics when everything was still closed: I couldn't use my experiences to translate them into lyrics... It was really complicated to write lyrics because nothing was happening in my life!
But then I realised that if nothing was happening in my life, it was a kind of internal conflict that I could talk about!


Writing that's more cathartic than ever...

Exactly!


As you mentioned, you did a tour to open Badflower. How did you get back on stage after this long break?

We'd been touring for a while, it wasn't our first tour but this last tour was the best we've ever done... because Badflower are a really great band and their fans are great, all the shows were sold out, the fans were crazy, they were jumping all over each other... It's the first time we've done a tour like this in America because, no offence intended, generally speaking, the public are a bit rigid and rarely let themselves go whereas I know European audiences are crazy! We've never played in Europe before...


... but hopefully very soon!

I really hope so, because all the rock bands I've come across have told me that the audiences here are incredible!


Your first album was very live, whereas the sound on ‘Black Box’ seems a bit more spacious. Was this a deliberate choice?

Definitely! Our first album was recorded under live conditions. For ‘Black Box’, even though the drums are live, I programmed the drums first and then played the guitar parts. When the guitars were finished, I played the bass parts and then I did the vocals... and finally, we did the ‘real’ drums again with the musicians... It's a really different approach to the usual one, I'd never recorded that way before...


And now that you've experimented with these two approaches, which one will you choose for the next album?

It's difficult to answer...


A mixture of the two?

Probably, because when you compose on a computer, it gives you a certain freedom to come back and change... whereas when we all play together, everything comes out in a visceral, ‘real’ way and when it's in the can, it's finished... but it's often the best moments on albums that we love, like that fragility in Robert Plant's voice on a passage or when Eddy Van Halen screws up that riff... but that's what makes these songs so great!
Next time, we'll probably do a mix of these two approaches because I'd love to do something ‘real’ again...


All your tracks are very basic (they're under 4 minutes long). Is it a conscious choice to transmit and build on that energy?

Yes, they are! Songs longer than 3 minutes and 30 seconds bore me!


So you're not the kind of progressive artist we're used to promoting...

That's clearly not the case for us! I do like metal and progressive rock, but I have to be in a particular mood because I like catchy songs above all!
I deliberately put this parameter at the heart of the show and it opens up a lot of opportunities on stage: you can add bars to a riff, play a guitar or drum solo at a different moment... Everything is done in such a way that we can let things happen naturally on stage. And it also has to be simple so that the audience can understand and play our music. All the musicians in the band are great musicians, I'd say I'm the least gifted of us (smiles): my musicians are very, very good! We all have very technical foundations and we could venture into more technical passages if we wanted to...


I like things simple!




... but that's not the music you want to play...

Exactly! I like simple things!


Your voice is very powerful, aggressive at times. How do you work on your voice, how do you look after it?

I used to smoke and I don't any more... I shouldn't say so but I used to smoke weed too - I'm from Canada where it's legal (Laughs) - but I don't smoke that any more either.
I've been practising my voice for a very long time, I've been working with a vocal coach for ten years, it's very important and particularly in rock music where you need an aggressive voice: you really have to take care of your voice. Your voice won't stay as it is if you don't take care of it, it's a bit like playing the guitar or the piano, you also have to practise, especially to keep your fingers supple.
Your voice can deteriorate very easily if you don't take care of it... : I've been very aware of this since I was very young, I warm up before singing and I'm also careful afterwards... I'm very careful!


BRKN Love is a cross between Royal Blood and Led Zeppelin, and even Dramagods, particularly on the final track ‘Spell’, in other words, effective music that still sounds relatively vintage.

I agree with you and I really like the comparisons you make, I really appreciate them because they're bands I love... But the songs I write aren't forced, they just come out naturally: they're ‘real’!


And are you working on developing your own signature style amidst all these influences?

Um, I don't really know... In fact, I'd say that in the end you produce what you listen to: if you listen to such and such an album at a given moment, it's going to influence you by force of circumstance, these influences are going to show their heads... It's clear that they're going to be heard but I don't think about that, if that's the case, that's cool but that's the way it is...


We're not going to reinvent the wheel: our music is still rock'n'roll!


Following on from the previous question, ‘Like A Drug’ is the first single you've chosen. It shows that you've taken the band's personality to a new level. Was it a desire for you to assert yourself and free yourself from your influences?

It's complicated to answer... To be honest, we have to be very careful when we come up with a new composition, I wonder if we're proposing something different... I'm very aware of all that and I pay a lot of attention to it. Sometimes you come up with a composition, you don't know where it comes from, you play a riff and suddenly you think it could be the basis of a song: that's how it always happens, but in the end, what makes us different from other bands, the band and the way it plays, my voice... because we're talking about rock'n'roll, we're not going to reinvent the wheel: our music is still rock'n'roll!


Your music is based on very effective riffs (‘Fever Dream’). In your opinion, what makes a good riff?

I like fat stuff, slow and groovy stuff... I also like simple riffs played on one string... Of course, complicated stuff is also cool and I love metal guitarists who play that style, but I really like fat, heavy stuff like Tommy Iommi's that grab you by the gut... I love slow, fuzz and groovy riffs...


With so much energy on display, aren't you afraid of those who might criticise you for a lack of contrast?

A lack of contrast? Um, I've never thought about that, to be honest, I haven't gone that far...
For example, I wanted to put a ballad on this album but I didn't manage to write the right song... To be honest, I think it's easier to write a rock'n'roll song than a sentimental ballad because you can quickly sound cheesy... So I really wanted to put a ballad on here but I didn't manage to do it and to tell you the truth, I'm still working on it (Laughs)!


It'll be on the next album... On a personal note, you were chosen by Desmond Child for Desmond Child Live - you covered Kiss' “I Was Made for Loving You” in particular - how did you feel about this choice and what do you take away from this experience for you and the band?

I met him several years ago when I was living in Los Angeles. He liked my music, he liked my voice... and it wasn't long before he asked me to do a few things...


How proud you must be?

It's incredible! I remember growing up with Kiss, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith - if you go on the Internet, there's a good chance you'll see Desmond Child's name on most of the hits from that era... This guy worked with everyone, his discography is unimaginable!


And now Justin Benlolo...

Exactly! I got to sing all these incredible songs he wrote, songs I grew up with... It's pretty crazy! It's an honour for him to call me to do these concerts. At each of the concerts, I kept my mouth shut and listened to everyone else, because everyone there also played with everyone else... I learnt an enormous amount from these concerts.


Getting back to what you're up to now, what do you expect from this album?

I know I'm going to sound presumptuous - because it's my music - but I think this album is really good. I really think it has a place in modern rock. We're part of this new wave of rock bands, but most of the bands coming out of the States lack imagination, they all sound more or less the same and I think we offer something different...





Finally, we started this interview with the question you've been asked all too often: what's the one you'd like me to ask you or that you'd like me to answer?

(Silence) Um, I have no idea...


I suggest you think about it and we'll start the next interview with this question and its answer...

Very good idea... Thank you!


Thanks to Calgepo for his contribution...