While making a name for itself as part of Long Beach’s music scene, the trio Brainstory looks to another part of Southern California for its roots.
“I think the Inland Empire is the backdrop of this band,” said guitarist and vocalist Kevin Martin in a recent Zoom interview, who says that the group finds ways to incorporate the area “into everything.”
The Inland Empire city of Rialto was home to Martin and his brother, the band’s bassist Tony Martin, and Rialto profoundly influenced the thematic elements of the psychedelic-soul group’s upcoming sophomore album, “Sounds Good,” which will be released on Friday, April 19. The band kicks off its West Coast tour in Los Angeles on Thursday, April 18, and follows up with a second Southern California show at Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown on Sunday, April 21, before embarking on the tour’s European leg.
The recording of “Sounds Good” was a bittersweet experience for the Martin brothers. As they wrote the album, their parents decided to sell their childhood home in Rialto. Despite not living there for years, the space held a special place in their hearts. The loss and the inability to return to their childhood sanctuary seeped into the album.
“It was uprooting, and when I was writing some of these lyrics for “Peach Optimo,” I was reminiscing about what it was like to be over there, and a lot of that was on my mind,” Martin said, “I think a lot of the album is tied to loss and the gains that come from loss, starting over, new chapters and new beginnings.”
The Martin brothers’ musical journey began in their childhood home, where they regularly listened to radio DJ Art Laboe’s show. Their father, a gospel soloist, introduced them to the rich sounds of oldies, soul, funk, and R&B. Their Grandpa Juan, a talented saxophone and clarinet player, sparked Tony’s love for blues and jazz.
These diverse influences, combined with the deconstruction of their formal music education and…
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