Jonathan Brightman or the rise of an American songwriter? How hard have you find it to get Black Robot noticed and do you have any advice for young bands out there starting out in the industry? Jonathan Brightman: It’s very hard. It feels like carrying a load of boulders on your back uphill in the rain both ways!!! My advice to new bands: Be relentless. “Badass” is one of the coolest songs I’ve heard in a long time, what are your favourites on the record? Jonathan Brightman: BADDASS is my favourite. It’s just a funny song.
Jonathan Brightman and Buckcherry: Josh Todd grew up in the Anaheim Hills neighborhood of Anaheim, California and later moved to Lake Forest, California. Early on, Todd fronted the Hollywood glam rock band Slamhound. He eventually met lead guitarist Keith Nelson through their tattoo artist (Kevin Quinn). The duo made a few demos before being joined by bassist Jonathan Brightman and drummer Devon Glenn, calling themselves Sparrow. Sparrow began performing around the Hollywood club scene, receiving a strong, local following due to their old school rock and roll vibe, and were signed to DreamWorks Records shortly after. The group changed its name to Buckcherry after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from a record label called Sparrow (owned by EMI). Although the band’s name is a spoonerism of the late Chuck Berry, the group said it was inspired by a drag queen acquaintance of theirs named Buck Cherry.
Black Robot is a California-based hard rock band formed in 2008 by bassist Jonathan Brightman (JB). In December 2010 the band’s self-titled debut album was picked by Apple iTunes as one of the top 15 rock releases for the year alongside notable artists including Tom Petty, Slash, Elvis Costello and Deftones. Additionally, Classic Rock Magazine ranked their song “Baddass” as the #5 Song of the Year and chose it as the opening track of their Best of 2010 CD.
Are you surprised about the levels of publicity this time around, rather than for the original release? Jonathan Brightman: Absolutely. We still do our best to work with any level of publicity. From a teenager with their own blog site working out of their bedroom to Rolling Stone magazine. Our goal is to let everyone know we’re here and we’re not going away.
Over the past years Brightman Music has been a top Producer Management firm based in Southern California with a presence in New York City and Nashville, Tennessee and London, England. We represent some of the recording industry’s most highly recognized award winning producers, mixers, songwriters and engineers as well as tomorrow’s game changers. We hold a unique emphasis and proven track record on the discovery and development of groundbreaking chart-topping new artists. Our clients work with artists and record labels, big and small from every corner of the globe. We celebrate musical diversity and support artists of all genres. See more information at Jonathan Brightman.
The name is something that I had been holding on to for some time. I conceptualized the figure which you see on the album cover and I wanted that figure to represent the band. I think it’s a strong, menacing figure that isn’t too far from something Iron Maiden would use. Like their mascot Eddie, I think as we begin to gain a fan base and get bigger we’ll be able to have our own identifiable figure that can progress as the band does. We wanted the focus to be on the visuals, we didn’t want the focus to be on the traditional thing, band members; four or five guys in the band. There’s nothing original about five guys lining up in a photo, of course we do that too, but that’s not the focus. We wanted to have a powerful figure that would represent the music and what we stand for.