Talk Nerdy With Us chats about “Life” with Chris Brochu
Talk Nerdy With Us had the opportunity to chat with actor and singer-songwriter Chris Brochu about his upcoming EP “Life”.
How long have you been working on your EP, Life?
Chris Brochu: “It’s been a labor of love for about three years. I realize I wasn’t working necessarily on the EP. I was just writing a lot of music and it was accumulating. I basically looked at the different 30 songs or something that I had and I mapped out a couple EP’s. This is the first of about four that I would like to release eventually.”
How many tracks does Life have?
“Life has six tracks.”
Obviously Life is based off of the moments in your life. Could you tell us about some of the milestones that your songs address?
“Absolutely. The first song is C M B, which is just my initials. It’s a little bit of an introduction to the world of me and my life and where I grew up, how I grew up, and music that influenced me. The next song is called Out There. It’s a song about not letting other people define who you are, leading your own path, your own truth. Head Up deals with hard news and lessons that you can experience and essentially finding the proper perspective to move forward. The song after that is called All is Well. It rolls right off of the previous song, Head Up, because again it speaks a lot about perspectives. It’s a baby kind of meditation almost where you look for the right things to have a good day. The one after that is called My Crew and that just speaks about my friend group and basically how we work and play harder. Then Rain or Shine is a song I wrote for myself, but it’s for the world to keep me grounded. It basically just means if I’m saying I’m going to do something then I’m going to be there, you can count me in essentially. It’s a lot of these different things that I go through, but I turn around and I try to make them as versatile to any walk of life that may be able to connect with it.”
Which song was the hardest to piece together lyrically and musically?
“I’m going to have to say Out There which is number two. I write all my songs on a two sheet, just me and singing. That song going into recording, I didn’t quite have a grip on and I couldn’t figure out what it was. The production aspects of that tune was super helpful in actually flushing out the whole entire song. I’d have to go with Out There as far as the process goes.”
On the 25th you’re playing a set at Mystic Grill. What’s it like playing a show where TVD takes place?
“I see it as an opportunity. An opportunity to to meet new people, an opportunity to do what I love, and an opportunity to just do some travel. I’m bringing my sister with me as well. I’m very excited because of what the role in the Vampire Diaries has planted in my life. I would not be what I am today without anything that has happened in my life. I see the Mystic Grill as an opportunity to keep moving forward and on a path that I’m on.”
Going off of that, you do have a lot of TVD fans. Michael and Kat are both also involved in the music industry. Besides them, which of your other cast mates would you want to collaborate with?
“Chris Wood is awesome, he’s very talented. He can play guitar and he can also sing. That could be a situation. He’s like a brother to me.”
You’ve been shooting your EP cover, can you tell us a little bit about what that experience was like and what it might look like?
“Sure. I actually just released a teaser video on Instagram talking about the first tune off the EP. As the album art. Basically what it is is just a super close up of my left eye. In my eye you can see a reflection. The back side of the EP is the reflection that I’m looking at. It’s a couple of individuals of my friend group. It in the grand scheme of things it will mean more than just what it looks like right now. The way that I perceive it is perspective, it’s just my perspective on situations.”
Originally Life was supposed to come out in July and now it’s being released on August 4th. Why the delay?
“I bit off more than I could chew. I’m doing all of this independently and on my own. It’s a lot of stuff to get all of your ducks in a row. I’ve got PR individuals to help me and that is thankfully why I get to do interviews with you and I get a little more time to ensure that everything’s set up properly for the release date. You can’t rush it.”
Can you tell us a little bit about your release show in L.A. or is that under the wraps?
“It is going to be on August 4th at the Virgile. It’s going to be my EP release party. All the artists that are going to play that night are going to be close friends of mine. I’ll close up the evening with playing a full band set of the entire EP and a couple other songs as well. It’s going to be a great night all around, August 4th.”
Have you started working on the other EP’s? Or are you totally focused on Life right now?
“I’m totally focused on Life right now, but I have all the other EP’s mapped out. I have all the songs done, just it’s right now about releasing this so that the world can have it. After that I can, maybe in a few months, six months or so start thinking about a second one.”
Since you were doing it alone what are your plans for releasing an actual hard copy of the EP?
“I’m printing those up. It will be available on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, all of those things, but I am also going to also have physical copies printed up. I have to set up a website. T-shirts, merchandise, stuff like that. Physical copies will be available in the next couple months.”
Speaking of merch, have you decided what your shirts are going to say? Is it just going to say Life? Is it just going to say Chris? Or is it going to be a lyric?
“My thought process on merchandising is, I don’t want it to say my name at all. I want it to be based off of the lyrical content of my music and certain concepts. The first shirt that will come out is going to be off of the My Crew song. It’s going to be My Crew scenes, and the back will say, “My Crew doesn’t quit,” which is a lyric. The front will have my initials. That will be the initial design. After that I’ve got more but you have to start small.”
What is your favorite lyric that you’ve written?
“That’s a really good question. I have a couple that my sister really enjoys because I wrote a song about her. You know what, I’ll leave it to the EP, how about that? Now I’m going through all the songs in my mind. How about this … It’s the bridge of All is Well, it says, “At the end of the day it’s who you are, not who you know, so cultivate your fate and blossom beautiful. You can’t pick where you’re planted but you choose how you grow”.”
You can pre-order “Life” on Friday, July 24th!