A little liquid courage may be to thank for BRKN Love’s single. Frontman Justin Benlolo was in his backyard one day, imbibing with friends, when the thought of a cover struck him.
He already had ample practice singing the chorus to Bishop Briggs’ “River” at his friends’ insistence.
So, he thought “Why don’t I take a crack at River?”
“I did the worst demo you’ve ever heard, sent it off to the label and it was well received. A month after that, I went to New York and actually recorded it. There was no premeditated or big plan to do this song, it just sort of happened,” Benlolo says.
ED spoke with Benlolo, on behalf of StripJoints.com, about BRKN Love’s cover of “River”, ending a tour in lockstep with the onset of the COVID pandemic and the band’s eponymous album now that it’s had time to breathe.
ED: “Flies in the Honey” was very personal to Justin Benlolo—what was the inspiration for “River”?
BENLOLO: “We’d been talking about doing a cover for a long time within the band and with the label and all that stuff. We didn’t want do something that was rock already, because I feel like when a rock band covers another rock band, it’s almost sacrilegious. A lot of people shit on you. When a rock band does something that’s sort of derivative of what they’re already doing, it would be too on the nose if we did an Audioslave song or a Soundgarden song, or whatever it may be. I remember hearing “River” years ago when I was living in LA, when it first came out and KROQ was playing it a lot. I actually had worked with Bishop Briggs’ drummer, Nick Hughes who plays in Bush now actually. He told us about this artist he was working with and I kept hearing the song on the radio. Every time it’d hit the chorus, I’d be like shit, this is a bluesy, soulful vocal. I always thought this could be really good for a rock song, I just put it in my back pocket because for years I didn’t do anything with it. We had talked about doing the deluxe version of our debut record, my A&R (artists and repertoire) from the label proposed the idea of a cover.
(Briggs’) voice is wicked and I thought it’d be impressive for a man to sing in her key. We didn’t change the key, which is stupid because it’s a very high vocal and quite demanding, much to her incredible talent. It turned out being heavier than I thought. I was a little worried actually that people would think it’s a bit soft for us, but I’m humbled and excited that people reacted to it positively.
ED: We last interviewed you in February about “Flies in the Honey” and you were touring Canada then—were you able to finish that tour or was it interrupted by COVID?
BENLOLO: It was perfect timing. We ended that tour March 6 in St. Catherines, an hour away from where I live. I think the next day, the band flew home (New York City) and when they got off the plane, it was full lockdown, confined to homes. It really couldn’t have worked out better. If it was five days after, we would have to cancel some shows.
ED: How was the last week of the tour when information about COVID was coming out?
BENLOLO: It wasn’t that bad, because as the tour started I remember we talked about COVID amongst ourselves and we weren’t too concerned about it at the time. I remember specifically when we played London, Ontario, it was like the first case in Ontario. It was so miniscule, one person although at the beginning of the tour, we were opening for a band called World Tusk and they’d just done a rock cruise and when they came back, they were sick. From what we learned later down the line, that cruises were super spreading locations, they thought they may have gotten it.
As a band, we always want to give people the opportunity to dance, like AC/DC does—you can dance to all their music. I also like the contrast, the fact there’s such a contrast between the verse and the chorus gives performers the opportunity to explode every time the chorus comes in and then bring it back as part of the routine. Those things sum up a good concoction of why I think it’s a future strip club classic. — Justin Benlolo of BRKN Love
ED: What’s the reaction been like to the album BRKN Love?
BENLOLO: It’s been great. I really expected people to sort of forget about us when the pandemic hit and we lost momentum naturally, we lost touring dates, but it’s actually been escalating—everything’s been getting better and better. Of course, thanks to streaming, we have people helping us out at Spotify, getting our music out there. The response has been great, our ‘fan base’ has tripled. I expected the contrary, that we’d be done for—a band like us, brand new, we rely on playing shows to get in front of people’s faces. I just heard right before we got on this call, our song “Crush” just cracked top 20 in Canada. It’s amazing.
ED: Now that your album has been out for some time, how do you think that’ll change the audience engagement at future shows?
BENLOLO: I hope, just on top of people needing to go see live music again, I think the shows after all this are going to be batshit crazy. Not only because we’ve expanded our fan base, but I think gone are the days of people waiting till next time, it’s going to be like ‘Oh, they’re coming to town? We have to get tickets.’ I hope that when this is done we can headline some smaller shows. Nothing crazy, but if we could do 100-150 people all night, that’d be amazing for us. We’ve really only been around for coming up on two years.
ED: Speaking of COVID, have you turned to music more so than usual during the pandemic?
BENLOLO: I didn’t write anything for a long time at the beginning of the lockdown. I started writing music again when we figured we had to do something to release new music to keep us in the mix with everything. Ever since we recorded the deluxe, I started writing again recently for the second record because I figure we’re going to have to do it. As far as listening, I haven’t been listening to as much music as I thought I would throughout this entire thing. I’ve been listening to podcasts. I was surprised when I received my Spotify wrap and spent seven, eight hours listening to podcasts. It’s hard for me now to listen to bands that are sort of in our world and not get super analytical about what we do, which is kind of a bummer because I wish I could listen to it from a less objective standpoint. Now, I just look so deep into the music as a creator.
ED: StripJoints services DJs at gentlemen’s clubs nationwide, so, in your words, why would “River” be a good choice to play at a gentlemen’s club?
BENLOLO: First, it’s sexy. There’s no doubt about that. It has a good groove to it, you can move around to it. That’s not necessarily something you see a lot with modern rock, it doesn’t make you shake or dance. As a band, we always want to give people the opportunity to dance, like AC/DC does—you can dance to all their music. I also like the contrast, the fact there’s such a contrast between the verse and the chorus gives performers the opportunity to explode every time the chorus comes in and then bring it back as part of the routine. Those things sum up a good concoction of why I think it’s a future strip club classic.
For more information, visit stripjointsmusic.com.
