Simply Six: David Bronson

1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they wanted to be a singer. For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later. Is there such a defining moment for you?

 

I distinctly remember one day in 6^th grade when I felt an overwhelming urge to learn to play the guitar. I was around music, listening to a lot of rock (Guns n Roses, Tom Petty, Pearl Jam, INXS – stuff that was kind of mainstream popular at the time), and my brother was already playing drums and had a little band with some of our good school friends, so it wasn’t really ‘out of the blue’ or anything. But I do remember all of a sudden this intense kind of pang to play guitar. And my mom had an old nylon-string folk guitar in the basement that I just dug out and started messing around with. As far as when I ‘knew’ I wanted to be a singer, per se, there was no real single kind of moment like that. It was just a natural outgrowth of being a very personal songwriter and realizing at a certain point that I needed to be the one to kind of define the vocal interpretation of these songs, all of which are very autobiographical.

 

 

2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to? Who are some of your favorites?

 

I like a lot of different things and listen to a decent variety of stuff but my true musical heart has never swayed very far from rock; traditional kind of vocal-based verse/chorus song structure just tends to move me the most. I also do get very much into certain types of instrumental music, both modern as well as classical, but 99% of the time I’m completely about the song as my format of choice (followed closely by the album).

 

That being said, a few of my all time favorites are many of the classic rock giants: certainly The Stones and the Beatles (including most of their solo recordings), Neil Young, Van Morrison, David Bowie, Tom Petty, Pink Floyd, Paul Simon, Cat Stevens. I’ve always been an enormous fan of Peter Gabriel. And Joni Mitchell. And as far as all time favorites go, (and I know this is certainly not any kind of novel sentiment or anything) Radiohead is pretty much one of the very best things we’ve been given as a culture, artistically speaking. I see them in a certain way like being the modern analog to the Beatles.

 

And these days, some of the ‘newer’ stuff I’ve been listening to: I’ve become a huge fan of Iron and Wine (Sam Beam) – love his older stuff and completely love his newest record. I’m a big fan of TV on the Radio, especially their last 2 records, and, much like the rest of the world, I really love Adele’s last record. I also couldn’t stop listening to The Killers’ Day & Age record for a little while, and also recently heard the Mumford & Sons record start to finish for the first time and thought that was really great. And from a writing/recording/production/arrangement point of view I’m extremely impressed whenever I hear Janelle Monae’s stuff.

 

 

3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live?

 

It wouldn’t be possible for me to pick one moment or thing that has happened in a very specific sense. There have been a lot of great moments as an artist (as well as a lot of difficult ones), but I would have to say that the best kind of ‘single’ thing that has happened, which has been the result of a much more gradual process, has been the honing in on what it is that I want to do as a creating individual; what I want to express and what that expression would look like, in a very over-arching kind of way.

 

 

4. Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to? How much can music influence current events?

 

I definitely don’t believe that music is just something to listen to. Obviously to very, very many people (including myself) it’s much more than that. And I think it can change the world probably as much as anything else can or cannot. I definitely think that pieces of music, being pieces of expression, can change a person’s level of awareness or perspective in direct correlation to the degree to which that person allows it in. But it is no different than any other form of expression or communication or art in that sense.

 

 

5. How has technology affected the music industry? How has technology affected your career as a musician?

 

I think anyone who has anything do with the music industry realizes how much of an effect technology has had on almost every aspect of the industry side of music (i.e. the production, marketing, replication, distribution, promotion, selling of music, as opposed to the music / art side, which has remained the same as it always has been).

 

Technology (specifically the computer, software, and the internet) has completely affected my career as a musician. Not only have I recorded every piece of music I’ve ever made digitally, but my entire ability to self-release, promote, and broadcast my music online is something that has only become possible in the last few years, due to the development of numerous internet-based platforms, systems, and applications.

 

6. Now for my Barbara Walters question: If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?

 

Easy – Converse All Stars.