Local band caters to 20s crowd, writes music on life experiences
After only eight months and roughly 10 gigs, A Brighter Life is set to release its debut EP, entitled “Where Tonight Can Go,” at New Brookland Tavern tonight.
The band cites its eclectic tastes, ranging from Taking Back Sunday and Four Year Strong to Lupe Fiasco, as main influences on its music, which is labeled as pop-punk.
Despite understandable hardships with the local music scene, A Brighter Life has spent the last eight months using Internet resources like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to build up its fan base and promote the its EP.
“[Our biggest challenge has been] just trying to stay relevant in a dying scene. Columbia’s really known for its indie music scene and not its pop-punk scene. We’re in a dying genre and at a weird age for it, but we’re working every day and writing, so I guess we’re overcoming it,” guitarist Alex Koss said.
The band members draw mainly on their own life experiences to create their music, including inspiration from work and school. Koss, bassist Chris Cousins and vocalist Jordan Kirk all attend USC, while guitarist Byron Dooley and drummer Chris Seiferlein have full-time jobs.
“[We write] mostly just about life in our early 20s, but [we are] reflective about where we came from. Half of us are at school, and the other half work, so we just write about the monotony and the ups and downs of it all — just things that kids like us have to think about,” Koss said.
A Brighter Life has used its music to grow both personally and musically since its formation in May 2010. Koss maintains that the band’s main goal is not fame and fortune, but rather to connect with listeners and provide an outlet for the pressures of young adulthood.
“The ultimate goal is just to write music that someone thinks is relevant to them. When we were growing up, and even now, we used music as a way to figure out what everything’s all about. We just want to make something that means something,” Koss said.
While the songs on the EP were written by Kirk and Dooley before the current lineup was in place, Koss said the band has grown since then and has written songs together that further flesh out its signature sound.
The EP was recorded and mixed by Charlie Jackson of West Columbia, who has worked with other South Carolina bands such as Clever Words and the popular Columbia-based ensemble CherryCase. The record will be available in physical form at the release show tonight and for digital sale on iTunes and abrighterlife.bandcamp.com soon.