Braless

Tune in to this episode of The Stripdown to hear about the Chapel Hill band, Braless. Hear about the exciting projects they are working on and the band's beginning.

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Creators & Guests

Host

DJ Ocean Spray

What is The Stripdown?

WKNC's DJ Ocean Spray chats with (mostly) North Carolina musicians.

DJ Ocean Spray 0:00
Hello, you're listening to WKNC 8.1 HD one Raleigh. This is an episode of the stripped down with DJ Ocean Spray. And today I'm here with the UNC baseband braless. So can you guys introduce yourselves with your name Roland band major and where you're from?

Deana Garst 0:17
Hi, everyone. I'm Dee, but my actual name is Deanna Deanna Garst and I grew up in Connecticut. I studied the saxophone. I'm a music major, who primarily focuses on jazz in school. And I also play saxophone in Braless and like sing for sometimes for sometimes Yeah.

Chloe Winchester 0:40
Sweet My name is Chloe Winchester. I'm from Charlotte area specifically Huntersville and in school I'm studying music and French. I play mainly electric guitar and sometimes bass a little bit.

Will Poteet 0:56
I'm, Will Poteet. I am I was born in Augusta, Georgia, and I come from Asheville, North Carolina. I study religion at UNC and I play bass and sometimes guitar and sometimes sing with braless.

Izze Steinke 1:12
Yeah. Okay, um, Hi, I'm Izze Steinke. I'm also from Asheville, North Carolina, though I was born not in Augusta. I was born in Asheville. Okay. And I'm studying environmental science with a minor in geography and I play the drums. I've dabbled in other things, but I think I've settled down here. Yes.

Sarah Lorenzi 1:32
And my name is Sarah Lorenzi. I'm lead vocals for braless my major double major in physics and Spanish literature's and cultures. And I am hailing from Charlotte. And I'm also representing who is not here, another guitarist of ours Samuel J. Ellington. He hails from Gastonia, North Carolina, and he is a little nerdy math major.

DJ Ocean Spray 1:55
So can you guys tell me a little bit about how the band formed?

Sarah Lorenzi 2:00
Our favorite question. So picture this UNC dining hall, where all great ideas are born. Me and Chloe are getting lunch, you know, it's a nice little lunch, a little gray, but you know, lunch nonetheless. And I'm like, Man, I really don't have any way to do music or any way to participate in the performing like I used to love. And Cloe was like, dude, what did you say

Chloe Winchester 2:25
I don't know. I was like, Maybe we should like do something about that. Like, make a van and D and I lived in our little dorm together freshman year, Craig. Yeah, gotta love Craig crusty, Craig. Yeah. But D played saxophone all the time. And I was like, we should make a band. I play guitar. Do you play sax, Sarah's amazing vocalist. Let's just like see what we can do.

Sarah Lorenzi 2:47
Cut to the Cray courtyard just a few weeks later, I'm meeting all the buddies in the suite. We're getting all together. And we just start jamming in the courtyard seeing what we want to play. See what we want to do. What do we do? We're some of the first time we did oh,

Chloe Winchester 3:02
wasn't it like Hotel California?

Sarah Lorenzi 3:04
Yes. Yeah. And we slowly had people coming up from the grass outside of their dorm some people Yeah, letting us to be quiet.

Deana Garst 3:11
It was a Frank Ocean song or two in their Dream a Little Dream. So so that was a song. I played a lot in high school. Yes. To practice and Sarah loves Frank Ocean. All right. Yeah, I

Sarah Lorenzi 3:21
do. I mean, we all do. But I one time and yeah. And that was our first rehearsal. I was just a couple of us. Yeah. And being a student band. You know, we have had many people come and go. And so now we look a lot different. But that's where we started. That's our roots is playing with people outside. Right outside

Izze Steinke 3:39
playing whether or not the people wanted it. Yeah.

Sarah Lorenzi 3:42
There were lots of people mad that we were making noise. It was like the middle of a die. Or something. I don't even remember. But yeah. Okay,

DJ Ocean Spray 3:51
so how long have you guys been a band?

Sarah Lorenzi 3:54
would have been two years ago. Our first show ever was two January's ago. So we just passed our two year anniversary. Congratulations.

DJ Ocean Spray 4:06
And how did you guys land on the name Braless?

Deana Garst 4:10
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Today,

Chloe Winchester 4:13
this one was me. and D were walking in opposite directions from classic D and Chloe. Were like, oh my gosh, we met up and we're like, talking about we need a name for this band. It's kind of it's getting up. It's getting a little bit faster. We need to figure out a band name. So we're just brainstorming. And I think we saw like a sticker on the pole outside of the SRC. Yeah. And it inspired something. And I were just throwing out nouns. And I was like, braless? Yeah.

Deana Garst 4:42
We both happen to be braless that day, too. And we were like, yes, we look so good. We're slaying right now who needs bras? Like who? Right, right? I mean, sometimes they're practical, but like I was like, whatever. And then we were like braless the name I think, did

Chloe Winchester 4:56
a little eyebrow raise. Yeah, we're like

Deana Garst 4:58
When we texted the original braless group chat, and we were like, Hey, how do y'all feel about braless? And everyone was like, yeah, yeah, that sounds cool. At least for now. It'd be a placeholder. And then we thought about how good the branding was and about how good like, you can get so much attention from that. And like when you hear the name braless, it provokes questioning, and like, sometimes confusion, sometimes I was about to say people are like us. rodless. Like, and then like, I have to spell it out. I'm like, brah, less like, no bra. Like sometimes you misspell like the actual like B are, like, people for some reason, especially I've had this experience with men, where they just can't wrap their head around.

Izze Steinke 5:38
No one they see it written first or like Barlas. Then I'm like, come on, you guys. I feel like it's not that hard. I don't know if that's a word that you say. Yeah, totally. So

just to clarify for the audience, the src, the Student Recreation Center, the name came up into fruition outside of the student gym.

We were getting swol.

Chloe Winchester 6:02
There was a sticker. And it said something like, crude on it. Yeah. And I don't know. It just inspired something. I guess. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah.

Deana Garst 6:12
The gym is so inspiring for us.

Izze Steinke 6:15
Big braless motto. Oh, yeah. Wow.

DJ Ocean Spray 6:18
And so what is your like personal journeys with music? Like, have you been playing music for a long time, or listening to a muse music for a while?

Will Poteet 6:26
Definitely. I would say I started like, obviously, we all listen to music in the car as a kid. And I feel like all of us are very musical people have always had that sort of special connection to where we, it was something that we knew we wanted to do. I personally, I did a lot of singing in choir when I was in middle and high school and went to Carolina for music. And it, you know, it just kind of it was the natural creative outlet. It was the the, you know, I didn't I wasn't there for the start of the band. But when I got the opportunity, it was like, yeah, no way. I'm passing this up. Yeah, it

Sarah Lorenzi 7:00
was awesome. Well, because we were talking a lot about in the beginning, kind of like I said, Before, we were like there are no music spaces that you can like really be a part of in college that aren't like nine to five rehearsal every day, Monday through Friday. And you know, being a busy student, being a full time student, it's really hard to commit to something like that. And so to be able to create a space where people can come and play music for the love of it rather than for whatever else people play music for. I don't know. Exactly. I mean, I don't know about anybody else. But I was a theater kid in high school. So I don't know if I want to admit that on air, but I am present. Yeah, I had always loved it. But I was always typecast into roles that I didn't want to play. And so, like what I don't really want to say. Let's just say some of us were understudies for Snoopy, let's say healing secrets, right? Yeah, you know what? That's um, given us the NC State campus. Okay. But oh, sorry. No, no, no, go for it.

Chloe Winchester 7:58
I was gonna say I think the cool thing about braless is that everybody in braless has their own, like musical journeys outside of the band. Yeah. And it's an outlet where we all come together and enjoy music together. But like, personally, I am a music major, and I'm studying to do classical conducting, which is very different from what braless does. We do not play classical music, if you've ever heard us play, not one day, one day, yeah, maybe. But I think that fact that we all have our own, like different musical education in some way. And musical history really contributes to how interesting our sound is. Yeah,

Deana Garst 8:34
I think, continuing to answer your question, we've kind of been doing it a zigzag, but that's the way it is. You know, I personally started playing saxophone in fifth grade. The standup bass was my first choice and fourth grade, but shout out to my parents. They didn't want me to play it.

Sarah Lorenzi 8:53
Patti said we see something else for you. It was big, and it

Deana Garst 8:56
was very expensive. And they didn't want me to have to carry that on the bus every day. So they really were looking out for me. So real of them. Yeah, for Yeah, but I was heavy enough. Yeah. They didn't know how committed I would be. And then they saw me with the saxophone. And every single day I brought it home from school, there was not a single day, that I didn't bring that home and have it in my hands. Right when I got out of school, like during lunch, like everything, it was just an obsession immediately for me. And so I've been playing my entire life since fifth grade. And I came to college for music. That's the only reason why I want to come to college just to like, practice the craft and get better at it. My high school band program like she was amazing, but coming to college I'm working with shout out or Shawn barber and Heidi Radke. They are the most incredible mentors in the entire world and they just have brought my planning to an entire new level. I had to shout them out. I

Sarah Lorenzi 9:49
love them. Shout them out. Yeah,

Deana Garst 9:52
I know it's that's my experience personally, and

Izze Steinke 9:54
I feel like for me, I was kind of honestly the opposite. I played you No, I spent a lot of stuff I did classical piano starting at the age of five. I did jazz saxophone and middle and high school and I did classical bassoon and did some drumline stuff, too, which has got me started on percussion. And our band program at my high school was, I would say, very advanced, and it was very competitive. And our band director was very tough on us, you know how it goes? I feel like if there are any band kids listening, you probably understand. And so he kind of beat it into my head that UNC was not of the caliber of music school that I should go to, which is I think, kind of a donkey dog, you know, but whatever.

Deana Garst 10:37
years Yeah, so So he, maybe

Izze Steinke 10:40
yeah, he was right for the time, but not anymore, you know. But so that means that when I got here, I really didn't continue my music education pretty much at all. And it left a sizable, if not, yeah, really huge hole in my psyche and my being. And so braless was a really good chance for me to kind of step into that creation zone. Again, because it was something that was really missing from my life. So really grateful to be here.

DJ Ocean Spray 11:08
Yeah. And so you guys are really loved by the UNC community. Um, what has that experience been like? Like, with all that support?

Sarah Lorenzi 11:17
Weird? Crazy. I may say me, and we'll we're driving just on the street one day windows down in the car, talking into volume that we would now and we were like, bla, bla, bla, bla, bla, braless. Somebody walks, cross street goes, braless, braless. I love braless. Show you guys. And I was like, one?

Deana Garst 11:36
Celebrity? Yeah, bro. No, the support has been. There's just something about the community that we attracted right from the start. Yeah, that was I think that was what has determined our success so far that and like just the friendship that we have and our passion for music individually and as a band. But like the first crowd that we drew on that Justice street show, like the energy was so incredible, everyone was so engaged, and so forgiving, if there was any mistakes, or any bumps or anything, which there wasn't a lot of people just embrace that. No. No, for the start, like for our first show, as a band, like our chemistry carried us and the chemistry of the crowd, just like propelled us. And since then, every show, people are just incredible and attentive, and it's one excited, it's crazy.

Sarah Lorenzi 12:33
What's awesome is everybody's just as excited as we are, I think what I think we have is that we are so excited to play every time this is a space that we created to be able to play. And each and every one of us are excited to commune with the music and each other on stage. I mean, when we're playing where do we do a lot of improvising on stage, I would say and I think that's part of the fun and part of the draw. And we just have so many friends supporting us that whenever it's I think one of our last shows we were at it was just all of our friends in the audience watching us, you know, goof off on stage. And it was just a really good time it was so it can be strange, but it's it's helped me grow a lot. And it's helped me meet a lot of beautiful people that I never would have met. Yeah,

Chloe Winchester 13:13
definitely reminds me that people, even if you do mess up, people don't really care. And they just like, love who we are because they're friends. And people are just really, really supportive, which is something that's really refreshing because the music, like music school is a little unforgiving, maybe it just, it's just really hard. So having such a supportive fan base is really a breath of fresh air. I think. I feel

Izze Steinke 13:40
like part of also just one last note, part of the draw too, is just in all of that, I feel like we are kind of unique, because we are so genuine, I think we're just being ourselves up there. And I feel like that is part of what is so special.

Sarah Lorenzi 13:52
We always said community like braless is for community. I think that's one of the first things that we really wanted to make known about us is that music is a community you shouldn't feel left out of it. You shouldn't feel, you know, burnt out on, you know, passion and communication and love, you know, as a kid, because that's what music is, you know, you're trying to reach some sort of goal, you're trying to obtain some sort of skill, but at the end of the day, it is for sharing life. Yeah. And so that's what we want to do when we're bringing show and I think people see that. Yeah, and I'm glad that they do. You know, I'm glad that message got across kind of crazy that people want to come to our shows and listen to us like oh, yeah, I

Deana Garst 14:26
mean, they do say that music is a universal language. And it's true.

Sarah Lorenzi 14:30
So, amen. So I did get a little deep there. No, I

Deana Garst 14:33
love that. I'm gonna listen, I'm gonna re listen to that after this recording time. Sit on it. Meditate, literally.

DJ Ocean Spray 14:41
And so you guys released a cover of Midnight in Harlem in December. What made you guys choose that as your first like recording to release?

Izze Steinke 14:50
Oh, well it started because Sara and I were going up to Asheville. I think we were driving in will meet us that road trip playlist Thanks we'll just like send us a place was like Hey, I think you're gonna like this stuff where do you find that song? Well, that

Will Poteet 15:06
song specifically yeah, there's video the guy who plays in the Tedeschi trucks band rocks shout out

Sarah Lorenzi 15:14
shout out his name is Derek truck Derek

Will Poteet 15:16
trucks awesome

Sarah Lorenzi 15:17
last night

Will Poteet 15:18
I would kill mins nephew, there's a video of him playing live at some concert and he's sitting next to BB King and John Mayer. Oh my god, please slide guitar solo. And it's gorgeous. And it's amazing. And he's using a swamp rug. No, it's just like a different song. Okay, sounds okay. Okay. But at the end he finishes and BB King is like, that's the best I've ever heard it and like you know, BB King says that to you may be special and Yeah, after that point, it was just like, oh, well, I wonder this Derek trucks guy Tedeschi trucks and I just found the song through whatever.

Izze Steinke 15:55
And then I think we all fell in love with it. Yeah, definitely.

Sarah Lorenzi 15:58
There's this beautiful like five minute long intro that's just him absolutely crushing some sort of amazing and I think the the freeform of that song, because we love to mix it up and not know what we're doing. We love the ability to have a freeform structure. And there's just a beautiful sound to that song that I have not heard in a long time. Like when I heard that it struck a different chord in my soul. So there

Chloe Winchester 16:22
is a version of that song that the dashi trucks does, and it's called the swamp raga version. And Hindustani classical music, there's like a song is the equivalent to a rug. And so I am taking this class and we're learning about Hindustani classical music. And we're listening to this raag. it's called raag bihag. And I was like, Oh my gosh, this sounds exactly like that song, the intro to that song. And then I realized it's a swamp raga. So it's based on that drone note underneath, which I think is a D. It's droning on, I don't like, I don't know. And then the Bundys, which is like the melody line that's expanded upon and improvisation is so so similar to that. So I looked up to dashi trucks, and he actually studied at a school I think it was in San Francisco, and it's a Hindustani classical school. And I was like, I totally hear that

Sarah Lorenzi 17:16
in his class. It just shows Yeah, beautiful mix. Yeah,

Chloe Winchester 17:20
I think the person who made that school is Ravi Shankar, who played plays the rugby hog in a really cool way.

Sarah Lorenzi 17:29
So did not know that this lore

Chloe Winchester 17:32
is awesome. Yeah, mostly

Will Poteet 17:33
just also, I feel like that's kind of a testament. Not that we went specifically for the raag and stuff, but like, just a testament to all the different, like styles of music that we like, how that all kind of came together to we made our own raga. In the beginning, it's it's different, but it's very much influenced by Yeah,

Sarah Lorenzi 17:54
yeah. And when we play it live, I feel like to what is our runtime like, we play an 11 minute version of this live because we start with it. What do you call it? When the saxophone is playing by itself? No uncut dens cadenza? Yes. Do you want, like, I need my cadenza moment. I

Deana Garst 18:07
have never gotten a cadenza so far in jazz band. And I was like, because all the baddies in jazz band saxophone baddies have gotten their own cadenzas, and I was like you guys, this is my turn, and braless saxophone cadenza right now, and they said, Yes, and it was awesome. It was our first show back. Because we took last semester, we kind of took like a little break, to regroup and refined our sound because we were doing so many gigs, that we kind of stopped focusing on just like individual development group development of sound. And it was our first show back and the first thing we started with was like, a five minute saxophone cadenza. It was the first thing we put out into the world.

Sarah Lorenzi 18:44
We like the drama.

Deana Garst 18:47
Yeah, just in the music, though.

DJ Ocean Spray 18:49
That is so awesome. And so like, what was the recording process? Like, for that song?

Will Poteet 18:56
It was fun.

Sarah Lorenzi 18:57
It was a lot of fun. That was our first time ever doing anything live in this, like in the studio, you know, because we're so used to live music, so that was definitely a different feel. But we had a friend reach out to us who is also in the music school who was doing this recording class, and she was like, their Instagram too. Yeah, yeah. Cuz I was gonna say her name is Laura. I don't know.

Deana Garst 19:16
Laura coffee. A L O ra underscore C O FF E Y. Yes, that is.

Sarah Lorenzi 19:24
Yeah. Amazingly, they helped us mix and master this. And so we basically had a bunch of room mics in this like kind of classroom and had a couple of these little cubes that y'all gotten here. I'm blocked. They're over there. They're over there, too. Yeah. And so we had some of those cells like wow, this is real official, and they pulled out this big soundboard. And then we, we did one version where all of us were playing live together. And then I was mouthing the words to everybody so we could stay on track. And then we got to record over it too. So I got to do the whole thing where I go behind the booth and I have the headphone on one ear and I'm trying to figure out where I'm supposed to sing on the track because I forget Ah, oh nice smell goes cologne. But it was great. It was a lot of fun. It was very different than playing live. Yeah, cuz

Deana Garst 20:09
we I think we kind of identity. Okay well we're like genre less that's what we always kind of come to conclusion because everyone is like what genre do y'all play? And the answer is like 40,000,001 so but I think part of our influences definitely JamBand because we love a good 40 minute solo I specifically me push that a lot I do. I will be like what a little bit for literally forever they you know, eat it up. But yeah, so what was my point in that live music?

Will Poteet 20:40
honed our skills

Chloe Winchester 20:43
for live music as Oh yeah, there

Deana Garst 20:46
we go. I forgot that's where we started Yeah, so we definitely are like, we were curious how we're gonna sound in a recording space where you only have a certain amount of time before the song gets too drawn out in like studio. I think that's what we found so different

Sarah Lorenzi 21:00
energy in a studio than it is when you're in front of an audience. Yeah,

Deana Garst 21:05
but we we did good. I think so.

Sarah Lorenzi 21:07
I think we did pretty good. It was a we did pretty decently. Yeah, it was crazy to hear us come back out. You know, like, you can click on the Spotify thing, but it's us instead of them like white. Yeah, yeah, we're a little starstruck I think still you know, yeah. Yeah.

DJ Ocean Spray 21:24
We're gonna take a quick break to listen to the brawlers cover of Midnight in Harlem Enjoy?

And so you've also recently written an original Can you guys tell me a little bit about that as well. I wish

Sarah Lorenzi 29:24
Samuel was here because he is the genius the mastermind the artists behind this. He pitched it to us in one of our rehearsals maybe a month or two ago. I guess he just writes on his own time and and when we heard it, I was like, Oh my gosh, can you imagine playing this live? You know there was just so much about it. That was I don't know,

Deana Garst 29:45
just braless. Like he is called undress me. It was named by his mother who

Sarah Lorenzi 29:52
came to rehearsal and it was an awesome shout out to Samuels mother. Yeah, and

Deana Garst 29:56
I think we've been meaning to put some orig goes out for a little while, but we just were, I think waiting for the time where we really knew each other sound. And we knew what our like group vibe was. And now that we have that, like we all have decided to start bringing individual songs we've written and like bring it to rehearsal, and then just all jam on it. And it creates this like, beautiful sound. And all of them are so different. And we can go on so many different genres, but with undress me like Samuel brought that and immediately everyone was like, I know my part. I know my part. I know what like every single person was like I have it. Because everyone knows what Samuel sounds like. And everyone knows what brawler sounds like. So it's so easy to like, put our sound on ideas, I think yeah, yeah, yeah,

Will Poteet 30:39
we I feel like a lot of us also, like, obviously, it's part of writing music, that you have this thing, and then everybody kind of puts their pieces in place. But it all came together remarkably well. And relatively quick to like, like you said, we kind of just understood our parts. And each, each part has our own little flair in there. Yeah,

Sarah Lorenzi 31:00
we'd been waiting a little bit to start doing original things to I feel like because we had been doing so many gigs we were so all we could do was prepare the covers, ready to play. And so we didn't have time to get to know each other. So that's why we took that break last semester to really be like, Listen, what are we doing, you know, like, it's time to figure out who we are as a band. And not just what the crowd wants? What do we want as a band? How do we want to sound? What do we want to talk about? And I'm

Deana Garst 31:25
serious, are we to that was a question that was, has been floating around. Since the dawn of Brawl is timeless, everyone just kind of we just started the band. And everyone had different views for how far we could go. Some people were just joining just to jam for a little bit. And, you know, just jam, whatever. And then there's like me who I'm like, my goal, since I was like, two is like to be in a band and like spread love and peace to as many people as possible, like toward the world. Like, that's my vision. So I was just like chillin until other

Sarah Lorenzi 31:56
that's the vision. That's the broadest vision, spread peace of love to all the work.

Deana Garst 32:00
And now I feel like everyone is kind of there. But it just took time to settle in, I think.

DJ Ocean Spray 32:06
And so do you plan on recording and dress me? At any point?

Sarah Lorenzi 32:10
Yes, hopefully. Yes. We're working on it right now, I would say because getting into the studio is tough. I feel like while we're trying to plan a bunch of stuff and being students once again, when do you have time to do anything? Maybe we can do while we're sleeping? Maybe we can get your dreams? I'll meet you guys on the astral plane. But yes, we do plan to that was the that's the long answer to Yes.

DJ Ocean Spray 32:34
And so so far, Samuel is the only one who's really like, written something himself. And then you guys kind of plan on all joining in on that. Here's the thing

Deana Garst 32:47
announced. Yeah, so

Chloe Winchester 32:49
we actually have a second original called second hand. This is a song that I wrote over the summer. And it's a song that I wrote and recorded like as a solo artist. And it just like didn't go how I wanted it to the sound was not as full as I'd liked it to be. So I kind of just put it on the side. And then I played it for these guys, probably about like two rehearsals ago really recently. And just the sound that every we kind of just like listened and thought about what everyone could do. And the sound was just so full and awesome. And seeing that song that's really, like sentimental to me and the lyrics are really important. come to fruition in a band with all the people I love was just a really special moment. So we are working on that song and we're going to I think we're going to debut it on the 28th

Sarah Lorenzi 33:40
Yeah, we gotta get coming up on the 28th at The Chapel Hill grog fest, y'all

Deana Garst 33:46
for draw a lot of indie bands, a lot of jams, good vibes. So this

Izze Steinke 33:52
Oh, no, go ahead. Go ahead. No, you do it. Well, I was just gonna say so these two originals? Are we thinking about anything else guys? Do? Are we maybe are we maybe thinking about what if we released maybe like an EP or something? Yes,

Deana Garst 34:03
we are thinking about that, in the worst, in the worst. How many in the works? I don't know how much we're sticking to this, but I texted the group chat over a break. And I was like, what if we all wrote individual songs on our own time with our own sound in mind and brought them to rehearsal individually, and then we all could have our own individual creative vision, and be able to direct like one song each and then put it on an EP? Because I felt like it was hard sometimes to just be like, alright, let's write in rehearsal, because we all have so many visions. And I was like, We could definitely do a lot with the fact that that is true. And so I think this EP is kind of geared around our individual visions, but also how it sounds when we play it as a whole

Sarah Lorenzi 34:44
parts of a whole Yeah, hey, man, it's a good day. Yeah. Yeah, so

Chloe Winchester 34:52
every, everyone kind of writes a little bit on their own time. It's definitely easier when you bring something that's pretty solidified to practice. Just because like six people in a room, like their instruments can be a little chaotic, nothing

Sarah Lorenzi 35:04
can get done. Let's just say we all have a hard time focusing.

Will Poteet 35:09
There have been a lot of ideas thrown out some weird eliminate baseline,

Sarah Lorenzi 35:14
don't get me started with it, we tried to write one time, and we probably spent over a week figuring out just the time signature that we weren't even talking about. Not consider it outright here in the study.

Will Poteet 35:30
A lot of I feel like a lot of ideas are constantly being bounced around. And I think the ones so far, the ones with like, intention have stuck a lot of times I feel like but you know, having more gigs, feeling more serious about it, like putting something out on Spotify recording, it's all pointing us in a direction. And I feel like that that momentum is only building

DJ Ocean Spray 35:53
a grid. And so kind of going back to how you guys create a lot of different sounds as a band. Um, how do you choose like, what colors to play? Like, I saw you guys play at Ruby Deluxe? Yeah, wow. You guys started playing Lord. And I thought it was like really funny, because I didn't see it coming. Really good. But it was like, the other songs had, like, you know, much more of like a, like a jazzy sound to them. And so, um, I really liked that, like, you had like a wide variety of like, what you play? And so like, how do you choose those songs? Or like, is there any that you always come back to? Oh, yeah,

Chloe Winchester 36:42
so it's kind of a chaotic process. But honestly, I'm just gonna say we just, we just play songs we think are good. We can all agree, in the span of five minutes that we'd like us long enough to continue to work on it, then we're just like, we're gonna make this into umbrellas cover, even if it's like we're planning on playing. What's it called driver's license by Olivia Rodriguez. Don't spoil the surprise.

Deana Garst 37:06
Y'all didn't hear that here. That's all.

Will Poteet 37:09
That was a rumor.

Chloe Winchester 37:11
Got is a song that has an unknown sound and unknown popularity. But I think our intent is to recognize how good it is actually, and how good Olivia Rodrigo is as an artist, and kind of add the brawler sound onto that cover. So when we cover we're not trying to exactly copy what that song is. We're just kind of using the outline that the artist provides, which, which is really brilliant, a lot of the time and just kind of make our own sound onto that cover. didn't really answer your question, but

Will Poteet 37:42
I liked those thoughts. Certainly. Like, well, obviously we don't if we don't like a song, like we're not gonna play it. We have songs that are barred

Sarah Lorenzi 37:50
from we played too many times.

Will Poteet 37:54
A couple songs that we've just played a lot but I think whenever we're choosing a setlist we do what we want. But we also there is a good amount of intention devoted towards Who are we playing for? If it's in the night, should we play something if it's if we're in a fraternity? Should we play Mr. Brightside? There's very much there is.

Deana Garst 38:14
Yeah, the process and we like, we also do think a lot about to like where the songs placement is in the set, you know, because like, every set has certain energy that builds and we like to focus a lot of our energy on the order of songs, because it's really important. And like, I'm glad that ribs surprised you and I kept you engaged. I feel like that was maybe not the point. We didn't know it'd be surprising, or at least I didn't because we play it all the time. But it's like, I really liked that it kept you engaged. Like that's a really special thing. And I'm glad that that happened for you. Yeah, yes. Honestly, like, wow, we think about that one.

DJ Ocean Spray 38:53
And so switching gears to kind of like more about your performances. Um, do you guys have a particular pre show routine or anything? Usually

Sarah Lorenzi 39:04
me freaking out. I would say that's the first step of it because I feel like I'm the guy who's like everybody needs to be there. Exactly. When everyone says here's the parking information here's everything you need to know if you're not there. Dot dot dot you like, um, like the dad with the keys like ready to rock and roll? Yeah, no.

Deana Garst 39:25
I feel like there's a lot of me being like, Oh yeah, y'all like it's about peace and love. Like remember like why we do this? Like we love each other. We love the crowd like,

Sarah Lorenzi 39:35
this is d calling me downs like yeah, that's

Deana Garst 39:37
what I do. Usually. Typically for me, it involves listening to Janis Joplin, specifically anything from her live at Woodstock album. Very inspiring, specifically summertime. Love that song or ball and chain. So inspiring. And I think as a band, we usually just huddle a little bit.

Sarah Lorenzi 39:54
There's a circle is going on there is usually

Deana Garst 39:56
Yeah, we just like just talking to each each other, like I feel like we are each other's support system, especially before we play.

Izze Steinke 40:03
I think like it really helps. Like for me, I think something I always like to do for a pre show routine is just like pack an extra change of pants case I get too nervous. And the huddle is really helped with that gives me some privacy while I do a quick change.

Sarah Lorenzi 40:20
And I think we also connecting before is important because we are creating on stage and we're creating with each other and we're counting on each other to be able to be connected. So I think that all of our though we don't have any specific rituals, I would say that it's important for me to look every single person in the eye before we start and I'm like, Are you ready for this or what?

Deana Garst 40:42
So hit everyone with you have to have good stage presence. I feel like every single especially recently, I've been like stage presence. Think of it as your job people like, like it's director first. It's part of your job as a rock star. Like you it's not a choice. It's not something you can be comfortable or uncomfortable. You got to do it. Yeah. And you know, that's, I feel like the only time where I really am like I put my foot down on something because usually I'm like, no, no, not whatever. But with that. I'm like, stage presence is important. It makes you fulfilled this is your career. Like it's part of the job and being uncomfortable is uncomfortable but you have to learn how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable in this seat, right unfortunately Yeah, but we love it. So

Izze Steinke 41:26
it is it's really great. I feel like for me because one of the things I think I do without fail every time you know we sit up on stage we get ready to start. I'm going to look over to my left or my right I'm going to look well in the eyes and with real true fear. I'm gonna say how does this one start? And you know, he's always there for me. Everyone's always there. So it's greatly stress

Chloe Winchester 41:46
dreams about not knowing the song. Yes. Everybody

Sarah Lorenzi 41:50
looks at me what's next? What's next? What's next?

Izze Steinke 41:52
You have the setlist right there, man. You trust your eyes trust. Yeah.

DJ Ocean Spray 41:57
So and so is there a favorite or like, I guess funniest like venue that you guys have performed at so far. I

Izze Steinke 42:07
feel like gizmos as a favorite love energy was there. It was a what the environmental frat had a formal there and they asked us to come back. We played there a couple times. Yeah, I guess I've played there once. That's um, and I remember that was like, I think my first major gig with propolis because the first one we had had before that was at the frat word, no one really cared at all. And background we weren't and that was you know, that was a great way to get my little tootsies wet, I would say in the scene, did them in the pool there. But then the gizmos gig really got things started in the energy and there was just magic,

Will Poteet 42:43
I would say when you performed at the frat that was sort of background music I wasn't able to play and so Malone, a friend of the band came and filled and very kindly, super nice.

Deana Garst 42:55
shout out Juggs

Will Poteet 42:57
juggs. And just from an outside perspective, just seeing y'all standing on a pallet and people kind of looking like are they supposed to be there

Sarah Lorenzi 43:09
like wait like, what's yours like Main Street here and NC State like you know what's Hillsborough? Hillsborough? Like, imagine? Like just off to the side of Hillsborough Street. We're on a wood pallet and like screaming like, I don't even know Steve Miller band or something. hairless

Deana Garst 43:23
whiskers so loud, my goodness. Careless Whisper that song. Well, me as a saxophone player. There's any saxophone players out there. You hear my struggle and I know you were late. I can't play Careless Whisper as a bar. That song haunts my dreams haunts my nightmares haunts my day when I'm walking. I hear it in my footsteps. No, Sarah. No, don't start. But also for gizmos. The environmental frat one that we did. That night for some reason. I had an extra pep in my step. And I just we're trying to end the set on WhatsApp as an encore. And sometimes it happens where the band tries to stop and then I start playing really intensely. So I started just doing like when I went to whatever I was doing high notes, things like that. And brawlers like, all of braless gotten lie down on the floor around me. I started hailing me on the stage and everyone in the order that should happen ever to and I just was like, wailing my throat was caving in my like my vocal cords started rubbing together everything my nose was weird when you play too much loud saxophone things start going crazy. But all I knew is that that was the last moment of my life.

Sarah Lorenzi 44:37
To persevere and I had laid down to honor your there's a

Deana Garst 44:41
picture of Sarah on the ground. Find it at BB r a l e s s on Instagram. You want to if you want you feel so inclined. It's a beautiful Instagram page. We put a lot of work into it.

Will Poteet 44:58
Gizmo gig that Getting particular to it was so special because afterwards, all of us were kind of talking in the consensus was like, there was just this sense of clarity. Yeah, like, as soon as we started, I feel like I, it was it was, yeah, it was a very powerful feeling. It was super. That's

Sarah Lorenzi 45:15
what's been happening a lot recently, too. I feel like after our break, when we came back onto the scene, like after every show, I've heard every single person individually be like, this is the best one that we've done yet. You know, no matter what the crowd was, like, no matter what happened, like, we have been really starting to find our sound and our feel. And so as soon as there is a moment, like I'm so stressed, so stressed, so stressed, I get to look everybody in the eyes. And then I'm like, Alright, we're starting. And then suddenly, it all just melts away. Because I know everybody is in and on. And we know what Yeah, and we're like,

Deana Garst 45:42
like that clarity, I think was the first time where everyone was like, We can do this. Yeah, maybe we can. Maybe we can do this, like forever or whatever. Like real everyone. Just in that moment after Gizmo's like I remember Samuel came up to me. And he was just like, you know, before these gigs, I'm always I am man, you know, away whatever, like, Samuel talks, and then, like, and then after gigs, every time I'm like, maybe I can do this for my future. Like being a musician is so hard. But then after the gigs every time I walk away being like, wow, that was the best moment of my life. I want to do this. I love this. And that stayed I think after gizmos that time. It didn't go away. Yeah, yeah, it was.

Chloe Winchester 46:21
I remember I had someone tell us who had been coming to our shows like for a while. And he was like, I've seen y'all play a lot. But this was the first show that gets most show that y'all sounded like, professional. Y'all sound like a frickin band. Yeah, yeah. That is what it felt like. And I think we're all have kind of a friend group. And I think that's why kind of we are it all melts away. Once you get on stage. I think that is a very true

Sarah Lorenzi 46:48
because you can trust your friends. Yeah. You know, we're not just coworkers anymore. No, yeah, it's for real. Yeah.

DJ Ocean Spray 46:54
And so can you tell the listeners, I think you already said this by repeat information regarding your upcoming shows? Absolutely.

Sarah Lorenzi 47:03
Yeah. So we've got a couple of things going on. The most recent next thing, the most next upcoming thing is on the 28th at the pitch. It's frog fest for leap year, also an indie night, so come dressed as a frog, obviously, but we're gonna be playing there with a couple of other awesome, amazing, insane bands on the bill. It's gonna be a great night of awesome music. So you should definitely come out to see us there

Izze Steinke 47:27
to pitch in Chapel Hill, the pitch in Chapel Hill,

Deana Garst 47:29
pitch in Chapel Hill is going to I think they're starting up indie nights, like every month, once a month, so we'll be playing there next month. Here. I mean, this time we will be there next month, and hopefully forever know what day of next one? Yeah,

Chloe Winchester 47:43
that the 22nd 27th of March the 27th

Sarah Lorenzi 47:46
of March. Yes, you seven. There we go. So the 27th of March or February 28 are where you can see us at the pitch on indie night. And if you want maybe at your own leisure to see information about that once again. We do have an Instagram and it is at b b r a l e s s be brothers. Yes.

DJ Ocean Spray 48:06
And then how can people find you on Spotify? Is it just brockless?

Sarah Lorenzi 48:11
Yes, we're on Spotify. We're also on iHeartRadio question mark, and Apple music as well. It wasn't a different name

Izze Steinke 48:19
on on I Heart Radio. It's braless the band somehow. Everywhere

Sarah Lorenzi 48:23
else it's just brought the b r a l e s s. Spelling Bee yes yeah, we're on Apple Music We're on Spotify and I guess I Heart Radio as well as the band YouTube

Deana Garst 48:34
music and those are all you girls out there

Sarah Lorenzi 48:37
anywhere you got we are there

Deana Garst 48:40
yeah

DJ Ocean Spray 48:43
thank you again to Braless for being super lovely and awesome and coming into the station today and letting me interview them um, I will send the listeners off with a rehearsal recording of the Braless original Undress Me. Thank you for tuning in to the first episode of the stripdown with DJ Ocean Spray and you're listening to WKNC 88.1 Enjoy

Transcribed by https://otter.ai