JAKE BROWN
Moments In Grace bassist
www.momentsingrace.com

(Summer 2004) by George Dionne

Finding information on Moments in Grace is like trying to find the Holy Grail. There's minimal information at their website, on the web, or at Atlantic Records. What I have found out is that Moments in Grace released their debut album Moonlight Survived in the summer of 2004 (read CD review). The album is loaded with some great straight-up rock tunes and plenty of enduring melodies. I guess the only way I'm going to find any information about the group is to ask them directly.

RIL: So, I heard someone lost the band's cell phone that was supposed to be used for this interview.
JB: We're in New York City right now. We're all kind of doing our own things because we have a day off. I think one of the other guys nabbed it, not knowing we needed it.

RIL: How long have Moments in Grace been together?
JB: Two and a half years actually.

RIL: How did you guys hook up?
JB: I still run a very, very, very small indie label called Computer Club Records. Jeremy was someone that I met through my local music scene. He had a solo project and he played in bands here and there around the area. I thought he was a great guy and we became friends. I liked his voice and everything that he was writing. So I helped him do a few demos. One day he asked me if I wanted to help him start a band. He asked me if I wanted to be in it. I called a few of my friends, and that's how it kind of all came together.

RIL: Where did you come up with the name?
JB: We came up with the name when we were recording last summer with Brian McTernnan. We were jamming to the song "Dream Deep" by Rights of Spring. They're a great band, real influential. The lyrics to the song are really powerful. We pulled the name out of the song because we saw that it encompassed our band and the music really well.

RIL: Do you think that you'll be confused with Three Days Grace?
JB: I think that's funny, because after we chose the name, I kid you not, none of us ever heard of that band. Two of three weeks we were messing around in the studio watching TV and Three Days Grace comes on. I was like, 'Oh my gosh!’ I guess when you really look at it; there are a lot of bands with similar names. I’ve come to realize that.

RIL: You and Jeremy kind of have punk rock backgrounds, but your debut album Moonlight Survived is loaded with more modern rock riffs and melodic vocals. Why the change?
JB: I would actually say that me and Jeremy aren't really from a punk background. I played in an indie rock band called 238 before this. It was really melodic and chilled out. Jeremy's old bands were more like space rock. His solo stuff was mostly acoustic. I think that Tim our drummer comes from more of a punk background. We mixed it up a bit as far as our music backgrounds go. I don't think that the stuff that we're writing right now is uncharacteristic of stuff we did in the past.

RIL: Moments in Grace are signed to Salad Days Records by Brian McTiernan. There's an interesting story about how he discovered you, can you explain that?
JB: We used to be under a different name, and we were just playing a bunch of shows. I did all of our booking, and we were on my own little label. I booked us a show in Alabama with two bands, Branston and The Liar's Academy. We played the show and it really impressed those bands. After the show we talked all night and later gave them our demo. The guys from Liar's Academy are good friends of Brain's. He was recording demos of them at the time. They were just listening to us one day and Brian walked into the room. He was like, 'who's this band?’ He was really into it, so they made him a copy. Next thing I know, he's calling me a month later to talk about our band.

RIL: Is your very, very, very small record label Computer Club Records still around?
JB: Yes it is. I still have the website up; www.computerclubrecords.com. I'm a little lax on updates as of late, because the band has been so busy. I'm the only guy that runs the label. I used to have a little help. It's definitely a struggle to keep it going when we're touring so much. In the same sense it's good, because we're meeting new people, and I can tell new people about it.

RIL: Do you have a good amount of artists on your label?
JB: Yeah, about nine. Some of them are more serious than others, some are out touring a lot of the time, others are more of a project, and some are just serious in their region. I'm going to be hanging out with a band today called All the Ghosts; they're from the city. They don't travel much, but they play around here constantly. They're a very serious band, and they're really good.

RIL: Do these nine bands have similar music styles or do they vary?
JB: It's definitely a mix. The bands don't sound a like at all in any way. I'm really into that.

RIL: Moment's in Grace have a four track EP available at your website, does this mean that you're for file sharing.
JB: Yeah, we are. There are lots of different angles you can look at it. I can see how some artists say it can hurt them. It does hurt record sales in a lot of ways, there's no way around that. It's the way of the future too. You can't really be against it, because that's what's going on. I have an iPod. I definitely download music through iTunes. I'm a big fan of that stuff, and so are other members in the band. The EP was a good way to get us out there without anyone hearing of us before. It worked well I think.

RIL: Everybody seems to have one horror story from the road, what's yours?
JB: I really should keep a journal, because I know we've had them. I don't think that we've had anything too bad. In past bands I've had a lot of horror stories, but with this band things seem to be going good. I'm sure one day we'll have a good story.

RIL: Moments in Grace is a fairly new band, have you made any serious money yet?
JB: No, not yet. We still have a pretty humble guarantee. We're still kind of kicking it in with the merchandise. We're definitely not making a ton of money right now. We're trying to make it more about the music right now. Maybe the money will play into it later.

RIL: You guys are scheduled for a couple of dates on The Warped Tour; is that coming up or did it already go by?
JB: We already did that actually. It was for two and a half weeks, and it was a total blast. It gets rough after a few days; all the bands warned us about that. Your dirty all the time and stuff like that. It's a really good tour for exposure, and all the bands were really cool.

RIL: Is it true that you don't know when you're going on until that day?
JB: Yeah. It's not that band though. They kind of keep the bands in blocks, at least on our stage they did. We were always going to play between 4:30 & 6:30. We knew we would have to show up and play right away.

Previous Page