Con Brio’s Spirited Sound

Taking its name from a musical expression meaning “with spirit,” San Francisco-based Con Brio is still a young band but is rapidly growing its fanbase through hard work and performing as well as opening for artists like Trombone Shorty and Meshell Ndegeocello.  In addition to having McCarter and Dubreuil amongst its ranks, Con Brio also features the talents of guitarist Benjamin Andrews, drummer Andrew Laubacher and bassist Jonathan Kirchner.  Joining them are the “Hallelujah Horns” featuring Marcus Stephens & Brendan Liu.

Released earlier this year, Con Brio’s Kiss The Sun EP serves as an excellent introduction to the band and incorporates musical elements ranging from R&B to rock to jazz and everything in between that has influenced the group’s individual members.

McCarter’s distinct vocals have drawn comparisons to artists ranging from Justin Timberlake to Prince to even Michael Jackson as his voice seems to fluidly pour through the band’s fine instrumentation.

The plan was to interview Dubreuil and McCarter together but scheduling difficulties prohibited a three-way phone conversation.  Instead, we spoke with Dubreuil on the phone and caught up with McCarter via email.  The following interview is a mashup of the two conversations.

Ziek, what was your reaction the very first time you hear a recording of yourself singing?

McCarter: My first experience was with a song I wrote in high school about gobal warming called “Make A Change.” Though I was really excited and pleased with the entire song, I believed my singing wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be. I knew I had a ways to go, but that’s what excited me most – the journey itself.

How long have you been playing music, Micah?

Dubreuil: I’ve been playing since I was a kid.  I was probably 6 or 7 when I started playing piano. … I’ve been playing professionally since 2009.  At the same time was when I met the drummer and bassist, so we’ve been playing together for a long time.  Then the whole ensemble kind of came together a couple of years ago.

Were you a band student?

Dubreuil: In high school, I played in the marching band, symphony band, jazz band … all drums at that point.  I wanted to be a percussionist.  [It was] my rebellious teenage years.

Where were you at this time?

Dubreuil: I grew up in [Southern  Vermont] and the idea of being a professional musician was so far off of my radar.  The only people I knew who did it professionally was the woman I took lessons from and the very, very unhappy band instructor at the high school.  There was nobody I knew who did it who wasn’t a teacher of some kind.

I studied some in college.  I went to Wesleyan University and studied a little bit, a very, very small amount,  under Anthony Braxton, and studied the vibraphone under Jay Hoggart.  It was something I loved to do, but never considered it would be a career until I moved out here [San Francisco], vaguely on a whim.  I had a day job, was playing and realized I enjoyed playing a lot more than the day job.  And here I am.

What was the whim that brought you to San Francisco?

Dubreuil: There was a lady at the time.  That didn’t really stick. … But what better place to land?

What musical heritage do you see your band drawing from or being a part of?

Dubreuil: We all listened to a lot of Sly Stone, James Brown, Donnie Hathaway, Stevie Wonder and through, like, Prince in the ‘80s.  Michael Jackson, for sure.  That kind of [place] where pop connects to soul and R&B.  D’Angelo is a recent influence.  Stuff pops up that we don’t necessarily intend.  There’s certainly a lot more rock ‘n’ roll in there than we talk about.  There are a lot of acts. And the more I listen to it, the more I hear things we didn’t necessarily explicitly reference or intend to bring in there.  But we all listen to different types of music from jazz to straight pop to electro and hip hop.  It all gets in there one way or another.

With you and your bandmates living in San Francisco, can you feel the same local influences that might have inspired earlier groups, such Sly & The Family Stone?

McCarter : Of course! Though much has changed since those times (and even since I’ve moved here), I believe San Franciscans still hold on to the timeless values of positivity that unify us with one another, our purpose, and life in itself. Whether it be in community organizing, artistic ambitions, urban agriculture, interracial relations, etc. this city still prides itself in making a positive contribution within humanity. Despite the Tech Boom that the city’s undergoing, (and though despised by some audiences, some might argue that it’s making revolutionary strides for the betterment of humanity) we’re proud to tell audiences abroad that we’re from San Francisco because we “Everyday People” of Con Brio share the same love for this “Love City.”

Dubreuil: Culturally and socially, especially.  It’s a very different thing now to have a mixed-race band than it was for Sly.  The culture has certainly changed [but] it was very progressive back then, too.  I feel where they were coming from. … Their efforts to present a unified band and come together and project that … core of family.  There are plenty of people we know personally who have either toured with their later projects or know the people who played with them.  It kind of disseminates through.  A lot of those musicians are still around and it’s really amazing to get to meet some of them.

I do a very minor podcast and I got to interview most of the Family Stone.  We’ve spent time with Freddie Stone and Greg Errico.  It’s really amazing to connect with them and see what’s changed and what hasn’t.  Greg, the drummer from Sly, was telling me about growing up and playing a pizza gig with Santana in the Mission before [the fame].

Songwriters talk about how their songs are their children.  Do you have a favorite song on the EP?

Dubreuil: There are songs that I become more attached to from time to time, but it does change.  There are songs that are not my favorite but I really love those songs.  I was really happy with how “A Sex Supreme” came out.  That was a fun process to create it.  “Temptation’s Talking” was the first song I wrote for the band.  Ziek wrote all the lyrics but I wrote the majority of the music on EP, although we arranged it really heavily as a band, so it really brought its own character to life that way.  “Temptation’s Talking” was the first one [and] holds a special place.  [I love] all of them.

We’re a live band, primarily … and I’ve been a performing musician more than a recording musician.  We came together in a room, found ourselves onstage and are kind of recreating ourselves in the studio, to a certain extent, seeing how it happens and how it goes in all these different ways.  None of those [songs] came out exactly like any of us had anticipated before starting.  So it’s really cool to see them all take on their own shapes.

Are different members bringing in parts of songs, say a riff or a solo?

Dubreuil: For the majority (of the EP), I brought in a pretty big, sort of skeleton of a tune.  Whether it’s bass parts, progressions, riffs … then we would attack it as a group.  “Give It All” was a tune Ziek brought in and we cooked the rest of it together and then brought it to the band.  It’s a collective and no one is in charge.  Once we brought in the ideas it was a very messy, democratic process of trying to figure out what works, what makes everyone happy, what gels together. Sometimes it can go very quickly, sometimes it can take a long time but everyone gets their own voice. … Sometimes it’s, “Here’s this idea” and by the end there’s nothing left of the original.  Totally different beats, whatever happens in that process.  It’s better than anything I could do on my own.  I think that’s probably true [for] all of us.

Was the EP recorded live with little or no overdubbing?

Dubreuil: We recorded the basic rhythm section – one keyboard, one guitar, bass and drums, together and overdubbed the rest. … It’s not going to have the same immediacy of the live performance.  We wanted to change it and supplement it. A lot of times there are three or four guitars going, three keyboards … we wanted to add to it and see what it could become on its own.

How do you transfer that sound to the live stage?

Dubreuil: The core of it is always there.  So you might not have two rhythm guitar tracks … that are suddenly interacting. … It really doesn’t change that much.  It’s mostly subtle things that we hope people notice.

What are some of the pitfalls of opening for another act?

Dubreuil: We actually haven’t gone on the road as openers.  We’ve been opening at home a lot.  We went on the road and did a lot of shows, either by ourselves, or with local people opening for us. 

We love [opening at home].  You have a whole new crowd. … We’ve opened for really talented musicians we love listening to.  It’s amazing to work with them.  It’s not the same payday as headlining but it’s how we’ve built our fanbase – opening for crowds who come in not knowing who we are and then seeing what it is.

Being from Vermont, what East Coast influences do you bring to the band?

Dubreuil: To a certain extent, and this can be both positive and negative, I don’t know if “competitive” is the right word, but there is a more competitive attitude.  At least in the East Coast that I know – New York, Boston, there is a lot of competition for gigs.  There are a lot of people who are extremely well trained, so the relationship among musicians there is not nearly as warm as it is here.  I found, at least, growing up.  Our tenor [sax] player [Marcus Stephens] and our guitar player [Benjamin Andrews] are from California.  Everyone else is from either the East Coast or Texas.  We all come from all these different places and landed here.

When I was back there, there were a lot of jam bands, younger bands that were pulling from funk that I reference really personally.

Are you and the other members of Con Brio more of a family than a group of musicians playing together?

Dubreuil: Yeah.  To a certain extent. … To be happy doing this, you have to be.  We spend so much time together.  We just did this tour up to the Northwest and it was like 8 hours in the van today, 10 hours tomorrow.  We work really hard in terms of rehearsing and writing tunes.  You have to be able to get into really ugly disputes over a part and then be OK afterwards.  I think that’s the only way you can work … and feel like you’ve given it your all and just be happy. We’re more or less in a place where that’s possible.  We want to have a good time on stage, we want to have a good time with each other, and share that with the audience.  And that comes from that connection, that friendship.  It’s fun doing what we do. … We’ve all bonded through that, for sure.

What kind of audiences do you attract?

Dubreuil: It’s really is a range, which is nice to see.  There are plenty of young, college-age kids … and it kind of goes all the way up, because of those references we have, we all listen to music from the ‘60s and ‘70s.  So I think people who grew up on that connect to us.  It’s very nice to see.  In the front it’s a big dance party.  Sometimes there is a whole row of people who are just listening.  That means a lot to me, that we can play for  people who want to party and have a good time, people who just want to listen to the music and people who want to see the show.  We try to hit all the bases.  So far, it seems to be working.

While performing do you hear the same mix the audience hears?

McCarter: I love a lot of kick drum, bass, and vocals in my monitors when I’m on stage.

Dubreuil: I try to hear as much as possible. … I hear the whole band, I want to hear what we’re doing.  It feels like we’re playing music at that point. … I want to hear everyone because I love all the parts, I love all the players.  I’ll usually have my stuff a little higher than what is probably right for the audience because I want to make sure I’m getting all the sound cues.  Between the keyboards and the synth, I want to make sure it’s coming out right.

But the mix includes electric instruments – guitar and bass guitar, along with acoustic instruments such as horns.  Is it a bigger challenge to mix and balance the different instruments than the audience might perceive it to be?

Dubreuil: I think it can be. We try not to be that insanely loud rock band.   We’ll definitely put on a show and you’ll feel it but we try not to blow everyone’s ears out. But it’s still loud.  We’re still hitting hard.  For the instruments, vocals and horns, you just can’t turn them off. They have to have a mix as best as they can. They have to be able to hear themselves.  They’re used to it.  I know the more veteran horn players I’ve played with are like, “I don’t hear myself very well, but that’s fine. I’m used to it.”

In terms of mixing things, there has always been acoustic drums, electric bass and drums and stuff. I’m beginning to add a certain amount of synthesizers. … Mixing that is interesting, too, because it doesn’t necessarily resonate in the same way. It’s all about finding a good blend.

Has the band been together long enough to have developed some pre-show rituals?

Dubreuil: We try.  Every once in a while we get rushed onto the stage but we try to come together before we go onstage, not necessarily talk through it, logistically, but try to connect as people. Kind of huddle up, have a moment and go on stage.

Ziek, do you have any preparation or routines for protecting or warming up your voice on show days?

McCarter: I lubricate the chords by drinking tons of coconut water or regular water.  I do a few vocal warm-ups that run through my entire range. I [also] sing “On the Street Where You Live” from My Fair Lady [and] talk very little, but if I do, I do it softly.

What’s the toughest thing about singing professionally that audience members might not be aware of?

McCarter: Dancing and singing (solidly) at the same time for me isn’t the easiest task. I try running and singing simultaneously on my downtime to prepare.

From a songwriter’s point of view, are there any songs from the past that you’re in awe of?

Dubreuil: A lot in a lot of different ways. Starting with, maybe Herbie Hancock’s bands in the ‘70s, like the Mwandishi group and even the more straightforward Headhunters stuff.  I listen to how he creates that groove and moves it around. … It’s really inspiring.

I’ve always been perplexed by pop music.  I never understood what the rules were or why it was good. … So when I look at great pop music … Stevie Wonder is an incredible writer.  All sorts of different genres … I look at something like that and, to me, it comes together as a work of craft that … kind of leaves me speechless. 

A lot of the writing on Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall. … I came to that music very late. I wasn’t a fan for a long time, but once I started playing it in sessions and groups I started realizing how good the tunes were.  I’ve internalized a lot of that … the way it’s put together. … It’s immaculate.

Is this a great job?

Dubreuil: Yeah. It’s not an easy job but it is a very fun job and a very rewarding job. It’s a lot of hard work and a lot of effort. But the payoff is extremely satisfying and really personal. It feels great.

Upcoming Con Brio shows:

March 7 – San Francisco, Calif., The Fillmore (Appearing with  Galactic)
March 20 – Austin, Texas, Jackalope
March 21 – Austin, Texas, Palm Door on Sabine (SXSW)
April 17 – Sacramento, Calif., Torch Club
April 18 – Lake Tahoe, Calif., Alpine Meadows
April 18 – Crystal Bay, Nev., Crystal Bay Club Casino
April 20 – Denver, Colo., Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom (420 In The Streets)
April 24 – New Orleans, La., House Of Blues (With Anders Osborne)
April 25 – New Orleans, La., Tipitina’s Uptown (With Galactic)
May 14 – Joshua Tree, Calif., Joshua Tree Lake Campgrounds (Joshua Tree Music Festival)
May 30 – Napa, Calif., Napa Valley Exposition (BottleRock Napa Valley)
July 2 – Quincy, Calif., Plumas County Fairgounds (High Sierra Music Festival)
July 31 – Cloverdale, Calif., Downtown Plaza
Aug. 12 – Menlo Park, Calif., Fremont Park
Sept. 17 – Fredericton, New Brunswick, Various Venues (Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival)