Brake Loose, a Dublin-based heavy rock band formed in late 2018 have been courting attention due to their catchy and badass heavy rock riffs, electrifying hard rock guitar solos and mostly due to their frontman's spoken word performances, lyrics and charismatic but unpredictable stage persona.
Led by frontman Alejandro Murillo, lead guitarist Rob Higgins, rhythm guitarist Juan Livinalli, bassist Douglas Stewart and a killer drummer, Brake Loose are more than a live Rock&Roll band. They always push the audience to their limits and constantly remind them what makes rock music so powerful. To watch them is an experience, one that is characterised by energy, passion and excitement.
They’ve shared the stage with Dublin's legendary Rock Band Aslan, as well as up-and-coming Irish and UK acts such as Jailbirds and The Black Delta Movement. With their unique sound, lyrics, energetic performances and poetic message, Break Loose is proud to release “Midnight Train”, their first Rock&Roll single out on August 2019.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR NEW ALBUM/ PROJECT?
Yes, we have our second single “Through The West” coming out really soon. Actually, this song is quite different from “Midnight Train”. As this song is about facing your deepest fears, exposing yourself to them; It could be any fear, fear of death, fear of time. Accepting it, fear itself has no power, and any fear shrinks and vanishes. Then, you are free.
We absolutely love the lyrical content of “Through The West” and its short story, as it is set in this idealistic or mystic scenario in which a mysterious or unknown solitary motorcycle rider, rides and rides through the desert, towards the west on an endless desert road, facing snakes and the dangers of the road, but most of all, facing his own inner fears and troubled mind.
In the bridge or interlude of the song, the rider quotes Alexander The Great (a quote which Alexander, used on his men before facing battle) by screaming out loud “Conquer your fears and I’ll promise you will conquer death”. We choose the west because it is like a beacon of light at the end of a tunnel, metaphorically speaking. The west is the best. The west is a concept, at least in the western part of the world, that empowers mystery and adds beauty to the journey of this mysterious rider.
And also, we have a very tasty Rammstein like song due to its main guitar riff called “Dublin games” coming up soon that has an amazing spoken word part, it's so good, it think it will be huge.
WHAT INSPIRED ANY CENTRAL THEMES ON THE ALBUM?
Our single Midnight Train is a song about celebrating this mad existence with your friends and bandmates. It's also a song about indulgence, of things like alcohol, sex, music and raucous, disorderly fun. And, indulging in all of these things before the night ends and the sun rises - a sense of urgency is added by the rapid melody. The lyrics also add a sense of craziness due to the fact that they tell the story of a pack of wicked bandmates and friends who are getting hammered on a mysterious midnight train that's going down from the northern mountains all the way to the vivid town of New Orleans. The mood is fast and feels heavy and dirty.
HOW LONG DID YOU SPEND RECORDING?
Actually we didn’t spend a lot of time. What delayed the whole recording process was that we got cheated by a person who first recorded the song in Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin. We had to record it again with a friend from the same studio.
HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT THE SONGWRITING PROCESS?
A lot of our earlier lyrics were written by our frontman, Alex, on an acid-fuelled trip with friends to Mérida, Venezuela, which lies at the foot of the Andes Mountains. This proved to be a very productive time as Alex’s creative juices were flowing, but more importantly, this experience and the poetry he wrote during this time, led us to our distinct style of adding spoken word into our music. In more recent times, we’ve written a lot of our music while jamming and rehearsing in the studio.
We think, especially in a band, that everyone brings their own taste for things. So, we say it's a compilation of each members individual experiences, emotions, stories.
But essentially our biggest influence is life, as our message is awareness. When we say awareness, we mean awareness of life’s preciousness and its intensity. We say intensity since we are a Heavy Rock band. Live a life without fear, with no fear. Live a life knowing that there is no tomorrow, that what really matters is today (to act today). A life of uncertainty, of excitement, of embracing life's thin red line, it’s roughness, madness and fragility. Basically, a life of self-discovery through Rock.
Through our spoken word and poetry, we encourage others to avoid being content with living a quiet, well mannered, orderly life when so many injustices are going on. To get more involved with our reality and merge ourselves in self-expression, so we can avoid being sleepwalking individuals.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE TRACK FROM THE ALBUM?
“Dublin Games” our third single coming up very soon by far we think it’s gonna be huge, because it represents in a way or at least assembles both our message, which is poetic awareness through music, and our sound to the fullest.
WHO ARE YOUR BIGGEST INFLUENCES?
There are five of us in the band and each of us has different music tastes and influences to bring to the table. However, we all have an affinity to heavy rock, so while the differences in our individual tastes inspire us as a band, we are connected by our love of AC/DC, The Doors, Guns & Roses, Black Sabbath, Motley Crue, The Black Keys, Mastodon. In terms of musical heroes, our frontman, Alex, credits Jim Morrison, Mike Patton & Vile Valo for enlivening his desire to leave pro-motocross and front a band. While our lead guitarist, Rob, has always revered Angus Young and Slash and our rhythm guitarist, Jack, respects and looks up to Tony Iommi and Jimmy Hendrix.
HOW DID YOU FORM THE BAND?
A few years ago, myself (Alex) and Jack emigrated from Venezuela like a lot of Venezuelans have in recent years. We both met back in Caracas in 2010 through a mutual friend that I raced motocross with. Jack was playing in various underground bands at the time. Coincidentally, eight years later we both found ourselves in Dublin. And, so the seed of Brake Loose was planted!
We started jamming some blues in his house near East Wall for few months in early 2018. Then it kind of became a weekend routine. On one occasion, Jack asked me how I came up with all the random words and phrases I let out while jamming, so, I showed him my notebook of poems. He was really impressed with the content of the songs and poems that I had written. I was equally as impressed with his guitar skills after years of not playing. So, at that moment we decided to start a rock band.
Later that year, I met Robbie in “Fibber Magee’s” a well known RocknRoll bar in Dublin. I knew the first day I met him that he was the man we were looking for - a true rocknrolla and a natural lead guitarist. Thankfully Rob was looking to start a new project at them time, so, two became three and the three of us with our deep-rooted love of heavy rock formed the band.
The next few months we started rehearsing, jamming, creating songs, playing some covers, trying different drummers and in September Douglas joined in as a bassist. I met Dougie in BIMM college, as he had also moved to Dublin from the UK and was looking to join a band. Dougie brought in a Brazilian drummer he knew, Alessandro Siqueria, and the band was properly structured. Though we parted ways with Alessandro and Dougie this August 2019, we have incorporated another killer drummer Adriano Puppo as well as Val Entas in the bass, an experienced bass player from Lithuania.
We played our first gig in “SinE”, a live music venue near Abbey Street in late November and our first gig in “Fibber Magee’s” last December supporting “The Jailbirds”. From that point It’s been an electrifying, crazy, mad and beautiful few months for ourselves with back-to-back gigs all over town, supporting ASLAN and the pinnacle for us so far - our first release this August “Midnight Train”.
We want to keep the Rock&Roll pulse beating throughout Dublin and afar over the coming months.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO ANYONE STARTING OUT?
Patience, Persistence, Perseverance and Passion for your vision.
WHAT IS NEXT?
Our next step will be bringing our music further afield (UK and Europe) and playing it live to more people, to bigger crowds. That's why one of our main goals are hitting up festivals. We really get our biggest thrill when performing live and feeding off the crowd’s energy. We will continue to write and release more of our music and blur the line between what is real life and what is art.
And before the year is out, we will be playing a few more gigs in Dublin and one in Galway.
Dublin will be in Fibber Magee’s, Lost Lane and hopefully Whelan’s. Galway will be Roisin. We will announce the dates on our socials. Oh! and don’t miss New Year’s Eve in Fibbers! Will be playing with other big rock/metal acts! it will be savage!
ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D WILL LIKE TO ADD?
Yes, our first single “Midnight Train” out last 23/8/2019. It is on every available streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Deezer, YouTube, etc). Let us know what you think!
Please see our social media links provided below:
instagram.com/brakelooseofficial
facebook.com/brakelooseofficial
twitter.com/brakelooseoffi1
open.spotify.com/track/1Uk6ZDTqeDKVwdJcsYKARU
soundcloud.com/brakeloose
brakeloose.bandcamp.com