Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Bryant Urich from the band Eauclaire. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Bryant thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
The most meaningful projects are usually the most elusive. For example, if you’re really supposed to create something, whether it be art, music, a business, etc, the amount of resistance that you encounter seems to be in direct proportion to how meaningful the project will be.
I’ll never forget writing and recording our first record, “Océan Bleu” with the guys. It was a really special one, but not for the reasons that some people might think. It’s special because we didn’t really set out to make a record… it happened so organically. It’s a snapshot of life during 2017-2018 and I wouldn’t change a thing about it (even though I’ve learned so much more since then).
We bootstrapped to pull it off, recorded vocals in my basement on an SM57 and all shared the cost of studio time and the actual mixing and mastering stages of the record. It was the most meaningful because it cost something – not just money… time, energy, creativity, driving for hundreds of miles to all be in the same room together, time away from our families – but it was all worth it.
It sparked a new season for us.
It was the first project that we dreamed up from nothing and brought into the world, but that’s not even the best part.
Hearing the stories of how it resonated with other people was absolutely insane. This thing that we had made from our own experience and because we could really feel something in the songs was speaking the same thing to other people.
Wild.
We coined a phrase at the time – “It’s our story, but it’s also yours” because we believed that the stories that shaped the music weren’t just unique to us but they are universal – part of the human condition.
it’s one thing for a project to be meaningful to you, but when someone else listens and has the same experience through their lens that they see life with – it’s magical.
Bryant, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Eauclaire is an indie rock band made up of Justin Barnett (Decatur, AL), Kyle Kicker (Springfield, MO), and Bryant Urich (Nashville, TN) – 3 college friends who were crazy enough to attempt making music that is honest and true to themselves.
After more than a decade of friendship and music-making, we decided to record our first record in my basement in Nashville with one mic and a ton of ideas. We had a loose concept of making 3 consecutive records that transport you to a specific place – the soundtrack to a visual experience, if you will.
The first record, titled “Océan Bleu” tells the story of the human condition through the lens of the ocean – the ebb and flow of life, the beauty and strength that the waves hold, and vast landscape that is the ocean. The idea for the record and the first track on the album came from a moment of sitting on the beach and staring out at the horizon.
Our second record, titled “Timber” is the sign of Springtime and new life that comes through pruning, pain, and loss. After losing parents and experiencing miscarriage among our families, this record became our anthem in the joy and pain. New life or growth doesn’t come without pain – that’s a lesson of life. Sometimes, when you think you’re walking into your “Springtime” it actually comes with it’s fair share of sorrow – the “pruning” that makes way for the new growth.
After releasing Océan Bleu in 2019 and Timber in 2022, we are back to writing for the third album of this series – I won’t reveal the working title or concept just yet, but let’s just say that this will be our best work yet :) our “Return of the King” or “Dark Knight Rises” – a perfect end to the trilogy that has fully encompassed this season of our lives.
We’re also playing some regional shows this year starting next month (October 2022). It’s been our dream since the beginning to play these songs for ourselves and for the people that we wrote them for. To share these moments of joy and pain in proximity with other human beings is an experience like nothing else. We’ll be hitting the road next year for some more shows and we’re so pumped to meet those who have been listening to our music in person – around the world.
Like our records, nothing is over-produced and we really try to capture moments and experience rather than fabricating a moment that wasn’t really there. For us, the joy of making music together and capturing moments in the same room supersedes anything else on the “industry” side of things.
We’ll keep making music that we love and sharing it with people that we love.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I think there is an illusion that “creative people” are freaks of nature – like some people have it and some people don’t. The truth is, we’re all creative people. We were literally created to create. It’s in our nature. Calling someone a non-creative is most often the result of their brain working in a more “linear’ approach to life – more practical or logistical.
The reason why some people are more apt to have creative ideas and see them through is their ability to get out of their own way and believe that there is more. These people are generally categorized as “creative” people, but a civil engineer is just as creative as an artist – just in a different way.
For us, this has been 100% true.
We have had moments of massive inspiration and creative ideas for days, but without implementation and execution they will stay just that forever – a good idea.
We had to grow in both areas – being reasonable/practical/logistical and also getting our of our own way and really letting the creativity flow. As an indie band or artist in 2022 you are doing EVERYTHING – if you want to make a career out of it, you have to think outside the box and execute your own ideas.
Gone are the days of signing a record deal and someone else doing all of the work for you. Especially if you’re trying to carve a new path and do something that is uniquely creative to you.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I’ll use the word resilience interchangeably with the word “scrappy” haha
We’ve been incredibly scrappy as a band. From learning how to record our own music to the standards that we want to produce and fully self-funding our projects up to this point – it takes an incredible amount of work and focus.
The cool thing is, the amount of resource doesn’t always produce better art… actually it very rarely does. The constraints of using what’s in front of you and being forced to be scrappy can actually bring about a more honest product / end result.
For us, we’ve looked at the constraints as a way to really lean into our creativity and make the best product with what we have where we are.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.eauclairesounds.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eauclairesounds
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eauclairesounds
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eauclairesounds
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/eauclairesounds
Image Credits
Charley Plowman, Josh Henry, Lance Keef, Austin Markham, Diego Brawn