Get to know Jonathan Brightman and some of his thoughts
The ascent of a musician and record producer : Jonathan Brightman? Downloading and the internet are both a blessing and a curse for musicians. What is your take on the industry as it stands today? Where do you see it heading? Jonathan Brightman: I think the musician will have to catch up with all this technology. In other words, a band may have to use more of their own words, images, actions and give more of themselves up to be noticed. These days anyone can edit a video and put up content. We’re going to have to learn how to be as creative on several formats now. After all this time, do you still keep up to date, with what Buckcherry are doing? Jonathan Brightman: Actually, I heard one of their new songs on satellite radio recently. I think they released a few records after my departure. But the song was really good. Everything was in key.
Jonathan Brightman and Buckcherry: Josh Todd grew up in the Anaheim Hills neighborhood of Anaheim, California and later moved to Lake Forest, California. Early on, Todd fronted the Hollywood glam rock band Slamhound. He eventually met lead guitarist Keith Nelson through their tattoo artist (Kevin Quinn). The duo made a few demos before being joined by bassist Jonathan Brightman and drummer Devon Glenn, calling themselves Sparrow. Sparrow began performing around the Hollywood club scene, receiving a strong, local following due to their old school rock and roll vibe, and were signed to DreamWorks Records shortly after. The group changed its name to Buckcherry after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from a record label called Sparrow (owned by EMI). Although the band’s name is a spoonerism of the late Chuck Berry, the group said it was inspired by a drag queen acquaintance of theirs named Buck Cherry.
Black Robot is a California-based hard rock band formed in 2008 by bassist Jonathan Brightman (JB). The band released their first music video for the JJ Cale classic “Cocaine” on May 5, 2010,[4] debuting it exclusively on top rated gaming website IGN.com. The video features a comical cameo appearance by former The Kids in the Hall and NewsRadio star Dave Foley and was filmed at the legendary burlesque club Jumbo’s Clown Room.[5] A commercial for the debut album featuring outtakes from the video aired exclusively during episodes of VH-1 Classic’s That Metal Show.
Black Robot started with former Buckcherry band mates, Yogi and Devon, but they are not on the album. Are you still on good terms? Jonathan Brightman: Actually they are on the record. Yogi does some great solo work on four songs and Devon plays drums on a few songs. They are great friends and we are always happy to lend a musical hand to each other.
Over the past decade Brightman Music has been a leading Producer Management firm located in Southern California with a presence in New York City and Nashville, Tennessee and London, England. We represent some of the recording industry’s most highly recognized award winning producers, mixers, songwriters and engineers as well as tomorrow’s game changers. We hold a unique emphasis and proven track record on the discovery and development of groundbreaking chart-topping new artists. Our clients work with artists and record labels, big and small from every corner of the globe. We celebrate musical diversity and support artists of all genres. Find more details at Jonathan Brightman.
The name is something that I had been holding on to for some time. I conceptualized the figure which you see on the album cover and I wanted that figure to represent the band. I think it’s a strong, menacing figure that isn’t too far from something Iron Maiden would use. Like their mascot Eddie, I think as we begin to gain a fan base and get bigger we’ll be able to have our own identifiable figure that can progress as the band does. We wanted the focus to be on the visuals, we didn’t want the focus to be on the traditional thing, band members; four or five guys in the band. There’s nothing original about five guys lining up in a photo, of course we do that too, but that’s not the focus. We wanted to have a powerful figure that would represent the music and what we stand for.