Q&A Today: Bēdu Brāļi
Q&A Today takes us to Latvia. Great post-punk from Bēdu Brāļi was the reason to take a closer look at the band.
With ‘Drošākā Vieta’ (Safe Place), they deliver a wonderful taster of their second album, which is due to be released in spring 2025 on the label I Love You Records. The mood of the track is melancholic, dark, and always on the verge of breaking out. A three-piece band that achieves great things with its creativity. The genre mix is terrific - indie/alternative rock, a bit of psychedelic shoegaze, and of course post-punk to round things off.
We'll definitely have them on our radar in 2025 and will certainly be presenting more songs here on the blog. Until then, read what they have to say in the following short Q&A.
Q&A
Who are the musicians who make up Bēdu Brāļi and how did you get into music?
Bēdu Brāļi is a power trio. Oskars Tupuriņš on vocals and guitar, Jānis Liepiņs on bass and Pēteris Ozols on drums. Each hailing from a different city, we have very different musical backgrounds. Oskars and Jānis coming from towns up north, had to drive or hitchhike to rehearsals and the whole music scene in the rural parts of Latvia was more tight nit and alternative. Peteris comes from the capital city Riga, and started to play music in a band with his brother.
Latvia is not a big country so eventually, if you play music, you will run into each other at some point, as it was the case with Bēdu Brāļi. Some bands split up, something new was formed, we met and started to play together.
“Drošākā vieta” creates an amazing post punk atmosphere. What or who was your inspiration, and what is the story behind the song?
The name of the song translates as “safest place to die” and it was inspired by the embracing burned bodies at Pompeii. The song itself was conceived at a creative getaway in a studio in the north of Latvia, at the town of Valmiera. It basically came from a jam that we were playing, and Oskars just started to sing on top of it these gloomy lyrics. We wanted to incorporate a “dancy” beat into a song, because it’s just so out of our character so thats what we tried to do in this song. I think we listened to Battles and Placebo at the time we worked on this song.
What does your creative process look like in general and what's the hardest part of songwriting for you?
Usually how we do things, is that the lead singer has some voice memos of guitar doodles that he presents in rehearsals, then the rest of the band tries to adopt it. There is no clear vision on how the song should go or sound and it all kind of happens in the moment and the vibe can be completely changed by the playing of the other band members .
A big part of the creative process is the weekend get-aways to a studio at a town up north. Some times there are some ideas beforehand but mostly we go there empty handed and just play. We press “record” and just jam on some small idea or riff or a beat and try to finish a song from it. These weekend sessions usually result in a song/per day. it helps to play the song live various times to see how it feels and if something needs to change before recording the final take.
Do you have any plans to perform live on stage soon?
We have some smaller gigs lined up at the beginning of 2025, but our main focus now is the album, that will be released on spring 2025 and will follow up with more concerts.
If you could pick a special location for a gig, where would you like to play?
In a bowling alley or SPA center.
How do you balance the time-consuming aspect of being an indie band with the other aspects of your life?
It is hard. All of us have day jobs, families other responsibilities but I guess the fact that music is a necessity to us, a some kind of therapy, we find time for it, because we need it or else we would go mad.
What do you have in store for the near future?
Our second album “Lauskas” (translates as “shards”) will be out in the spring of 2025, so we hope to play some good shows at home and hopefully some abroad to comoderate that.
NenesButler - Indie Music Blog
