Utah has seemingly become a hotbed for nurturing huge pop bands like Neon Trees, Imagine Dragons, and soon-to-be-icons like The Moth & The Flame—is there something in water? “I don’t really know for sure,” laughs Christian Darais, drummer of up-and-coming Utah-based electro-pop band The Brocks. “There’s some seriously awesome stuff coming out of here.”
The Brocks acquired their name from the band’s sibling co-founders, Dane and Grant Brock, who have been making music together since they were kids. “The name doesn’t make as much sense anymore now that Grant writes for the band instead of performing these days. Everyone thinks Dane is a narcissist with a band bearing his last name,” Darais says with a laugh. “We’ve definitely thought about all changing our last names to Brock.”
In the beginning, they spent time exploring emotive post-rock, but as time wore on and the band acquired a snazzy new synthesizer, The Brocks became card-carrying citizens of the electronic music realm. “We tried to hold onto the anthemic feel of our post-rock beginnings, which we believe differentiates our music in the electronic world,” says Darais. “We want our music to go deeper than the hype.”
The Brocks’ new single, “Hlywd” is the embodiment of that sentiment, featuring a strong introductory ambience and resounding synth-y sound, along with meaningful and contemplative lyrics. “Dane wrote that song one morning before going to work years ago; it’s less about ‘Hollywood’ the location, and more about ‘Hollywood’ the idea,” Darais explains.
“There’s a group of people out there who are trying tell us all what we should do, how we should feel, what we should think, and what our life goals should be, and we are tired of that,” he continues. “People think that as a musician, you should be moving to big cities, getting into the cool crowd, and hanging out at the night clubs, when really, we want to be away from that, hanging out in the mountains and swimming in the lakes and being at home with our families. According to Hollywood, that’s not a popular life goal. It’s a song about longing for something different.”
Currently working with DJ and producer Ryan Raddon, a.k.a. Kaskade, The Brocks will soon be releasing an album and readying for a tour. “A lot of music, especially in the electronic world, is surface-level; it hits people in the feels right there on the surface,” Darais says. “We want to excite people, and connect with them in a meaningful way.”
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