The Briefly Gorgeous: 4 favorite artists that influence the Minnesota band's writing process

The Briefly Gorgeous. Photo by Katy Kelly.

The Briefly Gorgeous is co-headlining the 7th St Entry (First Avenue) on Feb. 29 alongside Flip Rushmore, 26 BATS!, and Kiernan. Ahead of the gig, the Minnesota quartet discusses songs and artists that have helped define their sound. You can find tickets to their Leap Day gig here.
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Al Norman (drummer): "Weekend" by Last Dinosaurs

​One thing I really like about them is how joyous and light their songs can be, despite how much energy there is. Also within that, there is a lot of range dynamically that everyone is doing instrumentally. Yeah, shout out to Last Dinosaurs. I like them a lot. Their drummer is so good.
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Kailyn Grider (lead vocals / guitar): Alex Lahey

Both me and Johnny [Devitt] really liked her when we were first playing music together. I really dig her music a lot and I feel like it has similar energy to us, but ... It’s not nearly as technical sometimes, so it’s a good reminder for me when I need to step back from getting too crazy on all the syncopated parts and try to make a catchy, fun-to-listen-to song.

​All of Alex Lahey’s songs are really fun to listen to, so I feel like that always really draws me in when I’m thinking in terms of vocals and lyrics and stuff. She really inspires me in terms of the vocals and core energy and enjoyment aspect of the songs.
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Johnny Devitt (guitar): "Fall In" by The Cloud Nothings

It kind of just amps me up and hits a perfect place ... It's a really frantic-sounding song that also has a lot of melancholy emotions in it. It hits a certain coordinate point for me that gets me wanting to write all sorts of songs, but specifically songs that hit that middle ground that can be big and loud and fast and still have a lot of heart and emotion—a lot of happy sadness in there.

I pick up my guitar whenever I hear this band, and specifically this song. In some of the new material that we are writing right now, that influence absolutely shows up. In a couple of our new songs, I definitely have taken direct inspiration from them. This year I have really gotten into their self-titled album from 2011, and a lot of the guitar work on our newer shit is directly influenced by that album in particular.
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Maddie Thies (bass): "Hear Me Out!" by VALERAS

They are a band that, like The Briefly Gorgeous, is so rhythmically tight and clean and does so well to create a lot of energy with so many dynamic and thematic changes. I definitely take a lot of inspiration from the way bass weaves through their songs from simply holding down a section to being right there with the guitars.

I’ve come back to them so many times when considering my own parts. My goal is always to write something that is supportive and sounds like it is meant to be there, but is still something I have a lot of fun or pride in playing. I think they do that very well.
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Get your tickets now for The Briefly Gorgeous, Flip Rushmore, 26 BATS!, and Kiernan!