Jonathan Brightman or the upsurge of an American songwriter? How hard have you find it to get Black Robot noticed and do you have any advice for young bands out there starting out in the industry? Jonathan Brightman: It’s very hard. It feels like carrying a load of boulders on your back uphill in the rain both ways!!! My advice to new bands: Be relentless. 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.
Are you surprised about the levels of publicity this time around, rather than for the original release? Jonathan Brightman: Absolutely. We still do our best to work with any level of publicity. From a teenager with their own blog site working out of their bedroom to Rolling Stone magazine. Our goal is to let everyone know we’re here and we’re not going away.
Over the past decade Brightman Music has been a premium Producer Management firm based 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 even more details at Jonathan Brightman.
The reason Yogi and Devon aren’t on the record is because Yogi went on tour with Chris Cornell and couldn’t be at two places at the same time, he needed to work and I couldn’t say don’t take the gig. Devon had gotten married and started his own business; his priorities in his life were different. I understood where he was coming from. It came down to this — they weren’t in a place to do it and I couldn’t wait until they could, or would, do it. I needed to make this record. I’ll clarify, this was a vision that was Huck’s and mine. This wasn’t going to be a band, we needed to get these song recorded and if it was good we’d release them.
