Bright Light Social Hour Talks About Their Favorite Stage Moment in iEDM Exclusive Interview

During the Electric Forest weekend, we got to sit down and chat with the talented guys from Bright Light Social Hour. This is a must see band that really is a conglomeration of everything electronic and rock. We talked about a vast range of influences that make up this psychedelic group with proclaimed influences like Tame Impala, Pink Floyd, and other predecessors that came before them. 

iEDM: How do you guys feel merging classic instruments with electronic influences?

Curtis: It’s always come really naturally to us. A lot of us also really like electronic music, dance music, or ambient and dance music in general utilizing synths and drum machines. We like both rock instruments and electronic.

iEDM: How do you guys like being at this EDM type of scene?

Joseph: One of the things I really love is seeing people dance. They’re a lot more willing to get their bodies involved in the show and I like to see people shaking it.

Jack: We would never be billed on a normal EDM festival, usually those festivals are sort of segregated but I get it because electronic is only a portion of our sound. It’s crazy because everything’s just brought all together and blended.

iEDM: How do you guys feel about being grouped into a certain genre (Psychedelic Rock)?

Curtis: It’s like organization to help find the music you like. I think there’s a few different places that we all fit into a bit.

iEDM: What was one your best moments of stage?

Edward: Probably someone proposing on stage.

Jack: Oh wow that was cool. We were playing in Charlottesville and opening for Galactic. This girl was just waving her hand up at me for several songs trying to get my attention. At first I was ignoring it until she writes this sign out that asked “Can I propose?” I don’t know what’s happening until I ask in the middle of the song, she goes up to me and says that her brother wants to propose to his girlfriend and was really nervous. It’s actually our last song that already started, so we’re trying to see how to make this work as we’ve got a really strict set time.

Jack: It gets to the part of the song where it breaks for a minute we call for the dude to get up on stage. The dude is halfway across the venue looking completely surprised and he’s super drunk. He gets up on the stage and is just rambling, we think this might have been a mistake. He pulls his girlfriend up there and she just looks terrified. I’m thinking oh my god, she’s going to say no. But he gets down on one knee and she says yes, she starts crying, the whole audience erupts as we go into the last chorus of ‘Detroit’ that goes “I need your love.” Just magical.

iEDM: Amazing, how'd you guys get started and what were some early influences? 

Jack: Curtis and I started in 2004 in college, very on and off for a while, as I was traveling abroad. We found Joe on Craigslist and brought Edward on gradually. We didn't actually know each other at first, but sent out a campus-wide email for the band, we listed off some way out-there stuff like Sigur Ros and Blood Brothers.

Curtis: There was a time we just listened to this dreamy post-rock stuff and hardcore, we felt like we were the only people on campus that really liked both. 

Jack: Yeah and we try to put that together and I think still that's the essence of what we want to do with these types dreamscapes, but with some chaos going on to and how to make that juxtaposition work. I just recently got 'Burn Piano Island Burn' on vinyl and yeah there really are no rules in music.  

The Bright Light Social Hour is an amazing and talented group that is constantly putting out music and energizing the community around them. Their tour continues across the country this summer, with dates in the Midwest like Chicago and Milwaukee, and all the way out to Summer Meltdown in Washington. Check them out!