Con Brio Talks About Their Festival Season and Releasing New Music in iEDM Exclusive Interview
Con Brio is a 7 piece band that was formed in the year 2013. With only 4 years under their belt, Con Brio has made strides in the music and festival scene around the globe.
Their band members include Ziek McCarter (Vocals), Brendan Liu (Trumpet), Marcus Stephens (Tenor Saxophone), Benjamin Andrews (Guitar), Patrick Glynn (Keyboards), Jonathan Kirchner (Bass) and Andrew Laubacher (Drums).
While sitting down with Ziek and Jonathan, it was easy to see that Ziek's statement about Con Brio’s music becoming a place of serenity, compassion and even euphoria for people is what this band is all about.
iEDM: How does it feel playing both weekends at Electric Forest Music Festival?
Ziek: It’s exciting that they want us twice.
Jonathan: I like the idea of making an impression because we play the first day of the festival and then hopefully people will tell their friends.
iEDM: Do you think you will gain some new fans here?
Ziek: Oh yea, I think we will definitely gain some new fans. We play again tonight at 8:00 on the Grand Artique stage.
iEDM: Any other major festivals this year?
Jonathan: High Sierra, Wanderlust, Monterey Jazz Festival in California, and 4 big festivals in France next month.
iEDM: That’s really exciting. Will this be your first international experience or have you gone over seas before?
Jonathan: This will be our 5th time in Europe in the last 2 years. We’ve been logging a lot of miles in the 4 years we’ve been around.
iEDM: You guys have been making some big moves in just 4 years
Jonathan: Ziek’s got all the moves, we just try to keep up.
iEDM: How would you describe your music to a new fan?
Jonathan: Organic and very American. It’s music to move to.
Ziek: High Energy, even when it’s down tempo.
iEDM: What does Con Brio mean?
Ziek: It means with spirit and with vigor. It is a musical direction that informs a musician how to perform a certain section of a piece based on energy level. Con Brio means with energy. There’s legato which means in a smooth flowing manner.
Jonathan: There’s a whole Italian language that informs musicians on how to play certain pieces of music.
iEDM: Who does most of your song writing?
Ziek: We all write the music together, I write a lot of the lyrics. We all bring in skeletons of ideas and then we work them out and try them in different ways and get them to where we all like it.
Jonathan: We have 3 brand new songs that we’re going to perform today at our show
iEDM: Any new music coming out soon?
Ziek: We have a single coming out with London Souls in the Fall.
Jonathan: We are working on writing the next record that will probably be out next year. We’re always writing and we’re always recording.
Ziek: We currently have one album and one EP already out but we’re working on getting a second album out.