The Daily Reveille sat down The Breton Sound, a New Orleans rock band, to discuss their style, sound and Voodoo Fest performance.
The band, made up of Jonathan Pretus, singer and guitarist; Stephen Turner, lead guitar and backup singer; John Bourgeois, drummer and backup vocalist; and Joe Bourgeois, bassist and occasional screamer, has built their brand of energetic, melodic and anthemic rock and roll.
They were awarded the 2015 LA Music Prize and was a 2015 Best Emerging Band nominee at the Big Easy Awards. Their most recent EP, “Don’t Be Afraid of Rock & Roll Vol. 1,” was released in 2015.
The Daily Reveille: Y’all are New Orleans natives. How do you think that has affected your sound?
The Breton Sound: If anything it makes us a little more tighter rhythmically. New Orleans music puts an emphasis on rhythm and groove. Joe and John, on drums and bass, might be impacted a little more. Maybe it’s just subconscious. But growing up with a focus on groove gets stuck in your DNA. Everyone who grows up here has music running through their veins. It’s almost impossible to get away from it. It makes you up your game and you have to be really good at what you do to stand out around here.
TDR: How do you think the band has evolved since its founding in 2010?
TBS: When we first started it was just Jonathan and Stephen. We went through a couple drummers and another bassist, before Joe and John joined. We started off as a mesh of two styles and now we’ve come to more of a commonality; we have defined roles. The way the songs are written have shifted a lot. I think we started out a little less focused on song craft and more on sound. We’re a better sounding band than we were when we first started out.
TDR: Can you describe your upcoming EP? Tell us about that.
TBS: We took five songs off our most recent EP and the one before that, that we didn’t connect with all that well the first go-around. Now that we’ve worked with them for awhile, we can do them better. It will be out early 2017. We’ve already started recording another EP, to be released later in the year. It’s loud, fun, heavy up-tempo. Good, smart sounds, fun, energetic recording.
TDR: What’s you favorite song that you’ve released?
TBS: It varies. Joe’s favorite is “Illuminate.” John’s is “Standing on the Edge of the World,” Stephen’s favorites are “Hollywood Vampires” and “Standing on the Edge of the World” and Jonathan’s is also “Illuminate.” Overall, it’s “Save Your Prayers,” one we haven’t put out yet. We played it yesterday and it will come out later. It definitely defines us where we are right now.
TDR: How do you stay connected with your audience?
TBS: We’re really active on social media, we try to reply to every comment that comes through. Nothing bugs me more than when someone comments and they don’t get a reply. After shows, we try to hang out and talk with whoever wants to talk with us. When we’re recording, we’ll post stuff from the studio and live stream rehearsals to keep people interested.
TDR: What is it like playing Voodoo?
TBS: It’s cool to play in front of a big crowd of people. You discover a whole different side of yourself that you don’t see playing in a club. It’s more grandiose. Everything has to be bigger. It gives you an opportunity to do something ridiculous, over the top. The exposure is a lot better. You gain a lot of new fans playing festivals.
TDR: You recently performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. How does that compare to playing at Voodoo?
TBS: It’s a little different. Voodoo Fest is more of a pop/rock festival. You get a very different demographic and lineup at Jazz Fest. We go over better at Voodoo because it’s a younger demographic. The vibe here is totally new. Voodoo goes more with whatever is popular and it’s great to play here because New Orleans isn’t normally a big rock town. We can be a pretty loud band and it’s more accepted to do that here than at Jazz Fest.
Stephen Turner, guitarist for The Breton Sound, speaks about the differences between the band's experiences at Jazz Fest versus those at Voodoo on Saturday Oct. 29, 2016 at the Voodoo Music and Arts Experience (Voodoo Festival) at City Park in New Orleans, Louisiana.
