Breathe Electric - Odd Cargo


When Grant Harris first started making music in his home in Lake County, Illinois, he never imagined he’d end up having a dedicated fan base and becoming Breathe Electric. That’s a reality for him now, though, and when I caught up with the electro-pop artist I found out how it all happened, as well as what very strange item he keeps in his van, and why you might want to think twice before cutting him off in traffic.

Adam Bernard: How’d you come up with the name Breathe Electric?
Breathe Electric: I wrote the music originally just kind of for fun, and started putting it online. It started getting really good feedback, so we were like maybe I should put an actual name to it. My best friend growing up, who’s actually my tech now, we were going back and forth and he came up with Breathe Electric and we thought it kinda described the music a little bit and it’s ear catching, so we went with it.

AB: You recently released your third EP, Lovestruck. The EP format is something a lot of indie artists are utilizing. Why do you use it?
Breathe Electric: I think for an indie artist especially, it’s tough to put out a full length, tour on it for a year and a half, and then record. I feel like when you’re not being pushed into a lot of outlets it’s tough to keep kids’ attention, so releasing six songs every eight months, or six months, something like that, I think when you’re constantly doing new music you’re more in tune with the band and you’re more likely to stick around.

AB: Do you think that could become a new business model with the way the music industry is going right now?
Breathe Electric: I think it absolutely can. I think we’ve already seen a lot of bands starting to release music faster and in less quantity. I’ve also seen a lot of bands that come out with full lengths that are like eight songs and two bonus tracks, so it’s still almost basically an EP.

AB: Personally, I like the format because it leaves you wanting more.
Breathe Electric: It really does, and after listening to six songs you’re more likely to keep an eye out for when that band is putting out albums.

AB: Now, you’re saying “band,” but Breathe Electric is just you, correct?
Breathe Electric: It’s just me. I have four guys who play with me live, and a crew, out there, but as far as the writing and recording and all that, everything is me.

AB: It’s a good thing you have a crew because if you didn’t it would get pretty lonely on the road all by yourself, hitting up all these Warped Tour dates.
Breathe Electric: I think I would probably die after about a week just from the driving. Plus I would probably get here at like three in the afternoon everyday and only be able to stay until five, so I would never get to catch my set and I wouldn’t sell anything and it would be terrible.

AB: What’s your travel situation? What are you riding in?
Breathe Electric: We’re in a van, a van and trailer and we’re driving it ourselves, obviously.

AB: Is there anything interesting in your van that people should know about, or shouldn't know about?
Breathe Electric: We have a big lion head in the back. It’s like a mascot head that we’ll take out once in a while and walk around with when it’s not too hot.

AB: Mascot heads are never good on hot days.
Breathe Electric: When it’s 100 degrees outside it’s like 200 degrees in there.

AB: What else do you have in your ride?
Breathe Electric: We have so many Vans shoes. They give them to us, and most of us wear Vans anyway, so it’s just like piles and piles of them, used and not used, and it smells terrible. They’re all under the seats.

AB: With that in mind, I have one final question; have you ever felt like if someone cut you off during an especially long ride you now have enough of pairs of kicks to just throw one out the window at the perpetrator?
Breathe Electric: I haven’t yet, but I might.

Story originally ran on SubstreamMusicPress.com.

Comments

Popular Posts