INTERVIEW: Brian K & The Parkway ready their debut album
Photo: Brian K & The Parkway’s debut album is called Killing the Bear. Image courtesy of the band / Provided by 37-Media with permission.
Anticipation is building for Brian K & The Parkway’s debut album, Killing the Bear, which comes out at the end of March. Fans are getting small tastes of the sonic delights to come thanks to a few recently released singles, including “Wind the Clock” and “Straight Through.” To the unbeknownst, Brian K & The Parkway promise a sound akin to Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and Warren Zevon. Think of guitar-driven rock ‘n’ roll circa the 1970s.
The band is actually a duo, consisting of Brian K. Pagels and Stephen Russ. They are based in the Washington, D.C., area, and they are hoping the new album will take their name far and wide. Lyrically they tackle important issues like justice, peace, equality and democracy. They are a socially conscious band that pulls from several rock-adjacent genres, including soul and R&B. The reason that Springsteen comes to mind is because Pagels is originally from Freehold, New Jersey, the same town as the Boss. Russ is from the Carolinas, according to the band’s official biography.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Brian K & The Parkway on all things Killing the Bear. They are also preparing to take these songs on the road, including a special concert in Asbury Park, New Jersey, at The Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What can fans expect from your debut album, Killing the Bear? How long has this been in the works?
PAGELS: Fans can expect a fairly broad musical landscape within the context of rock ‘n’ roll that blends our influences, while sequenced, mixed and mastered in a fashion that unifies the songs. The overarching theme is about people trying their best to apply surface-level solutions to much deeper problems.
RUSS: To me, this album has been in the works since I first heard Brian play an original song on stage roughly eight years ago. I’ve been hearing sounds to pair with his voice ever since and frequently pestered him about recording. When he sent me the first demos for the album in March of 2020, I knew it was on … but I had to play it cool to not scare him off.
What inspired the song “Wind the Clock”?
PAGELS: I intentionally wanted to write a song that was based more around a riff and groove than simply setting a melody to a chord progression. I wanted something people could dance to. I had a little guitar riff I had been playing for a few weeks, and I decided to set it to a Garageband drum loop. At that point it locked in for me, and I wrote the pre-chorus under a different four-to-the-floor loop. I was never really satisfied with the original chorus, and one day several months later I thought “what would Prince do?” The chorus melody instantly came to me, and I recorded a demo of me singing the whole thing in falsetto. At that point we basically had the full template for the song.
How do you two make creative decisions? Do you always agree?
RUSS: Working with Brian is the easiest thing I have ever done as a bandmate and a producer. Usually when one of us has an idea, the other is on board to at least try it, if not on board immediately. I think because we were both fans of each other first, there is always a mutual respect. I even had to bring on an outside co-producer to help me be objective about Brian’s songs and vocal work because I am such a fanboy. That’s never happened to me before!
Will the upcoming tour focus mostly on songs from Killing the Bear?
PAGELS: We’re a new band releasing our debut album and pretty soon after embarking on this tour, so yes, naturally our sets are going to be heavily focused on this collection of songs, of which we are really proud. We have been working on some arrangement updates to ensure the tunes really soar in a live setting and allow the strengths of the touring band to shine. We also have almost an entire album of new material written, so who knows? Maybe at some point we’ll test out some new tunes as well.
I get the Brian K. moniker, but how did you form the name “The Parkway”?
RUSS: We had literally recorded the entire album and started kicking around demos for a second album before we had a band name. There were moments when I thought we may never come up with anything cool. In the depths of our deep despair, Brian’s friend Adam Ritchie, who has a killer Boston band called The Lights Out, came up with The Parkway. It works great for us because it has a very Jersey feel for Brian, and because I ride on the George Washington Memorial Parkway every time I go to Brian’s house to make music. I think this band is about our connection to each other, so it’s perfect.
Being Bruce Springsteen fans, are you excited to play in Asbury Park, New Jersey?
RUSS: Brian and I decided to start this band together while visiting Springsteen landmarks in Asbury Park, and it was always a must stop for our first tour. I’ve never played there with any of my past bands, and I’m already impressed with the support from the community.
PAGELS: It’s always an emotional experience playing a show that is a homecoming of sorts. This one will have extra emotional resonance for me, given the origin story of our band and the fact that it will be my first time performing Asbury Park while fronting a band playing songs that I wrote. What a trip!
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Brian K & The Parkway’s debut album is called Killing the Bear. Click here for more information.
