Interviewed by Mark Dean (Journalist/Writer/Contributor) Myglobalmind Webzine
1. How did X.Drive come together? Was it like many of the labels other cd releases created by the label, or was it a personal musical journey and vision of yourself?
It was my personal vision and I put it together one member at a time. Then at a certain time in my life the timing and opportunity was right to finally put it all together and make it happened. At that point I presented it to Frontiers Records and they were gracious enough to take an   interest and believe in it.
Did the label have direct input into the songs on the X-Drive release ie by using external songwriters or were they individually created by yourself prior to finding the other band members? Alternatively were any composed by a shared X-Drive creativity?
I wrote all of the music and presented it to Keith and then he wrote lyrics/melodies to it. We worked together like that, I would send him a piece of music I had written and he would write it to it and lay down vocals and send it back. That kind of thing. This is all before Frontiers was involved, so no Frontiers weren’t involved in helping with the songwriting process or any outside writers.
Can you give me a track by track breakdown of the songs on the X.Drive release-revealing how they came together both lyrically and in the studio? The story behind the songs so to speak.
Since I have nothing to do with the lyrics as that’s Keith’s department, I’m not really sure how to answer this question. Honestly I have no idea where they come from, I just pick up the guitar and start playing and stuff comes out. I wish I had more to say but this would be a better question for Keith. I’ll do the best I can:
Love’s A Bitch
Awesome opening track. I think it’s the best solo I played on the whole album.
Get Your Rock On
Keith gave it a real Def Leppard vibe.
Steppin on The Rock
This one went throught alot of changes. I gave it to Keith and he totally rearranged the music. What I felt was the chorus Keith thought should be the verse. So we switched it around. It really worked well and had a heavy dark vibe to it.
Baby Bye Bye
One of the very first pieces of music I ever wrote. Love the way the solo came out on this one. The chorus has a real Bon Jovi-ish vibe.
California
The poppiest and most radio friendly tune on the record. I love the key change at the end.
Lay Me Down
Sort of a dark mid-tempo rocker. I really love the how the bass sounds in the mix and the chorus that Keith came up with. Also love the way the song builds.
Turn The Noize Down
Straight ahead rock. Killer verses. Also loved the solo on this one too.
Fly Beyond The Angels
I wrote this on piano. I really like how the last line of the song is Heaven’s Gonna Fly and how the piano fades up and out representing heaven.
Rattlesnake Eyes
Cool key changes. After all of the key changes I originally wanted the vocals to be acapella at the end in the original key but the idea was scrapped later.
Just Cant Stay
I wrote the verses in a different time signature and the tempo gets slightly faster in the chorus. I thought it made for a unique combination. I remember Wyn Davis did not like the time signature change and said the song was schizophrenic.
Change of Heart
Keith did a lot rewrites on this one and the end result was my favorite track on the whole album.
Love Breaks The Fool
This one had a lot of re tracking of the drums as they sounded too busy during the chorus originally, so we simplified it and it really seemed to work for the better. The double bass part at the end is awesome.
With the individual components of Xdrive having other bands and commitments is XDrive a solely one off studio deal. Or are live shows a possibility-if the album generates good healthy sales and you are approached by the label to do so…….Surely as a musician you create music in order to share it with a live audience and playing songs live helps to breathe life into them…
Growing up listening to my favorite bands and then seeing them live, naturally I always wanted to see the original four or five guys that played on the record up there on stage. So with that kind of mindset, I want to present this project the same way, but on the other hand I don’t know what the future holds for touring, as some of the musicians are already doing that with other bands right now. That’s a tough question. I guess in the end the whole thing kind of became a project. But I have so many more songs recorded there would be no problem putting out another album’s worth of material.
While researching for these questions I found it difficult to obtain any information on your background and musical pedigree prior to X-Drive. Can you please briefly bring me up to speed on that…
Well that’s probably because there is no info on me. I’m an unknown. I started out on piano and took two lessons in the beginning and could not sight read music for the life of me. I thought it was pretty stupid to read a treble clef for your right hand and bass clef for left and that there were totally different notes for different lines and on top of all of that having to count notes etc. I found it to be extremely ass backwards. So I ended up just listening to things and figuring it out by ear. That made alot more sense to me then this foreign language you have to learn. Music is expression…..a way to talk through an instrument, not something you read off of a sheet of paper.
Is X-Drive your debut recorded release>If not can you outline your studio releases to date.
Yes, X-Drive is my debut record.
Outside music do you have any other interests or hobbies?
Serial marrying? Is that how you word it or spell it? Getting married and divorced too many times. Just kidding….half kidding anyways. Film preservation/restoration I guess….I’ve been involved with film most of my life in some form or another. Collecting it, selling it, trading it, cataloging it, transferring it, smelling it etc.
As a guitarist who are your musical inspirations and heroes-any current players whose style that you respect and admire.
First off, Eddie Van Halen. He’s the reason I started playing piano then guitar. 2nd would have to be George Lynch. Those are my guitar heroes but I was always more of a song guy. As far as current players today? Zero! Can you think of one guitar player today? I don’t think they exist anymore.
What is next for Jeremy Brunner career wise.
I have no idea, I wish I knew. Probably getting married a couple more times and archiving/restoring some more film. I know that next wife is out there. I guess I’m just taking more time to find her this time. 🙂
X-Drive a brief moment in time-or a part of your musical legacy that you would like to be remembered for?
I know the music I wrote and recorded sounds 80’s but to me that doesn’t mean they can’t be good songs. As long as people like and remember the songs that’s good enough for me.
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