Plaid Brixx was formed in early 2013 by the band’s lead singer Chris Duggan, who has led bands and written music since he was ten. The band’s debut EP, Chemistry, is pop with a razor’s edge of rock and an aftershave of punk.
Duggan, who penned and produced all five songs on the EP, crafted a contemporary sound for this collection of in-your-face songs.
A few weeks ago, I had the chance to interview Duggan, the singer of the band. Here is what he had to say to the questions I asked him.
Elyse: How did you come up with the band name “Plaid Brixx”?
Chris: I have a really weird fascination/obsession with plaid – and there’s a lot you can do with the imagery in terms of graphic design and stylization from a utilitarian perspective – so I thought it would be a good word to include in the band name! And bricks are strong, hearty building materials so the two words went really well together. It stemmed off of an idea I had about how cool it would be to see a brick wall with a plaid pattern on it.
E: What made you want to be in a band?
C: I started my first band when I was a mere child because I knew I had to write songs. The performance thing came later, but for me it’s always been about the songwriting. I was lucky to discover my love for writing pop songs when I was a child so you might say from that moment I knew I wanted to be in a band.
E: Off your EP Chemistry which is your favorite to perform live?
C: Chemistry has an undeniable energy about it when we play it live, but I think my favorite to play is “Here I Go Again” because of all the dynamic changes between the parts of the song. Plus it’s not too strenuous on my voice, so that’s always nice!
E: How did the name of your EP Chemistry come along?
C: I wanted to name the EP after the song Chemistry, since I think it best encapsulates the overall feel of the EP. It is about the chemistry fading between two people and what you can learn about yourself and life during that time.
E: Whom would you like to write with in the future?
C: I would absolutely LOVE to write with any of these people: Ryan Tedder, Max Martin, Dr. Luke, Taylor Swift, Mark Ronson, Lady GaGa, Katy Perry, Danger Mouse and Imogen Heap. So, if any of you happen to be reading this, hit me up. I could probably name more, but those listed are definitely my current top tier of influences when it comes to writing the perfect song.
E: If you could travel anywhere in the world to perform, where would you go?
C: I would love to go to Tokyo. I have always wanted to go there, and I could stop at the Nintendo HQ and poke around a bit while I was in town. It would be glorious.
E: Who are your influences? Are they also your musical inspirations?
C: Aside from those I mentioned earlier, my personal style influences are probably Blink-182, Sum-41, The Strokes, The Hives, The Killers – basically a lot of early 2000’s alt-rock and pop-punk. My musical inspirations change on a daily basis, so while those bands influenced me to start making alt-rock sort of music, the motivation behind the writing changes based on the wind.
E: 1 interesting fact about you guys that no one knows.
C: Mark has never been on an airplane before. Chris hates cheese unless it’s on pizza. Cole is hiding a lifetime worth of secrets in his hair.
If you haven’t listened to their debut album, then what you are waiting for, go check it out!
