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An interview with Cinematic Sunrise's Bradley Bell

Ryan Thomas,
Grand Central Magazine

Chiodos rose to national prominence with their sophomore release "Bone Palace Ballet", which debuted at number five on the Billboard Top 200. Now he has returned to the Shelter for a show with his and Chiodos vocalist Craig Owen’s side project, Cinematic Sunrise. Photograph by Nicole Rork
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Grand Central: How is the tour so far?

Bradley Bell: Well today is the first day actually, but we are really looking forward to it. We have two more headlining shows, and then we pretty much take that all the way back up to Michigan.

GC: How does it feel to be on break from Chiodos?

BB: It is pretty cool. Chiodos have pretty much taken most of the summer off; we have had a couple months off, and it is the first time we have ever done that. It is definitely a different vibe, a good break from Chiodos; I feel laid back at these shows, and a really positive energy at these shows.

GC: Do you feel like Cinematic Sunrise is perhaps an outlet for your poppier side?

BB: Yea, well Chiodos is such a variety of collective ideas that were not going to lose that side completely, but we definitely want to go a little bit harder, more energetic than what we did on our last album. We love to add every element we possibly can, and one of those elements might be going to a poppier chorus or something, so we are not going to eliminate that, but this is a good outlet for the poppier stuff.

GC: Are increasing gas prices having any effect on your touring?

BB: It really does the hurt the bands, like it does the rest of the world. I’m sure it is stopping people from coming out to shows because they cannot afford tickets knowing they have to spend on a gallon of gas, and just driving to the show in general is expensive. We have been touring on a bus, because we do not have a vehicle, and when you’re on a bus you get like a dollar per mile pretty much. It gets really expensive when you make a 500-mile trip to the next town.

GC: What’s on your iPod right now?

BB: Whenever I get this question, I am caught off guard, but the new Death Cab for Cutie is pretty sick. I have been bringing Mew back into the rotation; I can never get sick of them. I am really looking forward to that new John Legend album; I have really been getting into him. I listen to a lot of pop radio all the time, and the new Weezer album, the “Red Album” – I have been rocking that a lot in the car.

GC: After touring non-stop for a couple of years, is it different being home?

BB: It is definitely different here. You get into this different state of mind when you are not active in something; you kind of forget how it feels. Two days ago, we flew to a show in Texas with Chiodos, and we'd had two months off here in America. We played a couple of London shows or whatever, but in that time you feel almost worthless. You’re wondering to yourself 'oh no, are people going to still care about us, are they still going to come out to shows,’ and we showed up to this show and there were almost 3,000 people there. It is always good to have a break from what we’re doing, just because our lives are so random on the road every day. It is good just to sit down on the couch and watch T.V. for a couple of weeks.

GC: After working hard for so long, did you expect the success on the Billboard charts that Bone Palace Ballet had?

BB: No! It was totally overwhelming; we weren’t expecting to do that well at all. I don’t know… it's always hard to predict how many people are going to go out and buy your CD that week. I don’t think anybody was expecting the debut that we had. I think we were expecting like half of that. It was awesome to be able to do that without ever having any radio play or any mainstream attachments. It kind of shows the world that you really don’t need a major label anymore –all they do is take your money. And with the Internet you can build whatever you're doing by word of mouth.

GC: You guys only had two songs available for streaming on the Internet before the release of the album, right?

BB: Yeah, no video either. When we recorded the CD we were pushed deadline for deadline, and we kept pushing them back. So when we finished recording the CD, we left for Warped Tour two days later, so we had to mix the whole CD on the road. Like, they would put it up on a Web site for us to download, and play on a sh**ty CD player on the bus, and one of the speakers was out. Not to mention that at Warped you're just constantly busy all day, and you can’t really sit down and think about that stuff. Once we finished that, we had to have it mastered and out by a certain date, so we really didn’t have time to stop and make a video.

GC: Are there any plans for a Cinematic Sunrise full length?

BB: Well, there isn't too much touring planned for this EP. We have already started writing songs. I don’t know, we have to plan out the timing between Cinematic and Chiodos perfectly, and that's hard to do. I think we'll be ready to record a full-length by the beginning of next year. We’ll see how the studio time between the two bands can work out, because obviously Chiodos is first priority. But we write pretty fast with this band.

GC: Do you feel like Cinematic Sunrise sort of piggybacks off the success of Chiodos?

BB: Well, we don’t want to take advantage of it or anything. I definitely think it helps. We’re just really grateful that people support whatever endeavors we are pursuing. When you come out to these shows, you see a different crowd than you do at the Chiodos shows; you know there are different people coming out. It is a different crowd; you don’t see too many mosh pits at these shows.

GC: How do you feel about local bands and their chance at achieving success in today’s music industry?

BB: When we are on the road it is really hard to keep up with the local scene as much as we used to, but we love the local scene. It’s what made us who we are. All we did for a couple of years was attack this scene, and we saw how well people responded, so we figured if we can do it in these cities, why can’t we do it everywhere else? We started booking our own tours and stuff. There is a lot of talent here in Michigan, but it is kind of hard for bands to become known in this area. I don’t know why… maybe it’s out of the way? But there are a lot more opportunities in states like California and New York obviously. It is just cool to still see the drive, even though a lot of venues are shutting down like the Flint Local. Now people are still throwing hall shows, and those were like our favorite shows growing up.