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The climb of an American songwriter : Jonathan Brightman

Jonathan Brightman or the upsurge of an American songwriter? What music are you listening to at the moment? Are there any local bands that we should be listening to? Jonathan Brightman: At the moment I have the Beatles Abbey Road playing. There’s a great local band called Goldsboro. A few guys from the band Orson’s new project. It’s great stuff. After all this time, do you still keep up to date, with what Buckcherry are doing? Jonathan Brightman: Actually, I heard one of their new songs on satellite radio recently. I think they released a few records after my departure. But the song was really good. Everything was in key.

Jonathan Brightman and Buckcherry: Buckcherry is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1995. The band released two albums, Buckcherry (1999) and Time Bomb (2001), before dissolving in 2002. In 2005, lead vocalist Josh Todd and lead guitarist Keith Nelson reformed Buckcherry with a new lineup and released a new album in 2006, 15. It contained Buckcherry’s biggest crossover hits to date, “Crazy Bitch”, and their first Billboard Hot 100 top ten hit, “Sorry”. Their fourth album, Black Butterfly, was released in 2008, and their fifth album, All Night Long, was released in 2010. Buckcherry released their sixth album, Confessions, in 2013, followed by their seventh album Rock ‘n’ Roll in 2015.[2] They released their eighth album Warpaint in 2019.

Black Robot is a California-based hard rock band formed in 2008 by bassist Jonathan Brightman (JB). Brightman recruited Detroit-bred front man Harold Johns on vocals and Black Robot recorded their debut in 2008 with Grammy winning producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Shooter Jennings, Rival Sons). Former Buckcherry alumni Devon Glenn & Yogi Lonich and legendary keyboard session player Fred Mandel (Queen, Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd) make guest appearances on the album. In 2009, guitarists Andy Andersson & Staffan Österlind and former Hot Sauce Johnson / Rumblefish / Earshot drummer Possum Hill were added to the line-up. The band has been described as a “new powerhouse” and “good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll influenced by acts like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Black Crowes and the Rolling Stones”

You sound like all of my favourite bands mashed up; there’s AC/DC, Zeppelin, Black Crowes and The Stones. How would you describe your sound? Jonathan Brightman: I like to just call it Modern Classic Rock. Imagine intercepting rock and roll right where it was before things got awful in the music business and continuing from that point. Right before Nirvana perhaps. All though I love Nirvana it spawned some real shit. And I am still baffled about how Limp Bizkit sold millions of records. Hahahaha.

Over the past years Brightman Music has been a leading Producer Management firm located in Southern California with a presence in New York City and Nashville, Tennessee and London, England. We represent some of the recording industry’s most highly recognized award winning producers, mixers, songwriters and engineers as well as tomorrow’s game changers. We hold a unique emphasis and proven track record on the discovery and development of groundbreaking chart-topping new artists. Our clients work with artists and record labels, big and small from every corner of the globe. We celebrate musical diversity and support artists of all genres. Discover additional details on Jonathan Brightman.

The reason Yogi and Devon aren’t on the record is because Yogi went on tour with Chris Cornell and couldn’t be at two places at the same time, he needed to work and I couldn’t say don’t take the gig. Devon had gotten married and started his own business; his priorities in his life were different. I understood where he was coming from. It came down to this — they weren’t in a place to do it and I couldn’t wait until they could, or would, do it. I needed to make this record. I’ll clarify, this was a vision that was Huck’s and mine. This wasn’t going to be a band, we needed to get these song recorded and if it was good we’d release them.