Q&A: Cody Braun of Reckless Kelly
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Country rockers roll to Oklahoma City show
Cody Braun, co-founder, singer and multi-instrument musician for Reckless Kelly, readily admits that his band’s rootsy country-rock sound isn’t the most obvious choice to match with psychobilly master The Reverend Horton Heat and sleaze rockers Nashville Pussy.
But that’s just the lineup that will be coming Saturday night to the Diamond Ballroom, along with the garage punk band Supersuckers.
“It’s not necessarily what you would naturally think to put together, but it seems to be working out just fine,” said Braun, who founded and leads Reckless Kelly with his brother Willy, the group’s lead singer and principal songwriter.
Along with the oddball 23-city tour, the Austin-based quintet is staying on the road for its own dates in support of its summer album release, “Bulletproof,” including an upcoming Texas date with Micky & the Motorcars, the fellow alt-country band founded by his other brothers, Micky and Gary Braun.
Braun talked in a recent phone interview from the New Jersey shore about the unusual current tour, the new album, and the life of a touring musician.
Q: Tell me how you got on the bill with The Reverend Horton Heat and Nashville Pussy and how you overlap musically?
A: Well, it came together through our record label. … We’re on the same label as the Reverend, and he was putting this tour together. And we’ve been trying to work the East Coast into our schedule for quite a while and get up here more often. … We’ve been able to hit a bunch of new markets and get into some new rooms and get in front of people that normally probably would have never heard us before.
I mean, it was kind of a gamble, but it’s been working out great, and really the crowds have been liking it. You know, it’s an odd combo, but I think most people that listen to our kind of music and their kind of music are into a lot of different types and styles of music. … It’s just music that’s kind of on the other end of the spectrum, but everybody’s been digging it and having a good time at the shows. And it’s been fun.
Q: Tell me about making “Bulletproof” and maybe what you did different this time. You were coming off a live album (the 2006 double CD/DVD “Reckless Kelly Was Here”): Did that inform what you did on the new album?
A: The live thing kind of bought us some time really to write and work up a bunch of new songs. We had about three years between studio records, so Willy was able to spend a lot of time writing. …
We were also able to do the album in Austin, or just outside of Austin. We did it at Pedernales, which is Willie Nelson’s studio. So that was really fun, too, just getting to be out there. A lot of good vibes out there in that place. That and just, you know, being able to take the time to really get it right and play around; we used some different instrumentation on this record than we have in the past. … It was just fun to be able to kind of do what we wanted and mess around with some different sounds.
Q: You take on some pretty serious subject matter with the songs “American Blood,” about the Iraq War, and “God Forsaken Town,” about hurricane-ravaged New Orleans. What compelled you to speak up about these issues?
A: It’s just the war’s been going on for the last six, seven years, it’s been in all our lives, and it’s just kind of hard to ignore it. And Willy writes a lot of stuff about just what’s going on in our surroundings and our world and a lot of that tends to be more about the road most of the time because we’re always on the road. …
Q: You’ve got a Micky & the Motorcars date on your calendar; do you get to play with them often?
A: Not as much anymore. You know, when they first moved to town (Austin), we put them on as many shows as we could, but now we can’t afford ‘em. (laughs) They’re doing as well as we are in most markets, which is great. We’re really glad, but yeah, we don’t get to play as much together as we did a couple of years ago.
Q: How do you balance road and family?
A: Just apologies to my wife for being gone so much. (laughs)
In concert
The Reverend Horton Heat, Nashville Pussy, Reckless Kelly and Supersuckers
When: Doors open at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Diamond Ballroom, 8001 S Eastern.
Information: 677-9169 or www.diamondballroom.net.
-BAM
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