Half Stop Sessions - Brave Julius "On The Side" - 2014-08-12 On the surface, the music of Brave Julius may come across as slightly improvisational. Those thoughts all slowly start to fade away as the picking and strumming of Glenn Alexander guide you along through these soundscapes and it becomes very apparent that the precision and accuracy of every single note is played with nothing but pure intention. With many of his tracks ticking in around the 5 minute mark, it really is hard to believe that these complex tracks have been composed down to every little detail. After talking with Glenn a bit about this songwriting process, he did say that many of the songs were born out of recorded improv sessions and then meticulously composed after the fact. Bending and melding certain parts to be just as he intended. Before we met up to shoot this session in Portland, which came together with curve balls in true "off the cuff" (what the fuck are we gonna do) spirit of Half Stop, we had only had the opportunity of seeing Brave Julius perform live once while touring through Los Angeles and playing The Mint. This set was haunted by technical difficulties with his gear (two guitars and a loop pedal) and although it didn't go as planned, it was enough to peak our interest into eventually listening to and very much enjoying both 2010's "The Canyon" LP and 2012's Self-Titled EP. With that said, we were thrilled that he replied to our random e-mail to meetup in Portland and make this happen. Initially planning to shoot outside at Mt. Tabor, the weather turned for the worst as we were left scrambling to find a space to shoot. As we strolled along Hawthorne on the lookout for anything aesthetically pleasing as well as fitting to the style of Brave Julius, we stumbled upon "House of Vintage" thrift store and found this perfect little nook toward the back of the store that was protected from the in house sound system and just so happened to be the corner of vintage cameras and radios (Glenn is also an avid photographer). So that was that, we made it happen here and it all worked out perfect, in part to the amazing staff at House of Vintage that were totally into it and helping us out. Just another lesson in why planning is bullshit. We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed shooting it! Glenn Alexander - Guitar Brave Julius Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/brave-julius The Canyon LP (2010): soundcloud.com/brave-julius/sets/thecanyon Brave Julius EP (2013): soundcloud.com/brave-julius/sets/self-titled-ep Glenn's Flickr: flickr.com/glennalexander Directed & Edited: Travis Button Sound & Mix: Travis Button
