The Local 913: Brightside

Brightside are an indie rock band with strong pop leanings. I think they’re kind of emo too, but maybe emo is a dirty word, at least according to frontman Matt Vituccio, "It is. But, we came from an emo revival scene, so we have to embrace it."

Brightside were poised for success almost from the start. They had a cool record out on an indie label and were touring nationally with important bands from their scene, but then in 2012, everything changed. Things with their label didn’t go as they hoped and Brightside found themselves at a crossroads. "I think culturally, a lot of things were changing," says Vituccio. "A lot things in music and art were changing and we were kind of on the outside of that looking in and had a lot to say about it. It was a year that shaped how we view what we want to do with music and let us see a lot of what we do and don’t like."

The band continued to tour and record – they released a pair of EPs, a collection of demos and rarities and a few cover songs. However, they decided to hang it up for a while in 2015 to work out some personal issues. Through it all, the year 2012 never really left their minds. So inspiring was that fateful year, they decided to name their new album for it. No worries, though! Brightside are feeling inspired and have spent the last couple years really working on ways to make it all right again. "Basically, we just practiced and decided how we were going to approach the next album and took some time to think about what we actually like in music," says Vituccio. "We tried to focus on making this album as much of what we want to get to the public as possible."

Photo by: Joel Todero