INTERVIEW: Kamron Bradbury – Beartooth

It’s been a pretty successful year for BEARTOOTH. After touring, releasing their latest album, Aggressive, and playing at Download Festival, you would think that would be it for the year. However, BEARTOOTH are currently on a UK tour with TRASH BOAT and VANNA, promoting the Aggressive album. We caught up with BEARTOOTH guitarist Kamron Bradbury to talk about touring, their new drummer Connor Denis, and what’s to come from the band in 2017.

It’s been half a year since Aggressive came out. Just as a follow-up for the album, how well do you think it was received?

Kamron: I mean, I get on social media a lot and I just kind of look at everything that’s posted that I can see, and I didn’t see anything bad. Well, there’s always the bad comments of, like, the troll kids, but yeah the sales were great and I really liked the album personally, so I’m happy with it!

So do you think that’s the general consensus of the band, you’re all pretty happy with it?

Kamron: Yeah, everyone was very excited about this record, very excited to play new songs because we’d been playing the same songs for two years, three years straight. So we’re just excited to get more songs out there.

The album, generally, was heavier and more emotional so to speak than your previous record.  Do you think you’ve defined your sound a bit more with this album [Aggressive]?

Kamron: I think, I don’t write anything, the band’s all Caleb [Shomo], but I think it’s always going to be a BEARTOOTH record, we’re not going to stray too far from what our sound is. We’re not going to put out a pop record on the next record cycle! But yeah, it’s always going to be BEARTOOTH, I think we have a pretty definitive sound to our band, so I think it’s going to stick around for a while. Hopefully!

Hopefully, yeah!

Kamron: Nah, this is our last show ever, we’re going home, we’re breaking up. Nah, I’m joking! *laughs*

*laughs* So, how’s the tour going?

Kamron: It’s awesome. Everyone’s really cool, everyone gets along on tour and the shows have been great. We love being over here, it’s day 77 so my brain’s a little broken and excited to go home, but it’s been awesome so far.

I can imagine! What’s it like touring with TRASH BOAT and VANNA, are they good to play with?

Kamron: Yeah. We’ve toured with VANNA two or three times already before this tour and they’re some of our best friends that we’ve met in the music community. And then TRASH BOAT, I found online randomly and I really like their band so I was like “Let’s take them”.

Do you reckon that’s something you’ll do more of in the future? Find bands that aren’t necessarily as big as you or others you’ve toured with to try and bring them up?

Kamron: Definitely. I mean, we hand pick our shows, if we do a headliner we hand pick the bands. There’s no band that a management company is like “Hey, take this guy!” and somebody tells us what to do. We’re like “Nah, we’re going to tour with people that we like [their music] and we like them as people”, so that’s how that works.

And it’s also the first set of headlining tours here with your new drummer (Connor Denis). How has he integrated himself into the band?

Kamron: I mean I knew him before, he used to be in BEING AS AN OCEAN, we met then. And then, we kinda got along, and as soon as he started playing with us, it was like he’d been playing with us for years. He just meshed right in. He’s one of the funniest people I know and I love him to death.

And going back to Download Festival this year, it must have been quite a transition going from a festival to these smaller-scale shows.

Kamron: Yeah, definitely. But there’s always something good about any kind of show. Like, it could be a show in front of a hundred people in somebody’s basement and I’ll have the most fun I’ve ever had in my life. Or we can play to 40,000 people at Download and be blown away. Like, the smaller shows you can definitely get more intimate, and have a good time being face-to-face with somebody, and then the club shows we can have cool lights and production and play as many songs as we want. Then the festival crowd is like, we’re going to play to 20,000 people that don’t know who we are. So that’s always cool about that.

So I guess festivals in particular are good for getting your name across then?

Kamron: Yeah, especially mainstage Download, which is one of the biggest rock festivals!

Did you notice a difference in your popularity since being at Download?

Kamron: Yeah. Well, this is the first tour we’ve done after that [Download] over here in the UK, and yeah, I mean, the London crowd in general is a lot of people. We went from the Electric Ballroom in London which is 1,100 [capacity] to Shepherds Bush which is 2,000 [capacity], so it was a pretty big jump, and it went well!

How do you feel shows compare from the UK to America?

Kamron: It’s similar, but I think the UK crowds are, as a whole, just more passionate about the music. They go crazier, they jump around, they know all the words. The US crowd is like, you could go to play in Mesa, Arizona and have people just stand there and look at you, and then you’ll play New York and people are the craziest they’ve ever been. So there’s a very broad spectrum of crowds in the US so it’s hard to actually compare.

What could we possible expect from you guys next year?

Kamron: After this tour we have a two month break, and then a lot of touring. A lot more touring! I can’t tell you exactly what we’re doing, we did announce a tour with BRING ME THE HORIZON and UNDEROATH in March [2017], we have a few festivals as well in the US, and we have more stuff after that which I can’t talk about! *laughs*

That’s fine! Lastly, I’ll give you the floor and ask if there’s anything you’d like to say to the readers of Distorted Sound?

Kamron: Thank you so much for liking our band and for coming out to shows and being awesome!

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