RiskyBusinessMB

LOVE U 2 DEATH

Fri, 10 May 2013 21:45:00 -0400

LOVE U 2 DEATH:

soundcloud.com/riskybusinessmb/love-u-2-death

terrysdiary: Barbara Palvin at my studio #2

Wed, 08 May 2013 16:59:47 -0400

terrysdiary:

Barbara Palvin at my studio #2

Hopefully by the time you read this you’ve listend to the...

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 21:27:47 -0500

Hopefully by the time you read this you’ve listend to the new free download we’ve given you called ‘Deserted’. If not, please go to Facebook.com/HonorSociety and from the Free Music tab get the song and listen. I’ll wait. *folds hands.

I wanted to give you a little bit of the story behind the scenes of the song.

The first question I would have if I were you: “is this, along with ‘Obsession’, the new Honor Society sound?” The answer is yes…and no. Confused? Goooooood. Allow Professor Brunz to clear it up. Part of the goal for us with the HONORsystem (our free music giveaway program) is to help push the envelope of what you might expect to hear from HS, or at least to get a further idea of what we’re capable of. The guys and I have tons of songs we’ve written that range in all genres from rock to country to hip hop to r&b. But even with its wide range, its ALL Honor Society. In my humble opinion the best kind of HS song has a sprinkling of each of those genres in any given single song. It could be a rock song with a melody that has country tendencies and a hip hop groove, but I digress…That’s another blog to be written at another time in a different leather jacket.

The point is: the HONORsystem (and props to our former advisor Jared Rosenberg and also Kanye West for the idea and courage to give away free music) was designed to not only give you, our fans, free music but to free us up as artists. To be able to give a song to you that isn’t part of a larger cohesive unit like an album and a look deeper into one corner of our style.

‘Deserted’ started as a jam session between Jay and Alex one day at our rehearsal space in North Hollywood. (Rage Against the Machine rehearses there too, my 14 year old self is freaking right now). They took down a quick iPhone voice memo of it and sent it to me and Andy. I immediately loved it. It then became part of a list of about 25-30 song ideas and riffs that we have going at any given time.

Simultaneously to this I was running the experiment of giving titles to new music we came up with as soon as I heard it. I’m trying something new where I give it a title that reflects the very first feeling I get from it as I hear it. “Obsession” came about the same way. When I heard the iPhone recording of the music the first word that popped into my head was ‘deserted’. So..voila! “Deserted”.

Job well done right? Honor Society RULES! Have a beer guys, time to celebrate! Wrong. We had a droning jam and a title and that’s it. *Droning - for those who are non-musicians - sounds like a negative word, but it’s just a fancy way of saying it is a piece of music without much change, it ‘drones’ on one note or chord.

While laying in bed one night, about to fall asleep, a phrase came to me, ‘we all fall down’. I jotted it down quickly and fell asleep. But the way I was hearing in my head was ‘we ALL fall down’. The phrase is not meant to convey a negativity that ‘we all FALL DOWN’, but rather ‘we ALL fall down’. It’s part of life, its part of growing up, its part of transition. And that’s OK. You can hear it in the melody I wrote, ‘we ALLLLLL falll downnn’.

The song came together pretty quickly after one night of writing it on acoustic guitars -to make sure the song held up and that weren’t just leaning on the power of the echoing guitars and awesome drum part. It was recorded in our home studio, The Elderberry and our live rehearsal space as well. It’s a good headphone listen, lots of cool things happening in this one.

Before this gets too long, I really hope you enjoy the song. I hope it touches you. I hope it makes you realize most people go through the same things even though it feels like you’re going through it alone, even your favorite band goes through it. We ARE your favorite band right? *pause *side eye

Either way, we’re making a lot of exciting music for our next album (some of our best stuff yet), tours are in the works, and we’re honored to be YOUR band. The orignal gentlemen.

I want you to remember one more thing. There is one lyric we didn’t put in the song, but its implied: We ALL fall down. But, WE ALL GET BACK UP.

Everyday I read through my social media how much a lot of you are going through and it gets heavy on my heart, but I take it very seriously the fact that you open up to us. We wish we could make it all better, and we’re doing our best. I mean it when I say that we (me, Jay, Alex and Andy) care about you and we’re listening as much as we can. This song will hopefully let you know you’re not alone ..and to borrow from Demi, “Stay Strong”.

Love,

3.8.12

Los Angeles, CA

p.s. As part of the deal with you guys to give away free music (and y’all were amazing with this when it came to the last song ‘Obsession’, when the Facebook.com/HonorSociety page grows an additional 2000 NEW likes we will release another free new song. Much love.

p.p.s I’m gonna try to get Alex or Jay to write a quick blog on the day they started the jam that became “Deserted”.

*artwork above by Alexander Noyes (of HONOR SOCIETY)

Don Draper’s wife. I’m changing my name to Don...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:07:52 -0500

Don Draper’s wife. I’m changing my name to Don Draper.

The notes he's not playing.

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:02:00 -0500

I have always told people ‘you don’t want to listen to music with me’. I am the guy who will rewind one obscure part of a song 10 times when something strikes me.

I was running today and Pearl Jam’s “Alive” came up on my iPod and during Mike McCready’s guitar solo I heard a part of it that I’ve probably listened to a thousand times before. Because I played it over and over a thousand times. Its a something he does that lasts all of a second and a half, but as I was running I was immediately transported back to being 13 years old in my bedroom at my parent’s house rewinding that part over and over.

Disclaimer - Listen to the entire song or at least the entire solo from 3:39-5:41 first before reading further.

It happens from 4:39-4:40 of the song. That’s it. That one second of music I’ve listened to way more than anyone would have ever thought.

Its the set up of that moment. That deep slide on the guitar’s lowest string that makes it what it is.

The slide UP at 4:29 is the first thing that peaked my ear, you can hear him slide on the guitar and its really no discernible notes. It’s just him in the moment sliding his hand up the neck. I always pictured that’s the set up where he’s saying “watch me, its about to get ugly”.

Listen first to his version and then the 3:51 mark of this vid from my solo in Living A Lie: <a>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S731TCGrTs4<a>

Sound familiar? It’s the little things that wow you as a kid and stick.

But that’s just the set up. At 4:39 of he slides his hand DOWN the neck on the lowest string and I remember thinking it sounds like he’s shifting gears in a Porche and taking it to another LEVEL right now. Like dude is SERIOUS right now. Take a listen.

It’s like he’s giving the middle finger to everyone saying “I’m a bad man, I’m not even gonna play notes here” and “I can do what you can do, but you can’t do what I can do”. TOTALLY AWESOME.

Now watch 4:03 of the same video: <a>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S731TCGrTs4<a>

I never tried to imitate it, it just happened in my playing as I got older, when I felt it, never forced. My guitar teacher once told me the notes are important and the expression is even more. Those two moments in Mike McCready’s solo brought that lesson to life for me. And as you can see, those little moments made their way subconsciously into my playing.

Los Angeles, CA

2.1.12

“OBSESSION” - in acrylic paint Michael Bruno, Los...

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 22:48:10 -0500

“OBSESSION” - in acrylic paint

Michael Bruno, Los Angeles, January 27, 2012

honorsocietymusic: Inspiration is everywhere. You just have to...

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:35:02 -0500

Orig. photo: Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott

honorsocietymusic:

Inspiration is everywhere. You just have to pay attention.

Different photographs, music, people, (anything really) has the potential to give us a feeling that can inspire songs or new musical directions. In the case of A TALE OF RISKY BUSINESS PART 2 there was an image I came across early in the demo-ing phase that really hit me.

A had seen a picture of Johnny Depp and Kate Moss from when they were dating in the early 90’s and just thought how beautiful and cool she looked. She was really in her prime. That led me to another picture of her taken by famous photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. The photo was incredible. A little bit past her prime, probably heavy into drugs at the time, with a hint of Marilyn Monroe or Madonna. The way it was framed made you wonder what else was going on outside the frame. Just a brilliant photo. Without romanticizing it, it really was an inspiration for the style and vibe of some of the songs on the record.

In a creative meeting with the guys, discussing album title and artwork, we started discussing the Kate Moss picture and how provocative it was. We couldn’t stop staring at it.

It was in that meeting one of us suggested to effect the image to take it to another level (keep in mind we knew full well were probably not going to be able to retain the rights to the photo without paying a huge amount of money, BUT were going with the inspiration and had our lawyers looking into it). The suggestion was the black bar over her eyes and “HONOR SOCIETY” in the bar. Ahhhhh yes. The image was now perfect. The album had artwork and a tile: “KATE MOSS”.

As certain realities set in, like the HUGE amount of money it actually WOULD have taked to retain the use of the photo, we had to go back to the drawing board. We did agree though that there was no photograph better than that one of Kate, dear Kate. Which is what brought us to the pink and black motif (that we also love) and the continuation title of the A TALE OF RISKY BUSINESS series, but that’s another story for another blog.

-MB

1.16.12

Los Angeles

The year's best tour that nobody saw.

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:11:00 -0500

The title of this blog (novel) is not meant to diminish the value we have for EVERY Honor Society fan that comes to see us regardless of crowd size. Some of our favorite shows ever have been for the intimate crowds on this past tour. This is just a bittersweet look at the fact (my feeling) that the guys and I are hitting a very special creative stride while factors like: time of year, a recession, and college finals among other things hurt concert attendance this time around.

Lets start at the top.

A mountain had to be moved to even get this tour to happen. We had just released A TALE OF RISKY BUSINESS PART 2 (which had required its own mountain-moving) and knew we had to tour. No booking agents were biting (as part of the “those guys came and went with the Jonas Brothers” syndrome) but luckily, and kudos to them, Zack Iser and Megan White from ICM came to the table. Apparently a fan-base, a range of great songs, musicianship and an insane work ethic isn’t attractive these days.

I’ll save you the hundreds of logistics that have to be approved before you can even start packing for tour to keep the mystique that we just grab our cases and go.

However as soon as the tour was confirmed, about a month before the first date, I started to brainstorm daily (actually nightly) about the set list. With 4 major national headlining tours, and two monster opening runs for huge artists in the last two years, and with mostly repeat customers, I knew if we didn’t bring something new and exciting we’d be dead in the water.

So I holed up in our home studio where we have a chalkboard wall and went to the drawing board, literally. Open with ‘Full Moon’? been there. ‘Here Comes Trouble’? definitely been there. Close with ‘Here Comes Trouble’? I wouldn’t come see us if we did that again. You get the point.

So night after night, hours in the studio, a word finally popped into my head, ‘new’. If its going to sound new it has to be new. We just released an album of our most honest music to date, why wouldn’t it be featured in the set? So, a-ha! Open with ‘Living A Lie’ and close with ‘Wherever You Are’. Technically ‘99 Probs/Nobody Has To Know’ was supposed to be a game time decision encore every night but with the size crowds and venues, it morphed into the last song, encores seemed (minus some special occasions) to be a bit out of the element. So with the bookends in place I meticulously filled in the rest, called it ‘first draft’, and started sending it around to the guys. We all had our two cents but this isn’t our first rodeo and we knew the only way to really tell how this puppy was gonna fly was to get into our rehearsal space and PLAY. So we did, daily, for hours. We typically set up in a circle facing each other and as rehearsals progress we start to morph into the usual formation you guys see us play in.

I will admit I was a bit (a lot) of a drill sergeant but I love and appreciate that the guys let me be that, because they know at the end of the day I’m just trying to get the best out of them, myself and most importantly, us.

COMMERCIAL BREAK. I refuse to bow down to corporate sponsors but now would be a great time to grab a diet coke.

*THE SUITS.

Alex and I were watching Inception and he commented on how commanding Leo looked in a suit. Two nights later I hit the guys with a text that said ‘Suits. Its the answer.’ Now look, will we always wear suits in concerts? No. But we might sometimes, and that’s the beauty of this line of work, honesty. Nothing forced. But I will say in the spirit of ‘new’, the suits definitely brought some new heat.

COMMERCIAL BREAK OVER.

As rehearsals started to gel we knew we were on to something very exciting and special. But again if a tree falls in the woods and nobody hears it, who cares right? So anticipating it would be a tough touring season (most acts, unless superstars, won’t tour after Thanksgiving through New Years because the factors I listed earlier) my next obsession became to find the right person (ended up being people) to document this entire tour in a way that was honest and artistic. In front of the scenes and behind them. I had just seen a short video that my friends Ruby and Summer Spiro (Ruby and Summer are sisters/singers/mermaids) had directed for themselves and was blown away. There was literally no one else I wanted for this task than these two girls. And I fought for them, hard. They have the gift and they have the eye(s). Our initial conversation had me saying, “Film everything. When you think you shouldn’t be filming, film, when it gets uncomfortable, definitely film, when myself or someone says ‘turn the camera off’ you better keep filming”. They were on the same page from day one, knowing their artistic integrity was on the line as much as ours and with that the pact was made. This was a direct inspiration of watching Madonna’s Truth or Dare tour documentary and I couldn’t help but be moved at how honest it was and how unmerciful it was. Needless to say, because at this point you’ve all probably seen at least Part 1 and maybe Part 2 of our tour docu-series, the girls delivered. I am grateful to them for bringing their gift to the table and capturing the guys and I in such a unique time in our career and life. They caught everything on camera, most of which you will see and some of which you will never see.

Some of the really special moments from this tour were moments some of you were witness to but never saw. As an artist, every show I try to grow, and on this tour I won some personal battles from a performance/musical perspective. Its always a line I keep purposefully in front of me, the balance of performance vs. musicianship. If its musical but not captivating then I’m hard on myself, it its flashy but bad musically, I will have a freak out. But on this tour there were some really special shows that had the balance, the whole way through. Bittersweet. And that goes for the guys too. To be honest when I’m at an Honor Society show, I’m listening to Honor Society. There were moments from Alex, Jason and Andy on this tour that blew me away. I was a lucky one who got to experience these moments.

The point of this blog was not to say ‘oh man Chicago was great’ or ‘this really cool fan got us a starbucks gift card in Cleveland’, or ‘in Atlanta we had technical difficulties’ its really more to give you guys a real look inside me because this tour was a personal challenge, a line drawn in the sand to myself to say “a lot of people think they’ve seen Honor Society, but they haven’t seen nothin yet”.

So every night we left our hearts on stage in every city as a sign to say ‘go tell people what you saw here tonight’. Show me another band doing this. NOT saying we’re the best thing ever, but we’re orignal. We gave a show that was designed for arenas in small clubs.

Am I venting? obviously. Complaining? Not at ALL! I love our fans’ incredible support and I love my life. But there are realities. Most asked tour related comment when we announce a tour: “Why aren’t you playing my city?” Answer: because we don’t sell enough tickets there to have the promoters and booking agents and crew break even financially. Its the harsh reality of this business. It breaks our hearts we can’t play more places where there are Honor Society fans. This industry more than EVER is a team effort. Us AND you. Your favorite bands are moving mountains to get to you. Just know that.

COMMERCIAL BREAK. Guys. c’mon. I don’t need to tell you I would never take money to tell you quickly to check your iPhone or iPad to see if anyone messaged you and then continue reading.

*Small victory: more guys, bad ass club bouncers & staff, and boyfriends of girl fans then EVER saying how much they dug the show. Someone once told me, ‘when the guys accompanying the girls coming to the shows start digging it, you’re about to hit the next level.’

COMMERCIAL BREAK OVER.

The major victory of this tour is that the word did spread. It honestly felt like when people left the show they were saying ‘HS is back’. By Los Angeles (the last date of the tour) we played to our largest audience (not true of LA our last tour) and I saw fans I recognized that I know we haven’t seen in a year in a half. So leaving our heart on stage in 17 previous cities wasn’t in vain.

The beauty of it is we’re still not a household name, meaning, there are (thankfully) still heights in front of us that we will accomplish, more honest albums to make, more set lists to toil over, more of all of it and we feel like its all possible. I said this once before but every ‘overnight success’ took 10 years. No exceptions.

I love you all, and thank you for letting me be me. And for real, thank you for an incredible tour. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

“all we are, are vagabonds following that spark…”

And if all else fails I heard Harry’s Mountain-Movers is hiring.

-Michael

p.s. and yes I am aware the title of this blog is a homerun humblebrag.

yosoyelcomodoro: honorsocietymusic: This is Mike’s 2 year old...

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 23:01:37 -0500

yosoyelcomodoro:

honorsocietymusic:

This is Mike’s 2 year old cousin.

Things that are amazing about this video:

1. he’s using traditional grip, but then switches to matched grip at 1:20, then back to traditional grip.

2. rim shots at 1:40

3. snare rim rolls at 1:58

This kid has such great facility and natural feel, he’s going to be a superstar.

THIS IS AMAZING!! Kid is gonna be ridiculous.

My little cousin KILLING on the drums. He’s only TWO!

Style.

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:10:24 -0500

Style.

honorsocietymusic: Name an author that writes a book hoping...

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 19:38:20 -0400

honorsocietymusic:

Name an author that writes a book hoping that just one chapter will be quoted heavily, or be considered a success, while the other 200 pages get overlooked.

Or a director that says “if people watch just the middle 20 minutes of my movie I’m cool with that”.

These people don’t exist and as a band we are no different.

This is a thought that weighed heavily on us throughout the process of writing and recording A TALE OF RISKY BUSINESS PART 2. We toiled over the flow of the record, complete with original musical interlude compositions between each song that help bridge one to the next.

All four of us love the experience of listening to a cohesive album. The excitement of listening intently (either alone or with friends) to every note, every lyric, every transition, even the amount of silence (or lack of) between songs is an experience that everyone should take part in. Our goal is that you will listen to the entire piece of art that we made for you. We’d like you to ‘read the whole book’ if you will. We could talk more about our take on the meaning of the ‘collective story’ of these songs, but that’s the point, we want you to listen and make your own conclusions and at some point we’ll all share.

On October 25th please turn off the lights, close your eyes, and enjoy the entirety of HONOR SOCIETY in A TALE OF RISKY BUSINESS PART 2.

xo,

HS

“Hi honey, do I look like a professional musician? I know...

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:55:55 -0400

“Hi honey, do I look like a professional musician? I know I don’t but the cigar sure does look professional. Love forever, Phil Jr.” - A picture and note from Philip Capuano Jr., (my grandfather) while stationed in Alaska during WWII to his sweetheart Mafelda (my future grandmother).

Jimi.

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 21:30:57 -0400

Jimi.

The bond that can’t be broken. HONOR SOCIETY

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 22:46:19 -0400

The bond that can’t be broken.

HONOR SOCIETY

The last year and a half of my life. All for you. Worth every...

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:25:27 -0400

The last year and a half of my life. All for you. Worth every minute.

hi.

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 22:03:46 -0400

hi.

Yup.

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 21:48:04 -0400

Yup.

"Cautiously optimistc & pleasantly confused."

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 23:02:24 -0500

“Cautiously optimistc & pleasantly confused.”

- (via torikellymusic)

The Social Network "Drop the THE"

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 03:12:00 -0500

There is nothing more exciting than a great idea. People might say love, but love is more awakening.

There is a wonderful moment when it all comes to pass, and your idea has been realized. But that initial moment of the idea is electric.

You can feel the heartbeat of the idea growing as your own heart starts to beat faster than your mind can process how good it is.

That was the strongest thread I could relate to in the movie. The heartbeat. You can feel your own heart racing as the idea grows. The roller coaster a great idea will take you on.

Well that and I noticed they accurately used the same early 2000’s dormitory desk chairs that I also had at NYU.

-Risky

2.7.11

Los Angeles, CA

8 Years

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 00:10:05 -0500

8 years.

That’s how long Honor Society has been a band. Longer then some (or most) hollywood relationships and unlike most of them, at times, me and the guys live AND work together 24/7. That’s friendship and even more, brotherhood. Even if you get tired of being around each other the thought of not being around each other is worse.

The story of Honor Society starts years ago, late one night, two days before Christmas. I got a phone call from one of my friends who I had been in a band with all through high school and college that he was leaving the band, therefore ending the band. Until that point that band had been my identity, so this news was momentarily crushing.

I don’t know if its my uncontrollable optimism, but the second I hung up the phone I said in my head ‘I’m going to start a new band, right.now.’ And with no other band members, no music, no name, nothing, just me staring in a daze at my family’s Christmas tree and its ornaments and lights, I did. And that was the inception of Honor Society. (I guess technically we had 3 other insanely terrible band names, but none the less you get the picture)

To be perfectly clear Honor Society would not be Honor Society without Jay, Andy and Alex, in addition to myself, that’s for SURE so I’m not taking sole credit. But I wanted to give you an insight into how: 1. out of uncertainty in your life can come some of your biggest blessings and 2. A real look into Honor Society

We are most of what you think we are, but we are also much more.

-Risky

2.6.11

Los Angeles, CA