Bio
Master is an exceptional live performer who reaches his audience with great music and human touch... comparable to Elliott Smith and Michael Stipe.
- Music Connection Magazine
Bryan Master is an alternative-rock singer-songwriter & multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles, California.
So what does that mean?
That he sounds like every other solo, male 'singer-songwriter' out there? No - because he doesn't...and he doesn't, because he doesn't want to. It's exactly this reason that makes his music incomparable most times. Sure, you'll hear draws from his musical roots - his favorite band, The Beatles, and from pioneering classic artists like Springsteen, Bowie, Tom Petty, Neil Young and Billy Joel. At his core, he is eclectic: "I write songs as if I'm listening to a movie soundtrack of various artists...or a mix-tape - I'd get bored otherwise...and I think the audience would too. I think it's a reflection of mood, as well - moods are really captured in music and are ever-changing...and I'm one moody son-of-a-bitch." Raised on a healthy diet of folk, punk and rock, he is as much a combination of these components as influences like R.E.M., Elvis Costello, Lou Reed or Dave Grohl. "I don't write 'lowest-common-denomenator' music - I write smart music for smart people. I give the general audience a lot more credit than the music industry does. There's a difference between 'keeping it simple' and 'dumbing-it-down'. I want it to be visual...cinematic - evoke imagery and intensity all at the same time - like watching your favorite film."
A multi-instrumentalist - he was practicing the trumpet and the piano when he was five years old...and like every other child who'd rather be out skateboarding, he hated it. Then he hit adolescence and was looking for something to hit - divine intervention. He started playing the drums...and loved it. Bryan would eventually play drums professionally for years until giving-in to the inner-singer/guitarist/songwriter that was deep inside, dying to get out. He has the natural ability to pick up almost any instrument and instantly make sense out of it & often cites the famous words of John Lennon: "I'm an artist - if you give me a tuba, I'll bring you something out of it."
Los Angeles - No...he isn't an LA-native. No...he didn't take the easy path and move to the beach to 'make it big'. He took a slight 10-year detour (by way of New Jersey) through the grit and grime of New York City - the best education any artist could have. Splitting half of that decade between drummer & frontman, he honed his chops, grew as a musician and gained real-life experiences and a worldly perspective. It was all practice for the real thing - Los Angeles, which is where he calls home for now. "New York was a great place to 'come up' and get beat-down - get thick-skinned. LA is where all of the deals are being made & the hands are shaking. It's art vs. business. Los Angeles is great though - every day is just another shitty day in paradise."
In short, as far as a struggling, independent artist entering into the music industry at the worst possible point in history goes - Bryan's doing just fine. Among his long list of accolades & accomplishments, he's played the top venues in NYC (Joe's Pub, Mercury Lounge, The Cutting Room), Philadelphia (The Trocadero, World Cafe Live) and LA (Hotel Cafe, The Troubadour, Viper Room), received radio-airplay on major-market stations in LA, Austin and Philadelphia, been a finalist in both a high-profile national songwriting contest and an LA radio station contest, recorded and performed with world-renowned/Grammy-winning musicians & producers and was even a featured Billboard artist. "I've already accomplished what I set out to do...and am very lucky & satisfied - but am always ready for what's next! It's amazing what you can accomplish by working your ass off and just being a nice guy. Oh, and I guess you should have some talent, too."
Bryan is currently recording his third studio album, For People Like Us, in Los Angeles with producers Evan Frankfort (Liz Phair, Pete Yorn, Rancid, The Wallflowers) and Doc Dauer (CBS's Swingtown, CW's 90210). The album will feature a collection of amazing guest musicians including renowned organist Rami Jaffee (Foo Fighters, The Wallflowers), Shaun Hague (Amos Lee, Kenny Wayne Shepard), Luke Adams (Pete Yorn), Jonny Polonsky, Nick Amoroso (Matt Nathanson), Joe Ayoub (Nikka Cost, Cary Brothers) and Evan Frankfort. The album will be catapulted by tracks like 'Moments Like This', 'Lost Angeles' and 'The Breakdown' and is slated for release in 2009.
