The Craig Veltri Interview - Brina Kay

Craig chats with Chicago native Brina Kay about her music, the University of Nebraska, and listens to her single "Heat of The Moment".

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Well, it's that time again. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the interview with Craig Felter.

SPEAKER_03 0:17

Thank you, Megan Pennington. And welcome to the interview. Originally from Schaumburg, Illinois, our guest is a country singer-songwriter whose clever lyrics and easing voice has been turning heads in Nashville, Tennessee. Her entire output, especially her 2023 EP Dandelion, showcases a versatility of melody and very compelling lyrics that often uplifts and at the same time can turn some old country jokes on its proverbial head. The video for her single Heat of the Moment, which we will show at the end of this video, and you will hear it on the audio version, is a fun upbeat song with the right amount of sexual tension. And the video itself showcases the city of Chicago quite well, if not uh showing its subject and brighter in the brightest light possible. Recording in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and calling in from Nashville, Tennessee. Here she is, Brina K. Brina, welcome to the interview. Hey, thanks for having me. Pleasure's definitely all mine. So Schomburg, Chicago, Illinois. It's about 30 miles outside of it. I not known exactly for its uh for its country. Not a lot of country singers tend to come from the Chicagoland area. So what was it about that music and that it you tend to lean into it? Would you say you are a country artist?

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Yeah, I so I, you know, in Nashville, you kind of workshop your like elevator pitch for yourself, right? And so I kind of landed on uh like country pop with musical theater influence because I have like a theater background, so it's kind of like a mix of all of those things. But I got into crunch country because when I was a little kid, my mom had the chicks CD uh for the home album, and like traveling soldier's. Oh yes, no, I I love her, but um yeah, so uh we had that album, and that's what you know, before everything was iPhones and stuff, that was just what we would listen to in the car, and um traveling soldier became like my audition song for everything when I was doing musicals and things, so I think that's kind of just where it started, and then I don't know, I've just always liked country music because it is like it's very big on storytelling, you know, and that's like you know, I have like a writing background too, and was always pretty proficient in like language arts. So uh I think I just really love that aspect of like the music is telling a story, it's not always about like you know, hitting the highest whistle note or like you know, the craziest beats, but like, you know, telling a story about the human experiences that like connect us all. So I think that's what really drew me to the genre.

SPEAKER_03 3:04

Well, you are able to dance around them the your range very well. I'd I'd place you uh high alto, low soprano, would that be be accurate as far as where your voice would sit?

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Yeah, for sure. When I was in choir, I definitely was on the alto section. I've been working on my range, but definitely not, you know, up there with those high notes. So I'm I'm very more I'm very much more comfortable in like the, like you said, alto um, maybe, you know, mezzo uh voice part.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

Well, in terms of of your writing, how early do you remember your what was the earliest song that you recall? At what age did you read you started writing?

SPEAKER_02 3:44

Yeah, honestly, I I kind of have a different story than like a lot of um like singer songwriters. I really didn't get into like the you know, oh I want to be a writer aspect until later. Because I started off as a theater kid. So, you know, I I had like always had it just a knack for like being on stage. I had a lot of energy and I liked being the center of attention. So naturally, like, you know, being in the musical theater was a a great uh place for me, a good um uh what's the word? Like an output or I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 4:17

I don't know if that's the word I'm thinking of, but um if it comes to me, I'll I'll outlet outlet. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 4:24

I'm a little sleep deprived this morning, so apologize. I guess it's afternoon. Um but yeah, so I started off in musical theater and then kind of around like high school, I started that that was when I wrote my first ever song. Um and it was called I have to go through the chorus in my mind. It was called Trapped, because we were I remember in my English class we were talking about like um just you know being stuck in like suburbia kind of like thing. I don't know. We were reading a book that was talking about that, and that kind of inspired me. And I was always very like, like I said, proficient in writing, like I was good at writing essays, I was good at like rhetorical analysis. So I really loved like my English classes and I like poetry. Um, and so then I finally kind of just decided I was I started messing around with it a little bit in high school, but then college is where I really was like, you know, you kind of have that moment of like, oh, I'm gonna grow up and have a like a big girl job and my life is gonna unfold. And you know, you always as a kid, I always dream like, oh, you know, I'm gonna be like a singer one day. But then when you kind of get to that point of one day, you kind of realize, oh, I have to like actually really go for it. Um if I'm act if I'm gonna do this. And you know, you have an existential crisis, and I was just like, all right, I'm gonna move to Nashville, I'm gonna try to do it. Uh so towards like the back half of college is when I started writing, writing songs, and uh, you know, I I found like online like instrumentals to like put to my lyrics because I didn't play guitar or anything. So uh I literally got like a like a recording of an instrumental and I would like bring my phone and play at the coffee shops, and then I eventually connected with a band down there and was able to like have a guitar player, and then it just kind of went from there. So a little unconventional route to get there, but I've always had the the music in me. And something I forgot to mention is I learned violin when I was in kindergarten, so I think that kind of gave me a basis for violin.

SPEAKER_03 6:30

It was my first instrument in third grade, and though I didn't stick with it, it was instrumental for lack of a better term, and picking up the guitar a couple of years later when I was 12 years old, three years later, after that point. So you are from Chicago, you are a theater kid. It's not like that there wasn't uh ample opportunity for you to pursue that within Chicago, you know, Second City, and just uh just the infrastructure that is built out around a theater and film industry in that area. But was it just the muse of music was just was just that much more powerful? And uh you you can act. I've seen your view of your videos, you can act. Oh, thank you. Is that something that you uh have put to bed?

SPEAKER_02 7:19

Is that something that you're still pursuing in conjunction now with your um I'm not pursuing it as hard as I am pursuing music. I'm definitely opened. I've done a few little like extra gigs here and there. Um and honestly, I would love to be in another musical uh, you know, at some point. Yeah, just like I haven't been in musical in a while, and I do like I do kind of miss that world a little bit. Um, I think for me, you know, when you're growing up, you don't know you don't have your life figured out when you're younger, right? You're just kind of popping around. So I, you know, for a while in high school, I was like the sporty kid. So I kind of I kind of got away from music um because I did musical theater when I was like in grade school, and then I kind of got away from it in like middle school and high school, and it was like like my whole life was cheerleading, like I was like very obsessed with that, and then soccer. Um, and then I kind of found my way back to it kind of towards the end of high school. And I ended up um, you know, when it was time for college, like 18 years old, you don't really know what what you want to do with your life. At least I didn't. I was just like, I'm I'm looking at schools and I'm trying to like have a fun time, you know. I ended up going to uh University of Nebraska.

SPEAKER_03 8:33

Why did you ultimately decide Nebraska?

SPEAKER_02 8:36

Um, I well, one I did want to go out of state just because I wanted to like, you know, just have a new adventure. I'm a very adventurous person, so I wanted to like just try something different.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

And we had basically you chose a cornfield.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

It's not just a cornfield. That's like the great thing about Nebraska is like people think it's just a cornfield, so it's kind of like a hidden gem.

SPEAKER_03 8:57

There's lots of corn around it, don't get me wrong, but the university is is in Lincoln, which is I'm from Pittsburgh, and uh and though I and though I'm my I'm I'm pit blue and gold through and through. There is enough uh there's enough fandom of uh Penn State that I had to at least give one knock to uh to Nebraska in the in this interview, but uh but ultimately you you love the experience.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Yeah, so we had like a we had a college fair like for the all the area high schools, and I was kind of looking, I was looking at journalism at the time just because I'm sorry, they do have a great journalism school. Yeah, well, that's what you know. My mind at that point was like I don't want to just like I want to have an adventurous job. I'm I'm good at writing, you know. So my high school self was like, okay, this is like what makes sense. So I was kind of looking at journalism schools and I just went to like the different booths and the the booth at Nebraska, they you know, they had a great sell. Like I talked to the the representative and she kind of got me excited about it. And I I I really wanted to go to a college that felt like very collegiate. Like I wanted the football, I wanted the big campus, I wanted the Greek life.

SPEAKER_03 10:05

So um I did you uh rush the sorority yourself?

SPEAKER_02 10:09

I did, yes.

SPEAKER_03 10:11

Uh which one? Uh five you I'm Theta Delta Kai myself. Uh I still talk to a lot of uh the girls who uh were in Fime You and at our school. So uh nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

Honestly, one of the reasons I ended up like picking that one was because it was in that one Luke Bryan song. He like rename drops a bunch of sororities, and I was like, okay, this five mu is in this song, so it must be a good one.

SPEAKER_03 10:35

And how soon after you graduated did you write Die Hard, which is one of your uh one of your more your most recent singles, uh which uses a lot of uh fandom analogies to describe love.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

Yeah, for sure. It's actually funny. Die Hard is is my most recent. Um, I think we wrote it, we put it out in 2023, so probably around like 2022. Um, and it was actually funny because we had, you know, we just got a a new coach, Matt Rule, and we were recruiting some five stars. I was like, I need to, you know, part of the song is about like you having this unwavering belief, you know. So me in my mind being a diehard fan, every single year it's like we're gonna win the national championship this year. So I was like, I need to get this song out before we get good so that I don't look like like a bandwagoner, you know. So I kind of like I rushed it because I was like, hey, like we could win this year, so like I need to put the song out before you know we just dominate every single year.

SPEAKER_03 11:32

And um, you know, so that's uh so and your all your press, your current website still uh still bears the bears the Husker blue or breast red, damn. Jeez, forgive me on that one. But uh you so you bring up Matt Rule and you bring up Husker football. Uh it it's been bull eligibility at best a couple of years, uh still still hanging on.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

Yeah, I mean, you know, it's kind of it's like the the musical journey, right? You come you come to Nashville, you don't always become the next big thing right away. It's you know, some people do, you know, like you get credit to Indiana for being able to make that happen, but you know, sometimes it's a journey, and I think with the song, that's kind of what the theme of it is, is that like in a relationship, you know, it is the journey, and there's gonna be hard times and there's gonna be you know fun times, and you want the person who's gonna stick with you through the hard times, not just like like the fair weather fan, if you will.

SPEAKER_03 12:35

So it's kind of fun to like I'll say this is somebody who uh gives up on his team's midseason when it's obvious the cause is lost. Some of us have jobs, you know. We don't it's it's it's fine to jump off for a season when once we once we know that that there's going to be no meaningful games after a second. But uh anyway, we're here with uh Brina Kay on the Craig Velchary Interview, proud member of the Scarfire Media Podcast Network. Check out all the great podcasts, Emmy Susani's brand new podcast, the Cool Brother Podcast with Malik Long. Mommy Rockstar is coming soon, I promise. And thank you for listening to the Craig Veltry interview. Like, share, and subscribe. Scarfiremedia.net coming soon. Now the I mentioned Chicago is uh with the theater scene. There also is a pretty vibrant scene. There is some music industry, nothing like Nashville. So uh why did you just not decide to go to Nashville and not stay home?

SPEAKER_02 13:32

Um, well we did like kind of talk about how I went I went from, you know, like Schomburg. I wanted to expand my horizons, go to a new place. So then um I I spent four years in Nebraska. And then after that, I was kind of just deciding, you know, what I wanted to do. And I was actually looking at like between LA and Nashville. Um, I don't know. I think I just like I wasn't ready to just like go back to the place that I was from. Like I love Chicago, like like heat of the moment, we'll we'll get into that later. Uh but that's literally just kind of like a love letter to Chicago. The whole thing is like a metaphor for like the city in the summertime and how fabulous it is. Um but yeah, no, I think I just I I still wanna like I still wanted to expand my roots and try a new city and you know, as a young adult and just like trying to have new experiences. So um, you know, I think Chicago very well could be a place that I come back to. Ideally, I get like, you know, very rich and famous, and I can have a place in in Chicago and in Nashville and LA, like all, you know, but um it was a great Schomburg itself was a great place to grow up, like right by the city. Um, you know, having so much to do at any time. It was just always something fun. And I was exposed to like a lot of great arts and culture, and it definitely shaped um like who I became. But I think ultimately Nashville is known as like the Mecca for country music, and that's kind of like the lane that I was in. So that's something I wanted to try first. But Chicago has like, you know, I went to the Lake Shake Festival um out there, and they have um they have some cool like country music festivals and things that happen down there. So as I get more into like touring and stuff, that's definitely like my first destination. I wanna I wanna kind of lock down.

SPEAKER_03 15:24

So let's talk about your process, and I've grown to know better than just ask flat out the usual questions lyrics or music first, and how do you write songs? So, because I understand that it's usually case by case, so let's go case by case. Uh my favorite song in the one of yours that uh that I've actually just been kind of showing to uh to a couple of my friends because of how often the problem with trying to interpolate and rewrite certain songs, I think you know where I'm going with this one. That the that whenever you call back to a classic song, you either hit it two on the nose or you completely lose the plot. And you did neither of these songs with a song called Leave That Man off of the Dandelion AD, in which you called back to Stand by Your Man, popularized by Tammy Wynette. Uh is this a situation that you could only say by calling back to that song, or was this uh a situation of, you know, let's turn this song on its head just for the fun of it?

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Yeah, I think I was in a place in my life where I, you know, all my friends were kind of just going through it with men, and it it kind of came from a place of like, you know, this is like the advice I'm giving to my friends, where it's just like, girl, just like get get out of there. Like you're better than this, like you don't have to put up with this. And you know, you gotta respect the classics, right? Like, that's a classic song. I'm not gonna sit here and like be like, you know, I'm a modern woman and blah blah blah. Like it's a classic song, but I think what's really fun about songwriting is you know, exploring the opposites of things and like taking those ideas and flipping them on their head and seeing uh you know what comes of it. So I think it was kind of a combination of like that kind of writing exercise versus like what I was going through in um in my life was just like you know, having these conversations with my girlfriends who, you know, I think they're just like, you know, they're the best and beautiful and talented and can get anybody, and they're like they're complaining about getting this like bare minimum treatment from these like guys that you know should just be lucky to be breathing the same air as them. And I'm just like it just kind of came came to me in that way.

SPEAKER_03 17:51

So well, you said it you said uh this writing exercise. Was it explicitly uh an exercise that you pulled from, or was it one that you were just kind of like this would be fun, let's explore?

SPEAKER_02 18:03

Yeah, more along the lines of this would be fun, uh Lexus let's explore. I think I think the chorus, I think I wrote the chorus first, and I was kind of I think I just kind of had that song in my head because it is like you know, something we are socialized as women is to like, you know, really value relationships and having a boyfriend, and like that's like a symbol of status, and um boys will be boys. There's just a lot like societally that tells us to like stand by our man. So I think I uh I just wanted to like explore the opposite of that, and um, and it I think you know it it is it's a transformational way to say something new with something old. And I think it's just like that's one of the clever, fun things about songwriting, and one of the things I like about um country music songwriting. I remember I went to uh I met with this songwriting group where we would kind of give each other critiques, and there was someone who had done kind of an opposites exercise and um wrote this really incredible song where the hook was uh free your horses. Um and I think to quote it, I I literally still have the the chorus in my head, but it was like free your horses, Savannah's burning down. And it was like this really cool song came out of just like, hey, this is a common phrase or something that's well known. Let's do the opposite of that. Uh so you know it's just it's just a fun part. I just love songwriting. It's there's so much you can do with it, and you know, just creativity and and exploring ideas, it's just just a fun time.

SPEAKER_03 19:37

I want to explore the idea behind same record rather hurt you now, which is uh do it with you and just in love. And was that a song written between the two of you? And is this coming from a situation between the two of you?

SPEAKER_02 19:53

Definitely not between the two of us. We're great friends, and he was actually one of the first people who like kind of helped me get connections in town, and I met him in a crazy way because I was playing not to ramble, but I was playing a festival um in Gallatin, and I had someone who was like supposed to play guitar for me, and then they got booked for an arena show like two days out. So then they like, and I I've never talked to that person again, like no hard feelings, but I just like you know, lost touch or whatever. I think I found him online, and but then uh he got Justin to cover for him, and then me and Justin like became really good friends, so it's kind of one of those like you know, universe aligning for you type of things.

SPEAKER_03 20:37

But um well, was this a song that you that you at least wrote with him or uh where was it?

SPEAKER_02 20:42

Yeah, so we he was uh the co-writer on it, um, and that's why I wanted to include his voice on it too. One, because he's like super talented, a great singer. Um, and we actually have two versions of it out. So we have like the full band version because that's kind of what made sense for the EP, but the um we also recorded an acoustic version just because we love the song so much and um wanted to put out a version that was more uh more aligned with just like our original like like how we wrote it originally to be a little bit more slower and stripped back. Yeah. Um but yeah, it was really fun. I think I I was inspired by just like I had to, I had like a a guy friend that I could tell kind of had a crush on me. And um, you know, my whole uh philosophy on that is you you gotta just, you know, I'd rather hurt someone now than later. Like I think that was like the just the idea that I had where it's like it's better to tell someone the truth, even though it'll like probably hurt. I'm trying not to like be redundant here, but uh like tell them the truth up front so that they don't waste their time and their energy like trying to court you when they could be out there, you know, they face this rejection now, and then they can move on with their life and actually find someone. who loves them instead of someone who's just like not feeling it.

SPEAKER_03 22:03

So I brought that idea in and um you know Justin's a fantastic writer in town like with his own stuff and like he he knows everybody he writes with everybody so uh he you know we I was like I think that was our first I think that was our first write together and it just like this one of those writes where you know the eyes ears are flowing and the song just comes out and then you you finish it like relatively quickly and you're just like yeah this was a breeze let's do it again uh so yeah it's a great it's a great song and uh it will uh it'll definitely uh save a lot of uh could save a lot of people a lot of time energy and just talking to an empty chat box on their phones uh name your app for that one uh the title track on that record dandelion it now that one also has has a music video attached to it that also kind of has a has the your theater back background comes into it and uh has a has a story underneath uh it with a dancer and it's I don't want to say it is uh it is by the numbers uh anything but it is but it is very much the you know uh you're beautiful no matter what they say in line kind of songs and uh but but just uh how you turn how you turned the phrase dandelion and and and and made it made it in empowering was was very very clever. A lot of songs like that I've heard the writers have said that they wrote it to pep themselves up. Was that true for you in this song?

SPEAKER_02 23:39

Yeah I think the idea behind it is like what I would say to like you know it's kind of like a letter to my inner child you know and so that's kind of what we're seeing like in the where we tried to execute in the video was like obviously we create like this this magical dream you know I gotta have a little bit of whimsy with everything I do but that's essentially what it is it's like if I met my younger self who you know was a kid who who liked music and wasn't always you know had a lot of energy and just like didn't always feel like I like fit in um and had really big hair that people made fun of sometimes like I think you know that's kind of a callback to like that time of my life but also like this current time of my life when I'm like trying to do the music thing and you know on the struggle bus and just trying to figure it out and uh you know like feeling out of place and feeling like you know you don't fit into a world of nine to fives. And that's kind of so it's kind of exploring the feeling I'm feeling as an adult that I also kind of felt as a child when when you're an artistic person, you know, who doesn't always uh like fit in the mold and you get a little you know I don't want ostracized is like a strong word. I was never that but I think just like feeling out of place or feeling like you don't belong or feeling like you're struggling like in a system that wasn't meant for you. And so that's kind of the the was the thought behind that.

SPEAKER_03 25:11

But I like I wrote it in a way where it's like I'm you know my my evolved self who has self-acceptance and like has learned to love all these things about myself and see it as an asset instead of a liability and talking to like my younger self who um you know might not have felt that way well as you sit with the with this really uh great catalogue of stuff I do want to throw one more uh one more song uh out there which uh almost kind of reads uh as as your break through uh into the sun uh it similar uh similar story as well I mean as and uh I if I'm if I'm remembering your bio correctly that was kind of your uh your first shot across the bow at at Nashville and got some really good returns uh a radio station uh had it had it as his number one song uh at for at one point um so was this before or after you had uh put down a deposit on a place in Nashville um so actually that's really funny I wrote that song um when I was studying abroad in London and um I was studying Shakespeare uh with like the Globe theatre and then also studying like like British history except it was kind of like a combined credit thing.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

Yeah I've I've been on the Globe. We we did some uh Romeo and uh Juliet and some 12th night and we got to like rehearse on the on the globe stage and then she doth teaches the torches to burn bright it seems as though she sits upon the cheek of night like a rich jewel in Ethiopia and I can go on. I love it. I love yeah I've I've got parts of parts of that memorized still for sure. But yeah I so we we got to like run our lines on the actual globe stage was just like crazy and then our final was that this the Sam Wanamaker playhouse that's like kind of in in the globe but it's like the smaller indoor stage that has like that real candles uh chandeliers and it was just like a very magical experience. But in college I had gone through you know kind of as one does your like college situationship uh that like ruins your life a little bit so I got it with a fine meme actually um but we um so I you know as one does when they're like I'm going through some stuff you you think I should just leave the the whole country you know I should just get out of here I should go across the ocean you know so that's uh that's kind of that's what I did I mean it was it was for for school and studies and all that stuff but like also I was like my heart is broken I need to get out of here so I you know I went and I had some incredible experiences and then I like ended up meeting somebody there who I just felt like kind of gave me like just renewed sense of like hope again like oh like guys can be nice and good and and these things so that's kind of what it was inspired by and a fun little fact about that is that I actually actually wrote the verses in I am at Pantameter not like not on purpose but it was just because that's you know that was the world that I was in and like what I was studying what I was you know like and then I went I went back and like I think like like a year or something later and being like oh my gosh like I wrote that like da da da da da da da da da you know I wandered down an empty broken road da da da da and I was like oh wow I didn't even do that on purpose but I was like because I was surrounded by Shakespeare you know studying it for hours and hours a day and rehearsing it was just like in my brain so um that's a little sidebar of like it's it's so important for artists to like dive a little deeper into that because uh as somebody who studied Shakespeare and in a micro sense you were able to actually use the the meter the iambic bantameter to uh to to write a song on the more macro level uh how do you feel that Shakespeare influences your writing now if at all yeah I don't I that's a good question. I first I want to say like it's it's so fun when an interviewer asks like fun like interesting questions besides just like the basic ones. Like I'm happy to answer any question to get my name out there but it's I love it when like it the it makes me think so I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 29:32

And I appreciate you like really listening to all my songs and like you know know it I I'm an artist too and I've sat across enough people just like oh so when did this come out and when did this come out I I I don't like sitting through it so I so I I try I try to give a better experience to that. So I appreciate you saying that but with Shakespeare.

SPEAKER_02 29:50

Yeah for sure uh I mean I I studied a lot of Shakespeare especially like in college like I took um I took a playwriting class I took I did a whole um like just English class on on like Shakespeare so we did like the sonnets and um some other works but I I feel like it's not I'm not sitting here thinking like oh I want to like write like Shakespeare but I think just because kind of like uh like the violin it's like I something that I learned that's like in me that like you know I may not necessarily be out playing violin every day but because I have like those mechanisms in my brain it it probably does like influence the writing somehow or it's just you know tools and things that I've learned unconsciously like become part of the process.

SPEAKER_03 30:43

Well the process is ongoing and the question is never what do you do you have anything coming out uh the question should be what's next. So what's next? What do you have coming out next?

SPEAKER_02 30:54

Yeah for sure well you know I'm the type of person that wants to do everything all the time um and I wish I had just like blank checks to do everything I wanted to do. But uh so I have a cover song coming out of a Taylor Swift song called You're Losing Me. And I'm very excited about that. It's pretty much and this is like I haven't announced it formally yet but when I do interviews I feel like people should get it inside scoop. So um here's here's inside scoop on that that hasn't been formally announced anywhere else.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

Yeah that was from uh that was from the Midnights record if I remember correctly.

SPEAKER_02 31:29

Yeah so it was it's interesting because it wasn't on the initial record but it was one that she just kind of put out on like uh you know one of her variants like when she was like going through her like her breakup was announced and then she kind of put that song out um possibly to be like explaining I think I think that was uh the Maddie Sheets breakup correct the the leasing of the 1970s I know too much about Taylor Swift no you're good I'm like I'm a I'm a big Swift you know I believe that was when it was her and Joe Alwyn oh but you know everything is alleged right she doesn't name names but um it was around that time you know that that was the let's not go too deep into Taylor Swift conspiracy and parsing lyrics but uh yeah why did this song speak to you? Um I just you know I wanted to backing up I played a writer's round in town um it was called the Swift artist showcase and it's basically like if you're like a fan of Taylor Swift um like fans of Taylor Swift doing a writer's round so you would do one Taylor Swift cover and then you would do like your like three originals and like that was like fun for me because I'm a fan of Taylor Swift. So we I was like yeah let this would be a fun one to do acoustically because that song is such like it's very electronic. So I was like this would be a cool one to try to do like an acoustic emotional version of this song. And then we did it for that round I was like wait this is like this actually sounds really good. Maybe we should like record a cover of this so um that's how that came to be and I'm I'm very excited about that. We're kind of in the final stages of that and then um alongside that I had kind of a collection of songs that I just like I've I've loved but they never made sense to like put out or like release as a single or put on a project but I wrote one that kind of tied a bunch of these songs together like thematically um and so I'm gonna be putting that out as an EP and I'm not gonna like reveal too much about that but there was just one song that kind of tied all these other songs that I've been wanting to release but just it didn't make sense to um and that's gonna be a more like stripped down acoustic project which is like the total opposite of like who I am as an artist but it's like one it's great because budget wise it's a lot easier on me. But two like I'm I'm like a maximalist and I'm not the type of person who's gonna just like strip things down and make things simpler like to be able to afford it. Like I'll just figure out how to pay for it or take out a loan or a credit card or something and like make it work. But um what's cool about this is it's something that would be you know more acoustic more stripped down for an artistic reason and not for like a budget restrictive reason. Like I have like a vision for it um and like that's I don't know it's gonna be really cool and it's gonna be like different than you know what I've done before and it's just fun that it's like I found a way to do something a little bit less maximalist but it's it's to it's because that's what makes sense for the art and like and the vision of it and not just trying to to save money. So I'm excited about that and we're gonna start working on that um once once this other song comes out. I did just that with uh with my previous record letters to the defendant uh that was just the band that I heard the band that I heard was a bluegrass band didn't have any drums it was just all acoustic uh so you know sometimes sometimes the band sounds like uh flats and scrubs sometimes it sounds like the 1975 but we have a nice way of closing here on the Craig Velcher interview brina it's called the no kitten questionnaire a couple of rapid fire questions first thing that comes to your mind whenever you're ready and away we go childhood celebrity cry childhood celebrity cry ooh childhood um taylor lautner so you were team jacob obviously um what's funny is I was team ed because I I you know I read the book so I was team Edward but like and I I hated the character Jacob like in like from the books but then on screen first of all Taylor Lautner was just hot and then like he actually gave me more I became more sympathetic to that character because of his performance but I mean that's it's what before Bella did to him but when he beefed up for like the second like they weren't even they're gonna recast him and then he was like no I'm just gonna work out like crazy and and like thank God because we were all blessed yeah I at some some I I think any guy uh who has a has a tan and brown hair just kind of look at him and it's like okay maybe I can someday but uh what was your favorite subject in school uh definitely language arts so like English reading uh did uh you mentioned Shakespeare uh do you still have uh still have a favorite book or poem or any kind of writing from back then you still read that um you know I really I love like 12th night because that was when when we were studying that uh that was like the play that I was doing and also because it's my one of my like favorite movies she's the man is like inspired by that so it is so funny because as a kid I was like why are all these names so interesting and then I like realized it was the Shakespeare play so um and then I got to like it's like full circle because then I got to like play viola in the in in my uh my Sunny abroad so uh one more question about your acting and maybe there may be one more coming up ahead but uh if uh dreamroll uh like like you you will beg your agent until kingdom come for you to play what? Oh probably like alphabet and uh wicked or just honestly anything in wicked like a like a tree in the background in wicked like just I mean hey it it'll it'll st it'll it might get you get you a union card if you did that so hey yeah I'll take it but what occupation other than your own would you like to attempt uh occupation like a job like a job or just hmm like if I if I wasn't gonna be a singer exactly um probably a marine biologist I I'm like very into shark week like I like I it's like a it's like a like a holiday for me like I go all out like we we hosted a a shark week party this summer like it's no joke and I I'm the resident like you know from watching shark week uh shark expert among my friends so probably probably that I'd be out like tagging great whites have you had the opportunity to uh be in a cage near sharks or anything like that no I would I do want to do that though the closest I've had to swim with sharks was at Typhoon Lagoon at at Disney where they have that little like shark swim by and I mean you know those are probably like I I'm not entirely sure what type of sharks they were but they were definitely not the the the scary kind but I would love I would love to do it do the chainmail suit and and and everything. I think they're really cool and you know they keep our our oceans healthy which keeps our world healthy healthy so uh uh uh what on the other side of the coin I don't care how many bags of money are handed to you Brina what job would you never want to attempt never want to attempt um probably anything where I would have to like crawl into a really small space like you know whatever like like pipe repair or something I'm like kind of claustrophobic I don't know the first thing that came to my mind which isn't really a job was like people who like go in like really like small caves so anything maybe like anything on like mining or something like anything like underground where you know you don't you you don't know where the sun is and like you could rocks could block your path you would hate the tour in mammoth cave Kentucky and that's all I'll say about that. I am adventurous though I'm I would and I don't know is that like a if is if humans are like touring it regularly there's probably a infrastructure to keep it safe right so oh for sure they you know it's it's just a it's just giant underground cave mammoth cave and and yeah uh they walk you through it it's lit and then there's one part of the tour where they turn off the lights. Oh gosh yeah that would be I don't know I would I would I will am willing to try most things but I think I I'd be more scared of just like you know like hey go down this I don't know I've seen new series of like people getting stuck in like a mine shaft or like it floods and then and then they have to like they have a diver come and save them and like pull them out and that they have to uh but like you know kudos to people who can do that stuff because I would freak out some can some can't what is your go-to food on a road trip? On a road trip honestly like if there is there is one available like Cracker Barrel like you know it's it's just nice to like and a lot of times on a road trip it'll you know it'll have like fast food so it's nice to just go somewhere and like have a nice sit down and you know it's like all the the country is it usually for breakfast? Um can be for breakfast but also like like lunch or dinner. I know like there was a Six Flags we would go to all the time and there's like a crack where we were by then so like after spending all day at Six Flags and you're like hungry and exhausted we would go there. I like their lemon peppered uh rainbow trout but I mean their biscuits and their their dumplings and just I don't know some something about like being on the road where it's just like you you go into a place that feels like you know like a country grandma's house like it it it makes the rest of the trip like uh manageable.

SPEAKER_03 41:35

I'll catch hell since the subject has been broached uh if and I don't address it but uh the uh the the logo uh nonsense from from a year ago did you uh care either way?

SPEAKER_02 41:47

Oh um I mean I don't know it's I think it was probably not the the best choice clearly because people like freaked out about it. At the end of the day it's like it's a corporation and a logo and like I'm not gonna like there are bigger problems in the world but I think you know I do have because I did journalism and then I I kind of I jumped around I did theater major for a little bit and then back to the journalism school with advertising and public relations. So I did like study that I've had some marketing jobs so I think just that you know there was just like somebody did not understand like like the brand uh and you know what people liked about it so I think that was just like a marketing error and you know they they listened at you know to their to their uh people so I guess that that counts for something but that's a probably like a pretty expensive mistake.

SPEAKER_03 42:37

Yeah. Well now that we know the venue for such a hypothetical if you could have dinner with anyone dead or alive who would it be Steve Irwin very that quickly you mentioned the the fascination with marine biology um what would would that be the most of the conversation just uh places he's seen the animals he's handled like honestly that but also he was just like such like a like a magnetic and positive person I feel like I could talk to him about just like like anything I'm just listening to him talk.

SPEAKER_02 43:12

Like if I it could just be me sitting there and just be like him just like talking being so excited talking about like crocodiles and I would just like I would just take in the aura you know I grew up um watching the crocodile hunter and animal planet and so before I was a shark kid I was a crocodile kid. And like after he died then I like I don't know I I was a little bit a lost soul for a minute and then I got adopted by Shark Week but um I was very when I was younger I was very into like crocodiles and reptiles because of uh watching watching Steve Irwin a little bit of Jeff Jeff Corbin too but like mostly Steve Irwin and now like you know I I was rude I voted for Bindy and Robert both on Dancing with the stars and they both won. So you know I just it's just like a a a global treasure like gone to taken from us too soon. I think and again, like this episode no big deal, right? But um uh when when people like are like telling a story but then they like get like get sidetracked and then like don't like tell like the like I don't know. I like a good story, right? So I want to know what is happening next, but then they'll get like caught up in a little detail and then like kind of get away from the main story and then you're not like telling me like the real resolution of the story, and I'm just kind of like you know, I'm sitting there and I'll smile and I'll like nod and be like, yeah, but and in my mind I'm like, okay, but like what what happened with this part? Like, why are we we don't need to talk about like what color the wall the curtains were, like you know just the facts, ma'am. Yeah, like I just I don't know, I I can be impatient, so I just like sometimes I you know yeah, that's like a little thing where I'm just like but I don't want to know what what we were talking about before.

SPEAKER_03 45:20

I'm guilt I'm guilty of that too, and I and I understand how that ramble can happen because maybe it's a fresh story or to a story that hasn't been told in a while and just new details are uh are are kind of being formulated. But uh I I I hate it when it happens to me too. So I agree. Last question of the questionnaire, Brina. Uh and in fact, a side question since uh somebody's gonna ask as well. Uh for Sabrina, or is that in fact your uh your name on the certificate?

SPEAKER_02 45:49

Oh my name on the certificate is just Brina. My parents were like, she's like almost gonna have her name on a keychain, but not quite.

SPEAKER_03 46:01

Uh yeah, my uh my sister, uh and uh and and probably my second biggest fan of of this podcast, uh, is uh her name is Maggie, not Margaret. So it uh but but she she did get a keychain, na na na na. But uh I uh last question of the questionnaire before we before you throw something at me, what is the best advice that anyone has ever given?

SPEAKER_02 46:29

Honestly, it was one of my uh like my peers on the the Shakespeare trip, um, I forget what we were talking about we were talking about like art art theater stuff, you know, and he was he was kind of saying like if what you make makes a difference for even one person, then it's worth it. And even if that one person is yourself. And I feel like in the music industry, especially obviously the industry side of it is very difficult and like can feel impossible at times, and you know, you're just like why am I doing this with my life? Um, and you can get kind of caught up in the numbers and the the achievements and things, but then you kind of stripping it back to like, okay, is this is what I'm making making a difference for even one person out there? And then the answer to that is usually yes, and even if it's not making a difference for a single other human, if it's making a difference for yourself, like that still makes it all worth it. So I think I've taken that with me. And it's like funny like the things that you know stick with you because that was just like a random conversation with like like a a fellow student, but it's it stuck with me.

SPEAKER_03 47:34

So it it's probably one of the best lines and one of the best songs ever written, even if it was very much from the perspective of uh star Rick Nelson and uh Garden Party. Uh he just talked about a concert that he went to, and everybody was like, hey, what happened? You became an adult because he was a child star. Uh but uh the the takeaway line from that song can't please everyone, so you gotta please yourself. Um now, uh this we have one more bit of business to take care of here, Brina. And it should be your favorite part of the program in the time for shameless self-promotion. We got a Taylor Swiftcomer c coming out, all of your stuff is available on streaming. Where can we find your stuff? Where can we find you fire away?

SPEAKER_02 48:26

Yeah, sure. Well, on socials like TikTok, Instagram, all the all like Blue Sky, all the fun places. Um it's at Breena K Music. Um you can all the links are in one spot on my website, Breena Kmusic.com. Pretty straightforward, you know. I try to make it easy for people. Um if you sign up for my email list, you'll get like exclusive details about like things that are coming out before everybody else does. Um yeah, pretty much just at Breena Breena K on Spotify and Apple and and all the streaming. And um, if you want to just keep an up to date on where I'm at, my website and my my email list.

SPEAKER_03 49:04

Well, Brina, a a very refreshing uh discography to uh to have been perusing so far. I really do dig your style, really dig your voice, really love your lyrics above everything else, and uh I can't wait to hear more out of you today and thank you so much for joining me here on the Craig Veltrae interview.

SPEAKER_02 49:22

Yeah, thank you too, and thanks for like again, like dy really dive listening to the music, diving in and asking like really fun questions. I've I had a great time during this interview, so I appreciate you. And thanks, Danny Felt for you know being being the magical connector person that you are.

SPEAKER_03 49:36

Yeah, I I I I always give her a special thanks read at the end of these interviews. I think I'm just gonna start calling them felt finds for your audience.

SPEAKER_02 49:43

That's good. That's a good that's catchy. I'm sure she would love that.

SPEAKER_03 49:47

Oh, I know, I know she would. Thank you so much. The Craig Velchery interview, where Craig Velchery interviews wonderful people, is a production of Scarfire Media, the voice of the independent artists. Written and edited by Craig Velchery. Your announcer is Megan Pennington. The opening theme, Shut Up I Love You, written by Trenton Chandler and Craig Velchery, performed by Craig Velchery, produced by Jack Gavin. The debut single from Moonshine Vagabonds, myself and Megan Pennington, Inside the Cabin, is available now on all streaming. The full-length record, still due out on March 28th. March 27th, we are angling for a release party in Nashville, Tennessee. Venue to be secured in the next coming days. We'll should have an update and announcement later this week. Keep your eye on all of Moonshine Vagabond social medias, namely Instagram and Facebook. Search Moonshine Vagabonds. Time now to update the event calendar because you must know where I we are at all times. It's Moonshine Vagabonds, and Vagabonds gotta be on the road. Friday, March 6th, Dogfish Head Brewing in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, from 9 to 11 p.m. Then on Saturday, making our way back to Pittsburgh through Reading, Pennsylvania at Bertie's Inn, Exeter's Township to be exact. But Reading, Pennsylvania, from 5 to 8 p.m. For full dates, including Pittsburgh, Nashville, Memphis, and New York City, visit my website, craigveltry.bandzoogle.com. For booking info, including full band in this podcast, email me at craigveltryofficial at gmail.com. You can find the interview on Facebook by searching the Craig Veltry interview, YouTube at Craig Veltry Music, and you can find me on Instagram or as my old roommate, the Tommy Thomas used to call it. Instagirl at craig.veltry. With special thanks to Danny Felt for Brina Kay, I'm Craig Veltry, and this has been the Craig Veltry Interview. With that, I'll pass. Here's Brina Kay with Heat of the Moment on the Craig Veltry Interview, proud member of the Scarfire Media podcast.

SPEAKER_00 51:52

We've been cold. We've been froze. We've been free.