Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (https://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?
BRFT: High energy and tongue in cheek. Always looking to make music that is fun and gets people moving.
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.
BRFT: Born in New Zealand but grew up in Sydney. I now live on the northern beaches in Sydney in Manly. I have been playing music since I can remember but i only really started trying to write since I started guitar at 14. Was never very good until I got to uni and really put some effort into writing music. Only recently I’ve been making more effort with lyrics now that I sing and front a band.
PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?
BRFT: Listening to all styles of music inspires me to write. Weirdly the biggest inspiration is not seeing and hearing enough bands that play the type of music that I like to listen to. I fell i love with Van Halen in high school and The Darkness helped make that 70s and 80s hard rock a modern thing back in uni helped but ultimately hard rock never seemed to have a place in the mainstream. I hate how it feels modern rock needs to be so depressed or full of so much anger, like if you don’t tune your guitar down 5 steps it’s not really metal. I liked how the 70s and 80s did it, let’s have fun, lets dance, and let’s sing along. Let the music distract you from your bad day, from your work etc
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
BRFT: To write music I enjoy listening to and hope that there are people out there who are like me and will get a kick out of hearing a modern take on the hard rock genre.
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
BRFT: We just played at a wrestling even in Sydney and I got to be a part of their version of the royal rumble. So to be able to be the music entertainment for the evening and live out my child hood dream of being a wrestler was really cool. This whole era of my band right now I’m very proud of, from the music we are making to the film clips we are doing and our branding, it all just feels good.
PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many
new artists emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?
BRFT: I try to ignore the noise as much as i can and focus on just making the music, and having our own style. I realised it’s so much more fulfilling just doing EXACTLY what I feel like and that way you tend to stand out more anyway and if you don’t it doesnt matter cos you are doing what you love.
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
BRFT: We have and agent who helps, but basically we try and find bands similar to us with a bit more of a followin that we can open for and support. We also work very hard creating our music and visuals for socials and film clips to create a desire for people to see us. Trying to do more with reels and tik tok as that helps build the audience too. Our next show we are opening for Voyager in sydney and canberra, Voyager recently performed representing Australia in Eurovision, so that should be really fun.
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
BRFT: I like them, you have access to any music you want at the touch of a button. It does devalue it alot cos it’s so easily accessible but i think if people really like you they’ll buy your vinyl or merch or concert tickets whatever, and you get paid if people keep listening to it. If they don’t then you probably didn’t deserve to sell those million copies in the first place you know? People could make millions off albums in the 90s and 80s from 1 good song that people might only listen to for a week.
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
BRFT: Layla by Derek and The Dominos. Great riff, lyrics and an amazing chorus hook. There’s so much passion in that song
PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?
BRFT: Where do I start hahaha. I wish people weren’t so manipulated by PR. There’s so much great music out there but cos it isnt cool they dont listen to it or support it. I think there are alot of people who need to be told what to like before they listen to it and it’s a shame cos unless you have the loudest voice or people know you whether it be from being an influencer or whatever you just don’t get heard. If you’re famous and release music, no matter how terrible, people will listen 
to it and likely love it. That’s hard to swallow as a working musician but thems the breaks.
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
BRFT: We just finished our film clip for our 2nd single Love Bite and working on our 3rd video for our next single called Psychotropic Thunder. That clip will be about what happend on the night of the wrestling. Imagine the royal rumble was filmed like a a movie and that’s what it will look like. We have been improving our live show too adding pyro and visuals so we are putting click tracks together for it. Currently working on some new music for our next release too but there’s no rush on that just yet.
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?
BRFT: https://bigredfiretruck.bandcamp.com/album/trouble-in-paradise
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