Brigitte Calls Me Baby are focussed on their late-night TV debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live when singer Wes Leavins is patched through to CLASH. We’re grabbed a tiny morsel of their time to chat about their debut album, the importance of perfecting a live performance and just where that name came from.
Answering the phone in his cool, Texan drawl, Wes’ “hello” gives away his home state instantly. Now based in Chicago, along with the rest of the band, their lead singer came a long way to find the “right candidates”. “It happened pretty organically [which is] a bit rare today,” he explains, of a group of friends who met through chance introductions and coincidental meetings – no management manipulation or talent show curation in sight.
Named in honour of Wes’ childhood pen pal, famed actress, model and singer, Brigitte Bardot, from the very beginning, the band aimed to produce something worthy of her beauty. So far, they’ve forged their own path, not box-ticking but following their gut. “A lot of people can rely on recordings” with production wizardry turning even the worst performer into an award-winning artist, but Brigitte Calls Me Baby wanted to show that their “live [performance] is better.” Delving head-first into touring, the band said yes to any support “gigs [they] could get” and “lucked out with big ones.”
“The Inhaler gig was like our second gig ever, and then Muse was probably like, fifth or sixth?” laughs Wes. Their unconventional approach paid off. It “wasn’t like we had any kind of presence on Spotify or anything,” he explains, “it was all pretty much word of mouth… people hearing about the live show.” And yet, people came. The band created a buzz “before music was released” and showed that their “agenda to perfect the live shows before [they] really, honestly took the band seriously” had paid off.
Preparation was key in this build up to the perfect live performance, with Wes painting the picture: “I like to run and sing. I’ll get on a treadmill and sing so that I’m out of breath.” Despite laughter as a response, he was adamant, explaining that the practice helps him work on breath control. “I want to be able to fill a room with my voice without a microphone… I’m not going to shortchange the people, like if they came to hear or see a certain thing, I’ve got to make sure that that is there.”
And now it is…? We finally get that long awaited album.
“I’m excited for people to revisit that are both groups, the ones that like us and the ones that don’t,” after all, they only had four songs to make their judgement. Soon we’ll have another 11. Like all albums, it speaks to where they’re at as a band right now. But debuts introduce you to all the “different elements of the band,” “you might expand, you might take on new influence… but if you don’t like the debut, or some of the debut, you’re probably never gonna like the band.”
With inspirations including The Strokes or Arctic Monkeys, LCD Sound System, Echo and the Bunnymen, Dead or Alive and OMD, Wes’ belief in the power of the debut only makes sense. After all, “the voice is the voice” and with a voice like Wes’, Brigitte Calls Me Baby has something unique.
Come next year, those of us in the UK may be in luck. For now, we’ll have to wait for the tour and make do with a debut album that may just rival the classics.
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‘The Future Is Our Way Out’ LP is out now.
Words: Megan Walder
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