Garage-Pop is the musical genre that just keeps on giving these days. Who else to dominate it better than the artistic souls in the one and only borough of Brooklyn, NY? Among the myriad of heavy musical acts leading the charge, Best Behavior is a sublime example of musicians hard at work. The men of Best Behavior; Alex Gruenburg, Jon Mann, Chris Jimenez and Daniel Jacobson are no strangers to unleashing solid tunes. Utilizing surf rock and British influences, their specified style is well defined with a wild ride supported by intense energy to follow. Alex gave his take on their music and their adventures thus far.
Best Behavior’s latest single, Say, is powerful and catchy. Alex shared his thoughts on the track. “Don’t be afraid to get up and dance!! I feel like a lot of kids are ‘too cool’ to let loose. One of my favorite things to do is dance in the kitchen for hours.” Nobody puts Alex in the corner.
When Muppets are the topic of conversation, Mr. Gruenburg’s choice of a personal favorite is easy. “Dr. Teeth!! That dude has a PHD in grooveology. [I] love The Electric Mayhem in general. They’re total rockstars.” This is officially Muppet approved.
Within their craft, Best Behavior’s exploration seems to be rooted in the inner groove. “I’d really like to keep exploring funky, in the pocket kind of rhythms. I love the energy when people lose themselves on the dance floor. James Brown is a huge inspiration for me.”
As their discography grows, Alex has a new track he has latched on to that fans will patiently have to wait for. “We have a song called As I Wait off our upcoming EP ‘Things That Happened’ that has always been a personal favorite. My voice changed a lot last year and I started to sing a lot lower. I get to do my best crooner impersonation on that one. Every crooner gets their start impersonating a crooner.”
Ideal show venues have been plentiful on this current road trip. “We played a house party in Gainesville, FL on this tour. I don’t think everybody knew what they were getting into at first. By the end of the set the entire party was doing the twist and dancing with each other. We love taking people by surprise and getting them involved with our music.”
Even when they are hitting those high notes, certain shows have their unusual moments. “Well I wouldn’t say it was the most ‘difficult’ performance but we got booked for a death metal show in Winston, Salem through happenstance. We weren’t really sure how to sell it to the crowd at first so we just did our thing. They ended up becoming some of our biggest fans. It always pays to stay true to yourself even when you’re certain you’ll be hated. People can usually sense that.”
Best Behavior’s place in the music world is expanding and with it Alex noted the drastic alterations in the industry in this hectic 2017. “Wow, it’s changed so much hasn’t it? I think the way people value music has transformed dramatically, but at its core people still want to hear a great beat and a catchy melody. The record industry may come and go, but amazing music will always survive.”
Music is not their only calling. “We love to cook! Songs are are just great stories but so are great meals. One of our goals as a band is to open a BBQ joint called BestBQ. We have a smoked wing recipe that’ll kill ya!” This will be great for the festival circuit. On top of cooking, their love for day off entertainment is perfection through and through. “We’re all total nerds for comics. [I] think this new Spider-Man movie may have been one of the best yet. We barely give ourselves any days off… We usually end up sampling some of the local fare and meeting some new friends. We love meeting people on tour and coming back later on to see them.”
On that note, they keep moving as best they can ever forward. “We’re headed to Chicago right now, probably to a rare hotel respite, where we plan to finish watching Innerspace. It’s one of Chris’ favorite movies and the band has never seen it. Apparently they shrink Dennis Quaid and shoot him into Martin Short‘s butt. Who wouldn’t want to see that? We’ve already started recording the follow up to ‘Things That Happened’. We took some time off to hone our craft and are feeling really inspired. We definitely have something exciting in the works, something completely different.
Jam on.
Give a listen to Say below:
