Marty Brass: "My Last Name Could Have Been Brazauskas, but There Was a Language Barrier and Some Other Misunderstandings That the Drunk Bloke at Ellis Island Chopped It Down to Brass."

If 2022's Painted Glass was about prioritizing the rawness of pop classicism in the world of 4-track recording then Junk Room Melodies lights the afterburners. Credited to his group The Lavender Jets, the new album takes Marty Brass' brainy, uncut power pop to a new trajectory that's fuller and louder than anything in his past. With highlights like the surging melodic hooks of "Finding Peace (For Now)" and the jagged guitar storms of "Green Corvette," Brass' sparkling wit and catchy high-powered directness appears boundless. In this interview, Brass recounts the formation of The Lavender Jets, the recording of the new album, and the extensive list of other Cleveland groups he's taken part in over the years.

For readers unfamiliar, tell us about the origins of The Lavender Jets? How did you all meet and decide to start making music together?

Marty Brass: My last name could have been "Brazauskas" but there was a language barrier and some other misunderstandings that the drunk bloke at Ellis Island chopped it down to "Brass." Regardless of this legendary family lore, Lavender Jets started out as a solo project under my name. At the time, I honestly couldn't land on a solid band name I liked so I figured that my real name sounds convincing enough to be a stage name or whatever. So when the Painted Glass tape was about to be released through Just Because Records under my name, I had to get a band together to play shows and get out of town with the music. So, I reached out to Carter Luckfield and Adam Spektor from Red Devil Ryders, long time comrades and brothers in rock to play guitar and bass. Jo Coone from Cruelster and friends was the first drummer I reached out to. We all got together, jammed a few times and then started to play some gigs. Then Jo got busy with his other bands and we reached out to our friend John Alberty  to play in a couple of tours through the Midwest and Canada. Jordan King played bass on our tour through Canada and I met him through some mutual friends in Cleveland.  Then Austin Kaufman from Cut Up, Language and a bunch of other killer Akron bands joined on drums. Then, Kaufman couldn't play a weekend and I reached out to Ryan Matricardi from Suitor to play those gigs in Rochester and Pittsburgh, I mean, why would I pass up that New Math gig. Now with Carter moving to LA, and Spektor staying busy with booking at the Happy Dog and playing in Science Man and touring for other bands like The Data Unknown, Austin, Jordan and I are the current Lavender Jets. It's like an ever-changing lineup of incredibly talented musicians and friends. Who knows what it may even look like a year from now. Essentially, The band is an outlet for my songwriting and I like bringing in my friends into the mix to contribute something new to each one of my songs. I like to think that the band is just a bigger idea than me and I happen to be the captain.

I remember when you were forming the Marty Brass band in '22, you were billing yourself under different names and "Lavender Jets" were one of them. Why did this one stick? 

Yeah, for every live show, we would make up a new unique supporting band name. I believe the first name was "Marty Brass and Psychotic Stallion" [laughs]. "Lavender Jets" stuck because it sounded the coolest. I came up with the name while I was listening to "Cyclotron" by Electric Eels. I thought he said something along the lines of "I'm speeding down the freeway with the lavender jets!" And I always thought "Lavender Jets" just sounded crazy and cool, like something wild to see in the real world.  But I came across some lyrics and he actually says "Cruising down the highway while I laugh at the jets." Just your usual fried proto-punk jibber jabber.

We've been fans of yours since hearing Painted Glass in 2022, but how do you feel looking back on your catalog? Do you still like or relate to your past releases?

I appreciate that and I'm glad you came across my music. I still like those past releases, Painted Glass and On the Grass and I'm glad I put them out. I know "Spaulding Street," "Hot Connection," and "Green Corvette" are on the newer record but the live band has taken those songs to a whole other sonic level. I re-recorded those songs with the full band simply because I think they sound better with the live band and I think it's cool when some bands have different versions of some of their songs out there. I know Spacemen 3 did that a lot and I always thought that was cool. I may bring back some other old songs and re-work them into something new.

What insight can you share about your new album Junk Room Melodies, and how exactly it all came together last winter?

It was recorded with Jayson Geryzc from Cloud Nothings. We set up in his basement and knocked it out in a couple of days after dialing in the tones and levels and whatnot. It was a great experience to work with him recording and mixing.

What's the story behind the cover art? 

For the cover art, I had this vision where I was sitting at a piano with my head down or something right in the middle of a cluttered room. I want to be surrounded by a bunch of random stuff taking up a lot of space. I envisioned the room to be filled with knick-knacks, furniture, old jackets and clothing and maybe some framed family photographs.  I talked about the idea with David Mccluskie (an amazing drummer who smashes the tubs in Disintegration) and he knew of this warehouse space on the eastside of Cleveland that was currently being used as some sewing machine storage place and embroidery spot.  Something like that. We got there and the owner gave us a tour of the whole building and it was great to walk through some of those white rooms. There was a lot of cool stuff everywhere so we were both thinking "eh, if there isn't a piano, we can figure something out" but low and behold, we went to an upper level of this compound and this one room had thousands of sewing machines, hundred of folding tables, couple of other random things and there was an upright piano! I think there were two! "No fuckin' way," we said. So the rest was figuring out some different angles and getting a couple shots. Noah Depew edited the photo and created the design and layout of the cover art and the rest of the jacket.

Thanks for sharing the music video to "Applications." How did this song and clip come together? 

This song is about how I sometimes get frustrated with work at my 9 to 5. My job is kind of like a social worker who helps seniors sign up and apply for home repair programs through the city and at other local non-profit organizations. It's great work and all and I love what I do but at the end of the day, it gets really discouraging when there is a big demand of need in the community but the city can't help everyone at once because there's not enough resources. Like it really puts into perspective that our federal government can easily fund genocides and keep buying death from the military industrial complex to fuel their favorite proxy wars but we can't find the money in this country to fix up grandma's porch before winter? Or make sure all of these old homes built before the roaring twenties can be lead-free for kids or comfortable for our seniors to age in place? It's really sad to see. And if anyone is out there reading this right now, now is the time to get into the trades and work with your hands and mind. So yeah, it's like here on paper we are helping you but it's gonna take like a year or two to get to your house. Nat Cherry put together the video with some found footage of some corporate offices and the old Cleveland innerbelt bridge demolition. She is the best and made an amazing video! Look into her work portfolio—it's great and she has made many awesome videos for many great artists out there. She has done some work for contemporary artists such as Mourning [A} BLKstar and Taraneh. 

The new album's opening cut "Spaulding Street" was first worked out for On The Grass in 2020. What can you tell me about this one?

It's about growing up in a small town where you and your friends are the only ones of a few lucky yet troubled souls with good taste in art, cultural, and music while being surrounded by a bunch of conservative evangelical jocks and the narrow-mindedness of the town's world perspective helps grow that inner angst and resentment to the point that you can't wait to escape. You dream about it. You feel the urge to move on in every step you make. It's about escaping the hellscape of suburbia to pursue a meaningful existence that not many people can understand.

What's the story of "Green Corvette"? 

Probably got really drunk one night during the pandemic and wrote about what if it would be cool to hang out and hook up with some cool chick that drove me around Las Vegas in her green corvette. Nothing deep, just some RnR heavy metal fantasy kind of shit I suppose.

What can you tell me about the anthem "Lavender Jet"? 

After mishearing the lyrics in "Cyclotron" by Electric Eels to use it as a backing-band name, I wrote a song about traveling the world in a lavender jet with a loved one. Again, I'm piecing together scattered ideas that I have floating around my head.

What was it like putting together "Handfuls of Dirt"? 

It was a fun process. It was kind of ad-libbed because a good chunk of the song was pretty much written in the studio. We jammed it before going in but I'm sure we made some changes here and there. Applications kind of went through the same process. At first I had in mind it being a fade-out track but we all decided that the whole take should naturally play out. My friend Maddie from Patchke added another level of energy on the back end of the song with her vocal take. Carter absolutely rips on guitar in this one and the boys just kick so much ass on this one.  The lyrics were kind of tough and personal for me to put together. There was a lot of reflecting about where I came from and who I grew up with and inspired me in a lot of ways. Family and friends come and go in life, you know?

The closing cut "Finding Peace (For Now) is perfect. I believe you played this one in Rochester when opening for New Math back in 2023. What were the inspirations behind this one?

Thank you. It's a "coming-to-age" kind of song. It's about when you get pissed and mad and angry at the world and it seems like everything is out of your control and sometimes you got to accept that fact and find the peace and understanding you wanna live in the moment. Who wants to grow up and be a grouchy old man? Not me. Sure. We may have our regrets and we need to take time to make sense of our world and there's that one saying, a lot of people know—don't let your youth go to waste.

Which song from the record means the most to you (and why) or you're most excited for fans to hear? 

They all mean a lot to me but I am surprised that "Lickity Split" was put on your weekly playlist because I was seriously thinking of cutting that one out. But I'm excited for people to listen to "Finding Peace (For Now)," "Lavender Jet," "Applications," and "B.E.V."

I still think Painted Glass is a perfect record, front to back. What are your thoughts looking back on that tape and did it help shape the new album in any way? 

It taught me a lot about the whole process of recording by yourself with a 4-track. It inspired Junk Room Melodies to capture the experience of the live band and my friends' input on my songs. I am particular about a few things in each song but I will usually let them know to just do their thing and do what feels right.

Diving into your past, what kind of records would we find if we would travel back in time in your teenage room?

When I was in high school, I had records and mixed CDs of The Fall, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Spacemen 3, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Who, Black Lips, and The Gories. Growing up, my friends were some top-tier hipsters with art and music and movies growing up. I would go to my friend Gary's house to find out about new music and he would burn me CDs from his huge database of music downloaded from Soulseek and he would usually have HBO on the TV with some obscure movie playing. Hell, I remember in 8th grade, Gary told me to come over to his place to listen to this one song that may have changed my life. I went over and he told me, "Marty, we are going to put on this song called 'Sister Ray' by The Velvet Underground and we are going to LISTEN to it. It's 20 minutes long but you'll understand once it's over." And shit, it did change my world perspective at the time because I wanted to do nothing with mainstream music at that point of my adolescent life. And that got me more into underground music when I was growing up. And of course, we had an attitude about it and thought we were cooler than everyone else.

There's almost a laundry list of bands you've played in with your longtime friend and collaborator Ricky Hamilton. How did you guys meet and what's it been like playing music with him over the years?

Ricky and I met in 2014 through our good mutual friend, Bobby Joyce. Bobby and I were looking for a new drummer for our band, Ma Holos. One day, he bumped into Ricky at The Phoenix Coffee shop on Coventry in Cleveland Heights and naturally, those two kicked it off.  The next thing I knew he was in Ma Holos. Bobby told me that he drummed for Useless Eaters and Warm Soda and went on multiple cross-country tours with them. I thought that he had to be a good drummer with that kind of experience. A few months down the road in late 2015 early 2016, we recorded and released a cassette of the second full-length Ma Holos record, The Down-Five. And shortly after that, Ricky and I began jamming together and we started the Nico Missile where we racked up about 50 songs or so in like two years.  In that time, Carter moved up from Nashville to join the band and we started another crazy punk band called Pig Flayer as well. Then, Ricky started writing Fascinating tunes and I played on the drums for that and we recorded three more full lengths on top of a full-length SHAGG record. I'm sure we have released at least ten full-lengths together. Shit, just go to the Quality Time Records Bandcamp page and take a look for yourself. I can't keep track anymore. Since then, Ricky and I went in different creative directions and he moved to California in 2018 and I stayed in Cleveland. And over the years when I went to visit him in California, we started to write and record music that eventually turned into Liquid Images. Working with Ricky has always been a natural phenomenon. I feel like we can easily write music together and it comes natural to the both of us when we work together. Ricky has been a huge inspiration to me about pushing yourself to keep on creating new music.

One of my favorites of the bands you guys played in was Shagg which also featured Nat. How did that band come about and what are some memories associated with it?

I used to have another noisy punk band called Juju Shrine that broke up and then from that, Ricky, Nat, and I got together to start a completely new project that was heavily inspired by ESG and Bauhaus.  Then, Ricky moved to LA and then Nat and I continued the project with Noah Depew and David McCluskie. It really became a different band which was cool but we kept the name. We recorded an insane-sounding punk record that never got released but I still have the reel and just gotta find the time to get it mixed down again because I have no digital copies of it. There's some dubbed cassette tapes out there from an old mix that are not so great but had that DIY spiritual fidelity. I just handed those out to friends and people I thought would enjoy it over the years. I think our last show was Hot Dog Fest at the Happy Dog. I believe some sick bands like David Nance Group, Pleasure Leftists, and Long Shots were all on that bill too.

Earlier in the year, you and Ricky launched a new band called Liquid Images. How did that come about? I saw the seven songs were recorded in Downey, CA, in 2021-2023. 

Liquid Images started when I would go visit Ricky and Lexi in California over the most recent years before they moved back to Cleveland. We got together for an afternoon at his home and we would record a batch of riffs I brought to the table. I played guitar mostly and Ricky played the drums, except it was the other way around for "Running out of Time" and "When She's Gone." And when I would return to Cleveland, Ricky would lay down the vocal parts for the songs and mix and master them and send them my way. And then, we decided to put it out on Feral Kid's cassette tape subsidiary, Tetryon Tapes. By the way, the mix on Spotify is not the best version—visit Bandcamp to hear the better mix.

I also love the Sin Tax tape you guys released in 2020. Did that influence Liquid Images or any of the later Marty brass records? 

That might as well technically be considered the first batch of Liquid Images recordings. They did influence some future recordings in each of our own creative fronts. "Meet Me Outside" is in that batch of recordings that ended up on Painted Glass and "Mercury in Pisces" is on Ricky's album called Perfect World. It was our first time workshopping those two songs and the first time recording music together since he moved to California.

What were some highlights filling in behind the kit for Private Lives' first US tour in 2023?

One highlight was when we were entering the US, a border agent showed off his custom Fender guitar that he kept in his back office. We were all blown away and especially when I got to see Chance play that guitar too. He played the main riff on "Hit Record." We think it was a test to make sure we weren't lying about being musicians. Another highlight was when we played the Feel It Records after party show at Gonerfest. All the bands kicked ass and I believe one of The Gories was passed out in a lawn chair in the middle of the Lamplighter for multiple sets. I think it was like 4:00 am or even later. We also played two gigs on the road with Vintage Crop in Rochester and Cincinnati. It was great meeting those guys and sharing the stage together. I still keep in touch with Jack Cherry. It was a trip being the only American in a couple of group photos with them and Private Lives. Indianapolis was awesome (as always). We played with our friends from Frizbee (Indy) and Werewolf Jones (Detroit). I got to set that one up for Private Lives since it was so close to Cincinnati. Kellen Baker helped out with putting the show together in Stef's Garage. We then went to State Street Pub to see Scooter behind the bar and get absolutely buckled in the circle city. I can list more and more but I'll save those conversations for another time.

What are some future plans for The Lavender Jets? Also anything on the horizon regarding Liquid Images or Red Devil Ryders?  

For now, we are going to be a three-piece and start working on some new material after I get some songs demoed. I almost have another record worth of Lavender Jets material to bring to the group. The plan is to have the next LP recorded by the beginning of summer. We may bring on another guitar player after we do a West Coast run with Carter. AND we are thinking of hitting up the South this winter and spring after we get the physical copies of Junk Room Melodies. Thanks for the reminder, I have to start planning that! With all that being said, we would love to play in your city or country! Just hit us up! For Red Devil Ryders, good things are brewing so stay tuned! We recorded sixteen songs with Jared Phillips from Times New Viking, Counter Intuits, and his new band, Sidebottoms. He has one of the coolest studios I've ever seen. We plan to turn it into a full-length and that may be it for Red Devil Ryders. With Liquid Images, Ricky and I have a few tunes recorded and mastered and we are about getting ready to shop them around. We also have about another record worth of recordings to finish up. And then after that, there will definitely be a lot more material to come! And coming up hot, Liquid Images are playing a cool free show with Louse and PIZZ at the Grog Shop on January 3rd. One last thing, I play drums in a band called Patchke and we recorded an album back in March 2024. I'm about to place that tape order so expect to see that being released sometime in 2025. I think our last show was opening for Horsegirl at The Grog Shop back in July so it's been a minute!

Thank you for your time. Any advice or last words you'd like to share with our readers?

Just remember, there are no rules in rock 'n' roll. 

Junk Room Melodies is out now on Just Because Records.