Franklin Bruno

Franklin Bruno: guitar, vocals

photo by Jessica Kourkounis © 1998

 
 
 

Summer, 1993: Nothing Painted Blue find themselves opening several Tsunami shows in the Midwest. After the climactic "smokebomb" show in Chicago (a tale in itself), NPB's drummer, Kyle Brodie takes the band vehicle and heads back to law school, while bass player Peter Hughes and guitarist/songwriter Franklin Bruno continue on to the East Coast to visit relatives and write for the musical theater, respectively. But there are still shows to be done in Detroit and Cleveland. Troupers that they are, Franklin and Peter fulfill their contractual obligations by playing three songs each, solo, and three as a bass and guitar duo. Impressed by what they hear, the Simple Machines think-tank approach Franklin about doing a whole record. Megalomania wins out over caution, and he accepts. Several months of piecemeal recording (at a modest but well-equipped 8-track studio in San Dimas, California), two tours and three living arrangements later, A Bedroom Community is delivered to a waiting world. "This is the record," he claims,"the uncomprehending reviews of which will make me finally quit music."

Franklin has gone on to pen many more things since A Bedroom Community: as the singer/guitarist for Nothing Painted Blue, which continues to put out great records on Scat, and a countless number of insightful, witty, clever articles and reviews in a handful of today's esteemed rock rags. He currently lives in Los Angeles and teaches philosophy at UCLA.

Simple Machines Releases

SMR 28 Franklin Bruno
A Bedroom Community
1995
CD: $11  LP: $9

Presenting the first solo album from Nothing Painted Blue's Franklin Bruno. Franklin's previous solo releases include two cassette-only releases on the Inland Empire's Shrimper label and out-of-print singles on Baby Huey and Walt, as well as various compilation appearances. A Bedroom Community is not Franklin Bruno's first (mostly) one-man effort, but it is his most fully realized. More than a bunch of tunes that his "rock band" couldn't or wouldn't play, the album is a modestly scaled work of pop auteurship in the not-too-grand tradition of Todd Rundgren and The Artist Formerly Known As Prince. Musically, the thirteen songs give you everything from ersatz samba to Gibson-fueled pop to feedback-drenched folk laments, held together by the crafty songwriting NPB followers and detractors alike have come to expect, but with a darker wit that some may find surprising.

Review

The Franklin Bruno Discography

1991

Suggestion Box cassette

Shrimper

out of print

1992

Hermetic Geometry 7"

Baby Huey

out of print

1993

Etudes for Voice & Snackmaster cassette

Shrimper

contact Shrimper

1993

July Working Holiday 7"

Simple Machines

available

1994

The Irony Engine 7"

Walt Records

out of print

1994

A Bridge Perversion comp CD

Shrimper

contact Shrimper

1995

A Bedroom Community CD/LP

Simple Machines

available

1995

Sand Dollar 7"

Shrimper

contact Shrimper

1997

Participant 7"

Dark Beloved Cloud

 

1997

La Radia 7"

Little Teddy

 

You can get any of the Franklin Bruno titles listed as available from Dischord mailorder.

Check Tour Dates for Franklin Bruno.

 

 


HOME | STORY | BANDS | DISCOGRAPHY | CATALOG | TOUR DATES | MECHANIC'S GUIDE | CONTACT
Simple Machines Records © 1998-2007 info@simplemachines.net