Brandon Beal: An interview

One monday, in the setting of nightclub HIVE, I took upon myself, to talk a bit with Brandon Beal. On how he ended up in Denmark, and what he is planning to make of it all.

Leder du efter artiklen på dansk? Den er lige her.

"I've never seen this place like this before. I was'nt near as sober as I am now. It's a QUITE different look. Eight bottles of vodka will do that..." Brandon Beal tells, laughing.

Interviewer: Rasmus (Hedegaard) told me, that yo've been in Denmark for seven years now..?

BB: Seven years?! He said that? No man..It hasn't been that long, jesus Rasmus. Seven years ago.. I was like just moved to New York then... 

No, it was in 2011. So about four years. A little over four years. 

I was in New York from 2006 to 2011.

Oh, cool man.. What were you up to in NYC?

BB: I was doing music all the way around. I was an artist, I had an album out in 2007-2008ish, where I did a lot of touring in the southwest region of the states, and more touring in Tokyo and Japan.

Yea, but I made music there, and production there. Worked with a lot of people too. Gaga, Flo Rida.. Lot of people man. I almost forget it these days, cuz' I've done so much since then. I've been away from the "behind-the-scenes"-guy and came here to really give it a shot, as an artist.

That sounds pretty great, so how then do you end up in Denmark, of all places?

Man, it's a combination of things. I think that it started with that one guy I did my album with. His name is MultiMan, I met him through my brother. He was a danish guy living in New York. Was living there for a while.

I did my first album through him, and through him I met a very beautiful girl, who I was with for eight years. She was danish. And she was also his daughter.

And through him, again, I met a few other friends in Denmark. And with that, it just caused me to have a lot of trips out here to Denmark. 

Long story short: I was in New York, and I really didn't like how the musicscene was developing at that point, and I just needed a change. So with her around i thought: Well why don't we just try it out with Denmark for a while, and the rest is history.

It worked bigtime.

So.. the ladies made it happen?

Yea, well THAT didn't help when I moved here. That's why I said "A girl that I WAS with." Things went south. Not in a business way, but in a relationship way. We're still all good, just a timing thing I guess."

I guess you will be staying for a while to come? 

Yea, with the things i'm doing today, it's definitely going to cost me, to have to be in Denmark, for at least the next few years, you know? I think my ultimate goal is, right now i'm just in a mode where I just really try to push, push, push. I'm here the most of the year. I get to go home maybe a month or two of the year, but I think the ultimate goal is to, if my music can get big enough here in Europe, that I can space it out more. And that I can actually be playing tours that span 3-4 months. And be able to go home to the states, and be with my family a couple of months. 

Half/half would be amazing. So I could get outta here in the winters. That would be idealistic. Definitely.

Where do you find inspiration for your songs?

These days... It's actually weird to say, but I've written so many songs for other people, so you know, I think for the most part, the inspiration bounces around so much, and I've experienced so much in my life, and you know, I feel like I can relate to almost every situation. 

But for my own part, whenever i'm not working with specific artists.. Lately it's just been based of my life, and my life right now is about having fun, about having a party. About kinda the whole YOLO-vibe, to a certain point. I might get to slow down, but right now, im going with the flow. So most of my songs are based of of that. Dancing, music, smiling and so on. . 

The reason we are here, right this moment, is that you and Rasmus Hedegaard are shooting a music video with AXE.. How to you feel about endorsements? 

Everybody thought that it was kinda ironic, when my manage actually brought it up to me, but I was like: "Oh right, that's cool - I actually use AXE." Everybody mostly says, that the product is more of the younger kind of crowd, a teenager-crowd, and i'm a grown ass man. 

I think it's marketed in a different way in The States. In the States it marketed, so that it's actually fresh, and people chose and use it over a lot of other stuff. It's always common for a guy my age in the states, to have some type of AXE bottle in his house, could be body wash or deodorant. And then maybe they will have a specific fragrance they like. 

So, when they brought it to my attention, I thought it would be a pretty cool adventure for both of us. We actually using it, and AXE wanting to switch things around, and go to a different marketplace. I think it's like a very mutual thing we're doing right now, so I feel good about it. 

You don't feel restricted in any ways, by doing endorsement deals like this?

No, no no no. I just have this thing, where I wouldn't do stuff, unless I really want to do it, because I always have the music. All the extra stuff just comes. In the beginning, when people started to throw in thes sponsorship kinda deals at me, I just used to take EVERYTHING. "You want to give me this shit for free? Hell yeah. Give it to me!". 

But I think that, as your music progresses, you really get more aware of it. It gets easier to chose good from bad, in that sort of deals. It came to me at the perfect time. Because now I can say no to shit.

I think this is going to be awesome, I'm really excited to do it man. 
I'm really excited about going in to grocery stores, and just be standing there for some amount of time, until people starts to recognize me. Just spinning an hour and a half. 
Is that? Yes, it's me. 

I'm excited to be the face of AXE Black. 

So you look forward to being the danish version of the old spice man? 

Exactly! Hahah, hell yeah man, it's gonna be cool.

By the way, this new single is called "Smile and Wave". The theme of the song, is the same stuff we talked about earlier, just having a good time. The concept is litteraly what you would do to a girl, that was fucked up in the past, but you went and did bigger and better things, and it's just like since you're in a better position, you can just look at her and smile and wave, but really you mean like "Fuck you". So yea, it's the most basic description you can give of this song: "Smile and wave, with a big, fat fuck you."

I hope it gets to be a big hit... In my experience there's nothing like Scandinavian people, that gets to sing the words fuck you. They love to sing that, as soon as the booze hits.