Unsigned Spotlight: Bridges Ablaze
Bred by an “all-in” passion and a mutual disdain for the status-quo, Austin, Texas’ Bridges Ablaze is the predestined voice for a generation that refuses to be put into a box.
Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
Brien: Bridges Ablaze only has two official members – Brien Allen and Ruben Zamora. We both perform vocal duties, as well as all guitar (including bass) duties. We even write our own drums, although a couple other people help finalize the drum composition. For videos, shows, and tours, we hire professional guitarists, bassists, and drummers to play parts Ruben and I wrote.
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Bridges Ablaze?
Ruben: Prior to being with Bridges Ablaze, I was with a local band called “Unwritten” based out of Austin, Texas. After 2 years of not getting anywhere, Brien and I decided to join forces and create Bridges Ablaze towards the end of the first quarter of 2019.
Brien has been in several bands prior to the formation of Bridges Ablaze, including a post-hardcore band called Call Me King, a blues/funk band called Kiddoo and the Dude, a djent band called Arborenna, a Latin band called Al Cielo, and a progressive metal band called Altermind, as well as many others.
How long has the band been around?
Brien: Bridges Ablaze formed in March of 2019 after our previous bands came to an end. We met, discussed prior band experiences, and decided to start a project of our own based on lessons learned from previous projects. Of all things, it is failure that led to the creation of this project.
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
Brien: The band’s name is a homage to the difficulty of being a musician. Many people in the industry are unreliable, and some will even scam you, lie to you, or hurt you. It isn’t an easy life. It’s hard to trust people in general.
Who writes your songs?
Ruben: Brien and I both write our own originals and tend to collaborate with the songs we write in our own home studio(s). In the studio, sometimes our producer Robby will add varying degrees of inputs to the compositions. Despite this, we usually write upwards of 90 percent of our songs entirely on our own, with the exception of a couple songs.
What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?
Ruben: The themes of each song typically revolve around the feelings and experiences we were personally going through at the time of writing the lyrics/recording the vocals. Given the fleeting, raw, changing nature of our emotions, our themes will likely always change with what we feel and experience next.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
Ruben: We are inspired by many artists of many genres, including Bullet For My Valentine, Escape The Fate, Falling In Reverse, Killswitch Engage, Dragonforce, Light The Torch, Architects, VOLA, I Prevail, Atreyu, Polyphia, Plini, Chon, Intervals, Fit For A King, ERRA, Periphery, Northlane, Tesseract, Times Of Grace, Any Given Day, Slipknot, The Color Morale, Bring Me The Horizon, Ghost, Like Moths To Flames, Pantera, Metallica, Machine Head, Testament, Guns N’ Roses, Megadeth, Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen, Queen, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Incubus, Lady Gaga, Linkin Park, Celine Dion, Daft Punk, Mac Miller, Eminem, Mozart, Hans Zimmer, etc.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
Brien: The band that inspired me to become a guitarist was AC/DC, particularly the song “Thunderstruck”. The song that inspired Ruben was “Free Bird”, by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Once the guitar solos kicked in, we were both sucked into a world of glorious guitars. Ultimately, these moments came to define our futures.
What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, etc…
Ruben: For shows, we both perform guitar and vocal exercises prior to performances. Typically, we try to play guitar and sing daily, if we can. This doesn’t always happen, but we practice as often as we can. There are various runs for both guitar and vocals that help greatly in preparation for performances.
For guitars, we will typically play scales and arpeggios using various techniques - alternate picking, sweep picking, tapping, string skipping, etc. For vocals, we typically do stretches, yawns, lip rolls, breathing exercises, and sung arpeggios.
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
Brien: So far, we’d say the biggest highlight would be when “Hellbent” was added to a VEVO Playlist for Top 10 Metal Videos. Either that, or when Hellbent passed 500,000 views/streams across YouTube and Spotify.
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
Ruben: It would be amazing to tour with Periphery, ERRA, Polyphia, Avenged Sevenfold, Fit For A King, Metallica, Pantera, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Ozzy Osbourne, Escape The Fate, Falling In Reverse, Papa Roach, Currents, Advents, Altermind, etc. We greatly admire these artists for their songs and their abilities. It would be an honor to share the stage and road with such artists.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Brien: All we can tell the world is “thank you”. We are especially grateful for our fans. Our fans truly support our dream, and help us make it into a reality every day. Our fans honestly define our future. It sounds cliche, but it’s true. It would be an honor to meet every single fan someday, embrace them, and thank them personally.
Our parting words to everyone who reads this are to never give up and to keep your dreams protected and alive. With enough persistence and resilience in the face of hardship and adversity, anything is possible. You are worthy, and so much more. Together As One, We Will Overcome!