Before Braille

Jessie Riley - Rag Magazine

Somewhere near the diverse emotions and the distant sentiments lies the passion. Somewhere after the blindness and after the depth lies Before Braille.

Hailing from Mesa, Arizona along with emo headliners like Jimmy Eat World and Authority Zero, Before Braille is David Jensen, (vocals, guitar) Hans Ringger, (vocals, guitar) Reggie Patel, (guitar) Brandon Smith, (bass) and Kelly Reed (drums).

The debut album The Rumor is a motivating collection of heartache, deceit, honesty and regret. The band is currently touring the Midwest and will be in South Florida playing the Kelsey Club on April 24th.

I had a chance to talk with guitarist Reggie Patel and this is what he had to say:

RAG: How did you come together to form Before Braille?

Reggie: Dave and Hans and Brandon started playing together, and went through a couple drummers before Kelly Reid came in. I'm the newest member. I've been in the band for about a year now.

RAG: How did you meet the rest of the guys?

Reggie: Well, I was in a band prior to Before Braille and we all played together sometimes just as friends. And I kind of filled in when their guitarist quit. We've just been turnin' it since then.

RAG: What's the scene like in Mesa, Arizona?

Reggie: It's really cool. It seems like everybody's in bands, that's the big thing to do there. Every show, if it's a weekend, will probably be packed. I mean, I can name like, twenty-five bands from just that area. There's tons of high school bands, there's always high school parties with bands… there's tons of kids that are into music and just rockin' out.

RAG: Are you on tour now?

Reggie: Yes, we are. We've been on tour for about three and a half weeks.

RAG: Where have you played so far?

Reggie: A lot of Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Utah. We played here last night, in Vegas. Mainly the Midwest and Southwest.

RAG: What bands have you been playing with?

Reggie: We've actually just relayed a lot on local bands. We basically played local all ages shows a lot, we haven't really played with one band consistently.

RAG: So tell me, how did you get with Aezra Records?

Reggie: They saw the band in a “Ten Bands to Watch” in the Phoenix area, in a local magazine. They just checked it out and asked for material.

RAG: So Aezra came looking for you?

Reggie: Yeah, yeah.

RAG: Who were some of your biggest musical influences?

Reggie: I know a big influence in the band is Fugazi. We all love Radiohead, that's one of them. We all love a band called Cursive too.

RAG: You seem to get compared to Jimmy Eat World a lot, how do you feel about that?

Reggie: It's kind of weird, because we're from the same city. It always kind of gets lumped together because we're from the same city, and kind of the same genre too. It always kinds of pops up. It's normal. It's expected. We all really like them a lot, they're a good band.

RAG: What do you think of the music scene today?

Reggie: There's a lot of good things going on. There's Cursive from Omaha, Nebraska- there's a really big scene there now. There's a lot of bands on this record label called Saddle Creek. They started out really small, and the bands really stuck together and played together, and now all the bands are nationwide. They sell tons of records now, it's the kind of thing that's going on in Mesa.

RAG: How'd you get so into music?

Reggie: I was really young, and I got into it by just listening to Smashing Pumpkins, you know, Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness. And from then on I was just kind of hooked.

RAG: What would your dream gig be like?

Reggie: It would be out of the country, I know that. Italy maybe, somewhere in Europe. I think that would be fun.

RAG: Where do you think you'll be at in a few years. You think it might be After Braille?

Reggie: It will still be Before Braille, hopefully (laughs).

RAG: What's the best advice you could give to bands trying to make it out there today?

Reggie: Just try hard. Try hard to do as much as you can on your own, and I think it will pay off.

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