About
Since 1999, the Bright Men of Learning (a.k.a. BMOL) have been playing their own blend of classic / indie rock, as locals and as openers for national acts at venues like Emo’s, Rudyard’s, Mary Janes, The Mink, Fitzgerald’s, Walter’s on Washington, The Last Concert Cafe, and The Proletariat.
In 2006, BMOL was a Houston Press Music Awards nominee as Best Traditional Rock Band.
BMOL has played with:
- Apollo Sunshine
- Brothers and Sisters
- Black Lipstick
- Bring Back the Guns
- Crooked Fingers
- The Delgados
- Earlimart
- The Hold Steady
- Holy Ghost Revival
- Jana Hunter
- The Octopus Project
- The Long Winters
- Lomita
- Magnolia Electric Co.
- Pernice Brothers
- Preston School of Industry
- Rilo Kiley
- Silversun Pickups
- Slobberbone
- Two Gallants
- What Made Milwaukee Famous
- Woozyhelmet
BMOL releases include an EP and two LPs, with a third full-length record to be released in Spring 2010.
PRESS
They practice all the time, hardly ever play, and insist (despite some recent indications to the contrary) they’re “allergic to promotion.” The result is that BMOL is one of Houston’s most criminally under-appreciated bands. Preddy’s whisky-soaked phrasing, Murphy and Kahlich’s lovely guitar work, and Sage and Senske’s solid rhythm section combine to form one of the warmest and most inviting sounds in the city.
Professed fans of Tom Petty and the Replacements, the Bright Men do a good job of blending the open strum of Petty’s popped-up Americana and the rough edges and everyman focus of the ‘Mats hopped up garage…Just loose and dirty rock and roll with enough tuneful touches to qualify as “pop,” but definitely not pretty.
Bright Men of Learning inject a heavy dose of nineties indie rock into a blend of old-style pop and early alternative. At times, the music brings to mind Pavement and The Replacements, seventies-era Stones, and Big Star, but it also showcases the group’s more modern appeal.
Distant echoes of Black and Blue-era Stones, as well as the more recent releases from Pavement and the Replacements, are all easy to detect on this 11-song collection from this local quartet.
Early last year the band formerly known as Chasmatic hit the circuit with a new name, a whole new batch of material and attitude (something their songs lacked). Now they’ve finally put it all on disc —and it translates. Bright Men are a rock band, but this isn’t necessarily a rock record; it’s more like campfire pop music. Lead singer boy Marshall Preddy’s penchant for the all-too strummy guitar is all but erased in favor of more intertwined guitar work with Chris Kahlich, whose leads don’t quite control every song but definitely guide them.