Happy Body Slow Brain Interview

Life's been a whirlwind for musician Matt Fazzi over the past year. From releasing New Again with Taking Back Sunday (which debuted at #7 on the Billboard Top 200), to touring the world alongside some of the biggest names in music and then suddenly finding himself without a band this past March, it's safe to say the fresh-faced San Jose native has been chewed up and spit out by the music industry.

But will any of that stop him from giving it another try? Don't count on it.

With his new found freedom, Fazzi and fellow musicians Isaac Bolivar and Eduardo Torres have turned their sites on their newest project, Happy Body Slow Brain. In fact, the trio recently finished recording a new record in Michigan with producer Marc Hudson (Saves The Day).

"It was the most fun I've ever had making an album," said Fazzi via email, "because it was incredibly relaxed, productive and super efficient."

The band spent two and a half weeks with Hudson working a variety of sounds that they refer to as "Prog-R&B." Trying out an incredible number of guitar, bass and keyboard effects, HBSB created an incredibly complex and layered record.

"It was such a blast experimenting with pedals/tones/different guitars while making the record," said Fazzi. "I think we got some really beautiful tones and some really gnarly alien sounding guitars on the record as well."

While this might be a step away from the power-chord rock 'n' roll of TBS, Fazzi said this is exactly where he wants to be.

"Happy Body Slow Brain is just a more pure reflection of the broader overall tastes of Isaac and I," he said. "We prefer to make more challenging music with lots of mixed elements. With TBS, there was an expectation sonically so you couldn't really mess with the formula all that much."

So what can the fans expect to hear? Well, that might be a little of everything explained Fazzi. "We had ideas going all over the place," he said. "It also rained heavily while we were there which had a big influence on the vibe of the record."

HBSB are currently label-less, yet they hope to put out their new record as soon as possible. The band said to keep a close eye on their websites as some new music should be uploaded in the coming weeks. Also, if things can come together, look for HBSB to be doing some West Coast touring by August.

Technicalities aside though, Fazzi said he loves what he's doing.

"We made EXACTLY [the record] we wanted to make, and I can easily say it's the best music I've ever been a part of to date. We can't wait to share it with everyone."