During a 2010 tour, in which Nashville band, Cadillac Sky, was opening up for the Grammy-winning band Mumford and Sons, lead singer Bryan Simpson, a Nashville local, hit a wall – spiritually, mentally, physically and emotionally. In distress, Simpson made the incredible decision to leave the tour and his band right at the time when they had seemingly achieved the kind of success that just about any other band would give just about everything they had for. Supporting one of the hottest bands in the world is not a minor thing. But Simpson simply could not continue the rigorous tour. He battled demons and went to a very dark place, he told IRC.
Simpson left it all behind to strike out on his own, and formed The Whistles and the Bells, making peace with himself and his former band mates. The entire experience, from the highs of a national spotlight, to the lows of his darkest moments on the road, provided plenty of material for the young songwriter. The result is his new band project’s debut album, described by his publicist as “the dark, and at times musically twisted, autobiographical snapshot of Bryan’s personal earthquake surrounding the education of studying his maker.” Obviously, he was particularly struggling with his faith. The debut album encompasses “all [of] the modern southern gothic swirl of sounds from blues, to Americana, to New Orleans-style horns and darkness of the [sic] self-exploration,” the type of material, he contends, that creates a “personal soundtrack of a character from a Faulkner novel.” The first single, “Mercy Please” was a Rolling Stone magazine daily download.
“Mercy Please” – The Whistles and the Bells from The Whistles and the Bells – March 4th
“Transistor Radio” – The Whistles and the Bells from The Whistles and the Bells
Simpson described indie rock as initially “sounds that were too edgy for a major label, but with some of the best ‘indie rock’ bands in the world all being signed to labels, this term really takes on a new meaning,” he wrote, describing it as “rock music without limits. Indie rock has spawned so many genres…that I think is incredibly exciting. The more sub-genres you have, the more experimentation there is; someone does something new that can’t be categorized,” he wrote, so “it’s usually put under indie rock.”