Check Out BRAD ROBERTS’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to BRAD ROBERTS.

Hi BRAD, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
This is a huge question. I wouldn’t know where to begin.

In the 1980’s, I graduated from the University of Winnipeg with a double major in English Literature and Philosophy. This had an enormous influence on me and on my songwriting.

Crash Test Dummies were signed to BMG in about 1990. Our first record was a huge hit in Canada, with Superman’s Song on the charts for months. Our second record was a huge hit internationally.

After that, sales slumped on our third record. Our fourth record fared no better and so we parted from BMG.

I continued to make my own records after that, but it was not profitable, and I had to stop.

These days, Crash Test Dummies release a song at a time. We do not make albums.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There were many struggles. When we put out our second record, it was roundly rejected by the music industry, in a classic Canadian case of the country eating its own. It did however, rise to number 2 on the Billboard Chart in America, and sold extremely well in Europe, Australia, and around the world.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am currently studying counterpoint under Marc Chan. This is the art of vocal polyphony from the 17th century onwards. I am also currently writing a string quartet, using the language of counterpoint.

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Books:

Ecce Homo by Friedrich Nietzsche
King James Bible
The Study of Orchestration by Samuel Adler.

I stay off the web, so I have no apps podcasts or blogs to recommend. I don’t even have a Facebook page.