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The Bright

Drawing from array of British influenced rock, The Bright's sound is always about delivering hooks, both familiar and unique with a certain unpredictability that is tasteful and emotional. Their music has been prominently featured in MTV and Fox Sports original programming.

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Hometown	Arlington, TX
Genres	Indie Rock, Indie Pop
Band Members	Julie Lange (vocals), Kell Curtis (guitar), Miguel Fair... » more
Achievements	» more
Upcoming Shows	None

Contact Information:	Publicist Wheelhouse PR info@thebrightband.com 817-703-5394
# Years Experience Performing Live:	5
# Live Perfomances Past Six-months:	12
Market Draw:	Home Market: 101-150
Venue History:	House of Blues - Dallas - Dallas, TX Verizon Theatre At Grand Prairie - Grand Prairie, TX Sue Ellen's - Dallas, TX Jack's Backyard - Dallas , TX Victory Park - Dallas, TX
Opener Experience:	Timbaland - House of Blues Dallas, Billy Squier - Verizon Theatre Dallas
Similar Artists:	Muse, Cocteau Twins, Kings of Leon, U2, Elbow, Garbage, Heart, Swervedriver
Performing Rights Society:	BMI
Discography:	Objects of My Affection LP—2011; Diamonds in the Snow EP—2011; In Lucid Dreams LP—2007

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About the Artist

Hailing from Dallas/Fort Worth, TX, The Bright is described as beautiful, stylish stuff that just might infiltrate your daydreams” by the Fort Worth Star Telegram and that strange collective with a penchant for writing the most radio-friendly songs this...

With an underlay of dreamy/thick guitar swirls supporting vocal dynamics ranging from sexy modern pop to intense rock and even operatic, as reflected by their ambitious cover of Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir, the songwriting is always about delivering hooks, both familiar and unique with certain unpredictability that is tasteful and emotional. The band’s common thread seems to be each member’s influence and love for a vast array of British Rock eras, including the far reaches of 60’s to present day, pop to progressive and electronic to organic.

After releasing their debut LP in 2008, “In Lucid Dreams”, the band was approached by MTV and Fox Sports to license songs for use in the networks’ programming. Since then, The Bright*s songs have been featured in MTV’s “The Hills”, “Parental Control”, “Seven”, “Made”, “Hired”, “Teen Cribs”, “My Sweet Sixteen”, the multi-platform broadcast / V-cast Verizon Network supernatural series “Valemont” and Fox Sports’ Vizio Profiles (featuring Green Bay Packers QB and Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers). The Bright* has also received prominent airplay in the L.A. market on KKZQ 100.1 The Edge, in Grand Rapids, MI on WGRD 97.9, via the web on the Renegade Radio Network and X-Stream Radio as well as abroad via radio segments hosted by English music journalist Kelv Hellrazor. In early 2012, the band signed a licensing deal with all Viacom Networks for future placement of songs from their latest release “Objects of My Affection”

Following the release of the “Diamonds on the Snow” EP in March 2011, The Bright* released the full-length LP entitled “Objects of My Affection” in June 2011 – with music videos for the singles “Charmed” and “Over and Over” following thereafter in July 2011. All of the aforementioned recordings were produced by Eric Jenkins and engineered by Taylor Tatsch at Bass Propulsion Labs & N20 Studios in Dallas, TX & Audio Styles in Colleyville, TX and are available for download on iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster and Amazon (keywords: The Bright Objects of My Affection).

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Music

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Achievements

Pro Performance Video Winner, February 2012

Pro Performance Video Winner, October 2011

Pro Performance Video Winner, August 2011

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Press Coverage

Music Minute: The Bright by Fort Worth Star Telegram
Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010 Music minute: The Bright, the Double-Wide and more The Bright, at right, a local quintet that counts TCU alum Julie Lange among its ranks, is holed up in the studio working on new material for a forthcoming album, a follow-up to 2007's excellent In Lucid Dreams. The group plays Jack's Backyard in Oak Cliff at 9 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $5.

MTV’s love for Dallas band The Bright continues by Pegasus News
MTV’s love for Dallas band The Bright continues on The Hillsby PegNews wire Almost Maybe" was featured on the popular show for the second time as the closing on the season 5 premier. The indie pop/rock band The Bright has received its fourth song placement in the popular MTV reality show “The Hills”. Dating back to season 4, the band has received placement for the songs “Cemetery Street” (episode 16), “I’ve Got A Feeling” (episode 18) and “Almost Maybe” (the season finale, episode 20) which is now available on DVD. All of the songs are from their latest self released effort In Lucid Dreams. The BrightMore recently, the ballad “Almost Maybe” was again featured but this time as the closing song of the season premiere of season 5 airing on April 6th, 2009 (18:22 into the show viewable at: http://www.mtv.com/videos/the-hills-season-5-ep-1-dont-cry-on-your-birthday/1608283/playlist.jhtml) “It’s an exciting time for us and our hard work is beginning to pay off,” states lead vocalist Julie Lange. “The most important thing for us is that our music be heard and that’s an extremely difficult thing to do in the current state of the music industry, especially for a band doing everything without any financial or label support. We are honored that MTV likes our songs enough to have them play a key emotional part of the show. Placement in lots of forms of alternative media is huge and if that's our springboard for bigger things, I'll certainly seize the opportunity.” The Bright is slated for more song placement in other formats including the theme song for a video game “Severity” (produced by Dallas-based Escalation Studios), which is scheduled for release as an application for the iPhone due out in late 2009. They are also currently working with a Hollywood production team to provide the theme song for a feature film set for production in 2010 and the song “Don’t Pull Me Down” was featured in the Dallas produced film Karma Police (directed by John Venable) released on DVD in February 2009. The Bright will perform at the Dallas International Guitar Show at Dallas Market Hall on April 17 at 1 p.m.

"In Lucid Dreams" Review by San Antonio Current
By Greg M. Schwartz Formerly known as Superstring, this Dallas-based band is making waves with dynamic vocalist Julie Lange singing out over a modern-rock sound that combines an alternative edge with a power-pop sensibility. Lange’s wide range at times recalls artists such as Garbage, Evanescence, the Cardigans, Sixpence None the Richer, KT Tunstall, Pat Benatar, and Tori Amos. But the band blends influences from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s to create a bold sound of their own. The boys in the Bright serve up a diverse array of guitar-driven sonic landscapes for Lange to work with, making for an album that is uniformly strong throughout. The songs are catchy, but they rock, too. Lange delivers stunning power to a cover of Led Zep’s “Kashmir,” but shines just as brightly on dark rockers like “Cut Me Loose” and “Serpent,” and melodic gems such as “Leave You Wanting” and “Cemetery Street.” Why a major label has yet to sign the Bright is a mystery.

Art & Seek Q&A with Julie Lange by NPR / KERA
When Timbaland calls, you answer. That’s the attitude that local pop band The Bright had when the omnipresent producer asked the band to open for his Feb. 3 show at the House of Blues. We spoke with singer Julie Lange about how the Timbaland connection began, how the band landed FIVE songs on various MTV shows and what it’s like to be married to your guitarist for this week’s Art&Seek Q&A: Art&Seek: You all are opening for Timbaland on Feb. 3. How did you all get hooked up with him? Julie Lange: Funny enough, I met his keyboard player, and he sent me some beats. And he was like, “Hey, why don’t you sing on a few of our beats?” So I was like, “OK, great.” So I did some singing for them and sent it over and made a great relationship there. A&S: So do they just call you guys up and say we want you to open for us? How does that work? J.L.: No, the talent buyer from House of Blues called and said, “Hey, [Timbaland’s] management requested that the Bright open up for Timbaland at House of Blues. So are you guys available?” Of course! We’re thrilled to be able to share the stage. A&S: A couple of your songs have been featured on The Hills and other MTV shows. How did that come about? J.L.: We played South by Southwest a couple of years ago, and there was a woman there who watched our show and asked for a CD. So I gave her a CD – she never mentioned who she was – she just took the CD. Maybe three to five months later, she called and said, “I’m the music supervisor for MTV’s The Hills, and we would love to license your entire album [In Lucid Dreams] for music in The Hills.” A&S: Wow – that’s getting a lot of mileage out of that one album. J.L.: I know – I need to write something else! A&S: Why do you think your songs work so well as soundtracks to these shows? J.L.: I think that this particular album, there is so much on there that there might be a little bit for everybody. Each song is very unique and very different. Everyone in the band has their own style, so everybody brought something to the table. So what we ended up with was a wonderful mélange of different songs, different tones, different feelings in the songs. So it’s not one of those albums that you pick up and it’s the same thing all the way through. A&S: The band does a lot of originals, but you also perform some covers. One of your go-to covers is Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir.” Why that song? J.L.: When you’re a new, up-and-coming band, sometimes doing a cover is a great way to reach your audience. When they’re sitting there listening to songs they don’t know, they want to hear something familiar. So we decided to pick a song that fit well in my vocal range, and funny enough, I have exactly the same vocal range as Robert Plant. We wanted to do something that was easy for me to sing and something that everybody agreed on. … A year or two later after playing it live, people were like, “You’ve got to record it! You’ve have to put it on the album!” So we decided to get the license for it so we could record it. A&S: Your guitarist, Kell Curtis, is also your husband. What is it like being in a band with someone you’re married to? J.L.: You know, honestly, music is the tie that binds. We first started doing music together right after 9-11. We kind of decided, you only get to live one time. We both love music passionately – why not just go for it? We’re not going to have another chance to do this. So we really committed our lives to doing music. Instead of a savings fund for college, we have music. And that really is the best thing that we could do. We both love it, we love doing it together, and we love everyone in the band. It’s very rare to have everyone in the band agree and enjoy playing together. I couldn’t imagine it any other way. The Art&Seek Q&A is a weekly discussion with a person involved in the arts in North Texas. Check back next Thursday for another installment.

The Bright follow incidental path to MTV by LSU Tiger Weekly
By Kaiya Morrison “We didn’t start as a band, we started off as professional musicians getting together to write songs,” said Julie Lange, lead vocalist for The Bright. “We started backwards. A friend of mine [Brenda Taylor] is a filmmaker, and I let her hear a song we did. She said she wanted to do a music video for us, and we weren’t even a band yet.” The video was for the their song “If You Want It,” which became an internationally recognized, award winning HD music video. “The video won 14 international awards, so we had this video before we even had an album, and that’s how we started off,” Lange explained. “It worked out really well because the video got us a lot of attention outside of the United States, so we hustled after that and wrote an album so we could package the whole thing.” The Bright then officially formed as a band in 2005. Including Lange, the band consists of members Miguel Fair (bass), Kell Curtis (guitar), Cooper Heffley (drums) and Taylor Tatsch (guitar). “When we started off, we were called Superstring,” Lange said. “We changed the name to The Bright two months ago, because of legal reasons, and it was the best decision we ever made. Sometimes it’s all in the name.” The name change coincided with the release of The Bright’s second album, “In Lucid Dreams,” which was officially released on March 22 at The House of Blues in Dallas. “We decided to start anew, with the new album coming out,” Lange explained. “We thought it would be a better name to go with our new sound.” Lange said the band’s debut album, By All Means, is greatly different from the new record. “The first album was a little harder and darker,” she said. “The new album is a little more pop and mainstream. There are more danceable tracks, and it has more of a pop sound. “We included a lot more keyboards,” she added. “Our producer, Eric Jinkins, we consider him the sixth member of the band, he really helped develop this new sound.” One of the tracks on the new album “Cemetery Street,” has already been picked up by MTV for their reality show, “The Hills.” “We met the girl who’s the MTV supervisor at South by Southwest last year,” Lange explained. “She got our music, and then a couple months later, she said she wanted to license our stuff.” The Bright has performed at South by Southwest [the largest music festival in the United States, which is held annually in Austin] every year since forming. Each visit has proved more successful than the last, and it’s all been done through unofficial showcases. “We have always played unofficial shows,” Lange said. “I believe that the free concerts and parties are more successful than the official showcases.” Being in the right place at the right time has been the underlying theme for The Bright, and they seem certain to continue pushing in the right direction. Lange said they are currently planning a summer tour, which will hopefully bring them back through Louisiana, and up the East coast. To learn more about The Bright, visit their MySpace page at www.myspace.com/thebrightband.

Dallas Morning News: Spotlight on Texas Artists by The Dallas Morning News' Mario Tarradell
Pop music: Dallas’ Tweed EQ and Arlington’s the Bright nourish the scene The Bright Formed: January 2007 Members: Julie Lange, 27, lead vocals; Kell Curtis, 43, guitar; Miguel Fair, 48, bass; Eric Jenkins, 37, keyboards; Taylor Tatsch, 30, guitar; Robert Yahne, 35, drums. Albums: 2008’s In Lucid Dreams, 2011’s Objects of My Affection. Sound: Dreamy melodies layered over rock rhythms and pop hooks. There’s an international flair, definitely a British rock ambience that mingles with an American pop punch. Origin of that sound: “All of us are absolutely enamored with British rock because it has a little more exploration to it, and the dreaminess comes in,” Curtis says before mentioning Cocteau Twins, Radiohead , the Police, the Cars, Elbow and Pink Floyd as major influences. “That is a common bond, the wash-all-over-you sound, the airiness.” “Each of us has a niche we enjoy in that broad spectrum of British rock ’n’ roll,” Lange says. “If you take one person out of this band, it would change the sound of this band.” The North Texas music scene: “It’s not easy,” Curtis says. “It depends highly on your relationships and building credibility. We are easing up that ladder.” “It’s hard to pair us with other bands,” Lange says. “We are not like other rock bands.” Tatsch concurs: “We love to explore layers of guitars, vocals and keyboards in the studio. There is not a lot of dreaminess in American bands.”

DMN CD Review "Objects of My Affection" by The Dallas Morning News' Mario Tarradell
CD Review Artist: The Bright Album: Objects of My Affection Grade: A - Label: The Bright Music Dreamy pop takes melodic rock for a wind-swept drive down an open road on Objects of My Affection, the second full-length disc by Arlington band the Bright. Tracks such as the intoxicatingly catchy “Over and Over” and the ethereal ballads “Diving for Stars” and “When I’m Lost” instantly draw the sonic parameters of this group fronted by captivating vocalist Julie Lange. For sheer punch, click over to “10 Hearts” and “Save the Night.” This is beautiful, entrancing stuff.

SXSW 2012: Dallas' The Bright by The Dallas Morning News' Mario Tarradell
SXSW 2012: Dallas' The Bright dreams up a beguiling show at Bar Louie By Mario Tarradell / Music Critic mtarradell@dallasnews.com | 2:39 AM on Sun., Mar. 18, 2012 Julie Lange likes to pour on the drama. Her stage gestures flow and slam creating a beguiling hybrid of angelic songstress and devilish temptress. And when her voice soars the combination takes the song to a higher level. That was particularly the case during the two closing numbers, "Charmed" and "Diving for Stars," a pair of tour-de-force performances. Lange and her band mates in the Bright, that Dallas band with the enchanting dreamy pop-rock sound, inaugurated Austin's Bar Louie with a 90-minute set Saturday night. Amid diners and revelers loudly enjoying drinks, the six-member group kept the crowd's attention at the rear of the venue. The repertoire mixed Bright originals with choice covers; both were well-received. For every irresistible homegrown tune such as "Save the Night" and "The Shot," we got a sensual, alt-rock take on Sade's "No Ordinary Love" and a sexy, grinding rendition of Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir." That one boasted ripping guitar work by Kell Curtis and Taylor Tatsch, as well as pounding drum mastery from Robert Yahne. Deep Fall," also a Bright composition, swayed alluringly as Eric Jenkins' keyboards glided alongside Miguel Fair's steady bass. Jenkins was the man with the magic fingers during a cover of Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets." The Bright members played it smart during the gig. By interspersing their own material, which might fall on deaf ears, with classics everybody knows they insured love for, say, "Over and Over" and "Leave You Wanting." By the end of the concert, their version of Echo and the Bunnymen's "Lips Like Sugar" felt like it was a Bright staple.

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