BrenNO (Brenna Hilby)

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Siena: So who is BreNO?

Brenna: Well, right now I’m playing with my boyfriend and his friend. All the songs are written by me but I think I’m going to try and make a new band soon.

S: Who are your inspirations?

B: Can I just say artists that I like?

S: Sure, you can list both. First lets do influences.

B: Okay so [my] influences are The Cramps (I really like The Cramps), La Luz (they’re like a girl surf rock band from Seattle). Hold on, I’m just gonna look at my Spotify real quick. Okay, I really like Cherry Glazerr (obviously), and normal stuff like The Pixies and Ty Segal.

S: Okay now bands you like.

B: Ah there are so many. I really like (obviously not an influence) Death Grips, I love Slowdive and my Bloody Valentine (like a lot of shoegaze stuff), Metz, and Speedy Ortiz (is cool.)

S: When did you first get in to playing music?

B: Probably when I was about 7 I started kinda playing guitar. I got really into it when I was 11. I was into this band Silversun Pickups for a while and that was kinda the turning point when I was like ‘I can totally do this.’ And it’s become kinda what I live for.

S: How did you get in to singing as well as guitar?

B: Singing just kinda happened along with playing. My family is relatively musical but singing was a natural thing that came along with guitar.

S: When did you decide to actually make a name for yourself and start playing for the public?

B: I got into a lot of really stupid bands, a lot a bands that were just having fun. My goal was to just do stuff and not take myself too seriously. I just listen to a lot of musical all the time. All the time. And it made me realize that I wanted to put myself out there and after experiencing the ATL DIY community I found that every one was just so cool and supportive, and I loved playing with people that I know. Music is just a really integral part of my life.

S: So tell me about your EP Demos.

B: The second track on the EP was written, produced and created by me, but all the other ones are recorded with other people. But it’s kinda bare and doesn’t have a lot of space, which is why I don’t really like it. But this was was me just having fun, it was really simple and that was my goal.

S: What was it like creating the EP?

The process was pretty easy. I just wrote very simply structured songs and recorded them and that was pretty much it.

S: Why an EP rather than a full album?

B: I had already written songs and I didn’t want to do a full album because that seems like you’re taking yourself too seriously too early on, so I’m just going to keep making EPs, and I feel like that’s how you start off anyways, just making little stuff.

S: So you’ve played at Wonderoot a couple times, how was that?

B: Well, that’s one of the venues in Atlanta that a lot of younger people play at and [they’re] a non-profit venue, which is really cool and I found that it was pretty easy to book there. I think it was a good place to start and now I feel like I can pretty much play there whenever I want.

S: Finally, how would you describe your music?

I dunno like bad garage rock. I mean, right now that’s what it is. God bless America.

…Can you put that last part in there?

S: I’ll put it somewhere. 

B: Good.