After his scheduled gig in Dundee was postponed in June due to illness, Brian Christinzio promised fans he would be back.
And this week, Brian, known as BC Camplight, is making good on his promise with a show at Beat Generator.
Ten years ago, Brian fled to northern England from Philadelphia to escape addiction issues among other problems.
Since then, he has put out a succession of albums that allude to struggles with mental illness and personal crises, fashioned with a sound somewhere between late ’60s Beach Boys and Sparks’ irony-laden synth-pop.
This autumn, he heads out with a full band to play prestigious venues including London’s Shepherds Bush Empire, but he originally decided to begin promoting his latest album with a tour of more intimate spaces that allow him to visit towns and cities he otherwise might not reach.
‘Writing horrific music that sounded like Elton’
This small-scale format has long been a staple of Brian’s touring life – more usually accompanied by driver and tour manager – since he started out playing in South Jersey coffee shops, the Manchester-based performer explains.
“It was how I grew up and got good at what I do,” he says. “When I was really young, singing Elton John covers and writing horrific music that sounded like Elton, I was out on my own, learning how to work crowds.
“I just like really involving the audience, being self-deprecating and making them laugh. I like my shows to be events.”
So not only do Brian’s performances promise devastatingly personal lyrics and virtuoso keyboard skills, but also stand-up level wit.
“This surprises people,” he admits, “but it’s my natural mode. I have to adjust to not having a band around me and it just enables more freedom. It makes me feel good about myself, that I’m worthwhile.
“I loathe standard stage banter – it’s so goddamn boring. I like talking to the audience like I’m talking to my friends, like we’re in the bar trying to make each other laugh.”
Brian is on the road following the release of current album Last Rotation of Earth, which to his surprise made it to 31 in the album charts last month. Indeed, its success may cause him to rethink plans to end his 18-year career.
“I wasn’t planning on doing another one; I’ve been through the wringer,” he reveals.
“I still don’t know if I’m doing another one. I’m probably not, but it’s having a life of its own, so I have some thoughts. I may stick around.”
Break-up with fiancée inspired album
Part of the album’s impact is down to Brian’s richly detailed arrangements, some involving members of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, that actually sound like film scores – an intentional feature, its creator reveals.
“I wanted people listening to this album to feel like they were watching a movie,” he says. “Sometimes it’s over-the-top and tongue-in-cheek, but I take pride in my production.”
Brian’s ambition came from Last Rotation’s melancholy subject matter: last year, he broke up with his partner, then fiancée, of nine years and ended up in a hotel where he was inspired to write.
Such was the impact of this break-up, the songwriter actually scrapped an album’s worth of material already written, though Brian has refused to present us instead with a mopey set of miserable ballads.
“I wanted to approach it from a different, more human angle,” he explains. “We’re complicated people and I wanted it to feel funny, have relief, anguish, drama and happiness.
“When I put it together, I thought, let’s write characters into the songs and pretend it’s a movie with its own film score.”
Anyone familiar with Brian’s work can’t help but consider this a case of déjà vu all over again: after making his home in the UK, he was ejected over visa issues, inspiring 2018’s highly praised album Deportation Blues.
Just before that record dropped, the death of Brian’s father saw him suffer a breakdown, events that caused him to achieve even greater creative heights two years later with its follow-up Shortly After Takeoff.
Music aficionados have long argued over whether the greatest creations arise from the bleakest despair or darkest mental anguish, and while long a sceptic, Brian is coming round to that way of thinking.
“I always thought that was bulls***, but sometimes you have to look at things as a scientist. When you go through trauma like break-ups, these are pretty universal things that resonate with people. And you can’t fake that.
“Like I said, I’d written an album a year ago that wasn’t good. It was the first time I’d done a record that was worse than the one before.
“So when my partner left me, one of the first things I thought was ‘Man, this album’s going to be good’.”
And so it has proved.
BC Camplight plays Beat Generator, Dundee, September 6 2023.
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