In its roughly five years of existence, Dallas band The Bright has gotten some airplay on a handful of U.S. stations. More impressive is this stat: The band's music has been featured on seven MTV programs, including The Hills.
Recently The Bright lit up the stage at House of Blues for the Dallas Rocks! local music showcase, and they also recently rocked the opening set for Timbaland on that same stage.
From left: Taylor Tatsch (guitar, vocals), Kell Curtis (lead guitar), Julie Lange (lead vocals), Bobby Yahne (drums), Miguel Fair (bass), Eric Jenkins (keyboards).
In addition to MTV’s The Hills, Parental Control, Seven, Made and Teen Cribs, The Bright’s music has been featured on Fox Sports’ Vizio Profiles and on the latest season of The Real L Word, accompanying a rather steamy scene in a swimming pool.
The Bright got MTV’s attention a few years ago when they performed at SXSW in Austin. “We met a music programming director in a bar there,” says guitarist Kell Curtis. “Our first CD sat in her car for, like, six months, and then they reached out to us and used our music.”
With their foot in the door at MTV, it was easy for the band to get the programmers to pay attention to their 2011 LP, Objects of my Attention.
Miguel Fair on bass.
The Bright vocalist Julie Lange sings with her body nearly as much as her voice. Her limbs flail fluidly, and she appears to use her movement to help deliver vocally.
“I was an opera major in college, at TCU, with a minor in theater,” says Lange, who has been singing opera since she was 8. “When you do opera, it’s a little bit static, so you have to use that motion.”
“I think I’m a horrible dancer, but I love dance!” Lange says. “When I rehearse alone, I move all the furniture off the carpet, and I just dance and sing. But that’s just my crazy thing.”
Julie Lange doesn’t take a single show for granted. “Earlier in my life, I went through some pretty major back surgeries,” she says. “At one point they said I might wake up and never be able to walk again. Every performance needs to be treated like it could be the last. So why not express physically, emotionally, vocally? That’s what I try to do.”
The Bright has enjoyed a lot of great breaks for a local band: MTV, Showtime, well-crafted music videos. So what next?
“We have a new album coming out in the summer, but it’s a little early to say anything else about it just yet,” Lange says. “I can tell you that … our last album was sort of about hope. And this one, well, this one is more about arriving and saying, ‘Here we are.’"
"We can’t pretend to be anything else but who we are right now,” says lead singer Julie Lange.
To check out The Bright, including their music videos, visit the band's website.
