Bryans Hit A Chord
The Bryan Bros Band breaks through with a win
By Beth Rifkin
To those of us entrenched in the tennis world the names ‘Bob and Mike’ are as familiar as ‘Roger and Rafa’, and are synonymous with phrases like ‘the Bryan brothers’ or even ‘top men’s doubles team’, but to a bouncer in San Francisco who’s busy checking ID’s, managing ticket holders, confirming guest-lister’s, and keeping track of those going in and out for a smoke, the term is greeted with a confused response of “Who?”. Right, it’s a bar, not a tennis tournament.
That was at Café DuNord in San Francisco, California, which at first glance might not look like a gateway to the future for top world ranked professional tennis players, but it is. Step inside and the stage reveals an astonishing example of how talent reaches beyond the court as the Bryan Bros Band, which includes Bob and Mike Bryan along with front-man David Baron, are well into a high energy dance-driven performance in front of a sold-out audience ahead of the SAP Open.
We all know what the identical twin-Bryan brothers can do on a tennis court, having won eight Grand Slam championships, completing a career Grand Slam, earning an Olympic Bronze medal, and finishing five of the last seven seasons in the No. 1 spot – something accomplished only once before in doubles history. And you may think you know what they can do on a stage, considering they’ve held shows at tournaments around the world, provided music for the ATP’s Doubles Revolution TV commercial and music for Tennis Channel’s episode of “No Strings” on which they were featured. But this is different; the debut of their new CD Let It Rip, which contains all original music, lands the band at the threshold of a superlative musical voyage. The five songs completed thus far are filled with acoustic soul-inspiring lyrics, upbeat tempos and a strong pop sound. Not “tennis-players-wanna-be-musicians”, these guys are the real deal.
DuNord was only the second time the Bryan Bros Band performed their original music to a live audience, the first having been just several days prior at the infamous Viper Room in Los Angeles. With Bob on keyboards, Mike on guitar, David on lead-vocals and special guest Jim Bogios of the Counting Crows on drums, the two shows were a dream come true for the Bryan brothers. The whole venture was made possible by the practically destined meeting of David, who at 25 has the stage presence of seasoned pro, and is himself an amalgamation of music and tennis. Along with being a classically trained pianist, guitar player and talented singer, David is the son of Delray Beach tournament director Mark Baron. A little over a year ago David’s cover of Dave Matthews song #41 blew Bob and Mike away. Despite having never met, they asked David to perform at their charity gala, which serves to raise money for underprivileged youth in Ventura County.
A fast friendship emerged and the three ended up performing together at the charity event, something suggested by David after jamming together in the Bryan brothers garage-turned-music-studio, “They were a hit, they blew everyone away that night,” says David, who like the Bryan brothers is also a Stanford alum.
Soon after Bob and Mike had the incredible opportunity of playing on stage with the Counting Crows during their encore in front of 30,000 fans, “I’ve never been so nervous before doing something and been so happy after!” explains Bob, “It was something that we dreamed about, being up there on stage… we couldn’t stop smiling for a week.” Mike adds, “That rush! We thought this feels pretty good, let’s keep going with it and see where it goes.”
Bob and Mike’s ability as musicians shouldn’t really come as a surprise since they’ve been playing music almost as long as they’ve been playing tennis. “We always loved music! It’s a huge passion – it’s in our blood.” Literally, as their father, Wayne Bryan, who went to high school with the Beach Boys in Hawthorne, California, is a main inspiration. “When we were kids our father’s band always came over to rehearse and the equipment would be left in our house. No television, so after tennis Dad would teach us songs, mostly classic rock n’ roll tunes,” says Bob. Performing live soon followed, as Mike explains, “When we were around 6 or 7 our Dad’s band would play at street fair’s and he would say to the crowd, ‘does anyone out there know how to play Louie Louie’ or ‘My Girl’ and we’d walk out and say ‘yeah, we do’…everyone loved it!”
What most view as a simple formula these days – write songs, record them on GarageBand and then perform – in reality is a complex, time-consuming and even a bit precarious, endeavor, especially if you want it done right. It’s also where being a top tennis pro comes into play “When you’re number one in the world at anything you are a brilliant person and you have the capacity to learn and work really hard,” says David. “All the hard work and dedication that is needed for tennis also applies to music,” says Bob, “Never wavering, always remaining positive and believing in yourself and the work. Those two performances were the result of hundreds of hours of writing, rehearsing and playing.”
The title track of their debut CD was written in a hotel room during the 2009 SAP Open, “It was decent so we continued with it,” says Mike. Several more songs followed; while travelling to tournaments files were sent back and forth between the Bryan brothers and David and production sessions took place over Skype. “It’s amazing how David can take lyrics and chords that we send him and turn it into a beautiful song,” Bob says. The finished product is a fun upbeat, pop rock CD influenced by the musicians that they all admire – Dave Matthews, John Mayer, Maroon 5 and Jason Mraz.
Applying the same calculated risk-taking logic that helped them rise to the top in tennis, the Bryan Bros. Band fronted the recording sessions with their own money. At a rented professional studio in Los Angeles they settled in for what would be an incredibly challenging yet satisfying learning experience, “It took two 12-hour days to lay down the drum tracks on four songs. In tennis if you mess up you can just play the next point, but with music you have to start over, yet stay on budget,” says Mike, “Its art and it is tough to get perfect. You have to have everyone on the same page and the perception of the project has to be in synch.”
Performing also took the top players out of their comfort zone, “It’s not as natural as tennis yet; there’s still a lot of thinking going up there on stage,” says Mike. “We are used to the crowds in tennis, but we’re not at that point yet with the music. We don’t want to screw up,” Bob adds. Still, the two California shows went a long way to help legitimize the band, as Mike explains, “playing our own stuff was different, we can play covers all day but you have a lot of pride in your own stuff, so to see people singing along was very cool.”
What’s next? The convergence continues; along with lofty goals in tennis, the band aspires to come out with a full-length album within the next six months. More immediately, the song Open My Heart, a tribute to Andre Agassi, will be released within the next few weeks. “We’re huge fans; as kids we had posters of Agassi all over our bedroom’s,” Bob explains, “He’s always been supportive of us so when he was taking a lot of heat when his book came out we wanted to give something back to him.”
The Bryan Bros. Band will also be performing in almost every city where they’ll be playing a tournament on the ATP Tour. After which, there won’t be a bouncer alive that when hearing their names says, “Who?”. Well, maybe a few less anyway.
Let It Rip is available on itunes
For more information www.bryanbrosband.com
February 2010
