Dan Kert, singer and guitarist of London indie rock band Plastic Barricades tackling the latest questions from OriginalRock following the release of “For the Brave:
There are a lot of themes & influences that run throughout ‘For the Brave’, however how would you describe the meaning of the track, to someone who is just listening to it for the first time?
Today we all find ourselves in a bizarre and distorted world, with a lot of suffering delivered to us in a 24/7 news cycle. “For the Brave” is a song about summoning courage to get out of bed each day, carry on carrying on.
When did the idea for the song first come about, and what were some of those early ideas for the track?
This song, or at least it’s initial structure, chord progression and melody were gifted to me by a Gibson J45 acoustic guitar that I bought in 2020. The world was locked away due to the global pandemic and we couldn’t find the key. Sometimes songs appear out of thin air and all we songwriters need to do is to be the transmitters.
And then, how did it grow into the final track that we hear now?
Arranging a raw song into an album track is probably my favourite time in the studio. I could hear strings in the choruses in my head straight away. Same with the lead guitars and backing vocals. As I said, if I manage to let caution go and stop overthinking things, the song writes itself. All I have to do is hit record and play along.
You’ve once again put together a great music video with, ‘For the Brave’? Can you tell us a bit about how it came together, and what it means to you?
I always wanted to make a stop-motion music video and it felt like “For the Brave” is the right candidate for that. Our art director and DOP Elina Pasok found this list of regrets that people have on their deathbeds. That lead to the notion, that we all face that one life-changing phone call at some point. A brilliant London artist and good friend Olly Holovchenko proposed we start drawing the negative emotions and then add colour and transform them into positive ones. It is a video about the struggles and decisions. We are all quite proud of the results and I think it has its own unique spot on our growing collection of music video weirdness.
The artwork is also really interesting! Can you tell us about how it came together, and how you think it links to the track?
In my head, hot air balloons have always been symbols of bravery and adventure and self-discovery. I hope we get to shoot a music video in a hot air balloon some day soon!
How would you say that this track compares to the Plastic Barricades material that has come before it?
This is a tricky question. Each song has its own story, so it is hard to compare them. All I can say is that our third album is much more introverted compared to the first one.
What else can we expect to see from Plastic Barricades in 2023? You have your new album ‘We Stayed Indoors’ on the horizon?
We are very elated to announce that our third album “We Stayed Indoors” will be out on the 30th of November. Expect more unique and bizarre music videos and acoustic versions of the album tracks towards the end of the year. This album means a whole lot to me personally. These songs helped me through a tough time and I hope they can do the same for our fans around the world.
“FOR THE BRAVE” music video: https://youtu.be/UoatNeoP3N8
“SECOND-HAND DREAMS” music video: https://youtu.be/mhfeqy6bxGQ
“COUNTING FIREWORKS” music video: https://youtu.be/qAMLnWjA6yI
“LUCID IN THE FALL” music video: https://youtu.be/wVUmD3T0kLU
“TALLEST TREES” music video: https://youtu.be/sj3t7BwNg6s
SPOTIFY: https://spoti.fi/3DTypeC
APPLE: https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/plastic-barricades/430372560
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/plasticbarricades