If you have not heard of Blond Bones, it would seem like a safe bet that you will soon.
“Have you seen what Taylor Swift’s doing?” Joe Rebrovick (vocals and mandolin) asked.
“You ever heard of Ice Cube? We want to make the next ‘Friday,’” added Christian Barnett (vocals, guitar, drums and bass).
With high aspirations, Blond Bones is a somewhat recent addition to the Knoxville music scene. The two have that kind of quick-witted, comedic chemistry that good friends have — offering the above in speculation of where they see Blond Bones down the road.
Originally from Nashville, the two actually met in Knoxville about five years ago. Each musician has his own lengthy history with music, but Blond Bones has been in existence for around a year and essentially came about from a market demand.
“We were playing weddings and stuff for friends, and then somebody said, ‘Hey, I’ll pay you 300 bucks to do this thing,’” Rebrovick said. “And it was like, ‘Wait a minute, we can do this and make money at it?’ Then it turned into a serious endeavor.”
The pair did not take long to get down to business, quickly turning to Rebrovick’s sister for some advice.
“(Rebrovick’s) sister works for Warner Brothers, so I called her up one day and I was like, ‘Yo, what do I need to do to be an artist?’” Barnett joked. “That’s a generalization; we talked for a while.”
Following that Warner Brothers conversation, they knew it was time to get into the studio and get started on recording an EP. Objective outlined, Barnett and Rebrovick already had in mind the sound they hoped to achieve, and they knew the perfect place to help them achieve it.
“We played a gig in the Historic Southern Railway Station’s grand ballroom, and the sound was really cool,” Rebrovick said. “You didn’t need amplification. You could sing quietly, and it would fill up the whole room.”
The decision to use a Knoxville location for a recording space seemed natural for Blond Bones.
“It’s very much a Knoxville sound that we were going for,” Barnett explained.
The two agree that they both listen to a lot of music and pull from a multitude of musical styles, which helps to foster a unique and interesting listening experience — one that they ascribe to the “alternative” genre.
A brief conversation with Rebrovick and Barnett makes it more than apparent that they are deeply passionate and devoted to their musicianship.
“Music is magic, and there’s something really, really special about it,” Rebrovick said. “And to be able to create that and share it with friends, well there’s nothing better than that in my opinion.”
Barnett explained that for himself, music is very much a reciprocal thing.
“When I hear a really great piece, or I hear a really good guitarist or a really good flute player and they connect with me, my immediate response in my head is like, ‘I want to give back,’” he said. “I want to somehow establish communication with that person.”
Blonde Bones EP “Few of Days” was released at the end of February, and since then, the band has begun to garnish a fair amount of attention – including landing a number of gigs between now and this summer. Touring, playing, writing and promotion are all on the horizon for the duo, with songs for their next EP already beginning to marinate.
Both Rebrovick and Barnett are excited to share their music with the Knoxville community and beyond, but they seem to agree this is as good a place as any to launch their career.
“I think anything arts related is difficult to have your voice stand out amongst other great artists, writers, painters, etc,” Barnett said, “but I think Knoxville’s been really great to us.”
