Review Fix Exclusive: The King of Mars’ John Bruner Talks Creative Process And More

December 8, 2018 Patrick Hickey Jr. Music 0

Review Fix chats with The King of Mars’ John Bruner, who discusses the band’s origin and goals for the future.

Review Fix: How did the project start?

John Bruner: The King of Mars started while I (John Bruner) was attending Columbia College Chicago. I met our lead guitarist, Matt Gordon, through a guitar class at school and started showing him some songs I’d been writing. Then he introduced me to our bass player, JJ Frale and from there we started adding members until we could barely fit on a stage anymore.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Bruner: I write the chord progressions on guitar and make the vocal melodies and lyrics before I show the rest of the band. From there, the band fills in around my song and to complete it. Then I usually get a rough recording of the band playing the new song and send it out to Jason Deran who writes our horn arrangements.

Review Fix: What’s your standout song? How was it written?

Bruner: Our standout song is, “For a Ride.” I came up with the main riff on guitar a couple years before we even started recording it. We had the song completed and had been playing it live for about a year before we decided to revise it before we went to the studio. I ended up writing completely new lyrics and we changed a few parts in the song until we had the version that’s on the new album, “Bleach and Aspirin.”

Review Fix: What are your goals for 2018?

Bruner: Our main goal for 2018 was to release our new album, “Bleach and Aspirin,” which came out on October 26th! Now we’re working on promoting it and getting it out to as many people as possible. That’s what we’re going to focus on in 2019.

Review Fix: How do you want your music to affect people?

Bruner: I just want our music to move the listener in some way, shape or form. When I listen to a great song or album, the lyrics or the chords make me feel some type of emotion, whether it be sadness, happiness, nostalgia, etc. As long as our songs are inspiring, comforting or motivating our listeners then I’ll be content.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Bruner: Up next, we’ll be playing shows in the major midwest cities to promote our new album. We’re playing with our good friends, Melophobix in Chicago at Bourbon on Division on December 14th and then we’ll be heading to Muskegon, MI to play Unruly Brewing with Melophobix on December 15th. Check out the new album, “Bleach and Aspirin” on all major streaming/download platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music! 

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13884 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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