History edit
Lead singer and guitarist Gregory Ferreira was born and raised in Boston and started playing the guitar professionally at age nine. As a seasoned producer and audio engineer, Gregory moved to Brooklyn in 2006 and started Live by the Sword Studio. While living in Brooklyn, Gregory recorded his first solo album, The Suitcase Album, played with Missing Ships, and since has worked on a variety of jazz and hip hop projects alongside other musicians.
Gregory met Matt Lon Vor, Erik Naslund, Rudy Temp, and Ben Teters and collaborated with them to start a band. Matt played the soprano saxophone and clarinet, Erik played bass guitar while Rudy played slide guitar and all three worked in unison in providing background vocals. The release of the video for Graffiti of the Young Man's Mind, the title track from their debut album, sought to capture the themes associated with the mind of an adolescent experiencing detachment from their environment, drugs and escapism.[1][2]
Director and fashion photographer Catherine Westergaard and Dale Krupla produced the film within two weeks while collaborating with the band for New York fashion week to do an event called Fashionably Late. Catherine later would do an interview with Royal Young chronicling her experiences with the C24 gallery opening, for which she debuted the Graffiti of the Young Man's Mind video.[3]
As an up-and-coming local band, the artists sought to build a name for themselves and largely found their calling in street art. Gregory and Rudy would sell city maps and paintings along Bedford Ave in Williamsburg.[4]
The band also invested in their brand by opening an alternative mall called the Rock n’ Shop.[5] The mall offered free live performances from yours truly for all ages, free food and drinks, arts and crafts and tattoos and haircuts.[6]
In 2017, The Bushwick Hotel released their single Show You the Way. Thereafter, they released their EP, Hard Times. The band played their record with 6-time Grammy Award winner Joey Williams of the Blind Boys of Alabama and Robert Randolph. Dale Krupla directed the video for Kristina, one of the records from the EP, shot in Phoenix and Brooklyn by Scott Irvine and Kim Menelt. Consequently, they landed the 4th spot on Billboard's Next Big Sound Chart.[7]
References edit
- ^ "MPFree: The Bushwick Hotel - Graffiti of the Young Man's Mind". Lauren Laverne. 22 January 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ "The Bushwick Hotel is more than just music - On the weekends bandmates from the Brooklyn-based rock group The Bushwick Hotel join the lineup of Bedford Avenue street vendors drinking sangria meeting with droves of young artists and selling paintin..." www.queensledger.com. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ Ramirez, Carlos (12 November 2013). "Bushwick Hotel, 'Graffiti of the Young Man's Mind' - Exclusive Album Stream". Diffuser.fm. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ "Recording Studio Sweet Spot: Live By the Sword – Bushwick, Brooklyn". SonicScoop. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ "Check out these awesome photos from the Rock n' Shop flea market". Time Out New York. 14 October 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ Hobbs, Allegra (21 September 2015). "Daddy cool! Band creates new hipster market for 'rock dads'". Brooklyn Paper. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ "The Bushwick Hotel". Billboard. Retrieved 25 February 2019.