Brock Geiger is Making Waves and Drinking Lemonade
Photo Credit: Jen Schier
Shifting away from the sidelines and into the limelight, Brock Geiger is a name that gets tossed around within the Calgary music scene. Whether it’s playing synths in Eye of Newt, the electronic swirls of Étamine, or collaborating with Samantha Savage Smith to name a few, Brock is making a meaningful impact on the sounds coming out of our city. A multi-instrumentalist and producer, Brock has been featured on over fifty records across a multitude of genres. Stepping out of the shadows of production, Brock ventured to the legendary Sound City Studio’s in LA with long time collaboration Will Maclelland who has worked with the likes of Boy Genius and Phoebe Bridgers.
With his first single, ‘Steps Taken’ under his belt, Geiger released ‘Lemonade’– a groovy, indie rock track swirled with Brock’s signature rhythmic production. After his short trip out east for PopMTL, I had a chance to chat with Brock Geiger about his single and what his plans are for the rest of the year.
REVERIE: Hey Brock! Thanks for chatting with me. I know you’ve been a huge part of Calgary’s music scene. What led you to want to pursue your solo project?
Thanks for this! I'm lucky to play and have played with a ton of great people here in Calgary- it's a tight little scene. A lot of what I've done has always been super collaborative over the years. Most of my writing was always being filtered towards those projects, predominantly my band Raleigh. Over the course of the pandemic when absolutely everything hit the brakes and I wasn't touring and being pulled a million directions, I suddenly had a lot of time to be intentional with what I wanted to create. Writing and producing my own music during that time was a necessary outlet and safe haven and continues to serve that purpose. While it can be like treading water alone in a big dark abyss sometimes, it's also liberating to make decisions and chase down ideas just because I want to.
REVERIE: Congrats on your recent single release, Lemonade! What inspired your songwriting process for the track?
Thanks! Lemonade is one of my favs from the batch. The line, "I would wrap my lips around your lemonade" was the first thing to be scribbled down for this song. I liked the alliteration, and the sexiness of the imagery was kind of hilarious to me. Something about the cadence and imagery made me know the song needed to move and groove. The "would" part of the statement also left the door open for answering the why not. The rest of the lyrical themes come from grappling with facing deception and working through hard truths.
REVERIE: Did you have any themes you wanted to explore in the release?
The theme with presenting the track became all about lemons! I had this video concept for rival lemonade stands rattling around in my head since the song was written. It was super fun to bring it to life with a big crew of friends. I like being able to juxtapose some of the darker lyric themes with visuals that are fun and colorful.
REVERIE: You have another single you released back in July, “Steps Taken” and you have an incoming 7” record with both your recent singles. What drew you to have your singles pressed on vinyls?
I'm a die hard fan of music that can be experienced in physical format. It's a total treat to get to put out this ltd edition 7" with Red Spade Records. I love Robyn's ethos with the short run, lathe cut records & it was a dream come true to fully realize the package with screen printed covers that my partner Jen designed and printed. Feels meaningful to put the music out in a way where we have control over every aspect and are making something unique and original by hand.
REVERIE: What’s next in store for Brock Geiger for the rest of the year? Do you have plans for an upcoming EP/LP release? Tours?
There's a bunch more music coming down the pipes. We're going to drop another single to keep up with the Jones' or whatever everyone's doing these days. There's a full length record finished too.. just working out some release details- but keep eyes peeled. Currently in conversation for tours in Europe and Japan, so that'll also be something to look forward to when the record drops!
‘Lemonade’/’Steps Taken’ is out now on limited edition 7” vinyl - pick it up here and check out the video down below!