Aric Chase Damm is the lead
singer of The Brevet, an alternative
rock band from Orange County, California. He joined us as our featured guest on
Episode 70 of the Agents of Innovation podcast. Life has taken Damm on an
unforeseen road, but time and again, everything kept leading him back to music.
Before he formed a band, he
wanted to become an actor. However, before he started acting, he was a high
school football player.
“Theater
was not what I wanted to do,” he said. His school football career was ended
when he tore his labrum in his hip. It was then that he took theater as an
elective. The theater teacher took a liking to him and would persuade him to
consider roles in various productions. He was good and enjoyed doing this,
including singing in musicals on stage, and working with vocal coaches to
improve.
“It’s
weird how life works,” said Damn. He advised our listeners to be open to “shifting
when things need to shift” and to “be fluid when you need to be fluid.”
During
college, Damm continued to pursue acting and was involved in various student
films, where he took on a role of writing film scores. He and his friend
Michael Jones then formed the band, The Brevet.
In their
early years as a band, The Brevet played very few live shows and instead
focused on writing songs for films and commercial licensing, where they
achieved much success. At this point he
said, “I’m not writing jingles … I’m just writing songs that I feel with my
acting background could fit in television and film.”
But then, in 2016, they were invited to play The Rock Boat, which bills itself as “the world’s greatest floating music festival.” It was there that they encountered so many live music fans and felt called to transition to playing more live music shows. Following that experience, they picked up a new lead guitarist, John Kingsley, who helped them deliver a better live music experience for their growing base of fans. They were invited back on The Rock Boat in 2020 and many fans felts like they experienced an even better, more improved set of performances from The Brevet.
The
biggest thing that Aric Damm has brought to The Brevet from his other
experiences in theater, film, and the arts is storytelling, which he also learned
from his dad. “I grew up in a creative family and watched how [my dad] told
stories through painting.”
While The Brevet
hits the road to tour, Aric Damm offsets his time on the road with writing and
also as a certified personal fitness trainer for a gym called F45.
“It’s a
breath of fresh air for me,” said Damm. “I go through ebbs and flows. I’ll be
super, super into writing and I’ll want to do a bunch and then, at times, I
want to take a step back and I’m not as inspired as I’d like to be so I kind of
put it on the backburner.”
He also
takes his fitness on the road. “Clearing your mind, I think it’s a really
healthy thing – to have a balance and focusing on health and getting blood
flowing in the morning – is an important thing for me.”
Damm is
also a history buff and has a particular interest in the American Revolution
and Civil War. In fact, the name “The Brevet” refers to a military rank awarded
to individuals who went above and beyond the call of duty without any
expectation of extra monetary compensation. They took on this name because they
believe “The Brevet traditionally act out of their passion for and dedication
to music.”
The hard
work ethic Damm has was formed in his first two jobs as a teenager, including
at an ice cream store and then while working a construction job in the summer
with his grandparents’ company. “Learning that trait of actual hard labor and
what it takes to get a paycheck, understand what your value of money actually
is … that’s the hard work you have to put in to get that – it just kind of put
me in a mindset of how hard I need to work in order to get what I want in life,”
said Damm. “It taught me a foundational skill and not taking things for granted
and understanding what it takes – an appreciation and gratitude, and nothing
comes for free, and nothing is given to you, and if you do have an opportunity
and something falls into your lap, be grateful for it instead of focusing on
the negative of what you don’t have.”
Damm also spoke
about his love for Elvis Presley. “I grew up loving Elvis … being in awe of his
voice, of how he plays, of his performances, his showmanship,” he said. The
Brevet has produced two Elvis cover songs, “Hound Dog” and “Devil in Disguise.”
The last one is a cover they produced for a documentary, An Open Secret, which is focused
on child prostitution in Hollywood. The song is even featured
in the trailer for the film.
While out
on tour, The Brevet use social media creatively to stay engaged with their
fans. For example, on their
Instagram account, the produce what they call “tour diaries.” Damm describes
these as a way of “not taking ourselves so serious … it’s about having fun and
showing them a little bit of the self-deprecating side of what we do.”
The Brevet
have just produced a new album and will be releasing the first single on March
27. They have decided to not release the full album at once, but to drop out
one single at a time as they begin their tour.
“Nowadays
we live in a time where it’s the instant gratification world and,
unfortunately, as much as I love albums – and we will put an album out with all
of these songs – people don’t consume it that way anymore, unfortunately,” said
Damm. “As much as people want to disagree with that, data shows that you want
to have people consuming one single at a time. If we put out a record, a lot of
the songs would go a little bit unlooked. We want to give each song the time
that it deserves, so in order to do that I feel like you want to focus on each
one individually … people can watch us grow as these songs develop and take
shape as a new mature Brevet.”
Aric Damm is
building a life upon The Brevet. You can listen to the full interview by tuning into Episode 70 of the
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