The Front Bottoms’ Brian Sella announces debut solo album & shows with Emperor X

3 weeks ago 14

The Front Bottoms vocalist/guitarist Brian Sella has announced his debut solo album, Well I Mean, which is coming out under the name Sella on March 13 via The Front Bottoms’ former label home Bar/None. It was produced by Chad Matheny of Emperor X, who Brian first met back when they toured together in 2013 in The Front Bottoms’ old Econoline van. Chad now lives in Berlin and co-owns the DIY jazz club Donau 115, where Brian recorded lead Well I Mean single “Perfect Worth It” live. With the airy horns that complement Brian’s usual folky indie-emo style, you can feel the influence of that club and Emperor X’s own genre-defying style creeping in.

“I’m a poet first and foremost, so my focus is always on communicating something emotionally and artistically,” Brian says. “In this song, the lyrics explore ideas of distance and control – the space between people, both mentally and physically, stretched across space and time. It’s about the control you have over yourself, the control others have over you, and how much of that is shaped by perception.”

Sella and Emperor X are also playing some US shows together in March, and Emperor X has a new song out today too called “Pissing With the Flashlight On.”

“I wrote this song on the night of November 25 and morning of November 26 in a hotel and bomb shelter in Kharkiv,” Chad says. “There were yellow flashes in the sky, and two deafening booms I will never forget. Four people were killed. I was in town to record the new Emperor X record, /Unified Field/, with some friends. I hope my short song puts a smile on a few weary faces, but more than that I hope it reminds us that we are next in line for chaos. It is our naive blindness that prevents us not only from supporting humans who deserve it but also from preparing adequately from the dangers we may all soon face.”

Check out both songs and see the list of tour dates below…

Sella Well I Mean