Credit: Kari RoweAWOLNATION's massive tour in support of their sophomore album Run began last night, and it continues tonight with a show in Vancouver. Frontman Aaron Bruno may be the face of AWOLNATION, but in order to bring his songs to the stage, Bruno has put together a four-piece backing band -- a band of which he's a very big fan.
"We're great now live," Bruno tells ABC Radio. "This is the best band that I've ever been in. When I say 'we're great,' you know, I do my best -- so that's up for other people to decide on what I'm doing on stage -- but the rest of the guys in the band have elevated their playing and ability to translate the intentions of the songs at a high level live."
Both of AWOLNATION's records, Run and Megalithic Symphony, are known for their musical complexity and intricacy. With only five people on stage, however, Bruno and his band have opted for a simpler, more brutal live approach.
"In order to execute these songs live it would take anywhere from 10 to 30 people on stage at any given point in time," Bruno explains. "So what we've done is stripped it down."
In the process of stripping down a song for the stage, AWOLNATION has ditched any extra backing tracks for their live show.
"The last thing we're trying to do is be like Milli Vanilli and have all this fake stuff going on like most bands do," Bruno says, referring to the infamous lip-syncing pop group. "We've been guilty of that in the past, there's been times where we've had to run tracks because we didn't know any better way to do it. But we've made a conscious effort to really make it a dirtier, more raw experience."
Overall, Bruno thinks that AWOLNATION's dirtier live show will give you a "totally different" experience from just listening to his albums.
"The live show is interactive, and it's supposed to be a celebration of music and life," he says.
AWOLNATION's tour will conclude August 1 in Los Angeles.
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