Meet Alex & Brendan: Musicians, Producers and Creators of the Playback course.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alex & Brendan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alex & Brendan, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
When we decided to start this business, it was because we saw a common problem in the live music scene. Between the two of us and the people that we work with, there are so many years of experience that we felt we could be an aid to that problem. The problem was that there was such a big gap between what people know and apply from recording to practicing and then putting together a live performance. We felt that if we started to come up with some courses on live music, we could help others to create an engaging and meaningful experience for the audience. Our first course is all about how to use pre-recorded tracks together with live musicians to create a sound that matches that of the recording, and it’s called “Playback.”

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
The business is officially called “Click Track,” and can be found at www.clicktrackus.com. Our motto is “click, learn, play,” and our vision is to create courses for musicians at any level to step up their game in live performance. The first course is called “playback,” and is all about using pre-recorded tracks together with live musicians. This has been done for years, but it seems to be a mysterious part of live performance that not a lot of people talk about. There are some great companies out there doing similar things, and we believe the more exposure, the better. Your live performance says a lot about you as an artist, and has a lot to do with the longevity of your musical career. Granted, the music scene has been nonexistent for almost a year, and probably will evolve altogether in the next few, but being able to put on a great live performance is nothing to be taken for granted, and our hope is that the course will help people to achieve that.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This is Alex speaking on this one. I am originally from Ohio, so I tend to get a few visitors each year from home. I feel like I’ve got a good grip on some solid spots. I usually love to show Griffith Observatory. It’s got fantastic views of the city, a nice drive up into the hills, and I’m a personal fan of astronomy, so I enjoy it every time. Hollywood is a place everyone who is visiting always wants to see. I drive them through, stop off at the Chinese Theater and a quick walk around the block and call it a day. Too “touristy” for me. However, there are some awesome speakeasy bars that I like to visit with new people. I don’t want to say those locations because my favorite is still pretty unknown, so going to keep it that way! There’s a great beach in Malibu called Point Dume, and it has a beautiful hike overlooking the ocean as well. Santa Monica promenade and pier and Venice Beach are fun to visit, and finally, a night out in the Arts District in DTLA makes for an awesome visit to LA. The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We have been so blessed to work with so many people in the industry and life. One major shoutout would be to our videographer and editor, Jay Lawrence. He also designed our logo as well. A very talented creator, photographer, videographer and friend, he is one of the founders of a studio called Cold Cut Studio, and can be found on instagram @coldcutstudio and @Lawrence_lens. We highly recommend him!

We also need to give a shout out to Limerick’s Tavern (@limerickstavern.dtla and @limerickstavern.chinohills) for allowing us space to use before the pandemic for our monthly showcase and jam, “The Downtown Jam.” They opened their doors to us and we were able to feature local LA music artists, and give a place for musicians to come and openly meet and jam with one another.

Website: www.clicktrackus.com

Instagram: @artofplayback or @clicktrackus

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/losangelesmusicianreferral/?multi_permalinks=4333538936675056

Image Credits
IMG_8029, IMG_7846, and IMG_8575 by Jay Lawrence (@Lawrence_lens) IMG_8633 by Darla Cozzarelli (@darlacozzarelli)