B! 17
B E T T Y
BRASH! How old were you when you
discovered your voice and love for music?
BM: I grew up in a household immersed in music
and actually had a small but well-known studio
on our property. Whether I liked it or not, from an
age I can’t remember I was living a life of music
and was raised around a lot of talent. Thankfully,
it became a part of my blood and music has been
one of the most important elements of life before
I was even school-aged. I would say music
became a “professional” goal when I hit my teen
years. I knew it was what I wanted to do with my
life, and did everything possible to plant those
seeds of success. Thankfully, it worked in my favor
due to the hard work and being at the right place
at the right time.
BRASH! Tell us about the music scene in
Toronto, Canada.
BM: There was a pretty epic music scene in
Toronto growing up, especially as a teenager with
plenty of concert venues and other artists helping
nurture the community. Since Toronto is a large
city, you’ll find there are usually great record
stores, venues, radio stations and TV networks to
tap into when you gain momentum. I saw what
other artists were doing at a young age, and
wanted to tap into that. Some of the best artists
around the world came through Toronto on tour,
and I wanted to create a local scene of
underground goth/synth/pop that was lacking at
the time. There was already plenty of new wave,
rock and pop locally, but not much like what my
old group Bambi was putting out.
M O O N
BRASH! How did you link up with A&M Records
to release your major label debut?
BM: I dedicated my life to music before most of my
peers even started high school, and worked my
butt off by playing as many shows as possible,
networking like a crazy person and ultimately
selling 10,000 independent records. That caught
the attention of A&M and great management,
which led to the best possible scenario an artist my
age could have been in. The relationship was great
and I ended up releasing multiple major label
albums before starting my own company.
BRASH! What is your creative process for
developing music as a song-writer and
producer?
BM: I write a song per day, and have been doing so
for years. It’s a pretty basic process and not every
song is obviously fully produced in the studio. It
can be on guitar, piano or writing lyrics with a
simple melody. It’s really about continuity and
getting as many ideas to paper as possible. If
anything it’s keeping all the ideas organized,
working with other great musicians and curating
the best of the best for the albums, EPs and singles
I end up putting out.
BRASH! How does your music style defy the
usual music industry trends?
BM: It seems many artists closely follow industry
trends and copy what is popular with each genre
of music. While sometimes it’s wise to do so to
keep up with what listeners want, I tend to stick
with what I feel like writing and have been known
for over two decades. I think the secret is ignoring
Photo Credit: Evolver Music, Inc.