Today we’d like to introduce you to brad & Luci.
brad & Luci, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Brad&Luci is a folk/singer-songwriter duo formed by Bradley Brough and Luci MacNair. The name ‘brad&Luci’ was once what we called ourselves when we were solely a sketch comedy duo making videos and performing in Los Angeles. While we still play around in comedy, our focus has now shifted mainly to music. We have written and performed for theatre, films, and dance videos, as well as for mainstream audiences. We are based in both Los Angeles and in London, England.
The first time we met was back in 2013 when we both were moving into a little house in L.A. We went from strangers to housemates in a second. The first real interaction between the two of us was after Brad accidentally let Luci’s cat out of the house immediately after she asked him to make sure to “not let the cat out of the house.” Brad felt bad, the cat came back and now we are best friends. After living together for a while, we ended up joining the same sketch comedy group with some other friends of ours and often performed at IO West (back when that was a thing). When that sketch comedy group disbanded a couple of years later, Brad and Luci decided to stay together and continue the comedy. With no effort involved, we named ourselves brad&Luci. We did try to rename ourselves a couple of times, but in the end, brad&Luci just, stuck. Brad did request though, his name be lowercase “because it comes first.” He also requested that the ‘L’ in Luci “be capitalized.” To him, it was the fairest way, even though Luci was unbothered and actually loved that his name comes first.
For starting in comedy, Brad&Luci tend to make what one might call, “moody music.” We make songs to inspire feeling and are unafraid to infuse “darker topics” into our lyrics. Our songs might not be funny, but we sure do laugh making them. We have the best time together. We balance our music in both painful truths and hope because the world is full of both.
It’s taken us a long time to get our act together about the business side of things and have been slower-moving getting our music out on the major streaming services. Our first album, “If You Find This,” named for the play we performed, will be released on the 25th of November. Currently, we are writing and recording new music. In the meantime, you can find some of our singles on Apple Music, Spotify and anywhere else music can be found.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
We can’t say it’s been an entirely smooth road, per se, but there has definitely been a flow to our journey. We both bring different skills and strengths to the duo and we both enjoy one another’s company immensely– which is incredibly lucky for a million reasons. A big challenge that we do face though, is living in different countries for long periods at a time, which makes it harder to collaborate and nearly impossible to record. We also can’t deny that we are sadly, starving artists. We find that whilst our ideas for new songs are endless, our bank accounts for all it takes to make a song “radio ready”–recording, production, mixing, etc. are wanting. This doesn’t deter us, but we are disheartened that so often it feels like one must be a millionaire in order to *afford* being an artist– which feels upside down to say, but this is a reality and definitely a challenge for us. As individuals, we also have faced challenges that have impacted the productivity of the duo at different times and we both have to have other jobs that must take precedence over the group in order to continue to pay our bills. So, it feels like we are not producing music as quickly as we hope we could. This disparity can be painful, but honestly, the overarching feeling is gratitude. We are grateful to be making music at all. We make music because we love it and we love working together and our voices blend together unbelievably well. We also push each other and make each other better artists. Of course, there are challenges, big ones, but for how hard it is sometimes, there is also a rare and beautiful relationship we have as collaborators that allows us to create art we love, are proud of, and that flows from us more often than it doesn’t.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
brad&Luci is focused on creating new music. We are unique in that both of us have an extensive background in theatre on our own, which has opened up realms of possibilities for us as a duo. In 2021, brad&Luci created and performed in an underscored play with original brad&Luci songs. The play, “If You Find This,” was directed by the brilliant James Kemp and performed at the Camden and Edinburgh Fringe festivals in the U.K..
We are also unique in our innate ability to be so tuned into each other when we sing. This oneness feels incredibly special. When we sing together, it’s as though we have one voice, especially true when we sing live. Harmonising is one of our specialties. But hopefully, so is our ability to create sounds and lyrics that inspire feeling. We can create a song that sounds emotional but leaves the listener feeling hopeful. We are quite an emotional duo and use our broken hearts as the foundation of our composing, which may not be an original concept, but our specific heartbreak mixed with our specific sound is definitely original.
We are known for our comedy as much as we are known for our singing which also feels unique. We are proud of every song we make for a million intricate reasons, but for the moment, we feel most proud of ‘If You Find This.’ Our first album. Looking at the long, hard, often confusing, painful road we’ve been walking down as artists, it feels really exciting to be sharing our music with a bigger audience.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Hold onto those big ideas, those big dreams, those big visions you have for yourself, but do so in a way that is flexible and moveable. Don’t hold on so tight you end up strangling the dream and breaking all your fingers. Hold onto your own knowing about yourself, the vision you have for yourself and the dreaming you have for your career in a way that can allow the dream to have breath and to change as life changes. Life will always change, you will change and if the dream has no room to change too, it will be an even more pain-filled journey. Make peace with not having control over anything but the art. Make it about the art. Be smart about business, but trust that the more focus you have on your art, the more that the “rest of it” falls into place. Find the flow, your flow, “be like water,” as the great Bruce Lee suggested.
It is brave to have a dream at all and it is even braver to release the dream into the world not knowing if anything will ever come back to you. Try your damnedest to not focus on the outcome. Make art and let go. Then make more art and let go again. Keep doing that. Being an artist in this upside-down world is painful and not for the faint of heart. We wouldn’t actually recommend it to anyone. It’s hard and heartbreaking and full of rejection more often than it’s good news. But if all you can do when you wake up in the morning is think about making art, then you are meant to be an artist, baby. That comes from Sister Act 2 (thank you, Whoopi) and it’s the truest thing. Try to keep your intentions clear and aligned with the act of creation more than with what might come from creating. The road is hard, so try and make peace with the fact that being an artist is a journey, which sounds so trite, we know, but it really is true. Keep breathing deeply, especially through the harder moments and learn to trust your own knowing about yourself. People have a lot of opinions, but no one will ever know your dream as well as you do. Everyone is making it all up as they go along, you can trust yourself.
In collaborating, be flexible and stay willing to try something new. Follow your creative impulses, even when they take you in directions you’ve never gone before. Also, don’t be afraid to say no to projects that do not invite your passion to the table. You don’t have to say “yes” to everything. Protect yourself from creative burnout and try as hard as you can to stay in projects where you feel connected. Please don’t compare your art or your journey as an artist with anyone else’s. Embrace your unique, be excited by it because what makes you unique is definitely your superpower. Have confidence. Take risks, but seek balance. Live your life. Fall in love. Love. Fall out of love. Live. Live hard and deep. Feel. Feel everything. Rest. Recover. Heal. Have experiences. Learn to ‘be.’ Doing so will make you a deeper, fuller, better artist.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: lucilleandbradley
Image Credits
Joss Ryder Photography, Bailey Rose Murphy, Images by Inda
