Franklin Bruno

Franklin Bruno: guitar, vocals

photo by Jessica Kourkounis © 1998

Summer, 1993: Nothing Painted Blue find themselves opening several Tsunami shows in the Midwest. After the climactic "smokebomb" show in Chicago (a tale in itself), NPB's drummer, Kyle Brodie takes the band vehicle and heads back to law school, while bass player Peter Hughes and guitarist/songwriter Franklin Bruno continue on to the East Coast to visit relatives and write for the musical theater, respectively. But there are still shows to be done in Detroit and Cleveland. Troupers that they are, Franklin and Peter fulfill their contractual obligations by playing three songs each, solo, and three as a bass and guitar duo. Impressed by what they hear, the Simple Machines think-tank approach Franklin about doing a whole record. Megalomania wins out over caution, and he accepts. Several months of piecemeal recording (at a modest but well-equipped 8-track studio in San Dimas, California), two tours and three living arrangements later, A Bedroom Community is delivered to a waiting world. "This is the record," he claims,"the uncomprehending reviews of which will make me finally quit music."

Franklin has gone on to pen many more things since A Bedroom Community: as the singer/guitarist for Nothing Painted Blue, which continues to put out great records on Scat, and a countless number of insightful, witty, clever articles and reviews in a handful of today's esteemed rock rags. He currently lives in Los Angeles and teaches philosophy at UCLA.