Despite recent success, Brandon Rix has backup plan

ALBANY — Like most young men in their early 20s who have achieved a modicum of local fame, Days to Come guitarist Brandon Rix has little doubt that his band has the potential to make it big. That said, he’s a realist, and if things don’t work out as intended, Rix has formulated a backup plan, albeit one that’s almost as challenging as becoming a famous rock musician.

During a recent sit-down on the eve of his band taking top honors at the recent Albany Battle of the Bands, Rix, who was still pinching himself after being named Albany’s favorite guitarist in the recent Friday JAM music polls, said that just in case his band isn’t able to “make it” he’s also hard at work becoming a physicist.

“Right now, I’m going to Darton and majoring in physics,” Rix said. “Before I decided on that, it was between music and physics. When I tell people that I chose physics, they’re really surprised. I was just interested in it. I really have two lives: I have the band life, which is just fun and I get to act all crazy, and then I have the physics side. I’m really a math and science guy. I like physics because I like trying to understand how everything works.”

Rix said learning about physics isn’t much different than playing guitar in that he gets to figure out how things work, and it is difficult, which offers a challenge that he relishes. It also, in a roundabout way, helps to fuel his passion for playing in Days to Come and working hard to achieve success, something that has been happening at a rapid pace in the short time the band has been together.

“It’s been less than a year, and we’ve played the Battle of the Bands and shows in Alabama and Tallahassee and around outside of Albany,” said Rix. “We want to keep pushing forward and branching out. I could see this going for a long time. We’re trying to make it. But I’m going to have that backup plan. And that backup plan is a hard one. I’m going to be a physicist. I like the challenge.”

Taking on challenges for something he loves is nothing new to the guitarist, who graduated high school only a little more than a year ago. Rix said that while he didn’t immediately thrust himself into his guitar playing, he eventually become fascinated by how it worked and became obsessed about learning more about the instrument and how to get better at playing it.

Rix, who was born in Albany, said his family moved to Chicago for a period when he was young, and it was there that he was introduced by his grandfather to the instrument he’d devote himself to. But like many 8-year-olds, it wasn’t the technical side of the guitar that drew him in at first.

“Every boy kid wants to be a rock star,” Rix said. “My grandfather gave me my first guitar, an old ’80s Ibanez, and I was like, ‘I want to play guitar!’ I started playing that for a while, and I just wanted to wail and do whatever a kid wants to do. Then I sort of died off of that and started playing acoustic, and my dad’s friend named Chris helped me with a couple of lessons, how to read tabs and how to do guitar stuff, chords. That’s when I first really got into technique and theory.”

When the family moved back to the Albany area, Rix started taking guitar lessons from Charlie Meyers at Parker Music and delved deeper into the craft of playing — practicing constantly and learning new styles and techniques.

Despite his quest to learn about different things and expand his palette, Rix held a special love for the music that got him excited about playing guitar in the first place — rock and roll.

“It started off like music didn’t really affect me (when I was really young),” said Rix. “It was just like I’d get in the car and listen to music, then it just ended. But back in Chicago, and I think this is why I wanted to play guitar, my dad introduced me to the first band that I actually followed, Guns N Roses. He handed me their greatest hits and said, ‘Here, listen to this.’ I finally listened to ‘Welcome to the Jungle,’ and I was hooked. I heard Slash just shredding and wrecking all those tracks, and I think that’s what interested me in playing guitar, just hearing that fat, really aggressive tone in his guitar.”

That introduction into hard rock led Rix to eventually fall in love with many of the other masters of ’80s riffage, like Angus Young of AC/DC and the more technical players of those days, like Eddie Van Halen and Steve Vai.

“I like doing all the modes,” Rix said. “I tap a lot on the guitar, and I took that from Steve Vai. Van Halen I guess, too. I learned my tapping from him because my hand is in the same sort of style as his.”

While Rix was gobbling up all he could possible listen to, he wasn’t really doing much other than practicing his craft. Finally Meyer told him about a guy looking for a lead guitarist, which is how he met Days to Come’s Justin Goodson, himself a guitar player and songwriter. Goodson was already trying to form a band with his friend, bassist Taylor Hartley, and the pair needed someone to handle lead guitar.

Rix said that it took only one conversation to find out he and Goodson were kindred spirits with similar tastes in music and that he needed to give the band a shot.

“I think I was near my last lesson at Parker’s, and Charlie was saying some guy was looking for a lead guitarist,” said Rix. “Then I started talking to Justin and he mentioned Shinedown, and at that time I really liked Shinedown. I still do but at that time they were at the very top. I was listening to ‘Enemies’ every day. So he said ‘Shinedown’ and I was like, ‘I’m up for it, let’s play.’”

Rix, Goodson and Hartely started picking up acoustic shows around town at places like Mellow Mushroom and Austin’s, playing mostly covers and some material they had written themselves. After playing a bit with a different drummer, the trio hooked up with Russell Bowden and Days to Come was born.

For Rix, being a part of the band has been a blessing in that the others in the group have challenged him and made him into the player and performer that he is.

“If it wasn’t for Justin and Taylor, I wouldn’t have a stage show presence,” Rix said. “They are the ones that pushed me to get on stage and play. After that, I just kept learning more guitar techniques and guitar tricks and things.”

In fact, his fierce loyalty to his bandmates actually made winning the Friday JAM poll a little difficult for the guitar player, who ended up being the only band member to win his poll category, despite the other members and the band itself being nominated.

“When it was in the early stages, it was all four of us and the band,” said Rix. “We were pushing to the front, and we were all really into it, and then at the last minute I get pushed ahead and then Taylor and Russell started falling behind. And Justin was like 16 votes behind in his category, so that was tough. As for the band, we knew it would be hard going against some of the bigger, more well-known bands like UBL and Highway 55, but we were still hoping.”

Rix said that of all the members in the different categories, he really didn’t expect to be the one to make it to the final and ultimately take home the victory. Despite that, he made sure he used winning the poll to shine a light on the entire band.

“People were saying, ‘Oh you’re a great guitarist,’ which was really weird to hear,” said Rix. “Normally, whenever I’m in any kind of contest, I never win so I didn’t expect much. When it got down to the final four, my hope just skyrocketed, and I wanted it. I was really surprised when I got in the final to be honest. But when I saw that I was the only one of us I was like, ‘Well, at least I get to promote Days to Come.’”

Not only did taking the Friday JAM poll help Rix promote the band, Days to Come itself got another huge boost recently when the band took top honors in the inaugural Albany Battle of the Bands.

Competing against nine other groups from south Georgia, the popular rock outfit was voted the top band by a panel of judges that included a national recording artist, a well-known radio personality, a concert promoter and a record label executive.

The win earned the group a top prize of $2,000 cash, a $3,000 Cryo Stage package from Atlanta FX, a $500 prize package from Albany’s Venum Vapor, a custom snare drum from Outlaw Drums and an option to join Atlanta’s CBM Records, to go along with some serious bragging rights.

“That was absolutely phenomenal,” said Rix of the win. “I feel honored to be chosen as the champions, and I would love to be a part of the next Albany Battle of the Bands.”

In the meantime, however, Rix and Days to Come are hard at work writing material and honing their musical chops at various gigs around southern Georgia, northern Florida and eastern Alabama.

“Right now, we have a bunch of shows lined up,” Rix said. “We always want to have a minimum of four shows lined up a month, one for every weekend. We’re also trying to work on an EP right now, too, with Justin’s dad’s friend who wants to be a producer and has all this equipment. We actually got lucky with him because we can do tracks for free. Near the end of the year, we want to have a fully produced EP out. For the immediate future, we want to branch out so people will know us and want more and crave Days to Come.”

Anyone wanting to learn more about Rix, the band and upcoming shows should check the group out on Facebook or visit their official webpage at www.daystocomemusic.com.