Milwaukee UP: B. Reith's faith leads to big-time

To achieve your dreams and do what you love, sometimes you have to pony up and leave home to try to make it happen. Several years back, this is what artist and Brown Deer native Brian "B. Reith" Reith realized when he had a well-received debut album under his belt and a growing calling to go further down the path of doing music professionally.

His 2003 self-produced album, "Urgent Message," worked around many of the different circles in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Midwest, and beyond, with it mainly finding an audience in the church circuit but even people who didn't follow "Christian" music specifically found something of value in his positive lyrics. He wasn't bashing anybody in the head with his beliefs, but rather he was just trying to create good music that had a positive theme throughout it.

Since moving to Nashville, he was able to seal a record deal with Toby Mac's Goatee Records, a label with national distribution through EMI. He released an EP and an LP on the label and has done national tours, continuously working hard to get his music into new ears.

Now he's attracted the attention of one of the bigger fishes in the industry, Virgin Records.

With his first hometown concert in a while happening this Friday, it was time to catch up with B. Reith to see what's been going on in his world since he left the Milwaukee area to fully realize his dream.

OnMilwaukee.com: Several years ago you made a crucial decision to move away from the Milwaukee area so that you could make a real run at doing music full-time. Your journey led you to Nashville of all places, due to the Christian music industry essentially being headquartered down there. When looking back at the work you did before moving to Tennessee, what would you say was the most crucial thing you did that led to finding some success when you got down South?

Brian Reith: I would say it was all of the hours that I invested into becoming who I was up until that moment in time. The time I spent working on my craft as a songwriter, producer and performer, playing for 20 people at a coffee shop, I didn't know it at the time but I was developing some core muscles that I would greatly need down in Nashville. I exhausted a lot of ideas, both good and bad. The good ones stuck, and I purified my art.

Also, the character development. It was important that I had an idea of who I was before I moved so that nothing would shape me into something I wasn't meant to be.

OMC: Before moving to Nashville, you managed to attract attention from a big name producer and a popular artist that often work together, but didn't pursue a business arrangement with them. However, you eventually found yourself approached by another big name artist/producer/label executive in Toby Mac after the move. What helped to get you to make the leap from being a purely independent artist to an artist that now had a label and the support system/bureaucracy of that label when you didn't really go for it before you left Milwaukee?

BR: Growing up, I always said I would never be that guy that's stuck in a bad record deal with no way out. I heard so many horror stories and I felt like the worst thing imaginable would be getting shelved as an artist and being gridlocked contractually. But, after years of passing up opportunities I realized that life is full of risks, and the bigger mistake is to not take any. Toby Mac and Goatee was the first scenario that matched well with my core values. Toby gets it as an artist and I could trust that they would allow me to make the music I was intended to make and let me grow and evolve into the artist I was destined to become.

OMC: While on Goatee Records you've released a couple of projects and did several tours and now, you recently have found yourself in front of executives at Virgin Records who seemed to be pretty enthusiastic about you and your talent after you performed for them. Is a large label like Virgin something that you are really looking for?

BR: I'm extremely excited and honored that a major label would appreciate my talent this much. I'm not really sure what I'm looking for right now, being signed or being independent, both have their pros and cons.

The Virgin Records opportunity came out of nowhere. It wasn't in our plans, but I've never really had plans anyways. The music business is evolving so much that it's hard to lay concrete plans down, like trying to lay a foundation on shifting sand. Really, I just go with the flow. The connections, expertise and potential that major labels have to offer is immense. The pressure to sell way more records comes into play as well, so I'm excited, yet proceeding with caution and developing the trust and relationships that it really takes to build a legacy.

OMC: You are an artist that utilizes several different styles of music to execute the delivery of your songs. You began as a rapper and an R&B artist and now you can add singer/songwriter and pop singer to your resume. Yes, you've always been a singer/songwriter ... but not in the stereotypical "singer/songwriter" way. When you sit down to begin a song lyrically, how do you figure out what subject matter you want to match up with each style?

BR: My process of songwriting is quite frustrating actually, except for the good songs that just fall out of the sky. Those are the sweetest because they almost write themselves. I was going to call my publishing company "Accidentally Written" because most of my songs come from hitting a wrong chord, then my ear takes over and I stop over-thinking so much and a song is born. Most of the time one part comes easy, like a catchy melody or a poetic phrase, a chord progression or beat idea. But, the rest of the song is like war. It's like a scrapbook if you will, I rip out parts of other ideas and mash them together. Every now and then it flows smoothly but most of the time it's a rigorous process.

As far as subject matter goes, very rarely do I know going in what a song is about. Sometimes I have a ballpark idea. But, crafting good lyric lines requires letting them drift off to become what they're meant to be and sometimes a content box will prevent the best idea from coming out. So basically, I have no idea what I'm doing. I view writing music like developing a muscle, and the best writers have trained themselves to endure and learned how to use them more efficiently.

OMC: You are also a musician, producer and engineer. You've added guitar to your instrument repertoire to go along with your ability to play piano. As a guy who looks at music through the different lenses of writer, producer, engineer and multi-instrumentalist, how do you build the music around the lyrics that you've written?

BR: It's a lot of fun being able to use so many different tools, as creative approaches, to making music. I'm not super talented at keys or guitar, nor am I a super-skilled producer, but I think my strength is hearing "parts" and piecing them together. That's what keeps my music unique. I love having a lot of different options as to how to express an idea and filtering it down to choose the best one.

OMC: What is success to you? You have fans that really support you and your music, you do shows, you are doing your music full-time. Is that the success that you wanted or is there more out there that you want to accomplish?

BR: I think success is more like a scale, not a breaking point. My view of success has changed over the years and I think it will continue to evolve, one reason being our basic needs change over the course of life. Ten years ago if you would have told me I'd be where I am right now, I would have considered that an incredible success. I'm super content with where I'm at, grateful for my fans, for the freedom to do music as a vocation. Yes, I would consider myself successful to some degree. But, I know there's so much more to tap into, millions of people to reach.

Ultimately my own definition of success is that I don't bury my talent, that I honor my Maker with the gifts He's given me, and that I stay true to Him and don't waste my life in vanity.

OMC: Your faith is an extremely important thing to you and it's regularly woven into your songs, your videos, and whatever you do. Why is it so important to you to consistently deliver a message of faith as it applies to your life, the lives of the people around you, and to society as a whole?

BR: Ultimately my faith is all that I have. My belief that God will never give up on me has gotten me through the darkest and most hopeless hours of my life. I do not have an agenda to preach at listeners through my music. But, I do believe I have something that is bigger than life itself, a real reason to live, and I want to share that with people. I make music about life and it comes from my heart, it just so happens that at the core of my heart is a savior named Jesus.

OMC: Also, a lot of your music takes on the voice of a person playing from behind in life, trying to catch up with the rest of the crowd. I don't mean that in an "I need to fit in" kind of way though. You are just very much a person it seems that is comfortable with being open about struggling personally, as well as trying to give a voice to others who may be going through a tough time. Why do you feel that is your avenue as an artist?

BR: I have to be honest in my writing; one, because of integrity and two, because I have to sing these songs over and over again. If I can't believe the words I'm saying I can't be passionate about saying them, and I'll go crazy singing them!

The moment an artist/writer isn't struggling anymore is the moment that he or she cannot connect or relate to 98 percent of the world. For me, a lot of life is a struggle; wrestling against obstacles, regrets over past failures, and disciplining oneself to be optimistic towards the future. Maybe it's because I grew up in blue collar Milwaukee and my family and friends all work hard and get paid not that much. That stuck with me. But, I want to inspire listeners, not boast about things I don't have and things that I'm not, so they can't think things about me that aren't true.

OMC: With all of that seriousness being said, we can't go without mentioning that you also exhibit a ton of humor in your music when it's appropriate, always capitalizing on the chance to make fun of yourself and the fact that people STILL get your name wrong ... kind of keeping you centered in way. How important is having a sense of humor on a daily basis in your music and life?

BR: Humor is one of my favorite parts of life. I'm so glad we don't have to pay to laugh. It's just refreshing and it breaks down barriers between me and my audience. My ability to laugh at myself is something I'm grateful for. Like, if I can make fun of myself before other people can, than nobody can ever make fun of me, right?

OMC: Milwaukee has a lot of good artists, musicians, groups, etc., right now that are looking to break into the next level. What advice can you give those artists that could possibly help them along in their journey? Is moving out of Milwaukee crucial in your eyes or can people find success at the next level while keeping Milwaukee as their headquarters?

BR: It's difficult because there's obviously no magic formula. I would say that developing your own unique sound, deepening your skills and live show, and performing in front of as many people as possible is the only thing you can really focus on. I have a fan base that I won over 1 person at a time. Other people, like Danny Gokey, won them 1,000,000 at a time. Ha! Sorry Danny. I have more of a guerilla style grassroots perspective on it.

Sometimes we're so consumed with the "next level" that we don't do what we need to do at the level we're at. Look at it more like a 10 year process of building as you go, not a "Oh my goodness I gotta get big quick in a hurry," because even if you do you can fall off in a second.

I think you can still have a career in Milwaukee because everything is so internet driven now. But, I would say it helps to be in a city where there's more competition, more people to challenge you and get behind you, even if only for a season. It's different for everybody, and I hate to say this, but we each kind of have to find our own path.

OMC: On Nov. 19 you are bringing The Comeback Kid tour to Wisconsin and it's been a while since I've seen you perform live. If people want to come out to Crossway Church in Germantown to see you, what can they expect from a B.Reith show? Being that it's a hometown crowd, do you have anything special planned for those who will be in attendance?

BR: I'm super excited about this tour because I've spent a lot of time to make this an experience and not just a concert. I really feel like there's not a dull moment; we've incorporated video, the band is ridiculously slammin', and of course, you know I always have to put some extra hot sauce on my Milwaukee show. Expect to get your face rocked off!

OMC: Last question, beside friends and family, what do you miss the most about Milwaukee and Wisconsin?

BR: Kopps and Alterra.

For a sample of B. Reith's music, check out his videos below.