Breakfast is Served: A Look Inside Country Breakfast
Hudson Ritchie, sporting slick shades and a smart coat, sips on a coffee as I make my way to the table in front of HiFi Espresso in Redondo Beach. A young guy with long, blonde hair, Hudson waves me down as I wander around the unfamiliar area. On a cool Saturday morning, I was able to meet with Hudson, the front man of the beach-indie rock band, Country Breakfast.
Hudson is a native to Redondo Beach, California. He grew up in a musical household, his father being an avid guitar player. While being exposed to music at an early age, Hudson developed a passion for music that flowed into his beach lifestyle. I was able to learn about his life in the south bay and his band.
Interviewer: How did you get into music?
Hudson: Well, my dad was a musician. He still is, he just plays guitar all day. He basically plays guitar, smokes cigarettes, and drinks coffee all day. (laughs) And I was always playing music with my dad. I started messing around on my own, started playing with this girl, Sophia. I always wanted to be in a band on my own. I had all these songs written and I met this kid named Nick Leform and Matt Robinson over at Coffee Cartel across the street. We ended up making a band because my friend was playing a show and they needed an opener and I was like “Okay, I’ll put together a band.” We opened for them at this thrift store. The next morning, we were all hungover at Classic Burger, which is like this local diner. And uh, we were super hungover, so we wanted a heavy meal. (laughs) To fix you up and country breakfast is the heaviest breakfast you can get. It’s like biscuits, gravy, eggs, everything. We got country breakfast and I was like “We should just call it Country Breakfast.” and that’s what we did.
Interviewer: Oh man, it sounds like a Waffle House.
Hudson: It’s the place we go to whenever we’re hungover. And we were like “Let’s just name the album, Classic Burger.” Which is the first album we made, and that was with Matt Robinson, who played a huge part in the album. But he doesn’t play with the band anymore, he went onto his own way. He’s a very talented musician.
Country Breakfast is currently made up of five members. The band members are close, being able to collaborate on the material that Hudson brings forward. He notes the dynamic of the band’s creative process.
Hudson: It first started out, not necessarily that I wrote the songs, but I had a couple ideas and they formed into songs, and everyone chimed in. And it kind of still works like that. Sometimes I’ll write a full song because that’s what I did before I formed the band. And I will present the song and they (Country Breakfast) wouldn’t play exactly what I wrote but they would play something similar and add a little to that.
Hudson and Nick formed Country Breakfast, the “founding fathers” of the band, being the central core.
Interviewer: How does the songwriting work with y’all? Do you have a method?
Hudson: It’s so different every time. Songwriting in general is so weird, how it happens. It happens at random times. Totally random times. I’ve gone through such long writing blocks where nothings coming out. After I got back from Australia, I was jet-lagged, and it was 3am. I was sitting at the piano and a song just came out. It’s just interesting how it’s at random times. You’ll be sitting and tuning your guitar and a little lick will come out. And you’re like “Oh, that’s cool” and that lick will develop into a song. It’s like a snowball effect.
Hudson notes that it can be hard to see through riffs and the beginnings of a song.
Hudson: But it’s tricky. Sometimes you get an idea like that and just give up on it. And you’re like “What if I didn’t give up on it.” And it’s just gone, into the universe. (laughs) There’s been so many riffs or licks during jams, and you just kind of let it go. And then a week later you’re like “What was that I played a week ago?” And it’s just gone.
While professional musicians might have a certain formula to writing songs, many musicians develop their songs through a feeling or how the tune sounds.
Hudson: People do have processes, obviously. There are people who make millions from writing songs for Katy Perry or some shit like that. And I’m sure they have a good damn process (laughs).
Interviewer: Very formulaic.
Hudson: Yeah, I mean especially now. I don’t know much about the modern, music industry but it’s all about algorithms. So, there’s certain ways people are writing songs for these sorts of things. But I’m not a professional musician, I just know how to play guitar. I just go with whatever sounds good and run with it. Sometimes that process is out of control.
I’m always curious of musician’s opinions and perspectives of the modern world of music, specifically streaming. A platform that is like a double-edged sword, making it easier to put out music but making it harder to get your music noticed.
Interviewer: I’m sure, as a musician, you want people to hear your music. And you have your sponsor that helps you. But it’s still hard with streaming.
Hudson: It’s such a love-hate relationship with these streaming apps. It was super nice that “biscuits and gravy” got thrown into an algorithm and it started popping up on everyone’s daily weekly. I did nothing. We did nothing. I mean we’ve been slacking, we have so much music we haven’t released. My point is, you can be so lazy nowadays and it’s kind of nice. (laughs) Because we’re still gaining status because of these algorithms, and it gives us time to focus on other things. Music doesn’t have to be your main priority to pursue it. But at the same time, it’s taking the attention away from albums. It’s taking the soul out of it. I mean, I would like to have to work towards promoting my music.
Interviewer: Well, it’s just weird. You can have a band get popular and they might not be really trying to pursue music. But then you have bands who really are trying, and they don’t get picked up by these algorithms.
Hudson: It’s very corrupt.
Unlike before where if you got signed to a label your career essentially took off, musicians and bands must work harder at self-promotion and live shows to make money since streaming provides a ridiculously low amount of money per stream.
Hudson: Everything I say is a pro about streaming, there’s always a con to match it. Because when you talk about record labels, I don’t want to be signed by a label. Maybe, maybe. But now you have so much power to do it yourself, which is a pro. But it’s a con because you’re not making any money. But it’s cool because we’re just making music in my garage and we just push it out, only paying forty bucks a year for it to be on these streaming websites. I don’t need a manager; I don’t need a label. I don’t need someone taking a cut out of my tenth of a penny we get per listen. (laughs)
Interviewer: The flip side is that you might be making more with a label.
Hudson: That’s true, we’d have a manager pushing our music into other things. The label too. A record label would be super sick.
While the big labels still exist and sign new talent frequently, smaller, boutique labels are becoming more common with the rise of niche music groups and the demand for representation. Physical media is seeing recent resurgence, with the rise of vinyl, mixtapes, and CD copies sold at shows.
With the modern age of music comes the decline of albums. Most artists focus on singles and EP releases since many people don’t have the attention span to listen through LP.
Hudson: I mean I remember CDs. I’m only 23 so I can’t relate to only having to listen to albums because I had CDs that I could pick my songs through. But having all the songs that you could ever think about in your mind at the click of the finger. That’s insane. That’s why all the labels are only pushing singles. Singles are huge right now just because of that reason. I can wake up in the morning and think of one song, any random song, and play it at the tip of my finger. I guess what I’m saying is that people’s attention span is so short.
Interviewer: Do you think there will be a shift back to the album being in demand.
Hudson: No. Well, I don’t know. I mean there’s still a movement of albums. I don’t follow mainstream music but I’m pretty sure Taylor Swift just put out a full album. So, people are still pushing it. But I think it’s going to get farther away from albums.
Bigger bands like Tame Impala have a fan base that will sit through the whole duration of a new album. But smaller bands, with a small or no following, don’t have the luxury of that. Hudson notes that he knows of many new bands that push out albums with great songs but points out that the lack of attention span causes those songs to not be discovered.
Hudson: If you look at our Spotify, we only put out four songs with our EP. I just want my music to be heard. And I one hundred percent respect the whole album thing. It’s so hard and I can’t imagine doing a fifteen-song record.
Interviewer: Yeah?
Hudson: I mean I would do it if I had a sick studio to do them in.
Interviewer: What about a short album? One that’s seven or eight songs?
Hudson: Totally. I could get behind that. I just watch my friends push out full albums and I listen to it. I’m like “This is a great song, but no one is going to listen to it!” It’s just because they don’t have a big enough reputation for it.
Interviewer: And it goes back to the whole record label thing, they don’t have someone pushing it out for them.
Hudson: Yeah, totally.
Country Breakfast features a sound that could be described as indie beach-rock, using synths, guitars, vibrato effects, and slower-up tempo drums.
Interviewer: What are your influences?
Hudson: We bounce around so much. Every time we record something, it’s so different. We ended up just going with the idea of not having a genre. Like, let’s just put out whatever and have our Spotify as a platform of our minds (laughs). Which is probably not the right way to do things. But we’re all over the place. Like one month we’re into Ariel Pink. And the next month it’s funk. We could be into the most indie band and then just get into psych-jazz. We’re like “We need to incorporate these chords.” All in all, I think where all our minds are most at is beach rock. It all resolves to that.
While Hudson has Country Breakfast, he is also a skilled surfer, pilot, and has even acted in a film.
Interviewer: I saw you acted in a film. What was it called?
Hudson: It’s called “Age of Summer”. It’s this movie about junior lifeguards. It was cool. I don’t know, I’m not an actor but it was fun to be on the scene and see how it all worked. I’m not pursuing it.
Interviewer: That’s cool though. That’s one thing I’ve learned about this area, that junior lifeguarding is huge. Did you do that?
Hudson: Yeah, I did it for a while. It’s a well-known rule, for parents around here, is that you can’t go to the beach by yourself unless you go to junior lifeguards first. It’s like a day camp at the beach basically.
Hudson is a skilled surfer that is sponsored by the Australian company, Rhythm. He notes how important the sport is to him and his peers.
Hudson: My parents grew up surfing, I’ve been surfing since I could remember. My brother was a big surfer, doing contests and stuff. I kind of followed his footsteps but he phased out of it, and I kept going. I’m sponsored by an Australian company, for the past five years, a brand called “Rhythm”.
Hudson has been to Australia a handful of times for surfing trips. However, since COVID has hit, he hasn’t been able to go back yet.
Hudson: It’s been nice, surfing and having the music because brands like to see that. It’s a good lifestyle correlation. Rhythm, it’s like a lifestyle sponsor. Because I surf but also play music. I get a lot of exposure through them.
Hudson has been able to take advantage of his sponsorship by the brand promoting songs by Country Breakfast.
Hudson: For one of our biggest songs, Biscuits and Gravy, they gave us so much exposure. That kinda got it rolling. It gets some listens and goes into some weird algorithm.
Interviewer: How does surfing, or the beach lifestyle, influence your music?
Hudson: When I was fourteen or fifteen, I was looking up bands like Japanese Motors which was just my favorite surfers that were in bands. And they all played surf-rock and I wanted to be them. (laughs) I surfed every day to surf like them and played music to sound like them.
Interviewer: Do you ever think of songs while you’re out in the water? Or are you just so tuned out from the waves?
Hudson: Dude, surfing is so brutal because you’re out there in just your thoughts, which can be great. But if you get a bad song stuck in your head and it’s the only thing you think about. I don’t necessarily write songs or think of riffs while I’m out there. I hear songs that I like out there. So, I defiantly think about music while I’m in the water. But if you listen to my SoundCloud from when I was fifteen, it’s about all that cheesy surf stuff like the tides and all that. It’s funny to listen to it now (laughs) but I was just trying to write about surfing.
Country Breakfast had the opportunity to play at BeachLife Festival in Redondo beach, being the hometown band that was able to represent the locals.
Interviewer: It must have been cool for you, to play at BeachLife since you’re from the area.
Hudson: Yeah, it was. That’s kind of why I got the gig. (laughs) I’m like the local surfer kid. And Jim Lindburg, who’s the lead singer of Pennywise, is a family friend and he kind of runs the set up so he defiantly hooked it up. I mean we’re not a big band at all, but we are one of the bigger ones, younger band of the area. There’s not really a lot of indie surf-rock bands out of the South Bay so it’s a smaller selection. So, we got picked and I was stoked to play it. It was our biggest show for sure. We were all mic’d up and on a stage. We usually play shitty surf venues and parties.
Interviewer: Were you nervous? Having to play a big show like that in front of people?
Hudson: Yeah, I was pretty nervous. My bandmates were nervous. I get nervous before but when I’m on stage I’m like “I’m the one up here, these people are just watching me. It doesn’t matter if I mess up, they’re just here to have fun.” You put so much pressure on yourself when you don’t need to.
Interviewer: And at least half of them are fucked up.
Hudson: That’s true. Everyone is usually so supportive. We’re all here to just listen to music, as long as you just give it your best.
Country Breakfast has played numerous small shows at bars. Their most recent show was a small music event that a friend of Hudson’s put on in Santa Barbara.
Interviewer: Do you have a favorite venue or a most memorable show?
Hudson: Oh man, we played this place called The Mason Lodge out in San Luis Obispo for the local college radio station. We were in this weird chamber, like a court room. It was for the radio’s yearly party. And it was like BDSM themed. (laughs) So everyone is wearing leather and shit. It just ended up being a really big party and it was fun. And like I said earlier, we don’t play big shows, just stupid parties like that. It’s funny, they put the (Free Mason) members in picture frames there. So, we stole one and it ended up being in my house for months. I felt like I was haunted by this guy. This random picture of some guy in my studio. I felt bad, my friend stole it. I just found it in my van when I got home but I wasn’t going to return it. It was broken! I ended up getting rid of it. (laughs) I sacrificed the picture.
While Country Breakfast has slowly been releasing music, Hudson notes that the band would be open to taking music more seriously as long as everyone is enjoying the process and having a good time with it.
Interviewer: What are your goals for the band?
Hudson: I think my vision for the band, and I need to see what everyone else thinks, but our vision is to push out some singles. You’d probably recognize them if you were at our show since we played a lot of songs that aren’t on our Spotify that no one’s heard. Mostly because we’ve been slacking with pushing the music out. And that’s because we’re not sure if we want to release them as an EP or just singles. And maybe get a manager. Like a booking manager or someone who knows how to do it. But music, we love it. I’d love to dedicate myself more to it. It’s always been for fun thing. Which is great. But I just got my pilot license. Nick has his own thing going. We all have our own things going. But when we have free time, we want to play music. So, it’s really fun that way. The music industry is brutal. It’s so cutthroat and hard to make it. That’s my main focus, to have fun with my bandmates. Push more stuff out on social media. Get more creative with videos. I have put some of the music to my surf videos. So do more of that. And maybe other surf videos. I know the surf industry well and they’ve asked for my music for their stuff. And I give it for free. It’s fun to see your music in those videos.
Country Breakfast has a few singles coming out in the near future. Be on the lookout via the band’s social media.