BRM: For those who have never heard of Mistaken For Strangers, give us a synopsis of what it’s about?
TB: It’s about two brothers. One brother (Matt) is in a rock band and the other brother (me) is not in a rock band known as The National. One is a rock star and one isn’t. We being the two brothers, we were put together on tour, and the younger brother is a fish out of water. He doesn’t fall in the line with all of the indie rockers he’s with. He’s doing a bit of soul searching in the process. Its two brothers where the younger one is finding his way in life in the shadow of the older brother who’s quite popular.
BRM: When you and your brother Matt were growing up, did you see him making it somewhere in the music industry?
TB: I would think so. I remember he was always singing and when I was really young, he would make pancakes every Saturday morning. He was always singing about me while making them. He would always sing about me farting in a joking manner. He would always sing popular songs and put my name in there. It was all in good fun. He also used tossing about my breath smelling bad.
BRM: I know you’re more of a heavy metal fan. If you were to pick one band to do a documentary for by your choice who would you pick?
TB: I started realizing that I don’t want to meet any of my idols because I think they’ll always let you down. Before Jeff from Slayer died, I would say them, but it’s not really the same for me. They would’ve been awesome to do a documentary for them like I did with The National. If I were to pick a current heavy metal band, I would definitely pick High On Fire. I think a lot of people would say High On Fire is the best American metal band out there. They’re just like your classic meat and potatoes metal.
BRM: When you were on the road with The National, what were some of your favorite places to visit?
TB: I’ve never been to Europe prior. I’ve only been to Canada and the Bahamas before I started filming this. Going into London where they spoke English was completely exciting for me. Being on tour, you don’t get to appreciate the places you’re in. I found Poland to be awesomely bleak and cold. Not to mention that the highways haven’t been maintained in 25 years. When you’re going in all the different routes in Poland it’s like you’re in the Dukes of Hazard.
BRM: You’ve openly admitted that you can be lazy. When you were looking back on the footage, did you come to realization of how lazy you really were?
TB: I think before I made the movie, I was lazy in the fact that I wasn’t doing anything that I wanted to do. I was somewhat content. For a little while, I was content on living my life in Cincinnati, but then I started getting anxious to do something creative. I was also lazy in the sense of not doing my job as a roadie which led to drinking too much on tour. That distracted me from making the extra effort to film more. Before my brother mentioned the idea of making this documentary, I was definitely being lazy with what I shot.
BRM: I know you’ve stated this was a strange movie to make. What were some clips in the movie where you feel strange looking back on?
TB: Definitely being drunk was one thing. I didn’t know what I was doing. I thought it would be funny at the time plus I was playing with my camera. It was funny in a superficial sense, but it was so depressing to see myself that drunk. I don’t like the stuff of me crying. Yes I filmed myself crying, but I don’t like to look at it. Of course I’m not afraid to show people I cry, but it’s weird for me to see that.
BRM: What was it like watching this movie with your brother for the first time when it was completed?
TB: He saw it a few months before it was finally completely and he loved it. He was there for the last stages of the editing. He was very happy and knew where it was going. We always thought it was a good movie, but didn’t know how other people would respond. The rest of the band loved it as well and were very supportive of it. They were getting nervous for a little while because they haven’t seen anything. It was 2 years after the fact and they just wanted to know what the heck I was doing. In the end, it all turned out okay.
BRM: When will Mistaken For Strangers be released?
TB: We’re still doing the festival circuit, but everything will be released early next year.
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