Chris Broach released a limited edition split seven-inch with Dayton, Ohio’s The 1984 Draft via Sweet Cheetah Records and Poptek Records on May 10.

Order it here.

Broach shares “Blood Thicker Than Honey,” which was mastered by Chris Common, formerly of These Arms Are Snakes and Le Butcherettes.

“I was pretty sick for a few years – and that took a lot out of me,” Broach says about “Blood Thicker Than Honey.” “I wasn’t sure I could tour and sing and play like I used to, but going on tour last year for the 25th anniversary shows for “Frame & Canvas” pushed me to see that I could do it. I wanted to start writing some new stuff after that, and so I did.”

Broach announced a series of singles and splits with a variety of bands and labels this year. With a focus on guitar driven, dynamic, poly-rhythmic, and odd-timed songs that “just feel right” these are the first releases ever under Broach’s own name. The first of those singles saw release via New Granada Records/Sweet Cheetah Records on March 22. Listen to it here.

In recent years, Broach has released music with more electro-tinged bands like SNST and The Firebird Band, but with these singles, we see his sights moving back to guitar. In truth, these songs highlight what made Chris Broach’s contributions to Braid so complementary and crucial –simply, they’re catchy, groovy, and incredibly strong. Best of all, he’s promised to continue down this path for the foreseeable future, as he focuses on doing one song at a time at his own studio he calls Mass Energy (located outside of Chicago, Illinois). 

In his words, “it’s a different approach to how I’ve done it in the past where I’ll write a whole album and figure out the details in the studio and at home in bits and pieces at a time. Instead, I’m focusing on writing from the guitar – working on each song until it’s finished, delivering it, completely finished, to a label, and then starting the next one.”

Chris Broach is probably best known as the co-frontman of Braid who toured last year in support of the 25th anniversary of the release of Frame & Canvas on Polyvinyl Records. He’s also the frontman and co-founder of The Firebird Band, L’Spaerow, and SNST. Broach will perform with the band at Best Friends Forever Fest in Las Vegas in October of this year (2024). 

Broach is a lifelong musician. He was introduced to punk and hardcore music via skateboarding with friends in the neighborhood where he grew up.  What followed was a love for punk and independent music of all kinds. He made a connection to independent music through local bands, local basement and VFW Hall shows, and local labels in the Chicagoland area in his early teens. In high school, he studied music arrangement and was introduced to jazz by a teacher. Though classically trained in music early on, he learned to play electric guitar by ear starting at the age of 16. 

Follow Broach here.

Photo by Sonja Broach