Meet Brian Ingram | Bass Guitar (Rooftop Boxer)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brian Ingram and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brian, what’s something about your industry that outsiders are probably unaware of?
Being a local musician is fun. We get to be on a stage, play music, and watch people sing and dance along with us. However, the time spent on stage playing live is a small percentage of the total time spent being in a band. We have to market ourselves, promote shows, create shows, make merchandise, and record music. We invest many hours into practice time (together and at home separately) in order to put on a show, and that takes time and money. We do it because we are passionate about creating music together and being able to share it with our fans. We have to find the perfect work/life/hobby balance.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
What sets us apart from other artists like ourselves is that we have a diverse background of musical tastes and styles. The sound that we have created is outside of our comfort zones collectively and we have had to adjust our personal playing styles to fit the music we are making. It has not been easy for us, but the fun is found in the creativity. I love the challenge of trying something new and being open to stepping outside of what feels “normal”. We completely subscribe to the DIY (do it yourself) mentality. We write our own music, make our own merchandise (tee shirts, hoodies, stickers, patches, buttons, etc.), and our promotional materials (flyers, posters, signage, social media posts, etc.). It is the hard way of doing things, but we feel that it is more rewarding.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
For the city of Houston…that’s a great question. I live in League City and in my area we could have lunch at Nobi Public House in Clear Lake, then go to Johnson Space Center for the day or possibly over to Kemah. Dinner we would probably do in the greater Kemah/Seabrook area. For evening cocktails in the Clear Lake area we would go to Rosewater for their delicious craft cocktails.

In the city of Houston there are so many great places to visit. I like to cook so a trip to a local farmer’s market like the Houston Farmer’s Market would be fun. They have great food and produce items plus restaurants.

Being a craft beer fan, I would want to go to a local craft brewery. Some of my personal favorites are True Anomaly, Holler, Saint Arnold, Equal Parts, and Eureka Heights. I love craft beer because in many ways it parallels creating music. It’s different, not produced on large scales, and the creator has autonomy in making the products.

For areas of town to hang out in, EaDo (which is a great spot for drinks, food, entertainment…everything), is one of my personal favorites. The Truck Yard is fun, True Anomaly Brewing is there, The Secret Group & Warehouse Live are two great venues for live music in the area, and there is so many other great things to do.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Dusty Davis – Lead Guitar, Greg Dodson – Drums, Jeremy Estes – Rhythm Guitar, Brian Ingram – Bass Guitar, Jason Wiltshire – Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar.

The five of us are from distinct backgrounds and we bring our differences together to make a different sound. The initial band (Brian, Greg, and Jason) formed in 2019 and we went through a lineup change prior to the pandemic, so we were sidelined most of 2020 from playing live music. We spent time over zoom calls working on music and forming bonds. It was a challenging time for us, but when we were able to get together we would work on new music and prepare for when we could play live music again. It was cathartic to have a group of friends with similar passions, It made it easier to go through the pandemic knowing that on the other side we would be prepared to take the stage again and create music.

Website: https://rooftopboxer.bandcamp.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rooftopboxer/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rooftopboxer

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rooftopboxer

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4ZcjRYqP28TYQeXYAMi2Bw

Other: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/rooftopboxer/idle https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/rooftopboxer/rawbee

Image Credits
Christopher Trahan