Boston-based 26-year-old Brett Boucher is The Derevolutions. You’re probably not familiar with the name, but if you own a television, there’s a good chance you’ve heard his music on this star-studded ESPN commercial. It’s a big look for this independent artist, but he doesn’t seem too caught up in the hype. I ask if he’s got a manager or a label. “I don’t have a label or a manager,” he says. “Do I need one?”
Up until recently, Boucher was working as a project manager at a Massachusetts ad firm. His favorite part about the job was making songs for radio commercials. “I made some super freaky shit for family friendly establishments. But it worked out great for them.” He’s pretty much a one-man act, but he’s in the process of putting together a band. After listening to his new sample-heavy single “Pascualita”—a song Boucher calls maximalist surf pop—it’s kind of hard to imagine him playing with a band. Boucher relies heavily on sampling for many of his songs, and especially enjoys finding rare soul and doo-wop songs that get uploaded to YouTube by collectors. With all the sampling, layering, and filtering, recreating these sounds with a band would be a difficult task. But Boucher isn’t really worried about it.
“I do all of my recording wherever I’m living,” he explains. “All I need are mics, guitars, keyboards, and my computer. I just moved into a house with a drum kit so I’m pretty excited to do less programming and more jamming. I wanna get a drummer who’s got that tropidelic funk flavor. You seem skeptical of me being able to reproduce these songs live with a band? If I have enough hot babes in my live show, all will be forgiven.”
Right now, all the music on The Derevolutions’ Soundcloud account is free, and Boucher plans on keeping it that way. “I’ve gotten emails from people telling me I’m wasting the songs by just tossing them up on Soundcloud and calling it a day,” he explains. “Time will tell. If my business model turns out to be as futuristic as my songs, then I’ll do alright.”
When I tell Boucher I’m planning to post his music, I ask for a picture. “Nah, I don’t really have a straightforward pic of myself. Maybe when I shave and get a haircut.” He jokes that right now, in light of the ESPN commercial success, he’s “taking a vacation from work,” but this doesn’t mean he lacks ambition. He obsesses over his music, putting in “ungodly” amounts of time into songs like his latest, “Pascualita.”
Sometimes, being in a creative state of mind requires not being tied down by obligations. If that’s the case for Boucher, he’s in a good place. “Right now it’s 11:30 a.m. and I’m watching Deadliest Catch while eating a Philly cheesesteak. I’m sorta just kidding about the vacation thing because I’m looking to find another job in Boston so I can afford daily takeout and other fine points of life.”
Listen to more music at Soundcloud.
