BIOGRAPHY

He kinda likes things rough, unpolished and crude. He always cheers for the underdog and the little guy.  He won't throw most stuff away because he feels it just needs a second chance, so he tries to fix it. He admired poetry but found it was better when set to music. Once upon a time, he had lofty designs, but he traded them all for simple things.  Family, home, love and music.  Brian Tremblay lives simply and makes simple music. 

All young boys want to grow up and be cowboys. Brian didn't necessarily want to become one, but he sure did like dressing up and getting out his cap guns.  A favourite Western movie was, They Died With Their Boots On, featuring Errol Flynn.  After it played on TV, Tremblay would dress up and head out to play in his Wild West. The soundtrack to his life was AM radio, The Beatles and Hee Haw. His dad liked Hee Haw and his dad's country music played in the background. 

A guitar-playing hockey player with a Gibson SG taught him his first chords on his new Fender guitar.  High school saw a series of bands and after that, he decided it was time to grow up and put the guitar down. The cycle of on again; off-again with his music began. The new millennium came and the call of the music returned. Tremblay succumbed to the siren and started writing songs.  Many sat on demo CDs or in a binder for years.  As age sixty approached, faced with his mortality, and becoming a grandfather, the guitar came back to him. Brian resurrected withered old songs and then he dug even deeper.  He found his poetry and his turning of a phrase in songwriting. 

Brian's songs are heavily influenced by the songwriters who lived on the outside of the Nashville scene. Tremblay took their raw, unpolished styles and incorporated them into his lyrics and simple melodies. His songs are recorded just as simply.  Stripped down, bare, unrefined and naked. Nothing is more powerful than a lone songwriter with their guitar, performing without the security of a band. It'll either make you bulletproof or gun-shy.  Many artists want their recordings to sound pure and pristine.  Brian wants his to sound like they were recorded by Ralph Peer.

The Neighbourhood has also a live show with projected visuals of the photographs that Brian created. The photos were captured on a vintage camera and vintage film which he processed and printed himself. One of the many skills he learned as a professional photographer. "Since this is about nostalgia, I thought creating the images on the cameras we used to use back then would be perfect for the theme."

The songs lay Tremblay's soul bare. A Hole Where You Used to Be was written for his late sister, who passed away in 2022. He Wasn't A Hero is a love song to his father, and Why Momma, Why delves into his relationship with his mother. I Knew You'd Be All Right was inspired when Brian found out he was going to be a grandfather.

Never one to sit idle, Tremblay always found inspiration in history and family. His next album, soon to be released, called In the Tracks of the Black Bear commemorates his family's connection with the Algoma Central Railway.  It contains six original songs about the ACR and six very early traditional railroad songs. This album will also have a companion show.