Brigitte Calls Me Baby first grabbed everyone’s attention at SXSW in 2023. Not long after, they were signed to ATO Records, and have been on a steady track of touring and recording. During a recent visit to The Current studio, the band performed a set of songs, after which lead vocalist Wes Leavins sat down for a conversation with Jill Riley.

In a fun and candid conversation, Leavins talks about his Texas roots and what drew him to Chicago, where Brigitte Calls Me Baby are based. Leavins also sheds light on the origins of the band’s name, and how they came to work with producer extraordinaire Dave Cobb. Watch and listen to the interview above, and read a transcript below.

Interview Transcript

Jill Riley: You're listening to The Current I'm Jill Riley in the studio with Wes Leavins from Brigitte Calls Me Baby. Welcome back to the Twin Cities.

Wes Leavins: So good to be here.

Jill Riley: It's awesome to see you here. Now, the band Brigitte Calls Me Baby, you've done a couple events for The Current, a Current Happy Hour — part of that series last summer — you did a winter event with us, I remember that was right around the time that you guys did the TV taping for CBS.

More from The Current:

• Video: Watch Brigitte Calls Me Baby's full set at Surly Brewing Co.
• Photos: Scenes from The Current's Winter Dig Out 2024

And going back to some of my colleagues coming back from South by Southwest, a couple years ago already, and just raving about this band they had seen. So it's been really fun to watch this. I mean, to really watch this rise of the band. That's got to feel amazing. It's got to feel like a whirlwind, I'm sure.

Wes Leavins: It does. And as you mentioned, The Current is sort of a big reason for all this. So grateful for that.

Jill Riley: Well, we love it. Thanks for making the great music. I mean, that makes it easy for us. I mean, it really does. So you've got an EP out, This House Is Made of Corners; the new record, The Future Is Our Way Out. I want to talk about some of the new music, and talk about you guys making the EP and the record. But if you could take us back; now, Brigitte Calls Me Baby is based in Chicago. But you are from Texas — Port Arthur, Texas. So can you talk a little bit about, you know, your background and and getting into singing? Because, I mean, you've been singing a long time.

Wes Leavins: Well, yeah, I mean, just had nothing to do in a small town and wanted to get out of the town. And, you know, all I could really do is just live in my head and think of ways to get out of that town, and music seemed to be the one that was making the most sense. And so just somehow ended up in Chicago along the way, and really been a pretty organic thing, which I didn't know that happened anymore.

Jill Riley: Mm-hmm. So Port Arthur, that's a familiar name. Is that the town that Janice Joplin is from?

Wes Leavins: Yeah, it is. My grandma actually graduated with her.

Jill Riley: Really?

Wes Leavins: They went to the same school and everything.

Jill Riley: No way! But the way that you talk about singing and music and wanting to get out of that town, I mean, when you were saying that, it made me go, "I feel like I've heard that kind of story before." Hey, the band Brigitte Calls Me Baby, now I want to talk about how the band got together and met. I was wearing your band's T-shirt one day in the store, and this guy walked by me, he goes, "Who's Brigitte?" And I didn't have a great answer, because I didn't want to get into it. So if you could maybe tell us, Brigitte Calls Me Baby, where did that name come from?

Wes Leavins: Yeah, in high school, there was an English project where we had to write to a notable person and essentially just spell things correctly. That was the assignment. And I wrote to Brigitte Bardot, and we sort of became light pen pals. We wrote back and forth a handful of times, and when it came time to need a name for the band, it just, I remember one night, it just hit. I thought, "Well, that's interesting."

And I like it, because to me, you don't know everything about the band by the name. Some bands, the name gives it away. And I find that our name is ambiguous; like, "What are they going to sound like?" It raises questions, which I always like.

Jill Riley: But I think once someone hears the sound of the band, I feel like the name really clicks, like it just, it's a very classic. And even just that name, I mean, when I was a little kid, I was the youngest in my family, and that was my dad's nickname for me. You know, so it's very, I think there's something like, very nostalgic about a name, like even a nickname like that. Yeah, yeah. So Brigitte Calls Me Baby. So based in Chicago. So you said, you know, you made your way to Chicago eventually. How did you meet the other members of the band?

Wes Leavins: There was, you know, thankfully, the internet allows us to meet people we wouldn't have otherwise. So I knew a couple people in Chicago via the internet, and years had passed, and we had chatted online and became as close as you can over the internet, and eventually I just thought, "Well, I should go out there and actually see these people." When I did, I fell in love with the city. They just kind of introduced me to their friends. And eventually, you know, after a handful of years, you meet the right people, and suddenly the like-minded people come together, and you have a band. And, you know, like I said earlier, it was very organic. And that doesn't seem to happen much, so I am kind of proud of that.

Jill Riley: Yeah, I think it's pretty incredible that, you know, the band forms in Chicago, and somehow you got hooked up with producer Dave Cobb. Could you give some background on that, and why did you guys feel like, "Oh yeah!" I mean, one, he has a great reputation for working with people — I mean, Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson, and another big voice like Brandi Carlile. Why did you feel that he would be like a great choice for even making your EP?

Wes Leavins: It's a good question, because, you know, from the outside looking in, you wouldn't think of our name amongst those artists, and it's a very unlikely pairing, but when I was with him in studio, working on a movie that we he was musical directing and whatnot, we, in our downtime, would just talk about bands that we liked, and realized very quickly that he's probably one of the most open-minded musicians and producers that I've met, and we just hit it off very well. A lot of the same interests musically and movies and all kinds of things. And, you know, he obviously has a thing, I guess you can say, but I would say his talent is so vast and beyond what maybe the scope of what we are aware of in regards to what he's produced, that it just made complete sense to go all in. And he's, yeah, I can't really say enough good things about him, because he is the — he just has it. There's a confidence, there's an assuredness. There's no like intimidation as far as songs go; you know, being intimidated by a song, he's just, it's very easy.

Jill Riley: You mentioned a movie, so that would have been the Elvis movie, which I want to talk about your voice. And so when it comes to the band, and you know, when people start writing about your band, and you hear of Elvis and Roy Orbison, and you can hear those elements almost kind of baked into your DNA of what your voice sounds like. But even more modern-day influences. But I remember when we watched your band, we did a Current happy hour event last summer, and thinking, "Why wasn't this guy cast as Elvis in that Elvis movie?" I mean, you know, Austin Butler was great. OK? I'm not taking anything away from that, but was that part of it? I mean, because I feel like Dave Cobb is a guy that really like, wants to take a voice and get something great out of it. When did you discover that? I mean, you have a very powerful voice. When did you kind of discover that you had it though?

Wes Leavins: Maybe not until I was 19 or so, because early on, when I would sing, I didn't really, I wasn't very into my voice, And people around me, friends and stuff, would say it was, you know, "You're a great singer" and things like that. But I was very into, you know, certain kinds of voices, a lot of female voices, and I certainly don't have one. So like listening to bands like Cocteau Twins and Sundays and, you know, things like that, and even more contemporary, current, MGMT and whatnot, it was the antithesis of my voice, for sure. So eventually I just sort of embraced it and realized what comes natural is probably gonna be the best, and went all in, and now here we are.

Jill Riley: Yeah, is that something that you were really kind of able to hone in on in the studio then?

Wes Leavins: Yeah, and that's another thing that Dave [Cobb is] really good at is, you know, getting things out of you that you didn't know you had, and pulling — and that may be why he is so successful in the genre that he's been very successful in — is pulling real authenticity. There's a lot of authenticity that he gets out of people; pulling that is his gift. And you kind of, if you're smart, you submit to the authenticity, rather than trying to present a certain way, because people can tell when it's phony.

Jill Riley: Yeah, exactly like it's almost like you're trying to be or mimic something else. But I don't hear a mimic in your voice. I just, I hear the power. I wonder, how much do you have to work on that? I mean, that is your instrument. And I wonder, you know, how did you kind of, like, learn control, or, because it's one thing to have the power, but then there's the control, and then there's the, you know, going on tour, which — you know, kicking off the tour in Minneapolis, that's very cool — you know, to be able to maintain that.

Wes Leavins: Yeah, well, it's the only thing I can do.

Jill Riley: OK!

Wes Leavins: Maybe that's why I've just gone all in, because I don't know what else to do. I don't know anything else that I do well, so I just went for it. And as far as keeping the voice going, it's like, it's like a muscle, you know, so the more you work it, the easier it becomes to use it. And thankfully, with touring like this, you don't really have an opportunity to not work it. And eventually, by the end of it, you're like, you know, you feel like you can, you know, use every, every part of your voice. And I would say, without touring, I don't know if I would have the discipline to, you know, exercise.

Jill Riley: Sure. I'm talking with Wes Leavins of Brigitte Calls Me Baby. The EP, The House Is Made Of Corners. The full-length record is called The Future Is Our Way Out. If we could talk specifically about a couple of the songs, you know, there are some moments where, you know, you really even, I mean, "Eddie My Love," there are those big moments. I mean, that's the song that we first, you know, started playing on The Current. But "We Were Never Alive" and even "Impressively Average" and other songs on the record, I started to hear, you know, there is this kind of, like, very classic period that influences your music, but I'm starting to hear more of, like a synth coming in and a new wave sound coming in, which I think is a great balance for that powerful voice that you have. I wonder if we could talk about a couple of the songs specifically. Like "We Were Never Alive" is a really gorgeous song. And it took me a couple times listening to it and even just reading the lyrics to go, "Wow, this is a heavy song." I mean, not like heavy metal, but I mean the subject matter, it can feel really heavy,

Wes Leavins: Yeah. The idea with it, with the record, was to just show every part of us and what we do. And, you know, the EP was a glimpse, and then the record is, "Here we are, and these are all the nuances." And, yeah, that song is one that, like, I think I've said it a few times, but it's so true. The best songs come very, very quickly. And that was one of them, just like stream of consciousness, rattling off. 

Jill Riley: But I wonder, were you kind of going through something at the time? Because to really kind of start thinking about, "Wow, this whole thing is a blip," you know, that's what I get out of it, you know. That's my interpretation. Is like, eventually it might be as though you think about, like, a couple generations from now, it's like, well, who's gonna remember us?

Wes Leavins: Yeah, no, I'm sure I was going through something.

Jill Riley: Aren't we all?

Wes Leavins: Yeah. Seems like it. Never ending.

Jill Riley: I know!

Wes Leavins: But yeah, that's just you hit the nail on the head. That's essentially what the song is about, is, I think there was a quote that I read somewhere that said, "When everyone who ever knew you goes and you go and no one mentions your name anymore, it's as if you were never alive." And I was like, wow, "I don't want to hear that."

Jill Riley: Right, because it is. It's very heavy to really sit and think about that. But I think it could also, like, kind of ground us a little bit.

Wes Leavins: Yeah, like, yeah, don't sweat things so much. You know? Really, what's the point.

Jill Riley: OK. Wes Leavins is here with Brigitte Calls Me Baby. I got to give a shout-out. Now, Devin [Wessels], your bass player, is from our neck of the woods. I met his parents last summer at one of your gigs. So it was cool to know that there was that tie to the Twin Cities area. I know they're just over the river in Wisconsin, which is cool. We're cool with that. But I think there is this great like, you know, we really feel it when there's a band coming out of the Midwest and just on this, on this ride, it's gotta just feel like this wave that you're just riding.

Wes Leavins: Yeah, well, you should have seen Devin when The Current started playing us, you know? He grew up around all this stuff, and he couldn't believe it. So every sort of rung we've stepped up the ladder here because of The Current, he's been, he's been, I can tell you, very excited, because now we're playing these venues where he saw all the bands that he loved growing up. And it's very rewarding for all of us, but particularly being from here, he's over the moon.

Jill Riley: So you are from Texas. Do you live in Chicago now?

Wes Leavins: I do.

Jill Riley: OK. Have you found that you really like are fitting into the city? That you love it? I mean, what does it feel like to be a Midwesterner now?

Wes Leavins: Great. You know, being from Texas, it is quite different, but that's what I like about it.

Jill Riley: OK.

Wes Leavins: And yeah. I just, you know, yeah, it seems as if I just kind of fit right in. And a lot of people say they can tell I'm from Texas. I don't really know how, but...

Jill Riley: Maybe a little something to do with your voice, maybe just a little bit?

Wes Leavins: Really? See, I don't hear it.

Jill Riley: People can tell that I'm a Midwesterner when I go to other parts of the country.

Wes Leavins: Maybe that's it.

Jill Riley: They think I'm from Fargo, which is not in Minnesota. Let's all be clear about that. But yeah, I just, it's — congratulations. That's what I want to say. It's just been awesome to see you guys get the attention that you're getting, not just in the Twin Cities, but all around the country and not just not in the U.S., but not just in the U.S., but, I mean, in the past year, you've played big festivals. I mean, you guys went to London and played a big festival. It's awesome.

Wes Leavins: Yeah. And honestly, the, you know, I'm not just saying this because we're here, the amount of people I've met who discovered us through The Current, who are not even from the Midwest, some of them in Los Angeles, New York, like, "Yeah, I heard you on The Current." That says a lot.

Jill Riley: Yeah, well, it says a lot about the music, too. Brigitte Calls Me Baby with Wes Leavins today performing "We Were Never Alive," "Impressively Average." And then, can you tell me about the new song? You guys have a brand-new song, I mean that, like, just recently dropped. Can you tell me a little bit about it?

Wes Leavins: Yeah, "Too Easy" was sort of the last single before the record came out. And, yeah, it's one of my favorites for sure, on the album, and just an idea of where we're going and things like that.

Jill Riley: Very good. Well, you are listening to The Current, and you can check out the video of the performance when you go to thecurrent.org, or you can always just go to The Current's YouTube channel to check out in-studio performances and interviews. And Wes, appreciate you guys coming in. It's fun to get you in here to do an in studio.

Wes Leavins: Really enjoyed it. Thank you.

Jill Riley: Thank you.

Credits

Guests – Wes Leavins of Brigitte Calls Me Baby
Host – Jill Riley
Producers – Derrick Stevens, Nilufer Arsala
Audio – Eric Xu Romani
Video – Megan Lundberg
Graphics – Natalia Toledo
Digital Producer – Luke Taylor 

External Link

Brigitte Calls Me Baby – official site