About Me
Broomtree is a developing band from Columbus, Ohio, one of the first to sign with newly created Rustproof Records. They're a hard alternative rock band fronted by Kylie Schlig, the creative center who writes all the music and lyrics and also plays lead guitar. The Phantom Tollbooth met with Kylie and other members of Broomtree before one of their shows this summer.Kylie describes their sound as, "Hard, but yet it's not the stuff that's going to bring you down. It's got a happy feeling to it." In preparation for their recording session, she's been careful to expose herself to only good influences. "Right now, I've pretty much been just listening to Christian music. My influences include the old Dakota Motor Company, All Star United, and Kosmos Express. I like a lot of Sixpence None the Richer lyrics. Before I got into the music scene, I was writing just poetry. I'm still writing poetry, and I go back and put music to it. It's stuff that I experience in life, make into poetry, then put to music.""Save You," the first single off the new album, has received a lot of industry notice. "There was a time I had witnessed to someone, and they said they weren't ready for that. They didn't quite say they didn't believe in God, but they said it wasn't for them. The song is about different things that come in the way of people's coming to Christ-their pride, their lifestyle they don't want to get out of.''"Where we got our name has a lot to do with our message. We got our name from 1 Kings 19. The New International Version mentions the broomtree. Eliah is in the wilderness, he's fleeing from Jezebel, and he comes to the point in the dessert where he feels like he doesn't want to go on. He says, "God, take my life," and falls asleep under this tree. It's kind of like today's generation. Some kids are going and running and coming to a point where they're saying, 'I don't want to go any further.' When Elijah surrendered himself there and fell asleep, God provided him with strength to go on. It's the meeting place where if they surrender everything to God, He'll give them strength to go on.''Broomtree spent the summer road-testing new material for their first full-length album recorded in early September by producer Rich May for a December 1 release date. Their first national tour is tentatively scheduled for February 1998.
