About Me
Well, my name is Brian Michael Bortoli and I must have caught your attention if you've come this far... Ok, so about me, you can basically sum it up w/ one word and that word is music. I eat, sleep, and breathe it. Since I was little, I grew up adoring rock & roll performers (which I mainly got as inspiration from my dad). He bought me my first guitar when I was 13 years old back in '95 and I haven't put it down since. I hit 13, had a guitar, and that only left 1 more thing... punk rock. I immediately turned to the likes of my 5 most inspirational artists/bands: Billie Joe & Green Day, Mark & Tom of blink, Mike Herrera & MxPx, Johnee Trash & Adam of Home Grown, and Kris Roe & The Ataris. I started my first serious band as a writer in 10th grade w/ my good friends Steve and Chris. We called ourselves Mass Confusion and went on to record a 4 song CD which I am still proud of to this day. My dad passed away right after we recorded that CD and, to be quite honest w/ you, I can't even remember if he got the chance to hear it or not (it was a VERY confusing time in my life and I hurt a lot of people during that period; I'm sorry if you're one of them and you're reading upon these words right now). Mass Confusion... kinda' fit huh. Anyways, Steve, Chris, and I parted ways right after we graduated High School in '99 and I was immediately contacted by some of my friends who were in a ska band called Nothing Special. Ian, Aaron, and James wanted to start a punk band and they wanted me to play guitar and sing in it. I was super stoked and we went right to work. That band would soon be known as Second to None *220.* We played a lot of shows, met a lot of friends in and out of other bands, and put 3 CD's into our recording collection. Eventually, Ian went on to play w/ Limitpoint and we got our friend Jon to take his place. We all kinda' grew apart from the music and wanted to do other things as time went on. For me, it was a very dark depression period and I wrote some of the darkest songs I've ever written. After we decided to call it quits, I got a call from a friend I knew from my hometown and someone I met while playing in Second to None. His name was Leston and he wanted me to join his band called Snapout (along w/ Matt, John, and Chris). This was during Christmas of '03 (I was out of a band for nearly 3 months and I contemplated doing my own thing on the acoustic guitar, but then another band came calling). To be honest w/ you, I joined Snapout purely out of the fact that I wasn't going to be the lead singer this time and I was only gonna' be playing the guitar. I wasn't too big on their music, but it was a band and Hell, I missed it. So a few months went by, a few changes were made in the band, and I ended up back on the mic, but not by myself... I sang a duet w/ Leston as a 4 piece w/ Matt and Chris by our side playing songs that they had written. Ok, so this kinda' brings us up-to-date on where I currently am, but not entirely... I missed writing songs and putting my words over them which I have done for years. I got out of the whole depression thing pretty good and I pretty much told myself I was just gonna' write, present it to them, and if they liked it, they did, and if they didn't, then it was time for me to do my own thing. It came to be that they were just waiting for me to break free from my shell and write songs dammit!!! They were totally into it and so was I. I personally hated the name Snapout and came up w/ Better Luck Next Time. It has a strong meaning for me, summing up a lot of things that have happened to me both musically and in my life in general. A new band, a new sound, a new beginning (especially for me). We recorded a 4 song demo CD and introduced ourselves right away. We ended up parting ways w/ Leston and picking up Danny on the guitar. Time went on, our music grew, and so did we. Danny ended up leaving and honestly, the band almost died, but things happen when you least expect them to and John ended up coming back and playing with us again. Now, I am back to my passion w/ a clear head, on the mic, and writing music once again. I've written a lot of songs over the years, some of which I am more proud of than others. Being that this is my 3rd attempt to create my dreams, I have brought back all the songs I am most proud of that I have written over the years and play them all over again in Better Luck Next Time. I figure 3rd time's a charm and I guess we'll soon find out...
