Meet John Bruner | Songwriter and band leader

We had the good fortune of connecting with John Bruner and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi John, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The most important factor behind our success is determination and commitment to keeping the band on track to reach new goals. It’s easy for people in creative fields to get discouraged and give up. Being successful in a creative field such as music takes time and a lot of energy. Very few musicians really get “discovered” anymore and get whisked away to immediate success. It takes time and willingness to make some sort of progress everyday.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I always like to say that what sets us apart as a band is our combination of musicianship that other musicians can appreciate and our obsession with making catchy songs. I love and respect genres like jazz or prog rock that really show off a musician’s skills, but if I can’t sing along to it at the same time, then it’s not usually going to resonate with me. I like taking our technical skills we’ve learned through obtaining our music degrees and creating catchy songs that anyone, including non-musicians, can appreciate and understand.

It’s not been easy getting to this point in our career. As I said earlier, there were many times when I wanted to quit and find a different career path. There are so many sacrifices artists have to make to achieve success. I’ve overcome these feelings of discouragement by surrounding myself with people who believe in me and want to push me to be a better musician/songwriter/person.

What I’d want people to take away is that The King of Mars is a band with an old school rock sound mixed with modern pop sensibility. We’re a group that works insanely hard to keep pushing forward in a time where musicians have it harder than ever. And we take pride in gaining even just one new fan or listener.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Our band is from Chicago, so there are a lot of options in our city!

Day 1: Sports and Food!
Catch a Cubs game at Wrigley Field in Wrigleyville, Chicago! Enjoy some great, although overpriced hot dogs that cannot be beat along with ice cream served in your own cubs hat cup! After the win, watch the whole stadium “Fly the W” and get some dinner and drinks at any of the bars in the area.

Day 2 & 3: Museum Campus!
The Chicago Museum Campus is right on Lake Michigan and has the Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, and Field Museum. Go out of this world and learn about space and watch amazing presentations at the Planetarium, meet Sue, the famous T-Rex at the Field Museum, and don’t forget to watch all the dolphins show off their tricks at the Shedd Aquarium! You could spend all day at any of these stops, so we will spread them out over two days, at least! Grab some amazing food from the food carts outside and enjoy the view by the lake!

Day 4: Lakefront Path!
After a few days indoors, take to the Lakeshore! The lakefront path runs along the shore of Lake Michigan and cannot be missed. The city has rental bikes available everywhere and can easily be found for a nice ride along the path! This is our favorite and a lot of tourists miss out on this because they have so many museums to hit! You have to pick the right day, because after a big storm the water will wash up on the path and bury it so it can get dangerous in certain weather! Besides that it is nothing but gorgeous.

Day 5: The Game Room Bar!
The Game Room is a very popular bar and hangout that is well worth your time. Apart from great drinks and snacks, they have tons of games set up from Pool, to Foosball, to tabletop shuffle board, and more. Just outside of this room, there is a HUGE lounge filled with old fashioned large fireplaces, and plenty of work desks that will make any reading or study time feel extra fancy. It’s so relaxing during the day and and such a fun hang with friends at night.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would definitely like to give a shoutout to my parents for helping me in so many ways I can’t keep count anymore. From coming to an insane amount of our concerts to supporting me in a career most people would describe as “unrealistic,” they’ve been there consistently to help in anyway they could.

I’d also like to give a shoutout to our band manager, Sarah. If it wasn’t for her constant belief in the band and positive attitude, I definitely would’ve given up a while ago.

Website: https://www.thekingofmars.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theking_ofmars/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theking_ofmars

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thekingofmarsband

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIl_96XVSa_6aaEFw0KmfEg

Other: Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ybB0gCZTsqoJomqyZyyMt?si=tcYjGLdeRvuEBkXECcKVZQ Apple Music – https://music.apple.com/us/artist/the-king-of-mars/1164228815

Image Credits
Photos taken by Sarah Brasseur