Born and raised in Toronto, Brooks is currently based in Los Angeles. Just before COVID he was working in the studio alongside legendary film composer Danny Elfman to create Big Mess, Elfman’s 2021 studio album. The two finally got to share the stage together this past April at Coachella and bring the album to life. 

“It was the gig of a lifetime,” he tells us. “When they announced that it was still on, it was elation… We finally got to play the music from the Big Mess record. It just felt full circle. We were able to heal a bit from the pain the pandemic caused.”

Brooks’ debut EP, The 40HZ, boasts features notable collaborators including Paul Leary of Butthole Surfers, Fake Legs (both on “Live Nude Pigs”), N8NOFACE (“Don’t Really Care”), Jason Aalon Butler of Fever 333 (“MOB Music”), Angelo Moore of Fishbone (“Frontline”), and Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy (“Sound the Alarm”).  

After shopping singles “Sound the Alarm” and “MOB Music” around to labels, Toronto-based indie label Dine Alone Records suggested Brooks release a full compilation of tunes collaborating with other artists. Though those songs weren’t written for use under his own name, their evolution charted a new course once things were set in motion.

“The music started changing, taking a different kind of approach and sound, and gradually getting a little gnarlier and gnarlier as time went on — a little darker and more aggressive,” he adds. “‘Live Nude Pigs’ was made a little more with the intention that it was going to be for my record. It gets a little uglier… It starts with poppy punk/reggae, and then gets into synthy punk mayhem toward the end.”