Bronze Radio Return “Shake” Things Up By Scoring National Commercial Spots

Hartford's Bronze Radio Return has seen dozens of song placements in commercials and tv shows. The band prepares to enter the studio to record their third album (Michelle Jonne` / Handout Photo)

If you’ve seen a paint commercial recently, watched last season’s American Idol, or saw the Stanley Cup finals, chances are you may have heard something from Hartford’s Bronze Radio Return.

The most recent placement came recently in June, when the band’s song “Shake, Shake, Shake” was featured on a commercial for Behr paint from Home Depot. It was far from the first.

There was a Discover Card commercial, an ad for the 2013 Lincoln MKZ, HBO’s “24/7″ sports show, the French Open, and a trailer for the French film “Delicacy,” starring Audrey Tautou (see video below). Even “16 And Pregnant” featured a few tracks.

“That was kind of an odd one.” frontman Chris Henderson said of the cringe-worthy MTV show while laughing. “That was one of the placements that i hesitated to tell my dad about.”

“Yeah that one we don’t really talk about too much,” joked drummer Rob Griffith. “Let sleeping dogs lie.”

Bronze Radio Return did what many bands do by putting their songs out to music supervisors and agencies, crossed their fingers, and hoped but didn’t anticipate much. Months later the trickle began.

“The first time was about a year ago, while we were recording “Shake! Shake! Shake!” out in Oklahoma.” Henderson said. “Rob got a text from a friend that said he heard us on 90210. The song was “Lo-Fi.”"

Henderson said the band has just been really fortunate, as one placement simply led to another. Hearing the band’s songs on television is still something of a novelty for its members.

“What struck me the most was when i heard “Shake” on American Idol.” Henderson said. I was sitting in our living room when it came on, and it was interesting because I sat in that same room and wrote that song. To sit in that room and hear it on TV was kind of a surreal transfer.”

Griffith said tracks have been placed about 40 times in the last nine months. Some shows include multiple uses, like an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s travel show “The Layover” that Griffith said uses Bronze Radio Return five times.

Some uses are instrumental hits lower in the mix, like the Behr commercial. Others, like a spot for the 2012 Volvo S60, feature a song more prominently.

“What’s fun about it is when we’re notified a song is going to be used- we’re not told whether it’s instrumental, if there are vocals, or what scene they are going to use it in.” said Henderson. “It’s cool to see how other people hear the songs fitting in to different situations.”

The band will spend most of July and August holed up on a farm outside Charlottesville, Virginia to record their third album. A single is expected by September, with the full release coming early in 2013. Heavy touring will come for the group this fall.

Bronze Radio Return have parried some larger record labels that have courted them. Resisting the urge to sign big is something the band found to make sense while they’ve had this limited commercial success.

“It’s got to be the right situation.” Griffith said. “Right now it’s just more economical for us to do everything… at this point we own everything we create, which is a really good position to be in.”

None of the members have made plans to quit their day jobs yet.

“We aren’t thinking we’ve made it, but its nice to have these bits of validation that things are heading in the right direction.” said Henderson. “It keeps everybody moving forward, keeps us energized, and keeps the ball rolling.”

Listen to Bronze Radio Return’s album “Shake! Shake! Shake!” below on Spotify: