Canadian Rockers Her Brothers
Taking Canada by Storm
The Canadian band, Her Brothers is made up of three brothers, Gabe, Josh, and Levi. They formed in their parent’s basement in 2006. Since then they have been rocking across Canada with their own style of rock, and deep lyrics. The brothers took time out of their day to answer some questions.
What musicians have influenced and contributed to Her Brothers style?
All of us listen to different stuff, so as a band it’s fun to pull those influences together and make something new. We’re big fans of Prince, Rage Against The Machine, Lorde, Sigur Ros, INXS, Tears For Fears, Scritti Politti, Mos Def, ABBA, Brothers Johnson, U2, Pearl Jam, Marvin Gaye, Bobby Brown, Queens Of The Stone Age, Michael Jackson, Keith Kenniff, Coldplay, Lyle Mays, Roger Waters, The Police, Bruno Mars, The Ramones. Probably the artists who have had the biggest influence on us and our style would be a mix of Peter Gabriel, Roger Waters, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and Micheal Jackson.
How did the three of you come up with the name Her Brothers?
We came up with the name Her Brothers because we, in fact, are 3 brothers and we have a little sister. As we were forming this new incarnation of the band (previously we were a punk band called Poppy and The Pistols) I was thinking a lot about the impact we all have on our family, friends, the people we interact with every day. The name was fitting.
Do you come from a musical family? When did the three of you start in music and how did that play out.
We do! Our parents actually met in a studio and we all grew up playing music together as kids and as a family. Although, as a band, we didn’t start playing together until Levi was about seven. We actually had another drummer who took off to go to the bathroom one day while we were working on a song and Levi literally just came in and sat down on the drums and started playing. He could barely even see over the kit but just had rhythm from day one.
Gabe, you have mentioned that the three of you really like the live experience and connecting to the audience. What was the most impactful concert that you all played?
I think when we’ve toured up to Grande Prairie and worked with the Mighty Peace Day Youth For Change Society we’ve had some of our favorite shows. The audiences are just so engaged and energetic, the people so welcoming, and what has been really cool about those shows is getting to meet people afterward and hear their stories.
What does a typical songwriting session look like with the three of you?
It can honestly look like a million things! Haha! We don’t really have a formula or way we do it. Quite often Levi creates something musically or rhythmically and then I sit down and feel it out, trying to put down what comes naturally for lyrics. From there we try to follow it and build around the vocal. Sometimes I’ll have a chorus melody idea or Levi will have some small thing or I’ll even just have a phrase and we go on that. When we get an idea we try to flush it out as bare as possible many times (like just on the piano or acoustic guitar) because if it can feel strong bare bones then everything can build around that. Again, that being said… we just do whatever the song wants. We have a phrase that we say whenever we’re working on material: “the song is queen” basically meaning that if we get too precious about it or any one of us gets our ego all bent out of shape wanting “that part”, the song suffers. And any one of us can do that so there’s definitely a balancing act involved. And we are brothers… so it can get heated.
I see that you guys just released the album Tribe, other than that what is next for Her Brothers?
We’ve got a few things coming down the pipe. Some more music videos, some more singles, merchandise, and an online store. We’re also planning a few tours at the moment which we can’t say much about but I can hint that we may be heading to the UK in the future as well as some other tours closer to home.
You can keep up with Her Brothers on their website, HerBrothers.com, Instagram, Spotify, and their Facebook page.
