Words: Nico
Back in November we had the pleasure of having a virtual natter with the next big thing to come out of Provo, Utah, in the United States. ‘Who’s that’, you ask? Let us introduce you to Brother.; the four-piece indie-alternative outfit that have been turning heads over the last couple of years. Since signing to Vegas-based independent record label Handwritten Records (Magic Bronson, Jean Dawson, The Velveteins), they have gone from strength to strength. We had the pleasure of chatting with lead singer, Chuck, on the day that their latest single ‘Ain’t Over You’ was released. We discussed plans for 2021, the music scene in Utah, and coping with lockdown life…
Tell us a bit about Brother. – who are you and how did you form?
We’ve been a band for about four years now, and we’re all from Utah in The States. We started off as a solo project – it was my solo project – sort of a folk/Americana type thing, and then we kind of made the transition into using more drums, electric guitar, bass, and it kind of transformed into what we do now, which is like indie/alternative rock. But yeah, we started around 2016, and have been going strong ever since.
Are you currently based in Utah, or are you based elsewhere?
In Utah, yes.
What’s the music scene like in Utah?
It’s actually pretty cool. Where we come from, it’s called Provo, it’s where a lot of bands have gotten their start. Music is really ingrained into the city that we live in; Imagine Dragons came from here, Neon Trees, The Aces, lots of great bands.
Can you tell us a bit about the band name? We noticed you have a ‘full stop’ at the end of the word ‘Brother’ – how did that come about and is there any meaning behind it?
Yeah, there’s a couple of different stories that we always tell about the name. One of them I guess is somewhat religious, but I’m a big fan of the show ‘Lost’. Desmond on the show, he says ‘brother’ a lot, and if you ever watch the show with subtitles, it always has that period at the end. He always says “see you in another life, brother.”. It’s a kind of fun backstory.
Tell us a little bit about your latest single, ‘Ain’t Over You’, and what’s the response been like in the lead up to its release?
Ain’t over you, our new single is really fun for us – it’s one of my favourites. It kind of came about lyrically; I guess the story behind it is just a crazy night of sleep paralysis, a really scary night of that, so there’s a lot of those nuances that we put in the song that happened that night when I was 16 – sorry that’s not very detailed! The response to it coming out has been awesome, there’s lots of publications that have listened to it, you guys at What The Funk? have listened to it and expressed how cool you think it is, so that’s really nice!
It’s a very syncable track – you could definitely imagine it on and advert!
That’s what I’m hoping! Netflix needs to call us!
Tell us a bit about the album that you’ve got planned for next year – what themes is it going to cover lyrically, and can you give us any sneak previews as to the name, title tracks or a release date?
No release date just yet. But yeah we’re working hard. As of right now we’re basically finished with all the tracking and everything. We tried using the same instrumentation or at least the same effects which is something that we’ve never done before, and putting them into different scenes into the songs which was fun for us but challenging (and pretty rewarding on the end product). The names of all of our albums (we’ve released two already) were Volume 1 and Volume 2, so naturally this will be Volume 3.
Who did you record it with and where did you record it?
We did part of the album with Aaron Hendricks, who’s also from Utah, who’s worked with a couple of different bands from here. We did a couple of tracks with him, and the rest we’ve been doing ourselves; so me and Nathan who’s also in the band, we go to his home studio and track everything there, produce it, and he mixes it from his house.
As a band, how have you found adapting to lockdown life this year? Have you missed playing live shows?
Ah man… live shows… there’s nothing like live shows. And it’s weird because everything has slowed down. We had a pretty big tour planned and it all kind of fell through because of lockdown and everything. Since then we’ve played a handful of shows that have been socially distanced, with everyone wearing masks and everything. We’ve done a lot of live streams too, but the energy just isn’t the same; you’re not playing off the crowd. The show isn’t as loud as you want it to be as it’s outdoors or it’s a smaller venue. It’s been a challenge, I think, but hopefully this all comes to an end soon and we can get back into grinding and into the groove.
Tell us a little bit about Handwritten Records. How did you come into contact with them, how long have you been with them and how did you end up signing with them?
We met Handwritten through a mutual friend – we were touring through Las Vegas, which is where Handwritten is based out of, and there was someone at the show, Mikey. He came up and was like “Hey I like you guys, I want to introduce you to my friend who runs this record label”. So we met that way, and then we kept in contact for about a year and a half. We recently signed with them earlier this year, I believe in April. So we’ve been with them since then. This will be the second release with them, but the first full length LP.
You can watch Brother.’s exclusive live session performed for What The Funk? Magazine below:
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