Project Description
Interview with
BROTHER BE
Interviewer: Brianna Denmeade
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After five years together, Canberra indie-rock group Brother Be decided to explore their sound further, shifting from upbeat party jams to brooding and epic rock. The first result of this shift is their latest single Nine Dollars.
The song sees frontman Michael Rhydderch entertaining those feelings of doubt that play in our everyday lives against a background of thumping rhythm section and massive wall of guitars. It will be officially released on 25 May 2018, with a launch party to follow at the Polish Club, Canberra, on 2 June 2018. Accompanying the single is the Nine Dollars film clip, which tells the story of fighting against seemingly overwhelming odds.
Brianna Denmeade caught up with the band recently for a chat.
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“They unite a crowd, get everyone on their feet, make you want to hold hands with strangers and jump and sway to the music, all the while they’re not afraid to have a laugh between (or even during) songs.” Sussthis
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AMN: How and when did Brother Be the band form?
Sometime in 2013, Alan (guitar) and Lynette (bass) invited their friend Sam (drums) over to help clean out their garage. However, Alan and Lynette had forgotten that they also arranged for their ex-housemate Mike (singer/guitar) to come over for a jam at the same time. Faced with a choice, they decided to not clean the garage and have a jam instead. The result is Brother Be.
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AMN: I have read that you guys consider yourself more than a band, or just mates, you call yourself family. What is it that has made you guys so close?
Travelling through highs and lows, equal respect to each member, helping each other out without question. Our relationship is much more like brothers and sisters rather than workmates.
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AMN: How would you describe Brother Be’s music in one sentence?
Infectious, familiar and epic.
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AMN: Tell us about your most recent live performance?
Our last live performance was at the Phoenix, one of the centres of the Canberra music scene. At the time it was unclear whether they would remain open, and everyone came out to let them know how much they meant to us. A great night.
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“a band that has emerged onto the national field with a fervent local fanbase already in their corner, having been working up quite the reputation for both their live performances and recorded work” themusic.com.au
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AMN: Brother Be have released music together a few years now, but you have a new track due for release May 25, Nine Dollars. How do you feel your music has developed and changed over your time as a band?
In our formative years, we heavily based our sound around acoustic guitars, and our first EP (released in 2015) captures that time. Since then we’ve moved towards a larger rock sound with electric guitars, as you’ll hear on Nine Dollars. Even though our sound has developed, our approach to music remains the same – make it fun, make it epic.
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AMN: If you could sum up Nine Dollars in only 3 words what would you say about it?
Brooding, epic, dark.
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AMN: What has been the creative and recording processes for this single?
The original track was inspired by Mike’s partner only having Nine Dollars to spend on dinner. A joke song slowly developed into a live favourite. It massaged out with the help of our mixer/producer (Ben Moore at Harvest Recordings) and bam, you have the song. We ended up recording it in Kangaroo Valley.
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AMN: You have a launch party coming up in Canberra where I assume you will play Nine Dollars live for the first time. What are all your feelings leading up to it all?
Excitement, nervousness, all the feelings that you have leading to any release. We’re really looking forward to the launch on June 2 @ the White Eagle Polish Club, and we’re particularly excited to show off the brand new Nine Dollars video clip (dropping really soon), and celebrating its release with the cast and crew. It’s going to be an awesome time.
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AMN: Individually, what has shaped or impacted your music career the most to this point?
Day jobs and having kids :)
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AMN: What are the pros and cons of live shows?
Pros – always fun, we have a great connection and playing live feels like home. Hanging out with other bands and people who have come to party with you.
Cons – if anything, it’s waiting to play, late load outs, waking up for work the next morning.
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AMN: What are the pros and cons of recording music in the studio?
Pros – you get to lay down that awesome track for the world to hear, hang out with each other and come out a better musician.
Cons – It can be hard to execute a great performance in the studio, without the benefit of an audience. Luckily we’re there to amp each other up and get the energy on the recording.
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AMN: Do you think any of you could have worked in any other industry but music?
We already do! The ultimate dream is to tour the world and live purely off our love of music. If that doesn’t happen, our day jobs are awesome and allow us to share our music with everyone, without worrying about rent and food.
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“foot stomping fun” The Chronicle
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AMN: Canberra is Australia’s capital city, what is the music scene like there, and how do you think it has influenced your music over time?
As we all know, Canberra is an easy target for bagging – home of politicians and roundabouts.
However, Canberra’s music scene is an excellent community of amazing musicians and bands. Our live music turnout (per capita) is one of the highest in the country, meaning that the engagement of the local community in our music scene is much higher than larger cities. For any local band, including us, this means that the support that we’ve received from the scene is amazing.
If it has had any influence over our music, it’s simply provided us with the confidence to continue making the music that we feel like, without having to meet some pre-concieved notion of what the public “wants”.
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AMN: With the release of a new song and a few live shows coming up can you reveal what other plans you have in-store for the remainder of 2018?
We’ll focus on releasing our next single, making new music, and gaining new fans.
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AMN: Where can fans stream Nine Dollars from May 25?
From May 25 you can find Nine Dollars on all the major streaming services – Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play and many more.
Watch out for the Nine Dollars video clip launching soon after.
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Upcoming shows:
Saturday 2nd June 2018
Launch Party @ Polish Club, Canberra
Saturday 21 July 2018
The Phoenix, Canberra
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Brother Be release new single
‘Nine Dollars’ independently
on Friday 25th May 2018.
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Follow BROTHER BE
Facebook Soundcloud
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