We first heard about The Glorious Sons through The Trews guitarist John Angus, who tweeted about producing the band’s song awhile back and about how good this band was, and so when we found out the band was set to play Kelowna with Airbourne we knew we HAD to talk to them. Singer Brett took some time to talk to us between interviews with the local cable TV show and the local newspaper (much appreciated!)
nightMair Creative: What can you tell me about The Glorious Sons?
Brett: we’re a 5 man rock band that’s been out about 2-3 years now – we started playing in my brother Jay’s apartment which was above a mechanic shop; we bought it so we could just jam all night and write material.
We caught our big breaks in two music contests back home (Kingston, Ontario). The first contest is how we were introduced to John Ang (John Angus of The Trews), as he was one of the judges of the contest. After we played the contest, I was playing darts and he walked past with his band (before closing the contest with The Trews own show), and tapped me on the shoulder. He told me he wanted to talk to me after the show, and to bring the band to the dressing room for a couple of beers. We went, and he offered to produce a song for us for free, to see if we liked it or not…. in order to record an album with him. We did, and the outcome was our first single, Oh Momma.
We won another contest and Oh Momma ended up on the radio, and people liked it enough that it spread Canadian coast to coast, and went to Number 6 on the charts. That was our first single and we’ve just continued from there. We released an EP, and our new full-length album The Union, comes out tomorrow. We also just released a single for the album, called Heavy. We’ve been touring the country like crazy the last two years! We’ve done it 4 times back and forth and its going really well – we love it!
nMC: Its fantastic when artists help other artists instead of feeling like they’re in direct competition with other artists.
Brett: John Ang kick started our entire career. He found us at that show and gave us a shot and produced that song for us, and ended up producing the entire EP… he also produced 9 of the songs of our new album out tomorrow.. we all keep in touch with him on the road, he’s a mentor of ours… we love him, he’s awesome. To us… you can’t deny someone like that when they help you.
nMC: The new full length album The Union, how many songs?
Brett: it has 11 songs. Currently it’s streaming on aux.tv via the band’s website (which will end at midnight tonight) and the album is out tomorrow.
nMC: who are some of your influences with your music?
Brett: personally, Bruce Springsteen is a huge influence – he doesn’t influence me directly as to what I play, but there is a certain amount of fun he has, that you can tell he always has – and he shows it. He gives it his all, all the time. If The Boss is around, rock and roll is not dead (smiles broadly)
nMC: Who do you think are some of the top rock bands in Canada right now?
Brett: Canadian? I would say The Trews, and Matt Mayes.. Sam Roberts but not so much this new album, that’s more electronica – the older albums for sure… he’s a good songwriter and great performer. The Trews music has matured with the band as they mature and age – they’re not worried about sticking to a specific demographic. Bands that grow as their fans grow, are great. We want to be like that.
nMC: who inspires or influences the others in the band?
Brett: Andrew and Patrick are huge Kings of Leon fans and it comes out in their playing for sure. And Chris is a metal head so really likes Slayer, a lot (laughs) . Jay and I have always been classic rock fans – I like new rock (the real rock), but I have an acquired taste and like some of the old rock – Jackson Browne for example. (laughs) people are always thrown for a loop when I say Jackson Browne.
nMC: what would you say to those who say rock and roll is dying or dead? The naysayers?
Brett: I would say that’s bullshit. I think that’s a foolish thing to say. I think that they just don’t know – everything they listen to (pop, techno, dj) has been created by the gap that rock bridged; from music before rock, and music after rock.. I don’t know how to explain it better than that but anything you’re listening to is because of rock. The Beatles were called Pop back then but the melodies they sang were sung by rock and rollers before them… its not dead, what its going through is a phase, a little bit of a lull.
I don’t think its in a lull for those who listen to rock, just for those who don’t… there are a ton of great rock bands in the USA right now that people up here aren’t hearing – they’re there if you search them out. Its sad to hear people say that, all you can do (as a band) is keep your head down and keep working. There’s people in this generation who feel they are not being spoken too and not being heard. They feel like their voice isn’t being heard because…. I feel that art, TV, everything, is getting a little more simple, a little more easy, and that’s not a good thing. I want to be the rock and roll guy that brings it back to them. I don’t know what’s going to happen but I feel there is a change coming again.
Its music that we’ve thought about.. we thought about it when we created it and I just want people to know how important rock and roll is to us and how important rock is in general. In the end, the pendulum will swing back and we’ll take it back (laughs), its not even a question.
nMC: what can we expect from tonight’s show?
Brett – sweaty raw energy rock and roll (laughs) I preach rock and roll as much as possible ‘cause –it’s the only thing I can do In my life, and I love it to death. Grimy rock and roll.
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