The Glorious Sons Exclusive interview with front man Brett Emmons

We caught up to The Glorious Sons front man Brett Emmons yesterday to chat with him about their new album Young Beauties and Fools, touring and life in general. Thanks to Brett for taking time out of his busy schedule to chat with us via telephone.

nightMair Creative: Hi Brett, thanks for chatting with us. You’re a few days into your Young Beauties and Fools tour – how’s it going so far

Brett Emmons: Hello! Its great, its been great. We’re only two dates so far on the our own headlining tour. We‘re here right now with Greta van Fleet in Seattle for tonight, and played Portland last night. These support shows are good because its great to play in front of a crowd in the States for once (laughs).

nMC: I heard that your headline opening night in Toronto was quite the head banger.

BE: Yeah there was a ruckus in the crowd; someone apparently threw a beer bottle into the crowd from the balcony, a bottle or two was tossed back, and some frigging idiot ended up throwing a metal chair down into the crowd. So that was a bit crazy. The police had him outside the venue and it ended up getting cleared up with no injuries thankfully. We definitely don’t condone that kind of idiot behavior.

nMC: So are crowds out East more rambunctious than Western crowds?

BE: No actually. I find that … hmm. It’s hard to say. I think right now the buzz and excitement around the record is creating a little bit of more energy within the audiences everywhere. I found with our past tour history that the West can be pretty rowdy and excitable, like Kelowna for instance –that bar with the huge metal pole in the middle of the stage that was a loud energetic crowd. (Flashbacks which unfortunately closed). Can be a very very crazy crowd. And Alberta has a lot of fun. Winnipeg- Winnipeg is great. I’ve found that Toronto a few years ago was a little more subdued, but it hasn’t been that way the last few times we’ve been there.

nMC: Just before the album came out, the band and you posted a message to fans thanking them for allowing you to take a risk on new sounding songs (like Everything Is Alright). Have you found the entire album has been well received so far?

BE: Yes its been really well received actually. Its been nice… it’s been…. don’t know what the word is, reassuring I guess? It kind of felt like we were asking a lot from people when we first went in to record this album. Three times we went in to record and came out with nothing, and then the fourth time was the charm I guess. Definitely reassuring to release something that’s pretty different from the last album and all the fans stayed on board, and to even grow a new audience with it, that’s pretty exciting.

nMC: has the positive feedback spurred you to continue to take risks in the future?

BE: I think that no matter what we come up with we’ll take a risk. I think that for us it was really new, but it was also the difference between being inside your own head and writing those songs compared to what people are hearing outside of yourself. It has to be fun, and you have to challenge yourself. I think you’re doing yourself a disservice if every time we went in and we write, we took the easiest route possible. Its good to do what you know, but its good to try to learn more, and strive to be something better and bigger and unique to what you were before. Three years is a long time to wait for writing (a new record) now, so public and personal opinions have changed. Through different experiences I’m a different person I was at 25 than I was at 22, and so are your listeners.

nMC: They say songs are like children, but do you have a favorite song on the album?

BE: (without hesitation) Shotgun.

nMC: Interesting. Why is that one your favorite?

BE: I think it’s the song that people need to hear. I love all the songs (laughs) but Shotgun is my favorite.

nMC: Is there anything you hope people take away from this album when they hear it?

BE: I hope they listen to the album and experience the stories and realize its meant to be listened to as a full album. I hope they take away a little piece of my time and my experiences and can relate to some of it. And enjoy it. And enjoy the direction we took with it. It was a step we knew we had to take for a long time and we weren’t sure how to take it. I’m very happy with it and I hope people experience the same feelings listening to it that I had when making it.

nMC: Thanks very much for your time, we’ll see you in a few short days in Kelowna

Check out the video for Everything is Alright below and find the new The Glorious Sons album, Young Beauties and Fools on iTunes, at your usual retail outlets and at the shows!

©nightMair Creative.com
all rights reserved