Interview with brother/sister duo The Heirs

Brother/Sister duo The Heirs have been turning heads and are about to embark on a tour supporting Melanie Martinez. GroundSounds recently caught up with the duo to learn about their start in music, what they are working on, and more. Check out the interview below, along with tour dates and their song “Alright, Goodnight.”

 

What was your first memory of music? When did you realize that you wanted to pursue music as a career?

It’s kind of tough to recall our first memory of music, because we’ve been doing it ever since we’ve been babies. We never struggled in wondering what we wanted to do when we grow up; it was something that we knew from the beginning. But, I guess our first real realization that this was something we were serious about, was when we wrote together for the first time. We just clicked and the fact that we wrote something and put it into music was such an incredible feeling to us. We knew we wanted to do it forever.

As musicians, young or old, we feel like evolution in this art is always occurring and it is a very beautiful thing. We are constantly growing and changing, but since our America’s Got Talent days, we have definitely matured both musically and physically. We have written more due to experiencing more, together and separately. We’ve seen more of the world since then and have traveled and performed all year long, which has matured us as a band and as people. We’re also the youngest members of our band, being 17 and 15, we have grown up a bit hanging out with our older band mates in a bus all year long. The growing process has been an amazing thing and we feel we have found our sound as The Heirs and it will only continue to blossom and grow as we will also continue to do the same.

The Heirs band name came from a mutual idea / dream we shared. It was a vision of a world run by us as a youth. All of these young people ruling the world were called The Heirs because they were all next in line to what they were going to inherit in this world one day. After the vision we decided to call ourselves The Heirs. Not because we are next in line for what’s to come, but to represent us as a youth. Ever since then it just seems to fit us and the reception has been fantastic, we are very thankful.

 

As siblings you seem very in sync,tell us about your brother and sister connection and how that relationship impacts your music.

Savannah: Brandon and I have an amazing relationship as brother and sister and as partners in our business. We are very much so in sync. We have the same visions and goals and we get each other completely. It’s so nice in this industry to know that someone gets you and understands where you are coming from when you come up with a crazy idea. We are always on the same page and I think it makes us stronger as musicians because it’s double the force and double the passion. We are always teaching each other new things and trying to better ourselves as musicians, writers, and people.

 

I love the message of never giving up in “Alright, Goodnight”, how did you go about choosing this song to be the first single off of your new EP Introducing the Heirs that is set to release in February of 2015?

“Alright, Goodnight” basically defines our feelings on today’s society and how we feel – that as youths we are often looked down upon. It’s our way of sparking interest in equality and coming together as a generation. We believe that we are equal to adults and we are next in line to what they leave for us and we want to make something of it.

 

What was it like working with Justin Stanley and Bram Inscore on Introducing the Heirs? 

Working with Justin Stanley and Bram Inscore was the definitive moment of realization for us. We had written all of these songs previously and we knew mentally what we wanted them to sound like, and as soon as we met these awesome and talented guys, they allowed our creativity to flow and they opened up so many doors for new ideas. We wanted our songs to be consistent and cohesive so that they could easily flow like a river from song to song, and we were able to create that with Justin and Bram. We are very grateful to have them apart of our team. It truly is such a magical and personable experience creating music so close to our hearts with others who allow our songs to blossom.

Over the past year you have toured in the US and Canada, what has been your favorite show performance to date?

Deciding which city/show was our favorite throughout the year, is such a hard question for us to answer. We have absolutely loved every show and every city we have been too. There’s nothing more amazing than performing music and getting in touch with people on a very personal level. We have loved the UK, Scotland, Ireland, the US and Canada a lot! We cannot wait to see the rest of the world soon.

 

If you could do a collaboration with any living artist, who would you choose and why?

If we were to collaborate with any living artists, hmmm, we would probably pick a collaboration with Fleetwood Mac. We are huge fans of the 70s, its music, culture and fashion, and to us Fleetwood Mac has been one of our biggest inspirations. They always had such a unique blend of bizarre instrumentation and vocal melodies and beautiful music components and they compressed it all into a wonderfully blissful pop paradise. It would be a dream to work with them.

 

At ages 15 and 17, you are living the musical dream for a lot of teenagers, but is there any typical or cliche high school moment you would like to experience if you could?

If we had to experience any cliché high school moment, it would probably be prom. We grew up seeing movies featuring fantastic prom scenes and I guess a part of every teenager wants to experience that. I think we will end up throwing our own prom with our friends, crew and fellow musicians on tour one day. Haha

 

You both have a strong fashion identity, if you could bring back one look into style again, what would it be?

As we mentioned before, we are extremely infatuated with the 1970s. The way we dress kind of emulates and pays homage to the fashion icons from that time period that we admire so much. The combinations of patterns and button down shirts and long necklaces with cowboy boots is just very lovely.

 

The two of you are self professed Old Souls, if you could live in any decade of history which would you choose and why?

If we had to live through any past time, it would be 1969 during Woodstock through the 70s.

 

Lastly, tell us one thing that might surprise us about the other.

Brandon: Something that might surprise you about Savannah, well, as wonderful and ladylike as she is, on tour she’s one of the dudes and we all consider her one. Haha.

Savannah: Something that might surprise you about Brandon, he is actually really great at freestyle rapping. I think it’s because of all the poetry he reads.

 

The Heirs Tour Dates:

1/22       Hamden, CT @ The Space*

1/23       Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall* (10pm Curfew)

1/24       Albany, NY @ The Hollow*

1/27       Vienna, VA @ Jammin’ Java*

1/28       Philadelphia, PA @ World Café*

1/29       New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom*

1/31       Pittsburgh, PA @ Club AE*

2/2         Detroit, MI @ Shelter*

2/3         Cleveland, OH @ The Cambridge Room at House of Blues*

2/5         Columbus, OH @ The Basement*

2/6         Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe*

2/7         Madison, WI @ The Frequency *(18+)

2/10       Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall*

2/12       St Louis, MO @ Off Broadway*

*Supporting Melanie Martinez

 

The Heirs – “Alright, Goodnight”

Photo Credit: David Lekach