Canadian band BROS release 70s funk album ‘Vol. 1’ out today

BROS, a Dine Alone Records artist, released their debut album Vol. 1 today. BROS is the new project from Ewan and Shamus Currie, frontman and keyboardist, respectively, for platinum-selling Canadian band The Sheepdogs.

Finding themselves with some downtime, the pair started working on some experimental demos that drew from influences ranging from Badfinger to Latin music legends such as Gilberto Gil and Os Mutantes. In some respects, BROS actually marks the first time the Curries have worked this closely together making music.

We had an opportunity to get to know Ewan and Shamus Currie:

Q: For those just discovering BROS, can you tell us what makes you stand out from the crowd?

Shamus: We’re brothers, we’re songwriters, and we’ve spent a lot of time traveling around playing music together. BROS is a chance for us to make music that appeals to our eclectic tastes.

Ewan: We were born in Australia and raised in the middle of Canada in Saskatchewan. We grew up listening to Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Our dad is a musician who has done everything from jazz piano to composing orchestral music that has been performed around the world. We’re obsessed with past music, especially pop music from the 60’s and 70’s, and that’s the musical world we try to live in.

Q: Tell us about the writing and creative process involved with your latest fresh track “Tell Me”.

Shamus: Ewan brought in the tune as a groove and a few interlocking Wurlitzer ideas; we jammed it out and went back and forth layering more parts on it until we got it grooving to the level we were happy with.

Ewan: “Tell Me” began as a groove and a bunch of layered funky electric piano parts. It’s the soundtrack I hear in my head when I walk down the street trying to feel cooler than I actually am. I just tried to lift ideas from dudes way badder than me – the Meters & Sly and the Family Stone, etc.

Q: What is it about funk/soul/rock that attracts you guys to this sound?

Shamus: We like any kind of music with groove (funk is no exception); we have a particular fondness for the vocal delivery in soul music and we love the raw energy of rock ‘n’ roll. It’s only natural to want to draw on the best traits of those styles of music.

Ewan: There’s an undeniable quality to funk and soul music. It can be as powerful as an emotional vocal melody or as simple and direct as a bass and drum groove. If you can make people shake and move, then the rest will follow.

Q: Tell us about working on and bringing your debut full-length album to fruition?

Shamus: BROS was born out of some down time in the winter of 2014 when Ewan and I would get together and work on songs as a way of keeping our chops up. After a few months of jamming in a buddy’s garage, we had enough song ideas floating around that we headed into the studio with our man Thom D’arcy and started making the record in earnest. The emphasis was definitely on creating fun, groovy songs that were a departure from the straight rock ‘n’ roll sound we’re so used to making.

Ewan: It was a labour of love. We just messed around with sounds in the studio, building up simple songs with pianos, organs, and many layers of vocals, latin percussion… anything we could think of. We listened to what our heroes did and tried to put into practice the same techniques, riffs and licks that they would use.

Q: What was the inspiration for your track “Sometimes You Got to Be Sad”?

Shamus: It was fun to make an upbeat, piano-driven tune and draw on some Badfinger influences.

Ewan: That song owes a lot to the Beatles & Badfinger. Lyrically I thought it was interesting to straight up admit that it’s ok to be sad sometimes and not always force optimism down people’s throats (although we like that approach too).

Q: Are the Vol. 1 tracks listed in any particular order on the album?

Shamus: The only structure of the track listing was to make it flow as well as possible from one song to the next. We knew we wanted to lead with “Tell Me” and “Brazil” as they were the first two tracks we finished and were the benchmarks for the rest of the album to follow.

Ewan: Just a flow we thought sounded good.

Q: What is your favorite song on the album and why?

Shamus: I have a soft spot for “Brazil” because when I showed a demo of it to Ewan it served as the genesis for the whole BROS project.  It’s also the most intricate song on the record with so many hooks and overdubs. “Tell Me” is also significant as it quickly emerged as one of our grooviest tracks and we chose it as our lead single.

Ewan: I like Tell Me & Brazil, the first two songs we did. But I also really like Flight 714 which let us do a latin groove, something we’ve always loved and never quite done before.

Q: How does BROS compare and contrast with The Sheepdogs, and what characteristics do you love about each?

Shamus: The Sheepdogs is a straight up rock outfit whereas BROS is a little more eclectic. BROS is more into the classic pop of the 70’s mixed with some latin and soul influences; the instrumentation and the arrangements are more diverse. The Sheepdogs is the place where we get to do the energetic rock ‘n’ roll thing, and BROS is the quirky alternative.

Ewan: Sheepdogs is very much rock n roll, whereas BROS is about exploring some of the other sounds we love to listen to: funk & soul music, the poppier side of old school rock-n-roll and Latin influenced music.

Q: Where do you go and what do you do when you’re seeking inspiration and/or creativity for your music?

Shamus: I always joke about going into “sponge mode” when I’m not feeling creative. I read lots of books, watch a ton of movies, listen to music, play video games, go see shows, etc, until my brain is loaded up with ideas that bounce around and eventually form new song ideas when I’m sitting at the keyboard or with a guitar.

Ewan: To my record collection. I listen to music everyday and I find by listening to LPs, I listen to entire albums and discover songs and ideas that I may have never encountered were I just listening to a shuffled playlist of my favourite songs.

Q: What bands/musicians are you two currently listening to?

Shamus: I’ve been checking out Todd Rundgren’s first band the Nazz, and this Brazilian singer-songwriter from the 70’s by the name of Erasmo Carlos.

Ewan: Mike Wilhelm, Weyes Blood, Gilberto Gil, Hall & Oates, Eddie Harris.

Q: When not making music, what do you two enjoy doing in your free time?

Shamus: Books, movies, video games, sports, all the standard activities of your classic bro.

Ewan: I love to watch baseball, football and basketball. I enjoy cooking, listening to records and I am a big time reader (our mom was a university librarian).

Q: After the album release, what is next for BROS, and what can fans look forward to?

Shamus: Ewan and I will have to get back into the shed and start hammering out Vol. 2.

Ewan: We are going to do a release show in Toronto. We are putting together a big band for the occasion. Then we’ll probably start working on Vol.2.

Q: Any upcoming tour dates planned?

Shamus: We haven’t booked anything beyond our album release show; the record was such a studio creation that it’s going to be hard to recreate live. That said, it’ll be a fun challenge to see if we can pull it off, and if it goes well we might have to do it again.

Ewan: Thus far no. When we started the project we said to hell with live, let’s make this a studio record and go crazy with the overdubbing, hence 12 vocals stacked together. We’ll see how our first show goes… who knows?

Check out BROS lead single “Tell Me” below. Purchase Vol. 1 on iTunes here for $10 or a physical copy here.