Vancouver’s very own Her Brothers are a lively, refined alt-pop band, fusing 90s punk energy with 80s dance-rock. The band is composed of 3 brothers: Gabe, the vocals and guitar, Josh, the bass, and Levi Penner, the drums. Gaining a lot of inspirational influences from names like Michael Jackson, Maroon 5, and Peter Gabriel, Her Brothers displays the innate ability to give us contemporary hits while adding the timeless traditions of music to them. They have gained a significant following from their extravagant live shows and performances. The shows they put on are what one would say is electrifying! You can tell this is something these brothers are passionate about. Their latest album Tribe, has been an album they have been experimenting with the unreleased tracks to give their fans some true excitement!
“Innocent” is a track towards the end of their album Tribe but one that should not be passed over. The intro verse to this track gives you a nice build up to the chorus. “I want to sing, but I never want to miss a note” sold me. Gabe's vocals are extremely moving. Looking at the band visually, you never know what to expect and I love that! The blended melodies throughout this track is bananas. I can hear so many layers. Using vocals as sounds, the snaps that almost sound like drum sticks, guitar placement. I mean I can go on and on. There is something so rich and timeless about this particular track. The bridge and outro of this track was exceptionally done. And although for some ends soon, it is the perfect lead up to the next track. Her Brothers, although brothers, work so very well together. Bravo guys!
Listen to “Innocent” here and get to know Her Brothers in our interview below!
Hey there guys! Mind sharing with our readers who you are and a little about yourselves?
The three of us are brothers Gabe, Josh and Levi Penner from Vancouver BC and we make up the band Her Brothers. We met when we were born, consecutively and we’ve been playing music together for just over 13 years.
As brothers, what is the most difficult aspect about working together?
Since we do pretty much everything in house it’s very easy for conflict to arise in regards to song or video writing and production. One of the things we say a lot is, “the song is king” but of course it can get heated when we’re all trying to let the song be it’s best self and have two or even three different ideas. Probably where it gets most difficult is in checking ourselves. Because we’ve all grown up together and are brothers it’s easy to take it out on one another without even thinking about it and assume it’ll be fine. Family seems to bring out a unique intensity at times. We try to not take ourselves too seriously.
What inspired your new track “Innocent”?
My own struggle with depression and anxiety. It’s obviously not everyone’s story by any means but what I myself have found is that I have a huge amount of agency when it comes to my own choices that can lead to heightened anxiety or bouts of depression. The big one for me is social media. I mean the whole mechanism is setup to create feelings of alienation and then affirmation and back and forth. It’s been designed to keep a user on it for as long as possible. We’re one of the most, if not the most, connected society the world has ever seen and yet one of most disconnected, dissatisfied and lonely societies at the same time. People used to die from war, famine and plague, and there still is lots of death around those terrible things but we have significantly pushed them back all around the world. Who knew one of the biggest threats would be suicide. That we would be taking our own lives.
How do you keep things fresh within you music?
Listen to music outside of our tastes and read lots. I’m a lyrics guy and I read quite a bit so I try to read stuff I’d normally never pick up, like Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s Gift From the Sea (which by the way is one of my favourites). Levi listens to a lot of soundtrack albums and atmospheric stuff with josh listening to a lot of hip hop and a ton of electronic music. There’s a lot of crossover and we all love the classics and such but I think coming from different places musically with some of the stuff we listen to and knowing that we each bring a unique piece to the table allows the song to be something more than one persons idea. Not only do I think it challenges us and makes the songs better but I think it also creates something that has the potential to connect with far more people because it has a piece of each of us in it.
What separates you from other bands?
We’re a pop band with a punk mentality.
What can we anticipate coming from Her Brothers this year?
We’ve got a few things coming down the pipe. We’ve got some new releases coming out this year, music videos and even some new songs. We’re really excited about a track we just worked on with a hip hop artist. We sent some stuff back and forth and come up with this collaboration we all love! We seriously can’t wait to share it with everyone. We’ve also got tour dates, a few up and more to come, and are getting excited with the potential of a cross country tour.
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