The Christopher Brothers
The Christopher Brothers are adorable, articulate and extremely talented. It’s hard to believe that they haven’t yet graduated high school! All three sing. Cameron plays drums, Charles plays lead guitar and Ethan plays bass.
We picked The Christopher Brothers as our ReverbNation Contest winner because we love their upbeat music and hit single and video for Somebody Just Like You. So, the first thing that I asked the boys about was to tell me the back story behind that song. Cameron told me: “None of us read music, so we came up with the melody and went to Charles and said ‘I have this song and I think it’s cool.’ I sang it to him and he wrote the chords. The song is about feeling alone in the world, but knowing you can’t be alone. There has to be somebody else just like you.”
Somebody Just Like You is from The Christopher Brothers’ new album Dog Daze. The single Let Me Out is another one of my faves, so I asked about this song too. Charles explained: “The song Let Me Out is about wanting to be out of a relationship, but you can’t be let out of it. In your mind, you’re stuck in a relationship with a girl.” All three brothers laughed and agreed, “Yeah!”
On The Christopher Brothers trailer video, all three mentioned being greatly influenced by The Beatles. Who else influences these guys? “Green Day, we really like Green Day. We also like The All-American Rejects, Blink-182, Plain White T’s, Harvey Danger and a lot of bands like that.”
Since the boys don’t read music, I wondered if they have taken lessons or are they self-taught musicians. Cameron said, “We used to take lessons a couple years ago. Afterwards, we decided to pick it up and move with it by ourselves.” Ethan and Charles nodded in agreement. Cameron continued, “Charles can look up any song and figure out the chords. I’ll listen to the drums and learn the part that way. When we’re songwriting, it can start either on the guitar or the piano.” Ethan added, “Or it can start with the vocals and the words, and we combine them together.”
I wondered what it was like, brothers working so closely together. Do they fight a lot? Charles told me: “It’s the best experience. Even if we fight about little things, it’s nothing in the grand scheme of things. We have each other all the time.”
Another benefit to being a band of brothers: band practice can be any time. Cameron describes it: “We practice whenever we want. Other people tell me that they only meet once a week for band practice. We can do that any day, any time. Our parents understand. So, even if it’s at 9 o’clock at night, we can start band practice. We go for an hour or two, and our parents are cool with it.”
When The Christopher Brothers aren’t songwriting, singing, rehearsing, recording and playing out, what do they do for fun? All three chimed in: “We play video games, basketball, Wiffle ball, swimming and that kind of stuff.” All three brothers act too, so that takes up a lot of their time. They’re in commercials and music videos.
The Christopher Brothers have over 300,000 Facebook fans. How much time do they spend on social media? Charles explained, “We use Facebook the most.” Cameron added, “We started getting fans, and it kept rolling and rolling, more fans and more fans.” Charles continued, “We love being in contact with fans. We put photos up almost every day. We also write back to them right away. It’s a great way to keep in touch, because we have fans all over the world.”
The Christopher Brothers
What advice does The Christopher Brothers have for other young artists? Charles advised, “Never give up. That’s probably the most important thing.” Cameron added, “Get ready to work hard. It’s a lot of work. There’s a lot of practicing. You may not be able to hang out with your friends as much, because if you want this, you have to put a lot of effort into it.” Then Ethan told me, “You have to stay together, no matter what. Don’t let your ego get in the way.”
Their mom plays a big role in keeping the boys grounded and playing in harmony. Cameron explained, “She’s the final decision-maker. If we ever argue, she’s the mediator. She’ll say, ‘I like it this way,’ so we go with that.” All three nodded in agreement and smiled.
What’s up next for The Christopher Brothers? On June 14 and 20, they’re playing the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood. Then, they’re heading to New York on July 28 to play at the Time Warner Center. If you’re in the area, you should go see them live.
Amused Now ReverbNation Contest Winners
The Christopher Brothers
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Cynthia Kahn, Founder of Amused Now
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